North Carolina Newspapers

THE. ASTORS. POINTS OJ INTEREST A ROUT A VEilV WEALTHY FAMILY. An "Estate Valued at $120,000,000 Astor Interments-The Son ' Who Become? an Idiot Family Peculiarities. Writing - about the Astor family, a New i ork correspondent says: The Aitor House was built by old John Jacob, ut a time when William's boys were mere lads. Astlu-y sr.nv up they 3e eloped into old fashioned busi ness men, and married in a very quiet manner though in each instance the brides were rich and highly respectable. John Jacob married iMiss Gibbes and William married Miss bchermerhorn. A sifter of the latter had previously become the wife of John T. Irv ing, nephew of the author, and himself a very clever writer. The bchermcrhorns i made money in trade, and the "Scher- j me'rhorn building" is still a proof of i their wealth. It'will be forty years next March since the original John Jacob ; died, and his grandsons, John Jacob and 1 William, were married toon afterward. They then built each a spacious brick j house" on adjoining-lots in Fifth avenue, j and each has a corner and 100 f( et front, j this being more than is held by any other family in the avenue except the Vander- i bilt. The Astor block, -as it is called, ! has been i lms "occupied .thirty year-:, but j during this interval John. Jacob and j William have lost their parents nvM have j themselves reached the ranks of old men. I Old John Jacob left 2O,i;00,00'), and ! during the forty years that have elapsed since then the estate has probably in creased to 1::,Ou0,O0( In other words, ; John Jacob and William are now each worth (10,000,000. The senior Astor' had about forty acres , of wild land up town, which then were only an expense. At present, however, they are covered with elegant buildings, and arc Worth nearly $i,)()0,0:0 the acre. The Astor hou-e win then renting for $2o,000, but it now "brings nearly 100,000, ami the two brothers each own about i.000 houses, bringing an aggregate rent of .;i,0U ,();)(). it is very remarkable that old ".John Jacob Astor never had a family burial plot. He had. however, only two deaths in his family -his yifeand his son Henry and no one but the family know where -they are buried. When the "old man die 1 hi? remains were placed in a vault under St. Thomas's church, which was close by his residence, but a few years afterward the church was p illed down, and then the family ended a large granite vault in Trinity cemetery at Washington Heights. The remains of the original Joha Jacob and a'so - those of his soil William rest there, and by their side is now lai 1 all that is mortal of Mrs. John Jacob Astor. The tomb is on a side hid, and has a granite porch on whose iiniel is incribed "Astor Vault." The family name does not appear on the Astor Hou-e, nor on the Astor library- nor on the bus'tuss office; how strange it seems that it should oaiy be seen on the house of death! Th j Astors li . e been marked by good' : ease, and yet there is a weak one in every geneiatioa. The original John Ja'ob, for instance, had a son of that name who became idiotic as he a;- ' proa he 1 manhood, and his father de voted 10,;0 ) a year to lm support. An entire square was enclosed with a high fence, and a house was built in the centre for his occupancy trader the care of the family wlihh hs:d him in charge, and a carriage was kept for his bcnelit. It was the finest private asylum in America, and probably in the world, and he remained ,th re until removed by death a few years ago. Since th-: the c tire plat has been covered rvkhhous s and bring? a large rent. Wi.liam Ti. AYov,--brother of the aoovc,' became the representative oi"-44u'.''. and his son Henry proved feeble mhicfe'd. His brothers wiiliam and .Jolin .Tacob board -il him at their Khinebcek farm, vliere I with a monev. ic was ui' eigleu r!r(t infn in'iri'i.uf.t woman w!io-e The brothers sole object was so;ui afterward paid her him, and hi ti'tsome "gra'.uitv to ' leave e still remains an object of Coiu'iiiLT down to the pie-ent t)ieir care. geiier.it also show and many future. I rained to i isisa ii, sou ol .!oun .jacol), signs of mental - debility, ::V s are expresfI tor his !hcr is na urally d'er !. best of the ca;-e, and,' i a a grand bail recently, - -ibly lie the last euicr ; rs will engage ia for a ii. - I . . the re lore, gave -a -id tins will Sir t.iiiiincTit. lite As long lim 'rli Ife ds Divining irod. Another singular ch -pter is added to the story oi burg nil pro p iiiiam heed, the l'itts- Lor and geologist, who was urov. ne i ia the Atlantic -Ocean I while searching tor sunken treasures o!.T ! jinci's Point. N. .'. The wonder ul i d.ining m l with which- .Mr. l'eed dis- i c ivered oil, goiu, iron and minerals of I all kind- if to be old for the bcnelit of religion. At ieat, this is the inference from the wording of his wiil. ' The will filed dispo-cs of an estate of about $-,'00,000, and directs that. lh sum of $20,000 shall be paid tolas wife, ! and, beside this, fhe is to have 1.200 per year, tuvl the-use of -a comfortable ' hou-e for her lifetime, or as long as she , remains h s widow. The balance, of his c-tate is to be invested, and the interest to-be divided into three equal parts every year for "thirty years. One third is to iid young men who are studying for the ministry, one third to be loaned to aid .'in building hou-.es of worship-.for strug gling churches, and on.: third to be-paid to-the Hoard of Missions of the United lores'. ytcrian Church of North America t. aid in ilia education of yv ung men stulving for the mini-try ia foreign lands. "After li ft .- vears the whole fund is to be ani-lic t to aiding theological students iu the various Lnited Presby terian seminaries. This v.