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A DEMOCRATIC JOURNAL- THE PEOPLE AND THEIR INTERESTS.
VOL. VIII. NO. 0
MAXTON, N. C WEDNESDAY, OCT. 18, 1893.
Si. GO A VKAR.
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The Medico-7uegal Journal makes a
ilea for every passenger railway to
Lave a eurgeon.
There seems to be no lack of open
ings for female medical practitioners
in this country, notes the Courier
Journal, for the Indian Bureau an
nounces seventeen vacancies for wo
men. The shut-down of some of the Lowell
(Mass.) mills brings out the interest
ing fact that for thy last few years a
constantly increasing number of tha
French C.ina linn employes have been
buying littlj farms with their savings.
A. good many of tha "abandons!
farms1" ia tii3 vicinity of the city, aud
for some miles away, have been takeu
tip in this way, and one estimate, seeu
by the New York Post, places the num
ber of families who have possession of
little holdings at between 400 and 500.
Die ncuupiers of these farm sell milk
and unpply neighboring cities and
(owns with pro luce, Avhilo younger
member;; of the family often continue
to work in tli? mills, going to an I fro
Every day when the farm is not far off,
or weekly when it is at a distance.
A.ti'th-r interesting fact brought out
i that mill-g irls h ive to pay only $1. 75
z week at tlu corporation boarding
houses am7, men perhaps twenty-live
r"rits more, so that it is easy for thena
tosive miu.'v and make provision
against hard times.
The Nev York Medical Journal re
cently contained a paper on ozone in
the treatment of diphtheria, written
by Doctor Irving S. Haynes, which
deserves attention and is in the nature
of a medical discovery. A preparation
of ozone has been used in cases of
tuberculosis with success, and the new
preparation which Doctor Haynes has
employed in diphtheria is called ' 'thera
pol." It h is been used in cases of
diphtheria which had been given up,
and in six cases out of iseven of this
class recovery has been effected. The
treatment is the swabbing of the throat
with therapoJ, and the injection of the
liquid into each nostril of the patient,
who is kejit upon his back so that tho
disinfection of tha entirj nose and
throat can ba S3;v.tr-3:l. The treatment
is completed by the use of the usual
iron mivturo as a gargle, and where tho
larynx is Attacked, calomel fumigations
tnu?t be used. The membrane is dis
solved usually i;i from eight to forty
eight hour.-;, its removal depending
upon the severity of tho attack.
The American Agriculturist ob
serves: "In nearly every county one
or more fairs are held each autumn.
Farmers and their families should en
deavor to spend one or more days at
these annual gatherings. There is cer
tain to be something of great interest
and benefit to every branch of farm
ing. In fruit or vegetables, if any
thing of merit is observed, find out
the name and price, test it for next
season. Follow the same with grain
or other products of the fields. Talk
with the producer, if possible, aud ob
tain valuable points or hints that will
aid in future labors. Look over the
improved breeds of stock, and decide
whether a thorougbred animal could
be used in your neighborhood with
profit. The machinery and imple
ments will receive their share of atten
tion. You will usually meet many of
your friend?, and make new ones, and
thus add another link to the evidence
of why you should attend the fairs,
both local and State. Take something
with you to exhibit, and whether you
obtain a premium or not, ycu hav
aided in the display and success of the
exhibition, and in the future, by this
course, be more deeply interested."
Tho commercial and industrial fail
ures in the panic of 1873 numbered
5183, with total liabilities of 822?,
490,900. Until 1878 these failures
steadily increased in number though
not in volume of liabilities save in
1878, when 10,478 failures covered
liabilities to the amount of $28 I, 383,
000. This, however, was the year
prior to that in which the bankruptcy
law was to cease, and very many shaky
concerns and individuals in business
desired to advantage by passage into
bankruptcy. In 1874 the number of
names recorded in business in the
Pnited States and Canada, as tha New
iork I veiling Post presents it, was
594,180, while in 1803 the number has
tuore than doubled. The failures of
102 are shown to be 10,344, with li
abilities of 114,041,107. For the first
feix months of tho current year the
number of failures is G101, with liabil
ties of 168,920,830. "The compari
son makes decidedly in favor of the
present situation," adds the Post,
"and many factors warrant the as
"rtiou that prosent disaster does not
- ,rnpare with the disaster wrought in
"ud leads to the hope that re
1 be much quicker."
