Illinois News Index

McHenry Plaindealer (McHenry, IL), 23 Aug 1882, p. 6

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VHB for a frmk. •Ink and 4ft >^< For, when hi«< :<SKrJSSRKSatS^ck^W* «i CM SMto ao»lr»lMJt for P»tU, , SnWmI HB JOft to tn hi* Thaorpw pawMlwd he had no choH»*\; Jfcttto WMNHCt himself ; and BO, rttan at a blow, !c dtoppeA the ch«em on hd nfctuntily killed him 1CORAU 'ould^on mrte your fttfterj o not lay it on too thick. , omplimentK, however hollow, k ! B • ' be |ii *rf than one can aWilHrtt y- - 'tm flinch. MlT FRIES D LEW 18. I\iever liked Lewis--never. "We were boys together. Our good toothers were delighted to see us playing marbles to- Sether; bat be could always knuckle own better than I could. We played At turnpike gate with our hoops, and aomohow he always trundled his between the pebbles which feohstituted, to our young imagination**,' the pike, man in f tivation of the fruits and flowery the fellingottbetimber, the Ranting est of the shrubberies, and the repairs and adornment* at the house himself. They were a picture together--whim he was shuffling about in his gray dressing- gown and she was in her white morning robe, with her abundant hair floating about her--so long that she oowld t,iirow it round Lewis and almost smother him with it--which made him look very foolish, I thought. She pi petted Lewis in the most ridiculous '< j stvle, and made him dress like a page in a "burlesque. To me she was almost as If affectionate as to her own son; and when Vf I told her how I was left an orphan in my fourth year, and how I had not a re­ lation in the world, a big, hot tear from her brimmed eyes fell upon my hand, which she was holding while she talked to ma She said I must let her be a mother to me ; and she called up Lewis and told him, in her serious, impetuous way, that he was to look upon me as a brother, and be always kind to me. no expected mid so--and when ! had Hay, were Be never . I know, had ikon*. apron, toll bar and all--while I scattered them and lost the game, When we first itunc together we were both school-boys on the same form. ~ His lessons were my lessons day after ddy ; but then, if there was an advantage in.the progress it was generally on my sidec Somehow he.got all the credit. Lft^wis w» born tinder extraordinary eircu instances. His family were a wild, ambitious and, I have often heard my mother sky, unscrupulous set. At the period of his birth they were at thej. height Of their splendor. It was impost him •Bible to reproach them in those days. They had the biggest house in their neighborhood by far. Their horses and .stables were the envy of everybody. They gave parties that blocked up the place with the equipages of pie guests. Tiie greatest pedpleTn the land went to eee tiiem ; and even people from abroad, 4m arriving in the country, ""would take the'efcrHest opportunity pf paying their xespeetfe to the Lewises.' 'e|ffv Lewis him- jsell was a gloomy, morose, unpopular man; but his wife, when she was young, was'one of the loveliest women, as my lather often declared, to my mother's mollification, upon whom the sun ever •hone, It seems that she was as brill­ iant in mind and as courageous in spirit .as she was in person lovely. Mr. and Mrs. Lewis were called, among the local tradesmen, the beauty and the beast. Wnile he never had a gracious word or look die was tilWays wreathed in smiles. 8he had a kind word and a ready hand lor the poor. If she disliked her lord she loved her children, and they were always with her in the carriage. Two boyts that were the envy of all other boys who saw them; who wore the love­ liest feathers in their' hate; trundled hoops with padded sticks; played with marbles, every one of whietk was an agate, and spun tops of satin -wood with silken cords, were the idols of their beautiful parent, and were very seldom Srmitted to range beyond her sight, let* *F4S an uncle in the family--who had^hanied,, I believe, the mother of Mrs*. Lewis after her father's death, and whom Mrs. Lewis loved as well as the most devoted daughter can adore the most induigent of parents. He was her mentor, her guide in all things. His word was her law; and she was never tired of telling her friends about his wisdom and the great position he held in the world. Gossips said that the only fact *fftick made the married life of Mrs. Ii8wte behrable wi& that her husband was related closely to her step father. lit was vary natural in Mrs. Lewis to make.mucli of her stepfather. He #as the parsonage to whom she looked for the advancement of her darling boys in life. His influence appeared to be Mrs. Ley»*was an indulgent mother; but she Was stnct.too, as her step-father direoted her to be, and his word to her" was law in everything. Lewis went to bed at 9. and so did 1 while I was at the Castle. We begged half an hour's graoe sometimes; but she would never yield, even when she was in the middle of a song. She sang divinely, and Lewis loved to hear his mother. Sometimes he would keep me awake for a whole hour after we were in bed, listening to Mrs. Lewis' voice in the drawing-room. I was obliged to keep awake, being his guest; but this shows how inconsiderate he could be. had begged Mrs. Lewis to allow give me one of his Shetland ponies orNmy birthday, and he had sur­ prised me With it, with brand new sad­ dle and brnlle--which was very good, I am .quite tree to own; but he might have remembered that I liked fishing much better than riding, and that I should have been more pleased with a handsome rod and tackle. One day Mrs. Lewis* Btep-father see­ ing me on the terrace alone called me to him, and began to question me on the life that my guardians had projected for me. When I told him that I had not heard from them for a year, and that I had not the least idea of their intentions in regard to me, he pulled my ear, and muttered, "Poor lad! poor lad!