-ii! makes it probable that the famous divining rod will.be sold, and its e'lleieucy tested in other hands. Bu Hi nt A:n- rl an. An Ae r i t an t i c a 1 Advance, called- "governable air-ship" -of : t is dri eu forward or back aea u of a fan like propeller at The so Dr. Y.'e.U ward bv the forward cad or i he cai v. in.e a the tar, feeeon.i i r d'r ctiv under serves to raise or lower the balloon out loss of ballast or of gas. The w:tn hori right Iu an zoutal nropeber mav be turned to or Tcft, thus serving as a rudder. experimental . anoararus. rue aeror.aui. Hi I seated like a bicycle-rider, readily drove either or both of ihe propellers at a rate as high as 250 revolutions per minute. The trial was made near Dresden with a ir.hnnii hirilann about sixtr feet lon-T with a liftii'ff power of 500 pounds; and'the motions of this were under per- and the motions of this we feet control, even asrainst a moderate wind. A peculiar system of netting gave the car remarkable steadiness. The in ventor expects soon to launch 1 an air Bhip capable of carrying fifty mea, sub stituting an electric engine for te foot power of his first experiments,-,irkan-wto Traveler. WORDS OF WISDOM. Put no faith in tale bearers. feckless youth makesrueful age. Plain words make the most ornamental sentences. The brave man is an inspiration to. the weak, and compels a following. Curses arc like processions; they return to the place from whence they came. What we believe is right is more often so because it grinds our axe than other wise. It is not the quantity of meat, but the cheerfulness of the guests, which makes the feast. Never did any soul do good but it came readier to do the same again with more en joyment. Pleasure must first have the warrant that it is without sin; then, the measure, that it is without excess. Improve the wit you have bought at a dear rite, and the wisdom you have gained by sad experience. Oh, how small a portion of earth will -hold !:s when we are dead, who arnbi tious'y seek after the whole earth while we arc living. ,. The -.more weak nes-, the more false hood; strength goes .straight.. Every cannon ball that has in it hollows or holes goes crooked. , Pride's chickens have bonny feathers, but they are an expensive brood-to. rear: they eat uo everything, and are always lean when brought to the market. Life on a Gloucester Fishing Schooner The vessels of our fishermen in early times weie diminutive craft of only from 5 to 11 tons burden. To-day the tishing vessels sailing oui, of Gloucester are first class two-masted schooners ranging from To to 12 tons burden. They are the swiftest, most buoyant and seaworthy, and-still the most beautiful and graceful vessels ail oat. There is a pleasant story as to how these craft became knowc as schooners. In 171;) Andrew Pobinson launched a vessel rigged similar to those known as schooner-rigged. As she sped down the ways for her baptism. in brine .some' one snouted: "Look at her! Lord how she schoons!" "l.ct her be a .schooner !" shouted back the builder; and so she will remain.' The average crew for a first-class' iishing vessel com prises a skip cr or captain, and from fourteen to sixteen men : and it is idmost invariably the case that not a man is 'j-h.ipi.ed who is not as perfectly familiar as the skipper himself with every manner of coast and banks Iishing as well as with every conceivable duty as- lishcrman or seaman. The stores, or supplies, vary according to the kind of fish sought and the probable length of the cruise; but they are always far superior, to those pro vided for seamen in merchant service. There is no ca-te, no distinction in food, treatment or fellowship; and a skipper would be ridiculed oil the coast -whose cabin table was a stranger to butter, pies, egijs, fu wis, good biscuit and co.Tee and the best quality of cured meats; and as on many of the ve.-sels 'large quantities O;' nee are kept for the purpose- of. pre s -r'ving fiesii fish for the markets, vege tables and fiesh meats are not uncom mon even en extended cmises. Aside from the serious toil, dangers and fre quent necessary hardships endured, no .''.seafaring men commend or deserve belter . rcatmcut. BitlJmrg DU-mteu A Lake Disaster Urcalled. The Lady Elgin, a lake steamer, col lided with a sailing vessel named Augus ta, and sunk in .Lake -Michigan, epiem i.er s, IH'iO. There were r.'.'l persons !o-t.many of whom were fioni Milwaukee. Only about one-fourth of those on board were saved. A song commemorative of lhe"acc:dent i givenbe'ow. It was sung, sv s the Detroit Fnv 'y.s-, from Maine to California, ni;d vill still be a sad re mbider to many, who- lo-t friends and relatives with tliat ill-fated .steamer: 'iiii: T.ADY KUl'lX. 'p from ti: Forth fro ror inai: s cq. u ra;'U-;!;ii uo ji-: 8wphiz a'ro!-s the vater And. echoing along the shosv; Ciiiuiht by the morning breezes, Lonii !i the evening ?.al'r" Comet li the voice ot' nv'uroing, A oa-1 t.n I solemn wail. Cnoars. Ia :-.t en the Lady -Hlgin, M jar.s; to vak iberil vJih tl: : no raore; it Uire-e hundred Who failed to reach the shore. Oh. 'tis tho cry of children "ee;:'r.g for ;are!:ls g.i!io: C'lrli'.ivn who slept at evening Us.r orphans woke at dawu ; iters for brothers weeping, - Husbands for missing wives Su;-h were the th'-s dissevered By those three hundred lives. Stanch was oar noble steamer, 1 'reeiou s tho freight she bore; Gaily slw Icoseil her cable A low Aiort hours before; Graimlyt-he swept our havLor, Joyi'uily rang tier bell Ah. iililvTwe thought e'er morning She would toll so sad a kneil. What Edible Birds Nest?; are Made Of Naturalists have not been able to de cide of what material the edible birds' ne-ts are composed, ifome have regarded them as made of pure animal secretions; oihcrs believe that alge enter largely into their composition. .Mr. E. L. Layard ha- suggested that the nests of the first quality, or tho e which are made early in tlie season, are made - of secretion, but that later on, if the . first nests are de al roved, the birds cannot replace them bv this creiiou a;one, ami nave to u-e and have cxlrane..)U.s substances to heip Lon-tructiou. 