Allen County Independent from Iola, Kansas • 1

Allen County 13 nn JUL. J3L 1). C. YOUNG, PuTblisher. IOLA, KANSAS, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1879.

VOL. 4. NDEN PITH AD POINT. The doctors say that sealskin is un it's a little potheen that the boys have buried." But I cut him short, and insisted that he should assist to exhume and open the box. Seeing 'that I was determined, ho tt length set to work, but he was so slow, and evidently so unwilling, that at length my patience got exhausted.

I took the spado from his hand, inserted it in the crevice upon which Shawn had been working, and with one powerful wrench forced off tho lid. both recoiled in horror the box contained a corpse! After tho first shock" of tho discovery was over, I looked again, and my dismay increased tenfold, "Why, Shawn," I exclaimed, "if it isn't" "Yes, in troth," broke in Shawn; sure enough it is." And we both stared into the box again. In order to explain the strango circumstance which enabled me to recognize this corpse, I must chronicle events which took place several weeks before I exhumed it. ii. On tho fifteonth day of February tho annual winter fair was held at Porta- CHRISTMAS PRESENTS.

Some t'ncf ul Hint for the Holiday Season. The art of giving and receiving presents is not an intuition. People may make a great failure of it, oven with a purse full of money. And yet there are few moro charming sensations than that of buying a present and of receiving oho, especially when it is bought in that royal spirit which has no other idea than that of spending every cent wo can spare, and received in that spirit of conspicuous enjoyment which marks a frank andJiberal nature. Every body with a few dollars to spare gives a present at Christmas.

As a method of expressing the good-will which the season represents, it is moro in consonance with the refinement of our ago than the boisterous effusion of earlier epochs. But it is so hard to know what things are suitable to give, and this is particularly the case where tho recipient is to bo a father, brother, or lover. Gentlemen do not care for the petty trifles and decorations that delight ladies and as for real necessities, they are very apt to go and buy any thing that is a convenience just as soon as it is discovered. Knickknacks, articles of china, are generally useless to them they do not know where to put them or what to do with them. We saw a gen For the imaginative faculty is tho pro-cursor of tho understanding faculty tho mind must bo formed before it can 'be filled, and imagination is tho creative power.

Wouldst thou plant for eternity," says Carlylo, plant into the deep faculties of man, his fantasy and his heart. Wouldst thou plant for a year and a day, then plantin his shallow faculties, his self-love, and his arithmetical understanding." Still it would bo a dull Christmas if all tho children sat reading Christmas books; therefore buy them plenty of playthings; as before said, they are" tho alphabet of life. Much of tho existence of three-year-olds consists in raids and recoveries of toys. A child who can not tako care of his toys in babyhood is likely enough to fail in more important things in after-life, whilo the little ones who can keep their own, and have no objections to those of others, who can play with them cheerfully, and are not too curious about what is below the surface, have already in them the elements of successful men and women. Harper's Bamr.

A Child's Leap from a Train. A lady and two children were en route from Kansas City to Staunton, Va. The youngest was about 1 year of age, and, while its mother was asleep, it crept back to a roar scat, and, climbing up to an open window, leaned out. A sudden jar of the train happening at the time, caused it to fly out of the window unobserved by any of tho passengers, whoso faces were all tho other way. The train was near Parkcrsburg, and the mother happening to awake a moment afterward, discovered her loss, and a search through the car failing to reveal the infant, she became frantic, with grief.

The passengers all enlisted in the search, and, surmising that the baby had fallen out, tho train was instantly stopped, and a largo crowd walked back, and at a distance of at least half a mile discovered the lost one sitting on a pile of brush, where it had alighted, crying lustily. The joy of tho mother in beholding her baby safe was truly pathetic, and brought tears to the eyes of men who were probably not used to shedding them. Upon close examination it was found that the child was totally uninjured, with the exception of a slight bruise on its head. It was a happy party that walked back to the train. Wheeling Sunday tender.

The corps of skaters, a force peculiar to the Norwegian army, has been lately reorganized, and consists now of five companies, each of 110 men, which in tub ran way cow. The lino of her hide wu a (IiihIcv brown, Heir body was lean uml hor neik wuh slim, One horn turned up and tbu other down, Slie wiih keen of vIhIoii mid long of limb Willi a Unman noun and a short stump tall, And ribs like the hoops of home-made pull. Many a murk did bej old body wear; isho had been a target for nil things known; On ninny a soar tho dusky hair Would grow no wore whoro oneo It bud grown: Many a piiHHionato, parting shot Had lcti upon her lasting spot. Many and many a well aimed stone, Many a hilrkliat of goodly size, And many a cudgel swiflly thrown. Had broifclit tlm tears to hor bovine eyes; Or had bounded otf from her bony buck, With a noise liko the sound of riiiu crack, Many a day had she passed in the pound, For helping herself to her neighbor's com, Many a cowardly cur and bound Had heen tnmsll.xcd on her crumplod horn; Many a tea-pot and old tin pail Had the faruior boys tied to hor timo-wom tnU.

