At last accounts the cost of the Pan
ama Canal had risen to $600,000,000.
This is evidently a humorous item, or
else the ditch is to be silver-plated.
When we speak of a "snail's pace" we
are in the dark as to the exact speed. It
has now been demonstrated by measure
ment that a snail can travel a mile in
fourteen days.
The law of Wyoming allows women
to vote. It goes still further. It espe
cially provides that there shall be no dis
crimination on account of sex in the pay
(or any kind of work.
Of the 300,000 immigrants who ar
rived in the United States last year, 6000
went south of the Potomac to reside.
The 6000, however, were first-class, as
the majority were either colonists or
skilled workmen.
One of the most rcmukable thefts on
record is reported from Whatcom, Wash
ington Territory, where a thief stole an
entire orchard, just planted, hiding his
work for a time by sticking willow
twigs in the holes where the fruit trees
had been.
A well known New York physician
recently said: "I vaccinate infants when
they are six weeks old. Until an infant
is vaccinated I donot allow it to go out
mto the air. There is more small-pox
in this city than people imagine, but
the fact is kept quiet."
The Baltimore American thinks that
if a man has a "reasonably well-shaped
mouth he should not wear a mustache;
the m:ne paper is authority for the state
ment that mustaches are less worn than
formerly, all of which will be hailed
with satisf?iction by the barbers.
Hannibal Hamlin is now the sole liv
rag ex-Vice-President. Four gentle
men are still living who have nominally
filled the office by virtue of being Presi
dents of the Senate Frry, Bayard,
Bhermanand Edmunds; but Mr. Wheeler
was the last with the exception of Ham
lin of those who held the position by
virtue of an election.
Few persons who brush away a bee
that is stinging them, know that if time
is permitted to the bee, he can extract
his sting from the wound and fly away
with it without injury to himself, where
as, if he is hurried, his sting is torn from
him, and he dies in consequence. Even
to save the life of a bee people would be
slow to prolong the sensation of being
Btung.
Louis Kossuth, the venerable Hun
garian patriot, says in a late letter:
"The burden of more than 84 years
weighs down my infirm shoulders.
Under this weight the body is deadened,
the soul stows blunted, life becomes a
itate of mere barren vegetating Man I
feels then like some time worn, moulder
ing ruin, which no longer assorts with
the world of the living."
So largely have the Chinese increased
in Hawaii that the island bids fair to b?
come a Chinese colony. All other popu
lation is decreasing, owing to the rava
ges of diseases induced by the vices of
civilization. The Chinese number fif
teen thousand and have alreadv rreat !
nnwpr .ni infln-nn, tk a, '
trious and economical, and these quali
ties give them a grip on every land where
they are allowed to come.
The late Dr. Hugh J. Glenn, of Co-
lusa County, California, was regarded as ,
the largest wheat grower in this coun- I
ry, with the possible exception of some
of the bonanza wheat farmers of Da
kota. He had 70,000 acres of land in !
Colusa County, and one could ride for
seventeen miles along the Sacramento
River without leaving his possessions,
He had 40,000 acres sown in wheat, and
in harvest-time a small army of men were
employed. It was thought when he
died, about two years ago, that the
great ranch would be split up, and
would thus afford homes to hundreds of
families; but the heirs decided to allow
it to remain intact, and this year the
manager of tho estate reports that fully
as much land is in wheat as during the
doctor's life.
Until one goes through the twenty -nine
examining divisions of the United
States Patent Office, and takes at least
a, glance at its 186 classes of subjects,
subdivided into 3000 sub-classes, tut
little conception can be had of the di
versified subjects of invention to be
seen there, or of the immense amount of
labor that must necessarily be bestowed
upon their examination before a patent
can be issued, as no part of a device can
conflict with somebody else's device.
The number of persons employed in
these divisions and the cost of examin
ing and "keeping the iua" of over 3000
sub-classes of devices, in round num
bers are: Persons employed, 263; cost
per annum of running the divisions,
$379,160. It cost for photographing
or otherwise producing plates of these
devices for the Patent Office Official
Gazette, for five years ending 1886,
$183,886.58, and for producing copies
of drawings of the weekly issues of
patents, designs, trade marks and pend
ing applications, and for the reproduc
tion of exhauUed copies , ,or the same
period, $368,872.13.