3Ir.-J.Ii. I'lCen, in the of the Physiological Laboratory, Cambridge, has examined. specimens of 'the nests of aii .us qualities, and finds them ' ail to become alike gelatinous in texture on M-akhig and made up of lam in " affixed by their faces to one another. Mme ne-ts of inrericr quality showed tlie pivs-r.ee of- alga?, but neither in their mode of disposition nor in the quantity i.id thev confirm Mr. I.ayard's view. The u; y ; amount a'sa irregular poMiiou e alg.e would be. better accounted lor on dental :ave the th.eorv of their being acci- constituents. Thj ncst--uostance no micro-chemical react lens that emi'.-d connect it at afl w'th cellulose, so .h;t c-1 . t could not be f-.rme l by the par i est i n of the alg.e and rcguryila- i.ioa of the lesulting matter. t,)n tlie other hand, it did give very striking ; vi ilo;i( e cf its close relationshii) with the ib-tance mueine d.esciibed bv various authors, and we'd known as a product of j the annual foiiy. i'.puur Extraordinary Wafer-Fowcr. On the coast of the Grecian Island of Cephalonia are a large number of fissures i r Ps 111 wnicji tne contained iresn or I salt water -rises and falls like the sea outside, though the water-level inside is lour leet lower man outsiae. What is still more remarkable is that the pits cannot be filled by running safer into them, nor emptied by shutting it out. This singular difference of level has been utilized by causing a f ow of water from the sea to drive a water-wheel placed in one of tho pits. . HAKE SHOOTING. & IL" JfNETl THAT CAN OUTSTRIP A Clt A'HOUXD. Shooting the Little Animal Willi a Bo iv ami Arrow Recollec tions of Hare Hunting iu Kentucky. In America, says Maurice Thompson in Che Glob -De-itocrat, the hare is called rabbit by nearly everybody ; but the fact is we have no genuine wild rabbits in i our couatry. o much the better for our sport and our table. The English rabbit is a very tame quarry beside our swift and nimble game, whose snowy cotton iad . passes before one's vision like a ray of white light as it darts across the field in search of covert. The common have, or gray rabbit, as it is erroneously known, is the swiftest runner for a short race of all the wild animals, so far as I have had the oppor tunity to observe. 1 have seen it out strip a greyhound on a 200-yards race, but usually its spurt is over in that dis tance, after which it rapidly fails if close pursued. A certain class of sportsmen have given up hare shooting a? tame and uninterest ing, but I find that these are the men who u e 10-gauge guns and shoot aa ounce and a half of shot at a charge. With such a weapon the killing of hares is re duced to the level of killing pigs in a slaughter-house. It is all well enough for meat-getting, but there can be no sport connected with it. I was walking across a field of winter stubble with a sturdy Indiana farmer one day. I had my bow with me, and keep ing a starp eye out, soon discovered a hare bestowed Under a tuft of dry burdock. rutting my hand on the Putting farmer's arm. I made him halt. VYonder's a rabbit," I said, pointing toward it. He looked with all his eyes, but could see nothing. I showed him the burdock; he, could see that very plainly, but with all that I could do I could not shaw him the hare. "There's no rabbit there," he pre sently asserted, with utmost confidence in his own eyes and thorough contempt for mine "Te cain't fool nobody 'bout these parts, young man." Meantime I had fitted a heavy-headed arrow to my bow. I aimed with great tare and let drive. It would have been as good as seeing JelTerson in Rip Van Winkle could you have observed that farmer's surprise, nay, his utter astonish ment, when the hare somer.-aulted out of the burdock tuft and fell over dead. The man was speechless for a moment, and when finally he did get his" tongue there was a whole volume of eloquent eulogy and apology in his praise: "Well, I'll be dog gone!" When I was a child I used to view hare-hunts in Kentucky. The men would take their places around an area of covert and send negroes and dogs in to drive out the game. From my point of observation on some breezy hill I could see the whole proceeding from the rousing of the hares to the death. Among those stalwart sportsmen the rule was that if you used a shot-gun your charge was not to exceed sixteen pellets of 2s o. 15 shot; but the rifle carrying a ball of 150 to the pound was the common weapon. It was a picturesque scene, as I recall it, the white men most on horse back, the negroes on foot, all hallooing back and forth, the dogs mouthing musically, now and again the keen, whip-like crack of a rifle, , masters, servants and beasts all excited, and the 3tartled hares scudding for the lime stone clirfs whose clefts were their strong hold. I see this picture through a rift in the war; it is a part of thexdd, old South. There is no more savory viand than a saddle of young hare properly broiled and served with toast and butter, and washed down with well, coffee ; coffee is very goott indeed. Hares are so numerous in most of the Eastern United States that they may be found, as a rule, wherever there is a suit able covert; and even where nothing better than wheat stubble or a grassy hedge-row may offer them shelter by day they are not scarce. The amateur sportsman, though a bearer of a breech loader No. 10, will find this game ' noAe to j easy to kill, and he who uses a fide must be swift and sure or his bag wiil be very light. I find the best sport in stalking my game with a light sixteen gauge shotgun loaded with three drams of powder and a half "ounce of No. 7 shot. Of course the game is shot on the run. This, to be sure, is not considering the bow and ar row, which in the- liases of an expert are incomparable for hare shooting. Al