OYSTER FARMING.
CUL.TIVATINO THE B1VA1AE
LOSG ISLAXI SO UNO.
IN
Difficulties That Attend the Harvest
ing of a Crop in Twenty five
Feet of Water Tho
Oyster's Knemles.
TJ
TP to within a very few years
It XT L X i
i an me oyaiers eaten were oi
natural growtn, ana it was in
those days that Chesapeake
Bay and tributary waters supplied and
controlled the New York market. But
when the demand for smaller oysters
began to increase it was found neces
sary to cultivate them, and the result
of this has been the establishment of
s;xty miles of "oyster farms" along
the Juong Island Sound shore, the in
vestment of an enormous capital, the
building up of an important industry
and the transfer of the control of the
New York market from Chesapeake
Bay to Ijong Island Sound. Force of
circumstances is bringing the Mary
land oystermen into the business of
cultivation, as the natural growth
oysters in Maryland waters are steadily
thinning outrand even to-day an oyster
would be an expensive luxury but for
the timely beginning of oyster farm
ing in Long Island Sound about five
years ago.
There is everything in a name in
the clam and oyster trade. All small
clams are known as Little Necks.
There are probably five million bush
els eaten annually, but there are not
more than five thousand bushels dug
from Little- Neck Bay, from which the
name is derived. The same applies to
Blue Point and Shrewsbury oysters.
Large capital is required to success
fully engage in oyster farming and
great risks are taken, although per
haps no greater than the truck farmer
takes on land. The capital must be
locked up for three years after the
first planting before the "farmer" is
rewarded by a harvest, but then, if all
conditions are favorable, his dredges
bring up a small fortune from an or
dinary sized bed. The Long Island
farmers are all getting the fever for
submarine farming since they have
had opportunity to see how much
jnoney is in the business.
Long, patient and expensive work is
necessary to properly plant an oyster
bed. After the survey is made and
the buoys marking the boundary lines
are placed in their proper positions,
the bottom is thoroughly dredged and
all refuse removed. It often takes
three months to dredge a bed of 100
acres, and the average expense of the
crew and dredge is $30 a day. Then
the bottom is lined with clean, broken
stone or oyster shells. If shells are
used the average is 300 bushels to the
acre. They are purchased at Balti
more, and are bought by schooner
loads at a cost of from six to ten cents
a bushel. It is of the utmost import
ance that this carpet of shells be laid
"in the nick of time." The usual
spawning time for oysters is from J uly
20 to August 20. They may be early
or late, according to the degree of
summer heat. When spawning they
expel a white, stringy fluid, which
clings to the clean shells or stones and
in time develops into oysters. When
the spawning begins no time can be
lost in spreading the shells or stones.
An hour's delay may cause the loss oi
thousands of dollars, and such losses
have been experienced in a number ol
cases this year, as the unexpected hot
weather in July caused the oysters to
spawn before the farmers wera ready
with the shells, which were on the way
from Baltimore and were of no use or
value when they arrived.
In about six weeks the oyster begins
to take form and then looks like a tiny
bug. The shell begins to grow, and,
if cuarded from thflir tjatnrflJ anemiea
in two years the young oysters cover
the bottom several inches thick. They
are then transplanted to another bed
in a more protected spot to mature,
which requires two years more. The
successful farmer uses three beds, one
for planting and two for maturing,
and thus when once under way he har
vests a crop each year.
An idea of the profit in this method
may be obtained from the experience
of a farmer who has already amassed a
large fortune in the business. Three
years ago he planted 40,000 bushels on
a fifty acre bed. This year he hae
transferred 70.000 bushels to a matur
ing bed, which will be double their
present size when mature, making
140,000 bushels. He loft at least 25,-
000 bushels on the old bed, which will
also double, making nearly or quite
200,000 bushels to harvest next year,
at an average price of $1.10 per
bushel. If there is a fifty acre farm
above water that ever yielded $200, 000
in four years it is not on record.