A correspondent says: 44There is som3
reason to believe, judging from the tone
of Novoe Vremya and other Rissian
journals, that the tax on foreign resi
dent in Russia, which these journals so
strongly advocate, may shortly be intro
duced by the government. A report is
current that this tax will be fixed at 150
gold roubles per annum, which makes
about 255 roubjes in the ordinary cur
rency, or about $125. The effect of
such an impost would of course be to
drive out of the country the more skilled
and industrious artisans cf foreign na
tionalities. Like the foreign passport
tax, it will act as another check to Rus
sia's foreign commerce."
A steam yacht is anexpensivi luxury.
Jay Gould seldom cruises on the beauti
ful Atlanta and more seldom has quests
aboard, yet she costs him $GO0O a
month. W. K. Vanderbilt haa made
one cruise in his new Alva to the Ber
mudas and has planned others and he
calculates that it will cost him at least
$10,000 a month to maintain his steam
pleasure craft. Wm. Astor keeps his
steam yacht, the Nourmahal, tied up
most of the time, and consequently he
gets off more cheaply $2300 to $3000 a
month. The most extensive and most
famous for its good cheer of all New
,York steam yachts is James Gordon
Bennett's Nurnouna. For twelve months
in the year he keeps her in commission
and hardly a week passes when her cab
in is not the scene of some lavish enter
tainment. Eutcrtainments, more or
less lavish, cost money, but how much
Mr. Bennett spends in that way will re
main a mystery. It is only known that
tbe sura total of actual expenses on the
Namouaa is $48,000 a year.
The Epoch says that in the summer
time, "the thunder storm takes its place
as a formidable agent for the destruc
tion of human life and property. The
multiplication of telegraph wires in
cities is doubtless somewhat of a protec
tion, at least it is comparatively rare
that any one is struck by lightning in ,
crowded towns. But in the country
houses and barns, even when guarded
by lightning-rods arc frequently the
target of the thunder-bolt, and people
who, from a foolish desire to escape a
wetting, take refuge under tall trees
especially when they are isolated, are
apt to pay the penalty of their rashness.
There is a proverb that 'lightning never
strikes twice in the same place. This
must take its place as among the falla
cious saws born of superstition. The
objects that off.T the electric fluid a
convenient track once are apt to perform
the same service a second time and it is
i
known that a building has been struck
u second and even a third time during
the same shower. It is one consolation
for those who mourn friends taken off
b? Atning H know that such eatb
is probably quite painless."
Nature is the Greatest Model.
Household ornamentation, in its de
signs, its meanings and effects, follows
closer on nature models than anything
else I know of, says L. Rcuard in the
Globe-Democrat. The most modern
designs in arrasene and other ornamental
fabrics are wavy lines. Nature seldom
5f ever made a straight line. Take for
instance the human countenance it is a
good model or guide; taking the nose
as a center, the eyes should be the same
Bize and equally apart, the forehead
the hair, and lower portions of the face
all should be equally proportioned from
that center; or, as the head is higher
than the shoulders, so the center of an
article of furniture should be the tallest ,
point, and the decorations arranged as
near as possible to the above proportions
in the matter of balance. . Blending oi
colors, too, is important in the selection !
of decorations, and the nearer we go to
nature in this also have we the most de
sirable and commendable selection. The
more I have investigated the more I am
convinced that nature gave U3 model?
which can not be improved.
Making a Speech,
A well-known stenographer in this
city was called upon recently by the
president of a certain political body and
requested to take a speech from him.
At the time appointed the reporter wen1
to the gentleman's office, and they look
ed at each other for some time, the sten
ographer waiting for his employer to be
gin his speech. The man stammered out
a few ideas and paused. He looked at
the short-hand man awhile, and finally
said: "You know better than I what 1
want to say. You are used to that kind
of thing, you know." That settled it.