though the hare appears to sleep with its eyes open, it depends more upon its ears than upon its organ of vision, and you must be light of foot if you wrould hope to take it unawares. When startled it springs from its form and rushes away with incredible rapidity. If you are not an old hand at the sport you will Ue startled by the suddenness of the appari tion, and your game will be gone before you have pulled yourself together and got ready to shoot. I saw a market hunter in Kentucky station himself in front of a cliff that was full of little caverns into which the hares of the adjacent fields always ran when put up. He had closed all these openings with fragments of stone and ha i sent his comrade into the fields to start the game. Without moving a rod from his station he shot four dozen hares in about an hour. I do not think he called this snort, exact! v. but ihi Cincinnati and Louisville folk doubtless enjoyed eating the excellent game he sold to them at live cents a saddle. The negroes of the iSouth are famous hare-hunters; they give "Brer Rabbit" small rest during the season when his flesh is good. In Alabama, last winter, I saw live men and eleven dogs assailing one wildly careering hare, whose only hope of safety was a dense sassafras thicket, which, I am glad to say, it reached: for. strangely enough, I always am on the side of the hare, save when I myself am the hunter. The time is not far distant when even '.he most fastidious sportsmen wiil be sjlad to have a chance to shoot hares. Almost every farm in the Middle and Western State, shows already the shin gle tacked to a tree with the inscrip tion : "No shooting on these nremises " x An Astonished Husband. A near-sighted man, who lives not far from Kingston, X. Y., had never worn 3r boked through a pair of glasses until short time ago. One day a peddler jailed, and, among other things, he d ered eye:glasscs for sale. He per maded the man to "try on" a pair. After the farmer had adjusted the glasses, he looked at objects in the room with astonishment. Finally his eyes rested upon his wife. He took a long took at her, aad then exclaimed : "Jane, Jane, I never would haye mar ried you if I had known that you was so jwmciyi" The Curse of Gold. There is a singular superstition in the mining districts of America that the discoverers of hidden treasures in the Vowels of the earth are sure to meet with a violent end. Many instances are from time to time adduced in support of the statement and go far to show that num bers of adventurers literally die in their shoes. The original proprietors of close on fortv successful mines have been ac counted, for in this way. Twelve were shot, three were ingulfed, while the rest disappeared ia tho cities of Dakota and New .Mexico rmd were never heard of af terward. Gcorsre II. Fryer, from whom the Fryer Hill .Mine had its name, com mitted" suicide in Denver. Two years b-fore his death he possessed $1,030,000; the expenses of his funeral had to be paid by the authorities. The discoverer of the'Standard Mine in California was swallowed up by an avalanche. Colonel Storey, another wealthy miner, was killed by the Pyramid Indians. Wil liam Fairweather, who brought to light the hidden treasures of Alder Gulch, came to his death by drinking and riot ous living. A yet more terrible end had William Farrefl in a hospital at Saa Francisco. He had disco vcrel the rich mine at Meadow Lake ; but hundreds of deceived gold-scekers surrounded his bed, " gnashing and grinning so horribly that he could not die." The owner of the Homestake Mine became a highway man ; one day he attacked a mail coach, but the attendants shot him dead. John Homer, of the Homer Mine spent his last cent and then put a bullet through his brain. "Doughnut Dili," "Old Eureka," "Ninemile Clarke' died liter ally in their shoes, being killed in saloon scuffles. Montana Plummer, who dis covered one of the richest mines in the w.orjd, and was sheriff for a time, died i y a o-allows. (lluinme.n & Journal. Gold Watches. Only a few years ago the owner of a gold watch was regarded a wealthy indi vidual. It is not so now. In fact, near ly everybody carries a gold watch or the semblance of one nowadays, and owners of silver-cased watches are just a trifle ashajned to expose them to view. The young man with a gold watch consults it frequently and ostentatiously, while the owner of a silver watch slyly takes it from his pocket, holds it well concealed in the palm of his hand, and glances at it under the shadow of his coat. A dealer says: "If your watch cost $150 a dozen years ago you can buy a better one for $100 to-day, and if it was a $10.0 watch then you would have to pay $60 or $63 for it now. Gold is just the same price per pennyweight now, but move ments are much cheaper. Watch move ments of standard American make are way down. Without mentioning any names I will tell you that the movements in common use in gold watehe3 of the cheapest grades are from $10 to $22 each and some of the best movements are worth at wholesale about $ 30 or $35. Of course, you can get the finest Ameri can movements iip in the high figures yet, but the best will not exceed $81, and you will not see one of them in a watch in a year. A . watch costing $30 at retail will probably have a $10 move ment in it. It will be cased in solid fourteen-karat gold if the dealer is giv ing you the worth of jour money, and the case will weigh from forty-live to fifty, pennyweights. That at present rates will leave him a good profit with which he should be contented. Eigh teen karat gold will cost the dealer twenty-six cents a pennyweight more than fourteen karat and it will be no advan tage to the wearer of the watch." Neu York Sun. Spectacles for Horses. A correspondent of the Manchester (England) Chronicle tells the readers of that piper some interesting circum stances in connection