Old Peacon Gray was a pious man, Though sometimes tempted to be profane, When many aweary mile lie ran To drive her out (if his growing grain, Sharp pranks she used to play To get hor 1111 and to get away. She knew when the Deacon went to town, She wisely watched him when he went by He never passed her without a frown And an evil gleam in each angry eyo Ho would crack his whip in a surly way And drivo nkmgiu his one-horse shay," Then at his honiestend sbo loved to call, Lifting his liars with her crumpled horn; Nimbly scaling his garden wall, Helping herself to hisstanding corn, Eating his cabbages one by one, Hurrying home when her work was done. Often the Deacon bomoward came, Humming a hymn from the house of prayer; His hopeful heart in a tranipiil frame, His soul as calm as the evening air, His forehead as smooth as a well-worn plow, To lind in his garden that highway eow. His human passions were quick to rise, And striding forth witli a savage cry, Willi fury blazing from both his eyes, As lightnings Hash in a summer sky Itedder and redder his face would grow, And after the creature ho wouldgo. Over the garden round and round, Breaking his pear and tipple trees; Trampling his melons into the ground, Overturning his hives of bees; I-eaving liiin angry and badly stung, Wishing the old cow's neck was wrung.

The mosses grew on the garden wall, The years went by with their work and play, The hovs of the village grew strong and tall, And the gray-haired farmers passed away One bv one as' the red leaves fall, But tho highway eow outlived them all. All earthlv creatures must have their day, And soino must have their months and years Some in dying will lonffdolny. There is a climax to all careers. And the hignway cow at last was slain In running a race with the railway train. All Into pieces at last she went, Just like the savings banks when they fail; Out of the world she was swiftly sent, Little was left hut her old stumpy tail.

The fanners' cornfields and gardens now Are haunted no more by the higway eow. had stopped the courso of justico and came forth. "Good God!" I exclaimed, recoiling upon Shawn how did this happen?" lie was just wulkin' along the street, yer honor," said Shawn, quietly, "when he fell, and laid his head down and died." Murdered "Oh, (iod forbid! yor honor; what for should ho bo kilt at all, at all?" Nevertheless, I felt convinced that my supposition was right; nay, moro, I believed that I could point out the very man who had done tho deed. That a murder had actually been committed could not be proved on the spot, but tho mannor of tho man's death was so peculiar as to call for a Coroner's inquiry and a post-mortem examination. The body, therefore, was at once removed to tho inn, and several hours after its removal tho two principal doctors of the town were on their way, armed with the implements necessary for their work.

On their arrival at tho inn a novel scene awaited them. The people having at length solved tho meaning of the awful words "postmortem examination," had risen up in arms, and declared that no such desecration of the dead should bo allowed. Before Toney Monnaghan became a land-agent he had been one of themselves, and though ho had been a little hard upon them of late, there wasn't one man among them but would raise his voice against having tho poor boy's body cut up like a beast's. The conse-quenco was a riot. Tho police were overpowered, the doctors sent packing, the inn taken by storm.

For two nights the body lay in state, being waked by its wild comrades. At tho end of that time the authorities, only too eager to bring matters to a peaceful issue, allowed it to bo quietly buried. As the grave closed above it, popular excitement seemed to die away. But if the people were satisfied, the authorities were npt. Every body believed that a murder had been committed, and that the subsequent riot was only an effort to prevent the discovery of the murderer.

No sooner, therefore, was the unfortunate man buried, than the doctors received an order authorizing thorn to exhume the body and make a post-mortem examination in secret. One night, two nights after the funeral, they set out on their mission with hopeful hearts. It was bitter winter weat her. The night was black dark the ground was frozen hard, and thickly covered with snow. Making straight for the grave-yard, the doctors employed themselves in opening up the grave.

For several hours they worked with pick-ax and spade at last they came upon tho collin, raised it up, and opened tho lid. It was empty! At this piece of audacity on the part of some persons unknown, every body was more amazed than ever, and again came the conviction, stronger than before, that murder had been done. But try as they would, they could discover nothing. The whole county was thrown into a tumult, and popular excitement was at its height when I unwittingly solved the terrible secret by finding the body iu the bog. in.