The young man gathered up his blank
paper and strode out. The next day he
relumed with the speech written in type
writer's copy, and was paid the' sum
charged without a question,
phia C.ili.
rPhiladeh
According to Circumstances.
:,What influence has the moon on the
tide?" asked the new teacher. "De
pends on what's tied," replied the smait
bad boy, thoughtfully; "if it's a dog it
makes him howl, and if it's agate, it de
pends on who's trying to untie it. Mi
sister" and just then the new teachei
began to remember that all the formei
teachers in Birehhazd district had re
signed in the middie of a term. Bur-dett?,
Hope una Memory.
Why should it ba thit tue misty past,
Or the futureyet uneen.
Is dearer far to the heart, alas!
Than the present which lies between!
With every pulsa of the heart's red flow
Is woven a dream and a sigh,
For the happy days of the long ago,
And the glad sweet by and by.
There is a wisdom in nature's way
Which the doubting heart ne'er knows;
We !ive the best of our lives each day,
From dawn to their sunlit close;
For the bliss we tasted at youthful springs,
And the joys which are to be, '
Are brought each day on the gracious wings
Of Hope and Memory. ,
Nixon Waterman in the Current.
THE LOST DEED.'
BY ISABEL HOLMES.
"It's mighty queer about that deed,"
Reuben Hill was saying to his wife, as
he wiped the perspiration from his face
with his red, polka-dotted handkerchief.
"Nathan was so methodical like about
his papers and everything. It wasn't
like him to mislay it. But I have looked
through all the drawers of that old ma
hogany desk and among his other papers
fifty times, I guess. I know he meant
the Red Brook Farm for Oear, but if
that deed is never found I suppose his
own boys Mill take it."
Mrs. Hill was bending over thekitchen
stove with flushed face, for the day was
hot. The odor of fried ham filled the
air. She -stood back and looked at Reu
ben by the open window, with a medi
tative air.
"It is queer about it," she echoed.
"It will be mean enough if Osc tr gets
cheated out of a share in the property.
He worked faithfully for Nathan till he
was of &e, more faith full v than his own
boys, and Nathan thought so much of
him, too."
"And meant to do the square thing
by him," Reuben continued. "You
don't suppose Robert or Will had a hard
in"
Reuben interrupted himself to look up,
as a strange shadow fell across the
square of sunlight in the kitchen door.
A girl, a stranger, carrying a valise, was
standing there. Her comely face wus
flushed, and she seemed somewhat over
come with the heat.
Mrs. Hill looked at her with an en
couraging s mile. The girl stepped in
side the doorway in response to the
mute welcome.
"Don't you want to hire a girl at low
wages through the hot weather?" she
enquired abruptly.
"We lo our own work," Mrs. Hill
responded. "Our own girls, Addie and
Lottie, are both at home this summer.
Have you come far? You look heated.
Won't you sit dowu where it is cool and
rest"
"I have walked from Kcnnebunk this
forenoon," said the girl. "I am pretty
tired."
She sat down in the Madras-covered
chair by the open door. Her eyes
wandered around the kitchen as if she
recognized something familiar in the sur
roundings, although she was a stranger.
"You've come a pretty long stretch,"
R:ubcn volunteered, giving her a quick,
shrewd glance. He was apt to bo on
the lookout for strangers.
Mrs. Hill regarded her with the kind
mothcrlincss she felt for her own girls.
"You'll feel better after you have had
some dinner with us," she said.
"Just left a place, I s'pose," Reuben
commented.
"Yes," said the girl. She spoke with
a slight Scotch accent. She seemed a
little embarrassed with the question, and
lier eye3 wandered through the door to
the hired men coming up to dinner lroin
the hay field.
"I I had a pretty good place, but I
wanted a change," she said, bringing
,cr glance to bear upon Rjuben's face
bashfully.
"A girl ought to stick to a good
place," he ventured.
She made no reply to this "feeler,"
but something like a smile flitted over
her face.
"Sort of odd, I guess," was Reuben's
thought.