with a "good grey steed in his own possession." He came to the conclusion that this e pine friend of his was short-sighted. He " couldn't see a carrot two yards off," he te'.ls us. So he took the quadruped to aa oculist living ia the neighborhood," wb.0 maue the r.eee3:ary inspection and certified that the horse had a No. 7 eye, ard re quired concave glasses. The concave glasses thus indicated were obtained and buckled on to the head-stail. " The hprse seemed a little bit surprised," he says, "when I first put them on him, but his amazement rapidly gave wa f to demonstrations of. the keenest ph:; are. He now stands all the morning 1. :ing over the haif-door of his stable w - his spectacles on, gazing around him . h an air of sedate enjoyment. "When I take him out for a d ' ve," continues the veracious narrator, "he capers about as. frisky as a kitten; his manner is altogether changed from his former timidity, and he has got over a bad habit of shying which once troubled him." A week ago or two, however, he turned the animal out to pasture for a few days without his specs, and he at once appeared to be uueasy and uncom fortable. All day he hung about the gate. leading into the meadow, whinny ing in a plaintive minor key, until his master, seeing what wa3 the trouble, sent up to the stable for the head-stall. As soon as the spectacles were placed upon his nose, he was eo g'ad that he rubbed his master's shoulder with his nose, then kicked up his heels and danced down to the pasture in n paroxyism of deli ght. EtiqceUe of the a'lns. The etiquette of man varies greatly. A Briton shakes hands; there are Eskimo tribes who express their esteem for a vis itor by pulling his nose. We lake ofl ournats as a marie oi esteem: mere are other races who don their head covering in the presence cf a superior. To extend the fingers from the tip of the nose i3 an act which in this hemisphere is not con sidered a mark of personal respert. Yet, to "take a sighfis, in some parts of that empire on which the sun never sets, a proof of the highest good breeding. Even in the matter of gifts, the gulf be tween the ruler and the ruled is often very broad. A Chinaman and a Chinaman is, of course, anything but a savage locks upon a coffin as a neat and appropri ate present to an .aged person over whom the doctor is shaking his head, ard in the Malay i-lauds one friend sends to an other a toothbrush v.s the most delicate mark of consideration he can devise. London Stanford. Apples for Efiiiines. "Frofessor, did you ever use any dregs in the management of your horses?" "A good many years ago I tried oil of rhodium' and 'oil of cummin,' but 1 never could discover that any benefit was derived from either. I would rather have apples twice over than any drug that has ever been advertised. Drug3 have as vicious effects upon animals as upon in dividuals. For instance, I have tried morphine hypodermically on some vicious horses with excellent effect, 'while on others it has acted in precisely an op posite way. You can never tell how it will operate until you nave experimented, j which makes it dangerous." Time.-Jkm- ocrat. MEXICAN DISHES. WHAT THE or y WEALTHY PorijK E IDOE VT. Elating IJocs PrcservedJEntire and Other Dainties Some Natural 'Tfshes A Meiican House wife Making Dnler. Fannie B. Ward - writes from Mexico (hat not only the aristorrats, bat all -,iJ . . - i ? uirc that every dish, if it be ; fill of peas, be served as a standing, re .Ja,ca fn, wh?,, n rjt, must be provided, making the most common-place dinner a long rand ceremonious affair. Wine is always served with the substantiate, and coffee ,.: Art- tv, - T.To. 5,. r,,ic0 c, f,;nc : therefore vinegar. :ckles. etc.. end no place here but everybody has a " well developed ''sugar-tooth" and duL-ltx, (sweet-meats), are - in great demand. There is no end to the varieties of d-tler which a Mexican house wife will compound, from simple taffy to the most elaborate preserved or candied fruits, sauces, jellies and mar malades. Canning is unknown here, aucWt is not nee Jed in a summer coun try where, fruits are perennial. I have eaten ro-es preserved entiie, each deli cate, sugar-frosted leaf inta t upon the stem, making a conserve fit for a fairy; J 3 ' and everybody rose-leaves, like knows that preserved ; guava jelly, are common in trooical lard rs. Since stoves are s - i J . x. . f comparatively unknown and the. ef ore ; ovens are i noy , except thoase ponderous j affairs of adobe used by the b?cad- , bakers, pies and cakes are never seen in ! the vuUirvin . To be sure, there ! LitV 1 C j are various articles called cakes to v i Oe i found in a few French, bakeries, but they bear no more likeness to the cake which graces the daily tea-tab'e of every Amer ican than torlul'as resemble American bread. . . During my first year in this country I ! rtivni,! theer-vtomed edible l greatly missed the accustomed edibles, and foi'nd it extremely dirhcuit to sub sist upon diet so entirely new. One of my earliest experiences was to reside for four long months in a Mexican family who spokti no word of English and wsre entirely unacquainted with any mode of living but that essentially Mexican. They, were people of wealth and educa tion, exeedingly kind-hearted, hospi table and what is called "good livers." Four times, a day their table literally groaned under its burden of national de licacies ; jet I grew thin and thinner, and actually retired every night so downright hungry that I could have wept, if tears would have brought some good fairy with a 6lice of Yankee bread and butter ! Just fancy it Jour months without butter, tea, steak, potatoes, pie, cake in short, without anything to which one had been accus tomed, yet compelled to suffer the tor tures of Tantalus by being seated four times a day, an hour at a stretch, beside tables loaded with dishes one turned from in