Having sworn Shawn to secrecy, I assisted him to re-inter the box, and forthwith sent word of tho discovery to the magistrate. The box was at once removed, the post-mortem examination concluded, and the discovery made that the unfortunate man had died of heart-disease. Again every body was amazed, and this time the wonder was mixed Improvement In "Sweets." Twenty-five years ago a littlo girl who was very good and minded her mother occasionally had a cent to spend for candy, and Fourth of July and Christmas brought her a quarter or a half pound of confectionery and, with tho help of occasional raids on the sugar-bowl and a bit of frosted cake now and 1 then, sho considered that hor wants were all supplied but the small girl of to-day expects pound boxes of all kinds of choice dainties at short intervals, and thinks that the person who gives her a cent means to insult her. It must be said in defense 'of tho modern littlo girl that tho candies are a great deal nicer and more tempting than they used to be in the days when peppermint stick, and lemon braid, cream, lobster, and rock candy were tho staple sweeties, and all the fair possibilities of chocolato were unknown. Even peppermints, which used to bo about the size of a dime, and not strong enough to keep one awake through a whine sermon, even when one's grandmother permitted one to steal all that one wanted from her pocket, have now developed into great disks that make more than one mouthful, and are strong enough to keep a Congressman awake through an all-night session.

Children who liko candies that will last" buy the imperials, little colored pebbles almost as haid as adamant and fiery flavor, whether it bo cinnamon or cloves. Girls with old-fashioned mpth-ers, who think that molasses is healthier than sugar, have their choice between candy precisely like that which confectioners used to sell fifty years ago, and Boston chips, and molasses cream candy, which is brittle and very light-colored. Theso are the candies that content littlo girls until they begin to go to school andto feel social cares pressing upon them, and the necessity of outshining some one else weighs down their young spirits. Then they come home and demand gum drops, and condemn the mammon-worshiper who substitutes gelatine for gum-arabic, and tries to deceive them. They are clamorous for taffy not only the plain squares, but the vanilla cream taffy, and Everton taffy, and the little pink square drops containing walnut meats, and the almond taffy; and they soon manifest a nice appreciation of the comparative merits of peanut, almond and English walnut candies, and look with pitying sorrow upon the uncle who asks them if one kind of nut candy be not as good as another.

Still, after acquiring all this knowledge, they realize that there are loftier heights for them to scale, and they envy the grown-up sister who now and then gives tiieni dainties of which they do not know the names, and who seems, to their childish eyes, to live in a rain of The most delicious and most expensive of the things to be found on the confectioners' counters are the crystallized apricots, figs, amber and green limes, pears and green gages, and most of the persons who buy them select them almost piece by piece, making up their boxes to suit themselves. The fashion of doing this lias come up within a few years, and the confectioners who first allowed it made largo profits and greatly increased a demand for tho better class of canities. A customer flits from jar to jar and case to case saying, Give me this, and this, and this," until she can see nothing else that she wants, smiles a little when she is told how much the whole weighs, and pays for a pound and a half of candy instead of the pound that she meant to buy. Sherbet candy, made up of three thin, lozenge-shaped layers of sugar, differing in color and healthy. Bless them Now if they can be induced to say the same of six-button kids, point lace, and a few such trifles, coming generations of married nion will rise up and call them blessed.

A FASiiiONAiii.E garment can now be made by taking your husband's ulster, dyeing it brown, cutting off tho breast pockets, gathering it behind and sewing ten cents' worth of black ruching around the neck. With one of theso on, middle-sized woman can sail into a five-cent store with tho air of a Duch ess. rViw.a Ic 4l.rt nrav ill a mlH-fil nf finft of our New England, contemporaries gets even with a rival "A dispatch in forms us that the latest styles of gentlemen's shirts are of black cambric, with small white snots. All. then, that our editor friend will have to do to be in the fashion will bo simply to tako a piece of chalk and make spots on ms sum.

ia tnbl t. ii. nlnrffviiifin that inn olvi after preaching an interesting sermon on tho Kocogmtion oi menus in neav-en," he was accosted by a hearer, who owl ti liked that sermon, and I now wish you would preach another on tho recognizing ui jmujiic nun heen attending vour church threo years, and not five persons in the congregation have so much as bowed to me in an tnat tiiuo. MAUD MUI.LF.Il. Maud Muller, on a winter's diiy eni out mion vnu luu iu iiinj Beneath lier Derby gleamed her locks 01 red bunged liuir, and her crimson socke.