Mrs. Hill removed the "iizzlin"
spider from the hot stove, and taking up
the platter of brown slices of ham, she
said to the girl:
"Come in this way and take off your
hat." ' 3
The girl followed her into the cool
dining-room aad gave the same peculiar
glanc-5 around. Mrs. Hill set the platter
on the invitingly laid table and then
conducted the stranger into her own
bedroom adjoining, where the high
feather be-', stood, covered with a patch
work quilt of pink and white "basket
work."
"Just lay your things on the bed and
' comc right out to dinner," Mrs. Hil!
said. "Here's a little girl who wants a
place to work," she said to Lottie, who
just then came out of the tmttery with
a hu re apple pie, which she placed on
the table.
"Well, there's enough work to be
done here, dear knows," Lottie returned
brisk;y, with a friendly nod to the new
comer.
"There's
sewmsr
enough to
keep Addie busy six months, and that
spinning I don't believe you'll gel
round to it before Christmas. It takes
U3 both all the time to potter
round with the household. I do think
ours beats all the house in tho neigh
borhood to pile up work. Yet we are
always at it, late and early."
The hired men now came in and the
family gathered around the table. Oscar,
a tall, rather good-looking fellow, sat
directly opposite the girl. She was
looking around upon the assembled
faces with that strange look of half rec
ognition she had worn since she
crossed the threshold. She met the
eyes of Oscar suddenly. She colored
and kept her eyes ou her plate the rest
of the dinner hour.
In the atter-dinner conclave she gave
her name as Sara McKay. She had
come to the "States" from Princ3 Ed
ward Island about a year ago, and landed
in Portland, and found her way to
Kennebuuk, where she had lived in a
family ever since.
"I'd be willing to work for my board
awhile, it seems so much like home
here," she said.
"Well, you're welcome to stay and
help when you feel like it? Mrs. Hill
responded for her heart had gone out to
the stranger from the first. "We never
feel as if we cau pay wages in the house,
because we have to keep hired help on
the farm all the time. But you can stay
through the hot weather, and I dare say
a place will turn up for you before
long."
"I can spin," Sara said, eagerly. "All
the girls on the island learn to do that."
"I couldn't draw a thread to save my
life," said Addie.
So it was settled. The wheel and
reel, so common in our grandmothers'
days, were brought out and set in the
shed because it was cool. Sara, with
the fluffy "rolls" heaped high on a
chair back at her left hand , drew out
her thread ar.d filled the spindle rapid
ly, with a nonchalance and easy com
mand of the situation that won the
admiration of the jjirls, it being such an
unusual accomplishment among them.
A week we:t by. Sara was talkative
about her island home, but non-committal
regarding her reasons for leaving
the place in Kennebuuk.
"Whatever it means she's a good,
nice girl," Mrs. Li 1 said to the girls
privately.
R.'ubcn Hill still rumimated over the
'diNappearauce of the dec 1. Oscar came
into his meals quietly, having very little
to say at any time, lie had lived there
since the death of Nathan Hill, six
months bjfore. Once or twice he caught
Sara regarding him with a curious fixed
expression and answered her with a
,'rave look of inquiry that brought the
furious blushes to her face.
O.ie day S.ira had finished her dinner
and gone out into the shed, leaving the
family to rise, one after the other,
leisurely. The sft whirr of the wheel,
mingled withjifc murmur of insects in
the hot summer noon, reached the
dining room.
"It's queer how she happened to come
here," Addie remarked, reflectively.
"And she's so secret about leaving
her place," aided Lottie.
"Well, I do like to sec her round,"
Mrs. Hill said in her own placid fashion.
Mr. Hill, sroing out through the shed !
on his way to the big barn, stopped in
consternation. Sira was sitting on an
old red chest in the corner, in great
distress seemingly. lie gave one glance,
! then hurried back, and called sturtlingly
j through the kitchen door.
i 'Mother! girls! Cmie! Sara's in a
fi- !"
They came hurrying out with various
exclamations. Her eyes were wide open,
but unseeing. Her face was working
convulsively.
"Perhaps she's subject to .bini," sug
gested Mrs. Hill.
"Oscar," said M . Hill, tell Tim to
jump on the gray m ire and ride to the
corner for a doctor. Quick nowl"
Sara became quiet all in a moment.