disgust. Suspecting the cause of my rapid loss of flesh, a sympathetic German friend, who resided near the border, seat me a huge, round loaf of jelly cake, large as a milk pan and de licious enough to gladden the eyes of any home-sick Yankee. It arrived in the forenoon, and, of course, I carried it, uncut, to my hostess, with a request to put it upon the table. But what was my surprise, on being called to dinner, to find that the usual menu had been set j aside in my honor, and the festive board bore not a single article except the big calve, cut in enormous slices. Well, we ntpp.nrl nte of if ShpT-e Vipin-r nothinrr else . to eat-and an hour or two biter there were i three sick children; whereupon the lady ; of the house, with her hand upon her I diaphragm, remarked that she though 1 1 the "American Pan Duler" (sweetened bread) not so wholesome as Mexican i food! In this family it was the custom at dinner to soup, or to other fresh haud: and ! molasses or curdled milk over the freioiea i which had been fried in grease and mixed- with onions and cheese. With them a favorite delicacy was young kid, esp.eciallv thebrains and head" When- ever cabesa de cabriia ( kid's head) was a dinner-dish there was great rejoicing among the youngsters and an expression nf rlpen-centerl s ii i -;f:irf inn rm.Ti tho faces of the ciders. The res of tlu msiKATi-rai!. .nrkf. mul thrust i.fr l:nif': t. l.nrk- nf tho fnrfhe-ul a.-nonino- nnt the brains and spreading .upon" hot tortillas for the clamorous children. One day the lady of the house who, by tne way. was a lovely worna, a devout Christian, a tender mother and devoted to her husband and home, accomplished, withal, for a Mexican "woman came to my room with the astonishing information that s.he was going into the kitchen to make some duler, inhonor of her eldest son's "saint's day," and wouldn't I come out in the course of an hour and witness her in t he act ? Certainly I would, and srladly. put iipe grapes into the 111 lcr!Tl .luVU0CK Jusl aoove lUf slice neaches into it, or any ' lron briU-e- "When that storm broke 1 every one of" them poureJ 1 -'wid. mid trusted in Providence. I ex- too, for when a Mexican lady condescends , struck upon Pot Hock and foundered, to put her dainty feet . and unacens- 1 Efforts have been made at various timcj tomed handsdnto ths servants' domain, j to ra-se the sunken treasure, and hinr'e. it is a household e ven!, by no means ; amounts of money hare been spent, with to be overlooked. Sol wrote a dozen ; out success. The fhiiish government in pages, to give her time to get well under j 17:M sent two brig-? to this cou -dry to way, and then repaired to the kitchen, ; try and tecure the treasure, and in .1810 which was'situated on the other side of j another unsuccessful attempt v.a3 made, the great casa, beyond the sunny court j Companies have been organized in tha ly yard, with its fiowers and fountain, its every large city in the Union for the pur- banana ana orange trees, at least an eighth of "a mile from my apar ment, though enclosed within the same adobe walls. There she sat fiat upon the floor, in the middle of the kitchen (.there being, as usual, no chairs), her round arms bared above the elbows, and her pudgy little hands immersed in some sticky compound, while no 1 ss than five ser vants ran hither and thither to do , her bidding, bringing a little more sugar, ' flour or water, stirring the coals in the brasier beside her, greasing tins upon whi-htodrop the duler when cooked, etc. Her beautiful da: k eye -. glared with the excitement of the occasion, and her husband .and brother-in-law, l oth men of middle age, one a celebrated physi cian, the other a d:gid ed judge, stood watching her with admiring pride de picted upon everv line of their swarthy countenances. . Fre.-eiitlv the children joined the group. r"c."eral neighbors dropped in to add t!ieir plaudits. soon tne innumerable dome-tic pets dogs, cats, pigs and parrots seemed to feel that something remarkable was in progress and shared the r-eueral excite ment. The duler turned out to he a sort ; of candy, made of white sugar and hour, resembling caramels when finished a feeble imitation of tho?.e which may be bought anywhere in the United States for fifteen cents per pound. That Dight the exhausted but triumphant lady re tired forest in the happy consciousness of a great achievement; and for the next week we had caramels for breakfast, dinner, supper, and ''between meals' The new iron railroad bridge across the Jlissouri River, a few miles below Kansas City, is 7,302 feet long and weighs 31,275 tonj. IIw Shot Are Made. Every person -who has walked about the lower part of New York must have iUUllCCU U ll'gil, IVUUU - o the roadway of the Bridge, which reara itself hig h above the surrounding tuuiu- ! ings, and has small windows at .different i jaces. This tower belotsgs to the Col- wtll Lead Company. The tower rises to a height of 17o feet, and is fifty feet in a ameier as ine oase. jliux?x f "TH? riT Jeet across at the top. Gn hfiiornt ia ps&fin hal for rastill2 as tUC lcad raust 10 descent, and thi assume a . sphencal shape. If , hot it would flatten whea it strikes the water 1Btohlth flls- The casting pans f, larSe .colanders, round pans with j - ho,f? pcnorated m the botwm. Jhc pasting 1S all done on the top floor, and - ; the colander is suspended over an open- n the llocr, wnich soes througn tlie entire height of the building to tne ! ground, where there is a we'd of water. ; The lead is melted in large kettles, and . is dipped out and poured into the col ander wifh ladles which have long : handles. It ooies through the holes in the bottom of the colander and falls through the opening to the ground floor i into the well. The shot is taken out of the well by small buckets fastened to an ! endless belt, which run3 over a wheel. i which carries it from- the well up to a long ' hot metal table. Here the i shot is constantly stirred by men with long rakes, and the heat rapid- 17 flisnela the mnisturo anil tbfi shnf. snnn , - , Tt . . . , .fl . . J . J . ? . J, y, ... : BUI IU3 Mi lilUIKS Willi UiUiUW UUClllUlTO b . set a is round and . , ,., ,v.,.i.i.. V. '.1U'J' ?kipp:iig the openings until it reaches a 1 . A . . "I i 1. 