She straddled about from ten to two, And then hole in the Ice fell through. On the bottom of the pond she sat. As wet and mad a half-drowned rut. A mnri with ft liiekorv nolo went there, And llshed her out by her auburn hair; And her mother Is said to have thumped her Though Just how hnrd Miss Maud won't tell And hunpr her over a stovepipe to dry, With her thumb in her mouth and a list In her eye. Alas for th maiden nlns for the hole And 'rah for the man with the hickory pole 1 For the truest words of tongue or pen Are, A skating girl's like a neatness The Swift Witness.

Tom Gains was what you call a swift witness. When Tom was lor a teller ne was for him all over, and he was so friendly and confiding the Judge didn't know what to do with him. Last court Lawyer Branham put Tom upon the stand to prove that a drinking man couldn't remember what he did when ho was drunk. Tom had taken about two drams that morning and was feeling splendid. He swore straight out that lie couldn't.

The didn't like that. He didn't like witnesses who were so willing and familiar, and so he put a few questions to Tom from the bench. Mr. Gains, weren't you drunk yes terday They say I was, your nonor. And you don't remember it?" It's sorter like a dream, your Honor but I do remember I was awfully sick last night." "flow aro you now, ivir.

uainsr "I am tolable well, I thank you, Judge; how do you do, yourself?" and 1 om bowed humbly, for lie thought tho Judge was kindly inquiring after his health. When the Sheriff had quieted the gen eral hilarity, the Judge said: "Mr. Gains, you were drunk yesterday, which was Sunday. Now, where did you find your whisky?" "111 me jug, juuge ngui iu uiu lug." well, sir, wnere was uie jugr "Under the fodder-stack, Judge; I always keep it there or in the shuck pen; and, if your Honor ever passes that way, it's a free thing to" Mr. Gains, you can retire, sir.

believe you are the same man who about thirty years ago testified in this Court-house that Jim vvuiung bit nis own ear off." They say I did, Judge, but you know I was drank, and of courso I don't remember. You was defendin' Jack Boozer for biting off Jim Wilkins's ear, and you told me that in the scrimmage Jack shoved Jim up agin the sharp edge of the door and the door cut it off but you see, Judge, I got drunk and forgot what you told me, and I s'pose I did swear that Wilkins bit his ear off him self; and it wasn't so onreasonable nohow, for he had the awfullest mouih that ever was seed didn't he, Judge?" "Mr. Gains, I told you to sit down, sir. Mr. Sheriff, give me the names of those gentlemen who are so hilarious I'll see if I can't stop their merriment.

Brother Branham, put up your next witness." Bill Arp, in the Detroit Free Press. The Andiphonc. Enough was accomplished at the public exhibition of tho audiphone in this city, November 21, to show that we have in it an extremely promising aid to those afflicted with defective hearing. It is quite possible, too, that it is the leader in a line of invention which will ultimately enable the mute to speak as well as the deaf to hear. Tho instrument is simply a thin plate of vulcanized rubber shaped like a Japanese fan.

AVhen in use it is. curved to give it the requisite tension, by means of cords attached to the outer edge of the fan and fastened at the junction of the handle. When the top of the fan is placed against the upper teeth the impinging sound waves create a sensible vibration which is conveyed through the teeth and the bones of thelace (or possibly by the dental nerves) to the auditory nerve. With a little practice the sounds thus received are interpreted the same as if they reached the nerves of hearing through tho ear and thus the deaf are made to hear more or less distinctly, provided, of course, that the auditory nerve itself is not defective. Experiments aro being made with a class of deaf-mutes to determine whether such nnfortunes can be taught to speak by the use of this invention, a result strongly indicated by the results thus far obtained.

In any case the audiphone seems to mark a decided advance upon tlH old-fashioned tar-trumpet. American. clare. The anticipation of this day al ways areated a good deal of excitement in tho minds of tho peasants in and around Storport, for it was always constituted a sort of gala day but tho an nouncement of the fair of lbw Drought with it whisperings of woe to many a iiome. i he crops hau been baa that year, ana tho miserable halt-starved tenants had been unable to scrape to gether enough money to pay tho rent, so the l'roctor had summoned them to attend the sessions at l'ortaelare in order that they might show cause why they should not deliver up tho whole of their worldly goods.