But it is not all clear sailing and
pimply waiting after the spawn catches
until the oyster is mature. The oyster
and the oyster farmer have four great
enemies storms sufficiently violent to
shift the bottom, star fish, "drills'
and thieves. Against the first, of
course, both are helpless, but against
the other three the "farmer" is con
stantly on guard. The storms of 1892
did immense damage to Long Island
Sound oyster beds.
The greatest pest the potato bug
of oyster farming is tha star fish, or
sea star, as the oystermen call them
The pea star clasps its rive arms about
the oyster, forces the shell open and
drinks the liquor, which is the oyster's
sustenance, then lets it fall back to
die. The war against the sea star is
constantly waged and is costly. Hun
dreds of bushels of sea star are cap
tured by dredges, and they are used
as fertilizers.
The "drill" is another great pest.
It is no larger than one's little finger,
but it bores straight through the shell
and kills the oyster. And then there
is the biped pest, the "oyster pirate.
There are a great many thousand
dollars now invested in new oyster
farms in Long island Sound. A great
deal of this capital comes from New
York City, and several prominent
State officials have more than a passing
interest in the crops of 1895 and there
after. New York Advertiser.
POPULAR SCIENCE .
Thd ice making maclllne was first
put into operation in 1860.
Taking all the year round the cold
est hour of the twenty-four is 5 o'clock
in the morning.
Within the last two centuries moro
than 250 earthquake shocks have been
felt in Great Britain.
Birmingham, England, has been
successfully operating a storage bat
tery street railway system for over a
year.
A bunch o' sweet peas placed on a
piece of newspaper makes an excellent
"ny trap." The Hies are said to suck
the deadly sweet of the flower and
then die.
The mason bee builds a nest of mor
tar. , Being economical of labor, this
insect will repair an old nest rather
than build a new, and desperate bat
tles for the possession of a nest some
times take place.
In Australia, it is said, telephonic
messages have been successfully trans
mitted over wire fences. The man
who thought of this device utilized the
top wire of the fence and carried the
wire across the road on poles.
The power of trees to regulate their
own temperature to a certain extent is
seen in the fact that their twigs are
not frozen through in winter, nor does
their temperature increase in summer
in proportion to the temperature of
the surrounding atmosphere.
An interesting exhibit at our Na
tional Museum shows that the average
man who weighs 154 pounds is worth
commercially $18,300. That i3, if you
were to separate the vegetable and
mineral constituents of his body, that
sum if; what they would bring in the
market.
The carpenter bee lays her eggs in a
hole she bores in suitable wood. As
the eggs are placed in several cells
and the labor requires many days the
grub in the lowest cell is hatched first,
and a way for his escape without in
juring the rest is provided by means
of a back door of entrance to the long
gallery.
On the plateaus of our southwestern
border States the most furious whirl
winds often fail to raise the sand more
than a few feet above the level of the
plain till suddenly, perhaps an hour
after the crisis of the storm, great
columns rise to a height of a hundred
yards, and swaying from side to side,
waltz about like tipsy giants.
' 'No living germ or disease can resist
the antiseptic power of essence of cin
namon for more than a few hours," is
the conclusion announced by M.
Chamberland as the result of pro
longed research and experiment in M.
Pasteur's laboratory. It is said to de
stroy microbes as effectively, if not a3
rapidly, as corrosive sublimate.
The "wigglers" in standing water,
which afterwards develop into mos
quitoes, can always be killed by pour
ing a few drops of any kind of oil
coal oil will answer on the surface of
the water. The insects breathe j
through their tails, and when the j
water is covered with oil their air
tube-, become clogged and they die of
suffocation.
Goust, the smallest separate and in
dependent territory in the world, is
situated in the Lower Pyrenees, about
tn miles from Oleron, between the
boundaries of France and Spain. The
people speak a language of their own,
a cross between French and Spanish.
I
SLEEPING CARS.
i'HEY WERE EVOLVED PR05I A
PRIMITIVE START.
Wagner and Pullman Conceived the
game Idea Almost Coincidental
ly in 1857 Furnishings and
Service Private Cars,
THE first sleeping car was con
ceived by Webster Wagner in
1857, when he was a freight
agent of the New York fc Hud
son Biver, sayi a writer in the Indian
apolis News. Fie took an ordinary
coach and put the berths in tiers.