"Don't send for a doctor," she said.
'Tm not sick."
Her eyes were still open and unseeing,
but her voice had changed, and was
falling upon their r ars in gruff, familiar
accents.
"Nathan's voice, if I ever heard it in
my life," Reuben told the doctor after
wards. "Don't you know me?" she asked in
that familiar voice. "I've been wanting
to come and tell you about the deed. I
have never been able to come before.
You've overlooked a secret drawer in the
mahogany desk. I: is close under the
bookcase. The deed is there. Go now
and look."
Like one dazed Reuben went up stair8
and searched for the secret drawer in
the old-fashioned piece of furaiture, a
combined bookcase and writing desk,
which had been removed there, -with
other things, after Nathan's death. It
must be confessed that he felt pretty
nervou3. How did Sara know about the
deed? It had never been mentioned in
her presence.
He returned. "There aiu't any drawer
there," he said.-.
"But there is," persisted Sara. "There
is a spring, the color of the wood, about
the size of a pin head, close under the
bookcase on the left of the writing desk.
Pass your finger nail over the surface and
you'll find it."
Reuben went again. It must be ad
mitted that he felt a thrill of supersti
tious fear.
He did as she directed, touched the
spring and the drawer flew open. Thert
sure enough, was the deed.
He went back to the group, who
greeted him with various exclamations.
Sara started, shivered slightly and
looked around upon the faces with see
ing, questioning eyes.
"What has happened?" she asked.
'Have I been asleep? I felt awful strange
the last I knew, and thought I'd sit
down on the chest a few minutes."
"You've been asleep, or something,"
Mrs. Hill said slowly.
Sara went to the wheel and, taking up
the thread she had left half twisted,
began spinning, with a rather shame
faced expression. They all looked at
her so strange, and Oscar's eyes seemed
riveted upon her.
"How did you know about the secret
drawer?" Rsuben asked, abruptly.
"Secret drawer?" Sara repeated with
a genuinely mystified look.
"You were in some kind of a trance, 1
think," Mrs. Hill said.
, "I thought you were in a fit," said
Addie.
"And I thought you were going
crazy," laughed Lottie, now that her
fear was gone.
Mrs. Hill explained about the deed.
Sara listened, then said deliberately:
"I never told you how I came to leave
my place. I thought you might think
it was silly. It was all on account of a
dream I had."
The group were listening breathlessly.
"I saw this house with the long piazza
and green blinds," she went on, 'Vne
big barn, with the great doors open, the
bee hives, your faces, everything just as
plain in my dream as I saw them when I
came that day. I thought I was to come
here to help some one. I didn't under
stand what it meant, but I awoke with
the feeling that I must come, whether I
wanted to or not. I had seen the long,
dusty road stretching ahead of me, and
the house and barn on the hill. When
I got there I was half frightened, but
you all seemed as if you had been ex
pecting me. You made me feel at
home."
"Strange," said Mrs. Hill, with a sort
of awe in her voice.
"Aunt Samantha would explain it,"
said Lottie. "She's been going to
seances at the corner lately."
From the day that the deed was found
Oscar began to show open preference for
Sara.
It was not until she became his wife
and they were living quietly in the little
house on the Red Brook farm that she
confessed to having seen his face in her
dream the plainest of all, and that
she had been told that she was to marry
him.
Ruben Hill is not quite such a hard
headed skeptic as formerly. lie has to
admit that there may be stranger things
in the universe than his philosophy has
dreamed of.
We give the facts, as they came
under cur notice, without pretending
to account for them. New York Mer
cury. The Writing of Modern Hymns.
Know that man? It's "William H.
Dune, and he makes $20,000 a year
writing hymns, or rather that's the roy
alty he gets, He is engaged with Fay
& Co., but in his leisure moments he
hunts around and finds a touching bit of
poetry and he works it into a hymn.