On the eventtul day, which was ush ered in with hurricanes of blinding sleet, I ordered Shawn to bring out the horse and car, that we might drive into l'ortaelare together. By tho time we started the hail had ceased to fall, but still the wind blew bitterly, freezing wit its icy breath the little pools on the way-side, and when we drove into l'ortaelare 1 felt almost as if my blood was frozen. It was mid-day by that time, and, save for one or two decrepit old men whom we had passed on tho road, we were the last to arrive. What a gathering there was! The streets of the little town were so crowded that it was almost impossible to make one's way along. In the market-place bevies of rosy-checked' servant-girls stood waiting to be hired pigs grunted and squealed as the drovers whipped them along the shop-keepers stood at their doors shrieking to the passengers to buy the agent sat in the cozy parlor of the inn comfortably en joying his glass of wine, gazing with a smile into the wild woe-begone laces oi the creatures whom he had summoned thither, and determinedly shaking his head at every heart-broken appeal, Don't come to me," he said I'm done with ye a lot of lazy spendthrifts as ye are.

Ye'll go before them to-day as '11 make ye pay." I sat in a remote corner of the room, and quietly watched tho wretched creatures who crowded around the man; their wild eyes, their famished faces, their trembling bodies clad in the dirty rags which were their solo protection from the cold. And as I glanced from them to the frozen window-panes, and tho sleet which fell, covering with a thin crystal sheet the curb-stone of the street, my heart turned sick. roor.miserable, halt-starved wretch es I thought, most of you will have sore hearts to-night, for you will lose yoiir little all, God help you and there will be nothing but starvttion iett." Heart-sick at the sight of so much woe which I was utterly powerless to relieve, I arose and was about to leave the room, when my eye vvas suddenly arrested by a figure, ragged, wild, and woe-begone, which crouched close up by the window. Five piinutes before, I had seen this man crouched like a stricken boast before the agent, his skeleton hands outstretched, his parched lips suing for mercy. For the love of God, Tony Man-naghan, niver be hard on a poor boy," he had said all my potatoes had the black disease this year, and they rotted in the ground.

My pig took the sickness and died. I have two little children down wid a fever, and if ye take away my cow, I'll have no dlirop of milk to give them, and they'll die!" This appeal, heart-breaking as it was, had met with the usual repulse. Don't bring yer lies to me. Ye'll go before them as'll make ye pay." So the man had crept back into the shadow, and as I saw him crouched lie-side tho window, I noticed that the piteous look of appeal had left his face; his features were strangely convulsed, his wild eyes gleamed, and his hands clinched and unclinched in nervous dread. "That man means mischief," I said, as I passed out into the street.

At 2 o'clock the tenants' cases were to be called on, and as the hands of the clock approached that hour I made my way through the crowded street, in the direction of the court. The wind blew bitterly, thin flakes of snow were falling, and as I walked I felt the ice breaking and cracking beneath -my feet. I noticed, to my wonder, that tho streets through which I passed were almost deserted. Presently a succession of moans and cries struck upon my ear then I noticed that people were running excitedly, and, following the direction which they took, I at length found myself on the outskirts of a great crowd, which was collected in the principal street, before the open door of the court. Seeing my own servant amongst the throng, I questioned him as to the cause of the.

excitement, for I noticed that many of the people were wringing their hands, others moaned feebly, while others glared around them with wild eves, and then seemed to utter sighs of relief. Instead of replying to my question, Shawn took me by the shoulders and gently propelled me into the middle of the throng. Then I saw the cause of tho disturb ance. Lying on tho curb-stone, his head sup ported in the arms of a policeman, his face open to the wondering gaze of hun dreds of eves, was tho stone-dead Ilis body was surrounded by policemen- warders of the court nay, at the cry of murder the very Judge upon the bench tleman last Christmas receive from his niece an inkstand Ju the shape of a dog's head. To use it at all was to lift off the half of the head, and make a mon strosity of it.

Even if a person could persuade himself to sit and write before such an object, it held so little ink as to be practically a great trouble, and he would gladly have exchanged the thing for tho commonest common-sense inkstand. Another lady gave her brother a carved hunter whose quiver held a low wax matcnes. ui course a box of ordinary lucifers would have been far more convenient. Books are tho most unexceptionable of holiday gifts; but there is always the danger, in choosing standard works, that the recipient may have it already, in his favorite binding, in his own library. It should be borne in mind, moreover, that men prefer books substantially bound in sober morocco or calf to the dainty, fanciful volumes which tarnish in the first reading.