1 uox at me extreme enu, mio wmcu ii r ii.. tj? it. - - e a - a. ii iHiia. ii jt is jmnerieec ii cauuoi run fast, and falls into the openings, under which boxes are placed. The shot then goes to the "separators," which are a series f drawers, not unlike a bureau, V I " a - I machinery. The shot is poured into the upper drawer, which has an iron bottom perforated with holes of a certain size. The second drawer has holes of a smaller size, and so on down to the lowest drawer, the bottom of each drawer being perforated with holes of a size smaller than those in the drawer above it. The backward and forward motion throws the shot from side to side, letting all the shot the size of the holes or smaller pass' through into the second drawer, while all larger than the holes remain in the drawer. The same is repeated down to the lowest drawer, to that each drawer contains a smaller size of shot than the one immediately above it.' Clirisiiati at Work, A Skipper With a Charmed Life. There is a sailor on Lake Michigai. who seems to bear a charmed life. W7hen the fury of the gale is at its highest and the waves 'are swaying in a v ay thai threatens to engulf every craft upon them, he is in his element. He sails alone in a little sloop not thirty feet long, trading potatoes and apples be tween Sturgeon Bay and Manitowoc. He was out in the terrible storm that found ered the propeller Vernon, and came into port in the midst of it. He had been out in a hundred storms before, and j he lived tnrongh themm his little shell ! when staunch schooners went to pieces, , t but he declared that he had never been1 out in such a gale. , Teople who wit- nessed his coming into the straight-cut j at jv.anuowoc say tnac tne s loop was j at Manitowoc say tnat the sloop wa3 , l V 1 ' t wou,u. U184P- Pf? entirely and then bob up again, tin- I wivwiuppett irmn view ueiween me nexr lwV wa es. i ne oia man ne is seventy Ws of age was mighty glad to get mto !ort- . "1 woukln t have g yen half a dollar or my chances of living twenty-four "ours, he said to the throng of curious fl"5 crowuea urounu mm wnen Iee?u. io te wasued overooard every j- "-" jr-'"- ! ohody knows who . tne old man is. ! Apparently, he ha.3 neither kithn&r km. ' Iic 1,vcs sohtary and alone. lie bothers his hc:Xi abo,lt nobody, and nobody ! aa0Ht njm- When an inquisitive pc.son : ask hl3 name he replies that it is the same a that of h s bfiat, and when t pei son lootfs tor it ne huds the boat goes WliilOU, a name. 1 ilOUgll tlireC SCOTC years and ten,' the old man looks a giant ' i"bealih, as hew in stature His ruddy ! face aml 3 C0Iltra oMy with his ! gray beard and hxir.MdKau';ei Sentinel The Treasure Ship Hussar. In the earlier days of the Revolution ary war, the British war ship Hussai was sunk in tho Ea-t Tiiver, .New York. On board of her, at ths time, it is said there were five. million do. lars in gold i coin, wnicn were to be used in paying j thearmy and navy. On November 2 , 17S0. the Hussar, while ffoinjr throuirb ! the Sound on her way to Newport. J. I.. nose ol secur.ng tne wcaltn, but all nave faiied. In lyl?, Captain Thoir.a the inventor of the submarine armor, made an attempt, and he was followed by harles D. Pratt. Mr. Pratt te ured more than j &Dy of his predece sors, and was at work f until 13Jf', when he ab ind uie 1 the ; scheme. Mr. Pratt was succeeded by j The Frigate Hussar Company, which 1 spent large sums of money to no pur rpose. A number of people have been i ruined by being onnecte 1 with the en terprising ;nca who were confident -that they would be able to bring the treasure up from the bottom of the river. Work has been stopped on the wreck for a number o resumd a I - V VWi .AW 4 - J -rJ i- J M vS sin. A new stoelc enrap tiy has been organize:!, and more money is to be speat in making an cifort to dig up .- I tne ir;tisn j.:oid. Ine wealth ha? oeen j l. ie.i m niaay years, that it h doubt if it will ever be brought to the sur e. JJf.iw.Tcs'. fui fac A fiifo U3 of Ice. If the scare about disease germs in ice, whether exaggerated" or not, sha l tenu to ics-cii he use of k3 in drin':inc water, it wiil do a vat amount of ,ood. Bacteria are not llu only source ol danger in ice. The American habit for it is confined to this country of deluging the stomach with draughts ol iced-watcr, with the mea!s, is mewt per nicious. It retards digestion until the normal heat of the stomach is regained, and is a prolific cause of dyspepsia. If the water be placed in the refriger ator, or elsewhere in contact with thf ice or cold air, until it be cold enough to be agreeable, tnere will be no dangei from disease germs and less danger ol dyspepsia. 