Oil, it's a paying business; beats any
kind of writing I ever heard of, but it's
not everybody that can catc.i on to tha1
sort of a style. It's harder than writing
variety songs or evenLulger stories or
detective yarns of blood and thunder
romances. You see, a man must have
some of the divine j'ffi Uus mixed wjtfr a
good deal of piety in order to be a suc
cess as a hymnologist. He lives in a
fine residence on Mount Auburn and
some time ago he had a failing out with
John Mitchell something about a
boundary line. They got the matter in
courts, when Mitchell said he'd fix him, so
he erected a long row of three story bricks
right adjoining. He said he was going
to put up a hundred, but he only got as
far as seventy.- Cincinnati Inquirer.
Laf lyette's Land.
There have been numerous inquiries of
late as to whether Lafayette ac
cepted a township of land tendered him
by the United States uoveniment, and
if he did accept it, when- is the land
located. These inquiries have brought
out a statement of one who was a deputy
surveyor in F r da, who says that after
completing thj urvey in 1825 he re
turned to Tallahassee, where he met
Col. McKee, who had been sent there as
the agent of Gen. Lafayette, then on a
visit to the United States. Col. McKee
was commissioned to select the pre ffered
township, and he chose one adjoining
and northwest from Tallahassee. It is
presumed that the land has long since
been sold off.
What He Caught.
"Fishing yesterday, eh?" queried Wig
wug. 4 Yes," replied McPeiter, hoarsely.
"You brought your catch home this
time?" facetiously.
'Yes, and I've got it yet."
"What was it?"
"A cold the worst I've had this sea
son. Free Press.
nTJ A DT "t? CJ TT "
Attorney and Coiinsellor-at r f '
Washington, N. fj. f . g
Special attention paid to tolect
claims.
Office in Court, House.
f t
JOHN H. SMALT
Attorney-at-Law.
Washington, q
Office ou .Market Street.
E. S. SIMMONS.
a.iorney axiu uLuiseiior-at-JJ
A J . J f) 11
Washington. tf. C.
Office on Market Street, near Court
W. B. RODMAN. W. D. UODMAX, jj
W. B. RODMAN &
Attorney-at-Law,
WASHINGTON, N. c
J. B. ROSS,
TAILOR
Good Fit Guaranteed.
Repairing done at shortest notice a:-
at reasonable rates.
Thanks for past patronage and hope i
will be continued. 7:i:
DR. H. SNELir
Surgeon Dentis
Washington, N. C.
AH Work Executed at Short
Teeth Extracted by tbe Use oi
Gas Without Pain.
Bank in g House
OF
C. M. BROWN,
to Street, WsiingtoiiJ.C.
Collections solicited and remittance
made promptly.
"Exchange bought and sold.
Any One Wishing to Place
A
Monument, Tomb-Stone,
OR
MEMORIAL
Of any kind at the grave of a deceased
friend, will find it to their advantage to
call on the undersigned, -who, represent
ing one of the largest monumental works
in the United States, is prepared to fur
nish any style of monument or head-stone,
at the lowest possible price.
For proof of workmanship, elegance o!
design, &c, see the many handsome speci
mens in the churchyards of this town.
All Work Guaranteed.
R. G. MONTGOMERY,
4:10:ly Washington, N. C.
Where tlie Presidents are Buried.
The burial-places of our President6
are widely scattered. Wa shington lie
at Mount Vernon ; the two Adamses ars
buried under the old church at Quinsy,
Mass.; Jefferson rests at Monti cello:
Madison's grave is at Montpelier, net
far from Monticello ; Monroe's remains
lie in the Richmond Cemetery ; Jack
son's grave is in front of his old resi
dence, ''The Hermitage ;" Van Buivu
was buried at Kinderhook ; Harrison at
North Bend, near Cincinnati; Polk at
Nashville ; Taylor's remains are near
Louisville ; Fillmore lies in Forest LaQ
Cemetery, Buffalo; Pierce was buried at
Concord and Buchanan at Lancaster:
Lincoln's grave is near SprinctfeM
Johnson's at Greenvile, Garfield' at
Cleveland, Grant's at Riverside auJ
Arthur's at Albany.
. There are twenty persons whose
o colleges in this country aggregate ove
23.000.000. Three of these Stepbeo
I Slirard, Johns Hopkins and Asa Packer
I rave over $14,000,000.
33rs.ta
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