Then, again, a lady can not give a gentleman a gift of great value, because he would certainly feel bound to return one still more valuablo, and thus her gift would lose all its grace, and retain only a selfish commercial aspect. What, then, shall sho give? Here is a woman's advantage: she has her hands, while men must transact all their present-giving in hard cash. She must give something that represents her own life, and breathes of the qualities and tastes of the giver. She can hem some tine handkerchiefs gentlemen always want handkerchiefs and in order to give them intrinsic value, if their rela tionship warrants such a favor, she can imbroider the name or monogram with her own hair. If the hair is dark, it has a very pretty, graceful effect, and the design may be shaded by mingling the different hair of a family.

We knew a gentleman who for years lost every handkerchief he took to his omce at length his wife marked them with her own hair, and he never lost another. Such gifts are made precious by love, time and talent Do not give a person who is socially your equal a richer present than she is able to give you. She will be more mortified than pleased. Between equals it is often an elegance to disregard cost and depend on rarity, because gold can not always purchase it. Still, between very rich people, presents should also bo very rich, or else their riches are set above their friendship and generosity.

Never refuse a present, except under very peculiar circumstances. However humble and valueless the gut, accept the good-will that dictated it. Acknowledge the receipt of a present without the least delay, but do not follow it by an immediate return it would impart to the gift an appearance of investment or No person should give a present who is apt to retain a lively memory of her own munificence. Whatever the re ceiver feels, the donor must not remem ber it as an obligation. It takes as lib eral a nature to receive as to give not to show hesitation, not to be churlish, and think immediately of having to give one in return, not to be sensitively annoyed at the obligation, but to accept it with frank pleasure, to look upon it as so much gain not in goods, but in goodwill and to be glad of the privilege it accords to express our own feelings in a similar way.

But they who would know the full measure of delight in giving, and see the perfection of grace in receiving, presents, must give gifts to little children. In their reception there will be no doubts, no affectations, and no suspicious considerations. Now, all children expect presents at Christmas, and their desire is mainly for toys. It is a wise desire, and ought to be gratified, for toys are the alphabet of fife, and through them they learn what poetry and property mean. Other things will be played with, broken, and thrown away iu after-years, but they make their first experiments in the art of living with toys.

No toys are so good for bright, inquisitive children as magnetic and mechanical ones. A toy that has nothing movable about it soon wearies a child after the eye is satisfied, if it can not jmll it about, and pull it to pieces, it is a delusion. The.n,buy toj's which ox-cite wonder anil speculation, for, through wonder children attain unto knowledge. Make up your mind that toys are bought to be deliberately destroyed. A child is haunted by an undying eagerness to know the causes of things; hence the doll is mercilessly gouged, and the lamb torn to pieces.

Don't scold if this is done as it nearly always is in secret. The youngest child has an inherited idea that all attempts to see below the surface of things will be frowned upon by the party of order." Though these are such earnest and intellectual days, it is a mistake to give children nothing but books. But if books are chosen, then buy those tlin appeal to the imagination. Reason will goon enough turn tliem out of that world of splendid impossibilities, but they will be much the better for every visit to it. time of war can be reinforced by calling in 270 skaters belonging to the land-wehr.

The men of this corps are armed with rifles, and can be maneuvered upon ice or over the snow-helds of the moun tains with a rapidity equal to that of the best trained cavalry. he skates they use are admirably adapted for traveling over rough and broken ice or frozen snow, being Six inches broad and between nine and ten inches long. In ascending steep slopes the men take a zig-zag course stacking up the mountain side as a ship does against a head wind. As an instance of the speed at which they can go, it is mentioned that last winter a messenger dispatched from Kocrass at 3 o'clock in the morning arrived at Drontheim at 9 :30 in the even ing of the same day, having consequently accomplished 120 miles in eighteen and one-half hours. In most countries it is usual to invite to public dinners persons distinguished by their virtue, their genius, or their wealth.

But at a supper lately given in London a diploma in crime was neces sary to secure admission. This supper was given by the Mission Chapel in St Giles's, where there is an attempt on foot to reclaim convicts. One of the employees of the establishment repairs every morning to the Coldbath Fields Prison, and invites tho discharged prisoners to breakfast and conversation. At the recent yearly supper some 200 criminals sat down to an excellent repast. The invitations issued numbered only 14, but long before tho doors of the salon were opened a large crowd of hungry, uninvited guests had assembled, and they managed to squeeze their way in.