There were three tiers, the upper
berths being made of slats, and during
the day these slats, with the mattresses,
were taken out and piled in the
end of the cars. It cost about $12,000
to arrange these cars, and in 1858 four
of them were in use. The public at
first fought shy of the "new-fangled"
affairs, and it was two years before the
patronage was sufficient to justify fur
ther improvements. Tho berths were
finally changed so they were hung
from above with iron rods aud not in
frequently when the train was turning
sharp curves were the passengers
thrown out or had their elbows and
heads bruised by the swaying of the
cars. As the years advanced travelers
began to take a liking to sleeping cars
and the patronage was so great that
various improvements were made until
the palaces of to-day were the result.
Wagner was killed a few years ago in
a collision. When he died he was a
multi-millionaire. The same year, and
about the same time that Wagner in
vented his sleeping car, George M.
Pullman was taking a trip over the
Chicago & Alton, and the idea of a car
on which passengers could slegp struck
him. He got two passenger coaches
and constructed - 'sleepers" similar to
the one made by Wagner. One of
these was the "Pioneer," now retired
from service on its honors.
From these beginnings sprang the
two great palace car companies,
probably the most powerful monopolies
in the railroad world. The Wagner
operates 2100 cars on. J 7, 000 miles of
road and thirty companies. The Pull
man operates 2600 cars on 100,000
miles of railroad. There were also
two smaller companies begun years
ago, the Woodruff and the Mann. The
former was merged into the Pullman
company in 1891 and the Mann is almost
out of existence. So great has been
the advance in car construction that
with all the gorgeousness and luxury
of the palace car of to day they cost
little more than the plain, crude cars
of years ago. It required one year to
build the Pioneer at a cost of $18,000,
jS ow a car is turned out in two months
at an expense of about $19, 000 or $21,
000.
It was only a step from a sleeping to
a parlor car, but it was years before a
hotel or buffet car was turned out
Pullman built the first in 1876. All
the Pullman sleepers are now buffets
and a few of them are hotel care, where
freshly cooked meats are served. Th'
dining cars supplanted the hotel care
Observation and combination cars are
only a few years old. The furnish
tngs of an average sleeper, which has
sixteen compartments for thirty-two
passengers, for an ordinary run of a
day and a night and return are 100
sheets, 100 hand towels, 100 pillow
giips, twelve cake of soap, six boxes of
matches, two brooms, six whisk
brooms, four combs ancl six brusnes.
The cars have, in addition to their
other equipments, a hammer, monkey
wrench, hatchet, saw and crowbars,
iron and wooden buckets, feather
dusters, telegraph blanks, and on some
Bibles and other books.
The conductors average from $75 to
$100 a month, according to ability and
length of service.- The porters are paid
irom to $75 a month, but they buy
their own uniforms and wear overcoats
furnished by the company. The con
ductor is required to give a bond of
$500 ; the porter is not required to give
any. On a run exceeding what is known
as a short or twelve-hour trip either
the conductor or porter must be awake
and get out at every regular stop,
ready to receive passengers. On short
runs neither is allowed to sleep. Por
ters in private cars get $75 a month.
Private cars carry three men cook,
pantryman and waiter. A sleeper usu
ally carries two, but on short runs
there is a porter in each car, while a
conductor is in charge of two or more
ears in the train. The dining cars
carry a first, second and third cook at
$75, four to six waiters at $50 a month
and a conductor at $100 a month, who
also acts as cashier.
There is much rivalry and at the
game time much difference in the se
lection of porters in regard to runs.
All of them like the through trains to
fashionable summer resorts. The tip
to a parlor car man who brushes your
clothing at the end of the short trip is
usually 25 cents, and he counts upon
$20 or $25 a month extra. The sleep
ing car tip averages 25 cents, but it if
often much more, particularly if the
porter is requested to look after in
valids or women and children placed
in his charge. The sleeping car porter
counts on $40 a month extra. Dining
car men make about $45 a month in
addition to their services.