2ieu Turk World erarsbye Toe rudder, liela on as hard as I CLUIOUS FACTS., Peache3 were introduced into England from Persia in 1562. , A Russian miser learned to bark in, order to avoid the expense of keeping a watch-dog. N. Yarole, a surgeon ajid physician ol Bologna, is said to .have discovered tho optic nerves about 1G38. Pope Leo has received among hii jubilee gifts a woolen petticoat, worked by a' poor woman and -her crippled daughter. The apricot was first introduced into England, for cultivation, from Asii . Minor, about 1540, by the gardener ol Henry VIII. The Vggest tree in CdKfornia and it is a monster, indeed is' the "Keystom State," in tho Calaveras Grove. It ii 323 feet high and forty-five feet in cir cumference. The oldest piece of dated cabinet makers' work in the world is the thront chair of Queen Hatasu of the Egyptiar Dynasty, B. C. 1G00. It has been pre sented to the British Museum. A San Francisco man, who refused to -pay a bill of $336.50 for hvcnfy-twG nonrs' work put on his teeth, was sued bv the dentist for the amount. The' - court cut the charges down to $70, which the defendant willing paid. " The first silver cr.in struck in England was the ancient silver penny. Until the reign of Edward I. it was marked with a cross so deeply indented that it could be. --. easily separated into two for ha'.f-pence -. and into four' for farthings, hence the names. Pumpkins grown on tne Hudson nave a name in raised letters grown on each. The name is cut throush the skin whea they are growing, and as it heals up leaves a raised scar in the shape of "Baby Mine," "Dewdrop," "Jumbo, ' and other inscriptions. Great improvement has been made oi late years in the tools used for boring tunnels. In one month, recently, 430 feet were bored in the Cascade Tunnel in Washington Territory, which is the greates , distance ever accomplished in a single month in tunneling. Division of labor has been carried to such perfection in this -country that it ia - how possible, so it Is said, to make a complete sewmg machine in a minute, or sixty in an hour, a reaper every fifteea minutes, a locomotive in a day, and three , hundred watches in the same time. There is a printer with only one arm on one of the Los Angeles (Col.) dailies. His left arm is gone from the Very shoulder, yet with hid right hand the brave follow sets type at a remarkably rapid rate, mapy of his companions with two hands not accMljshing so much work daily. He prop his suclO' cm thft TftBfr Uft? the centre on an inclined plane, and ftVU it with remarkable rap;dity. Birds of the Bahamas. At Fish Key we found a large colony of the sooty terns, or "egg-bird," as the natives call them, just beginning to breed. This is a collection of wild looking rocks, rising ten or fifteen feet above the sea like a row of petriicd. sand dunes, which in reality they prob ably are, and covered with low shaib- bery, grasses, and vines. When & long way on we noticed the birds hovering- over the plare, and on lauding, their numbers increased until the air farabove i and around us fairly swarmed with the gliding forms of thh graceful tern, and the strange medley of their harh cries,- to ethcr ith the Chirring of .thousands of wings, was nearly deafening. They were nesting amid a tangle of shrubs three or four feet high, along a low, narrow ridge of one of the islands, a few yards from the water. Parting tne bushea aside, we could see the old birds sitting on their eggs, and caught with our hinds several which were snared in the vines as they attempted to fly. This tern resemble. a largo and' powerful swallow. It has a sharply-forked tail, snow-white neck and baa.d, while the rest of the plumage Is a dead black. They nest close together under the bushes, 1 tying a single egg on the ground, without nest of any kind. 'Their egg3 are ca-ily distinguished from any others which we saw, being white oi creamy and boldly spotted all over with umber and lil.ic. Even in these remote places the number of sea birds are being yearly lessened by the natives, who pcrsL-tently collect their egg . W 1 1 1. VI V 1. A J . V. .M.W . ........ ' ... - - " - reduced to a colony of a few hundred on Abaco, where, as 1 wai informed by an old fsoltlcr, they numbered thousand several years ago, and similarly the beau tiful tropical bird, which "is hunted chiefly for food, is being gradually exter minated. Cbse beside this key there was a small rock a few yards square, with scarcely a spear of crass upon it, which a party of the Wilson's t.ra held in undisputed possession. Their cone-tipped, olive green and spotted egg lay in twos and threes cn ta j bare surface of the lime stone. Uo'.h thi3 b rd aud the sma'ler edition of it, the least tern, which has similar ha'dts, arecalled "shanks" by tho islanders, while on the North Carolina c as; (where Ave found both specie? breed ing a non!h before) they are known to the I'shcrrnen a3 "great" and ''little stri'.ers." The Wilson's tern has a wide laugf, and is one of the most beautiful of a large and exceptionally str'king fam ily. It his a prominent-black. crc-t and coral-red bill and feet. Lie nuny of our most attractive birds, it is shot down each season to satisfy the widespread de mands of a barbarous fa-hiyu. its pearly w.ng, or as oft-n ai the whole bird, ii;:i Vllv much distorted bv th? milliner. mav be seen almost any day in the streets, pinned on to ladies' hats. i'oow'ar h i cmj Mjtdl.lj. Tho Orange Diamond. A large number of dealers and con hoisieurs were attracted to Foster's gal I.tv. Pall 11 all. London, the other day. when the new monster -gem that will be known among notable specimens of precious vtcne a.s tho Orange Diamond, earns .under the hammer for the first time. It wa-i the '..r-t lot olered for the day, an I was described as "A ir.ag. rhv ent colored -brilliant, weighing l lj caraVs ('.brai ten carats liOavi-r than the Koh--noon, mounted asa brooch, with a border of very large white bri.lianls."' The stone was found in the Crasge viv:r, and in of a decided orange hue. It v;a? c it in fiondoa and made into a brooch, being surrounded with a circle of sixteen large white brilliants. The appearance of the gem is striking. In stead of Fp'.rkliug and glowing, it seems to catch the light in large waves, which it .sends gliding and dancing over ita surface. It was jexamined with great in terest by those present; but when Mr. Foster attempted to find a purchaser no body offered a bid. As a tentative figure Mr. Foster suggested 5,000, which, amid discouragicg silence, he soon re duced to 3,0 JO and 2T,000. Waiting in, vain for a short time, Mr. Foster an- ! I nounced that there was no bid, so that ' the iewel would remain in the hand? of its present owner. , . i i r1 it