Then a weeding process ensued, and fortunate indeed was the happy man who had committed a burglary, as none but bona fide convicts could be served. A man living in one of the outlying wards of this city, and apparently in good circumstances, says the Boston Herald, has been for some years past in the habit of paying simply a poll tax. This year he was somewhat astonished at receiving a tax bill to tho amount of $1,100. Upon visiting the Assessors to ascertain what it meant.they commenced interrogating him in relation to the ownership of certain mortgages, stocks, and, when pushed to the wall, ho confessed that they belonged to him, and that he tax bill was all right. In reply to his persistent inquiries as to who had furnished them with tho information, they finally informed him that his wife had been registered as a voter, and, when questioned as to her qualifications, had enumerated tho taxable properties of her husband.

When a man's house is building he never, thinks the carpenter puts in one-third enough nails, and frequently, and with biting sarcasm, asks him if he doesn't think the house would stand if he just simply leaned it up against itself and saved all his nails? Then, a few years afterward, when ho tears down the summer kitchen to build a new one, he growls and scolds, and sarcastically wonders why that fellow didn't make the house entirely of nails, and just put in enough lumber to hold the nails together. A laboring man of North Shields, England, who was returning to his home at the close of his day's work, struck a match against his trousers, and in a mo ment was enveloped flames. In a lit tie more than a minute all the clothing he had upon him was reduced to ashes, and he was dreadfully burned. His clothes seem to have become satuarated with chemicals while following his employment. A recently caught at Westchester, 1 when npcni'd wai found to have swallowed a full-grown mouse.

BESIDE A LITTLE a HAVE. Call no one happy till he dies," the old Athenian saving, has the stamp of truth; And oh! how many a bright and glowing voutli, Lit witli the mnrnliig'H sunsliine and it's gold, As years swept on has darkened with the mold Of vice and bitterness and sin-bronglit care! Howinany a fond and tearful mother's prayer Had been'nnuttered if she could have told His future life whom he sought God to spare! Nay, rather she had prayed lie lie cold In all the purity of childhood drest; And standing my tirst-horn's little grave, 1 can hut hunihlv murmur (iod knew best, Stainless he took the, precious flower He gave, Good Words. A WILD-GOOSE CHASE. Now, yer honor, jist lie quiet find aisy, keep the gun on full cock and all ready, hut never shtir a limb till I give the curlew's cry, and then look out, for the birds '11 be just within shot of ye." So spoke Shawn, my Herculean henchman, as he laid the last bunch of heather on my quivering body, and having sat-islied himself that I "was perfectly well 'concealed from human sight, he pre- I ired to creep off to tho snot where lie ad seen the wild-geese alight, in order to drive the unconscious victims directly over my head. I nodded as he, gave his instructions, and ere he 'crept away promised implicitly to obey his commands.

But I felt any thing but comfortable in my novel position. My bed was tho bare Irish bog-land, oozy and soft with the soaking of the heavy winter rains, my covering the half-withered heather which Shawn had uprooted from the hill-side. And the month was March There had been no snow in Storport for many weeks past; the hills all around me were black and desolate as the sky which loomed above but the bitter March wind came creeping over the hill, and smote me with chilly hands. I lay patiently for some time, the sportsman-like ardor in my heart preventing the wind from utterly freezing my limbs but at length my patience got exhausted, and I began to stir. Suddenly I heard the faint whistle of the curlew; two minutes afler I saw a flock of wild-geese pass almost directly over my head.

1 fired aimlessly, and missed. Then I found that my garments were completely soaked witli bog water, and that my limbs had sunk several inches deep in the oozy ground nay, more, that they were only prevented from Binking "farther by some obstruction which was so hard and cold that it made my bones ache. My first care was to exhume -my half-buried limbs, my next to unearth the substance which had prevuiited me from sinking utterly. This latter proved to be no easy matter, but will he help of the spado which Shawnvl brought with him to prepare nit? I at length suc ceeded in-ileaunc away a good deal of earth aiilrS-vIiscovoring that my lifc-pre- server a. deaLbox some five feet long, stained almost black with bog waieivifcjf.

fttejicd down with half a dozen rusty naiM. I had heard, during my childhood's days, of fortunate people being enriched by the discovery of buried treasures, but, I need hardly add, all such romantic ideas had long since vanished from my mind and yet, as I gazed at that peculiar-looking box, I felt as if a cold hand had passed over iue, and a succession of the wildest thoughts surged through ray brain. Exhunio and open it 1 must and the wish became stronger within me when Shawn, who soon returned from his goose-driving, did his best to dissuade me from such a proceeding. "Sure 'tis r.o affair of ours, yer honor," said Shawn, looking at the same time so profoundly uncomfortable as to cause my curiosity to increase. "Maybe with shame.