It is not true, as is generally sup
posed, that the railroad companiee
own their diners, sleeping, parlor and
chair ears. It is only in a few ir.
stances that this is the case. The ar
rangements between the raihoad and
palace car companies is ordinarily in
the form of a contract whereby the
palace car company agrees to furnish
the capital and the cars, while the
roads agree to haul them free, receiv
ing therefor only the regular fare paid
by the passengers. The palace car i6
not a paying investment for the rail
road except that it is an attractive
featuro of the line. In some instances
the railroad company is obliged to pay
the palace car company a certain sum
a mile for the privilege of hauling its
cars. Neither are the dining cars op
erated, aB a rule, by the railroad com
panies. The cars are owned by the
palace car company, a caterer has a
contract to operate them, and the rail
road which hauls them free agrees that
the receipts shall be a sufficient amount
each month and must make up any de
ficiency. The Wagner and Pullman
companies both call their employes
servants and not agents, and say that
they are not the custodians nor re
sponsible for the passengers' personal
effects. The courts in several instances
have decided otherwise.
Private cars are popularly looked
upon as the exclusive perquisites of
railway kings and successful actors
and actresses, who affect lavish ex
penditures. As a matter of fact, pri
vate cars are generally confined to
presidents, general managers and gen
eral superintendents. On some lines
chief engineers, general attorneys and,
fn rare instances, division superin
tendents have private cars.
Modern Hygiene.
Hardly a day passes that we do not
receive some shock, that we are not
asked to give up some favorite dish
around which clusters a host of tender
early memories, and after eating of
which we have, for twenty years on
end, felt ourselves grow fat and child
like and undyspeptic. But the mod
ern hygiene says it must go, and if we
retain it on our list we do it in an anx
ious and guilty mood sure of itself to
beget internal trouble.
Seemingly simple things like dry
toast, oatmeal and apples we have
heard forbidden of late as hard to
take care of, and bananas, or, for ex
ample, the delicious, but as we sup
posed deadly, fried bacon cried up as
food for babes and sucklings. This is
puzzling ; it goes against our personal
experience, it upsets all our dietary
olans and treasures, and it awakens
a j.
the shrewd suspicion that mere fashion
is at the bottom of the change.
One interested in the subject, hav
ing an ax to grind, could without much
difficulty prove that every known edi
ble has at some time or other been de
clared digestible and healthful ; let
the experimenter eat with his (or
her) eyes shut, and he (or she) will bo
backed up in what is chosen by some
respectable authority. This being so,
the wisest plan is to select food accord
ing to the private palate without re
gard to Doctor A. , B. or C. (since
Doctor X., Y. and Z. will infallibly
dispute them), and with the eye of
faith fixed on that good day when all
digestion will be carried on by artifi
cial means, and the whole world may
be in that lovely state attributed to
George Meredith's gourmet who is
pictured in after dinner ease as "lan
guidly twinkling stomachic content
ment " Hartford Courant.
Heiyht of Different Naiion3.
An article in tho Bulletin de Tin
atitut International de Statistiqu
gives, as the result of careful inquiry,
the average height of different Na
tions. The following are some of the
conclusions arrived at : The English
professional classes, who head the list
as the tallest of adult males, attain the
high average of five feet nine and a
quarter inches. Next on the list come
the males of classes of the United
States, and a minute fraction behin I
them come the English of all classes.
Hence we may conclude that, taken
right through, the English and Ameri
can races are approximately ox tho
same height. Most European Nations
average for the adult male five feet 6i'x
inches; but the Austrians, Spaniards
and Portuguese just fall short of thia
standard. m
Mrs. George M. Pullman's pretty
daughters give names to the palace
cars built by their father.
BELIEVES IN BANKS NOW.
Robbtrs Fail to Get a Fanner's Bag
of $18,000 in Gold.
HARnisnrRo, Pa. Farmer Rununell
ivts at Caisouvil'e aod bas hoarded his
ash in his house rather thin put it in
he bank". On Wednesday night two
nen called the fanner from his house
m l demanded In money. The h-mse-'teeper
heard the talking and also came
mt. Ru-ninell refined to tell where his
of gold was kept, and he was knock--d
down. It contained 1R,000. Two
)ullet3 were fired at the woman, and the
jbbers, fearing they had murdered their
ictiro", fled. Neither was much hint.
Thursday Farmer Rummell drove In
Milleraburg and astonished the bank
eller when he shoved a bag of gold te
vard the window, enjing: "There is
fl8,000. I want to put it in the bsnk."
The g 'l 1 was counted and found cor
rect. Hereafter the farmer will be a firm
believer in the security of bank.
DECLINED TO ACCEPT A DUEL.
A Southern Editor Sends a Challenge
From a Well-known Citiz n
to the Police.
Richmond, Va. --JeffHISm Wallas
as antsted upon the chaigc of sending
i challenge to tight a duel to Jo Ti-ph
Biyan, propiittor of the Richmond
Times Mr. Wallace ia Secretary of tin
!-"ity Democratic Commit tea and Mr.
Bryan is one of the leading chmchmen
n Virginia, and also Prteideat of the
Georgia Pacific Railroad.
The trouble grew out of crit'eisms
cade recently upon the press of the city
oy Mr. Wallace, and upon which the
times commented sharp'y. Mr. Bryan
kclined to accept the challenge, and
sent w'th a notice to the Chief of Police.
lr. Wallace was thereupon placed uader
t et.
Delicate Machinery.
After going through a piu factory
one is easily persuaded to believe that
machinery can be taught to think. In
the first place, the wire from which
the pins are made is examined by a
machine that seems to scan every par
ticle of it, as though to detect any de
fect that might exist in its substance.
Then it measures off a bit, just long
enough for one pin, and hands it over
to another piece of mechanism that
holds it against a file-wheel until it is
pointed. It ia then passed on to an
other file-wheel, where it is smoothed
and finished ; then travels a little
further, where it ia seized by a grip
and forced into a recess, where the
head is made. A pair of pincers then
takes it from the die and drops it into
a tiay, and the work of the machine is
done. The whole process does not oc
cupy five seconds, for the pincers that
catch and drop the pins work so fast
that the pins are coming all the time
in a stream from the machine, but so
remarkable is the mechanism, so infal
lible in its action at every point, that
it really appears to reason m it works.
New York Journal.
22,000 Exiled Russian Jews Coming
to Am- rica.
San Fkancisco, Cal. The Rev.
Fa'her II. Ctipp'os Honchaieriko, a
Russian exile known here as tils "Patriot
Piitst," is the pr ncipal authority for the
sta'cmtnt that 22,000 Ru-sian Jews, all
nen of wealth, h ive bee i exiled by the
'zw, and aie cjm'ngto Ameiira, a large
rveportion of them intending to sett'e
in the F.cidc coa?t. He taya the ukase
a ill go i'd'o Httt on Oct. 18 of tur
c.il . udar. H;8 inform itiot, hi says,
comes direct frm Russ'a, and is author -tative.
The uka'e is aimed tt the
we ibhii s; cla's of Iiu shto Jews. Whit
emis coJor to bis statement is the fact
that news of the same cbarac!er,e.miugly
from an independent source, haa reached
ther prominent Russian Jews in San
F rancisco.
A Relief Train for Brunswick.
New York. A rel'ef train of six
freight cars of provisions and supplies
"or the fever stiicken of Brunswick. Ga.,
left Jersey City, and will reich it.- des
tiraMon in something- Its? thau Vmcc.
lays. The train csfrie 1 a large amount
of flour, sugar and other slap'cs, as well
as ten, coffee, delicacies and medicines.
Up to the present tinr? more than f 6,-
00 have been collected by the commit
tee of gentlemen who undeitook to ren
der arsislacce to the unhappy Rruus
wickirs and the subscription lists have
not yet been closed.
VIGILANT Vs. VALKYRIE
The American Yatch Wins ths Series
of Races.
New York . Ia Saturday's r.:ce. tho
Vigilant beat the Velkyrie.
Monday the Vigilant finished at 2.50;
13 minutes la'er the Valkyrie crossed the
ine .
A Tennessee Bank Suspends.
Nashville,
TeDn. The Farmers' !
and Merchants' Bank f C'arksville,
Tenn., will go into vo!unt:y liquida
tion. The bank has a capital stock of
100,000. The cause of ths easpers;on is
assigned to the stringency of the times.