After the examination was made, the Coroner's iiinuiry was hur ried over, and once more, in solemn pomp and with all the rites of the Church, the agent wa3 laid in his grave. Amidst the solemn concourse which attended this second funeral, I noticed the wild, wan face which had haunted me ever since that day when I had seen it by the frozen window of the inn the face of the very man whom in my own mind I had accused of murder! For a moment I hung hack ashamed, then I boldly walked forward and pressed a bank-note into the wretched creature's hand. He looked from it to me in dazed amazement, then the sight of one of his ragged children seemed to make him realize what the money would do. Ho clutched it closer, and with one last look down the open grave, he crept across the bogs toward his home. By whoso hand the corpse was con veyed from the churchyard to the bog was never discovered, it was general ly believed, however, that news of the intended examination had been whispered abroad, and that the agent was exhumed and hidden solely with a view to preventing his botly being cut up." A Practical Russian Philanthropist.

Two notices, framed, glazed, and sus pended upon the walls of a dram-shop on the new canal at St. Petersburg, close to Mme. Sassctzki's licfuge for the Homeless," run as follows "I exhort the gentlemen who honor my establishment with their patronage to forego robbery and theft while within its precincts, not to thrash one another, and, on the whole, not to make unpleasant noises, those who act in contravention to this warning will receive punishment in my dram-shop, of a sort that they will experience no uillicuity in feeling." The second notice affords a quaint con trast to the hi st, which enwarps a hide ous threat in exquisitely courteous phrase, while the native benevolence of tho eccentric dram-seller shines out genially in the following kindly adver tisement: "As soon as the cold and rainy weather shall set in, five copecks will be here advanced to each needy and weary man, that he may pay lor a bed whereon to rest his body." It appears that the author of these remarkable no tices faithfully adheres to the text of both. If his customers misconduct themselves he lays into them with a cudgel, but any poor wretch presenting himself after 8 in the evening for assist ance receives the promised five copecks, after he has exhibited his legitimation papers and listened to a short exhorta tion read aloud to him from a religious book. London Telegraph.

Tennessee has exempted .00 head of sheep from execution in order to encourage the industry. The Bureau of Agriculture thinks it will add millions to the wealth of the State. flavor, is a favorite with high school girls, and so are the cream walnuts and and crystallized walnuts. Dyspeptics piously avoid tho last two things, which aro rather less digestible than melted butter, but they look so nice with their brown skins peeping through their coats of white sugar, and they are so tempting in the long thick bars into which they are sometimes made, that they please every body. Two other kinds of bar candy, the grated and sliced cocoa- nut, are much liked and are much sold for children's parties, at which it is desirable to have pretty dishes of confec tionery, as well as broken into bits and mixed with other things for boxes.

It would be possible to have a varied stock and candies of many prices without going beyond the class of chocolates, which grows larger and larger every year. There are severabkinds of plain choeolatb lozenges, and next to them in cheapness come the nonpareil chocolates, which are lozenges studded with drops of sugar looking like homeopathic pills for fairies. Cream chocolates may be filled either with vanilla or orange.as one pleases, and some comfectioners use raspberry and other fruit flavors. an- ilia cream chocolates have little, cherries inside them, making a delightful mingling of sour, sweet and bitter, and the almond caramel, which conies in little cubes cased paper, ranks next in ex cellencc. This paper wrapping is an improvement added the hist few years for convenience in packing, chocolate being any thing but a beautilier to pink or white candies that lie next to it for any length of time.

Almonds are cased both iu plain chocolato and in mixture of chocolate and sugar that crystallizes upon them, in plain sugar poured upon them in the form of a thin sirup and making the variety known to the trade as rough, and in smooth almonds which are polished by constantly movingthe pan in which they are dried. In the last va riety the nut is not burned in tne otn era it is. The name of jelly chocolates sounds impossing, but the things them selves are ratherdisappointingand seem rather tame after chocolate creams, but they are liked by the admirers of soft candies. Boston 1 ransenpt. Some people are puzzled how a sheet of paper can be made unbroken seven miles long.

But what can exceed the ingenuity that constructs a machine that with the push of a lever takes the snowy paper into its ponderous laws, and, with the speed of an express train, imprints upon it even the faintest hair-ime of the smallest type, divides it uniformly and i i i accurately lino pages, places it in uouk form, glueing the backs, cuts the edges, and then folds those edges as evenly and smootlilv as a girl would fold her first love li Iter, delivers the perfect newspa per, six, seven, eight in one second.