Its nssetts exceed its liabilities.
When Men Are Afraid.
Chris Evens, the Fresno outlaw, who
ought to be an authority on the subject,
declares that men are niot subject to
tho emotion of ffar between im
o'clock in the morniug and daybreak.
As he puts it. there comes a period in
every night when it begins to grow
toward morning, but when daylight h
yet a long way off, during which per
riod every man is a coward. He
fhrinks from all sorts of imaginary
evils, and the parue man who would
have fought desperately before mid
night will be very likely to turn and
run in that darkest hour which is just
before the dawn.
If this be so there mut be pome
natuml and physiological reason for
it, and there are certainly somo well
known facts which appear to bear out
tha theory. Sick persons, as Chris
Evans has pointed out and as all vho
have watched by the bedsides of inva
lid know, are apt to bo worse in thi
latter part of Ihe niht, and the be
lief that death occurs then more fre
quently than at any other time is cer
tainly general, whether it be supported
by statistics or not.
But we need not go to any mortua
ry statistics for evidence on the ques
tion of universal demoralization mid
lack of physical and will power at, my
three o'clock in the morning, which
seems to be about the lowest time of
the ebli tide. Any one who has ever
got out of bed atthnt time, either from
choice or necessity, knows very well
the feeling of goneness which comes
over one and the serious doubt which
arises as to whether life is really worth
living. Is it that the system has really
run down during the night or that tho
feeling of depression anil demoraliza
tion is merely subjective, caused by
the surroundings, and the unfamiliar
look which well-known objects assume.
San Francisco Chronicle.
An Interesting A'rncan Keopie.
At the Berlin Anthropological So
ciety, Mr. Mereusky has given somo
curious particulars about the. Kondeh
people in the German district on Lako
Nyassn. Their couutry is bordered on
the north by the Eivingstone Moun
tains and on the south by the lake,
and this favorable geographical po
sition has enabled the people to de
velop in a peculiar niauuer and attain
a relatively high state of civilization.
"Their affections are largely developed.
Friendahip is especially valued among
them, and love between the sexes
strong and firm, as well as the domes
tic affections. Suicide, caused by
grief for the loss of a wife, a child, or
even a favorite animal, is not infre
quent. The favorite form of suicide
is to enter the water and allow one's
self to be devoured by a crocodile. Jn
war time all unnecessary cruelty is
avoided, and women aud children who
have been made prisoners are set free
again. The position of woman among
the Kondehs is usually high. "Women
are on a perfect equality with men in
the eyes of the law, and oflenees
against women are even more severely
punished than offences against m.-u."
St. James's Gazette.
he Seot ot "Nonsleepers."
During that epoch of extraordinary
religious enthusiasm, 412 to 43;) A.
D., one Alexdianins, a native of Asia
Minor, founded a peculiar sect known
as "Nonsleepers." They lived in com
munities of seventj' (the custom hav
ing some reference to the seventy apos
tles), and whenever a youug Non
sleeper put in its sppearsneo the old
est man or woman in the camp would
leave to join some other community
that had recently lost one of its mem
bers by death or otherwise. In thif
way their communities never exceT led
the allottment of seventy, and was
rarely short a member more than a
few weeks or months Rt a tim. They
were called "Nonsleepers'' from th-j
fact that at least seven in each com
munity were always to be found wide
awake and constantly chanting tha
'sleep song." In summer these chant
ers were divided into three relays of
seven each, and, during the wi Titer
months, into from four to five, accord
ing to the length of the nights. This
peculiar sect of non-.iIeei.ing singing
fanatics were finally exterminated by
the Armenian barbarians under the
leadership of Omeer Uightee. St.
Louis Republic
Singular Cause of a Fire.
A correspondent writes of an oTT.n
pie of setting firo to a house tint i-i
rare enough to deserve notice. Ir v,n
a thatched cottage, and the flame f-re:in
to h'.'.ve arisen from the glass of a p-tir
of spectacles w hich had been accident
ally thrown on the thatch. Tho bun
seems to have acted as a burning glass
nd set the f-traw in a bljize.
Live stock breeding hai been the
key to agricultural prosperity in all
countries the world over, declares the
New York World.