--this is the way the world is managed." And so the subject dropped, and Lewis and I, at the end of the holidays, returned to school. . boundfrMwi jsnrt lie kneWit,as my moth­ er, wob often saw him frowning out of Ids chariot window on hps wsy to see his •beautiful stepdaughter, would tell me in •after ye#im .... TM' Wider boy was sickly and was kept but the second was sent to -echocfl, Mid, as 1 have said, it was at • school! first met Lim. The new boy made a sensation. It vraa wh ispemLalon the forms that his name was'SHI,'.and that he had come in a baroucQrwith a servant in livery to «eairy his books. We crowded round Mm isx the pl^ground, and found that his pocket# w^re lull of money; that he had ^.koilpr^w^ one blade more than the op^.w ttypchool,' and that a most imposing eesltaf-arinB was engraved cm the heaviest of silver spoons and forks, - which were brought for.his use at table. The master fawned on' him, and gave him easy lessons, and pat him at the desk nearest to the sto?e. We hated him for this--boys are only little men. Out of school, Lewis, I most say, gave himself no airs. His plentiful oocket •notiey wag lavishly scattered when the tappie-woman came into tfe'fe playground. "He would buy a shilling s worth of Bo­ naparte's ribs, @jnd give every boy in the •school one. He would propose a scram- "We for apples, or a whole quart, of Span­ ish auiB. I have known him come with luK >adoEen cocoanuts, and give one •each 1® the fellows who had played at ihorses with him. Playing at horses was his passion. A boy must be a great favorite, or be able to dispense favors, •who wants to drive a team in the play- •ground. Lewis was amiable enough, -we thought then, and was ready to give •everything he had--provided we would he his nags. We made him pay--and ^he drove us. He was a ready fellow , with his fists, 1 admit. He would give, i but he would have no takings. I got on j •very well with him, and was often his . off-side^ because, I made my bargain j openly, and he uked that. I carried off ' heaps of things, till my mother at home j was quite alarmed. "Where did you get that splendid top, Bob ?" said moth- ! «r. "L*wis," was my answer. "That I kite must have cost 5 shillings. Bob." i Lewis,*' I yppUed. "Your father's ' ionfe is not worth that." my maternal ! parent obsefved. "Lewis," was my ! t tesponse. But I never liked him. j We played trfiant together, and lie ' off ttie p^nishnietit, and the ; aebooicheered him in the playground aor it. i thought they made much of it | ""j'u ^ mu8^ Bay Lewis himself didn't; J *nna he behaved well in asking me home - ~*o„mothers great house to dine and 1 rimend a Saturday afternoon with him. J JSrs. Lewis step-father was there, and ••everything gave way to him. He 1 pinched my ear playfully, and tipped me when I went off to school in the ~«vemn tr--loaded me with fruit and • flakes for the boys of our form, which Mra. Lewis packed up with her own 'jVnlte fcaftds, while her step-father stood flbv looking at her, and joking very ' *®ffVibIy for so great a man. ' . Once when the holidays oame being " then an orphan, and my guardian Wing resident in Florence--Lewis, persuaded Ik mother to invite me for a fortnight «rso lo their eountry house. -It was fiere I saw the Lewises and their mighty flriends in, all their glory. The house, or <Jasfie, was an ancient one, which her • Step-father had given to Mrs. Lewis as a inarriage -present^ and which he helped Misfortunes .overtook me when I was on the point of entering at the Middle Temple. My guardians died, and to my horror and amazement I was informed that their affairs were involved to my utter ruin. They had speculated with my money, and out of a good fortune which my parents had left me I had something less than £300 left. I com­ municated my distress Lewis, and he sympathised with me. He would have been a stone had he done less, seeing how intimate we had been from our early boyhood. Mrs. Lewis had been for some time in bad health. Her great step-father had died overwhelmed with ruin in a great lawsuit, and she had the Castle no longer; and young Lewis eoiiM keep only one horse now, an^ was obliged to give himself fewer airs. \The wreck was more than respectable ; but it was a wreck. I was among those who did not desert them, and did not disdain to ride in the modest brougham to which poor Mrs. Lewis was reduced, and with but one man servant to wait at table. Lewis never forgot my birthday, and Mrs. Lewis was good enough to insist, when she heard of my misfortunes, that 1 should let her pay my Temple fees, and that I should ac­ cept a couple of rooms in her house, to be with Lewis. She saw, I expect, that I exerted a very salutary influence over him. HQW could I look churlish and refuse--especially when Lewis joined his entreaties to those of his mother ? It wanted no little moral courage, however, to keep with the Leftvises, although they loaded me with attentions, because peo­ ple talked about them in the neighbor­ hood, and the tradesmen sneered and jeered when the plain little brougham rolled past their doors, or I and Lewis walked heme to dinner. I had no other home, however, and hardly a farthing in my pocket As. I have said, I was with­ out a relation in the *ga^L . . But I do take a little credit tomyHHblmypluck in holding to the wiwjpf%>r--I can make no secret of it--"fcNBsver liked Lewis. . ^ Mr* Lewis paid all my expenses while she lived, just as she paid those of her own child, I could hardly see anything in which she made a difference between us; and when there was any slight advantage in Lewis' share he made it up to me, for 1 was shrewd enough to see that he could not do without me. He was full of dreams. He was forever talking about his unele and (he grand days, and whether he could not redeem the fortunes of the family. I laughed at him, I confess, and advised him, with the small fortune that remained, to put himself in some good business in the city. He shrugged his shoulders and would not hear of it, but went dreaming on; and I believe his mother /encouraged bim. He pinched himself to employ lawyers, who were to reopen the old horrible lawsuit, and win back the tens of thousands of pounds and the old Castle. We were to walk on the old terrace once more, and smoke our cigars again in the familiar vineries. It was sad to see the infatua­ tion which possessed Lewis, like his blood, not to say the vanity. He was i not unmindful of me, I must say, in all I his dreams. I was to have my share of | the glort---when he got it, , The cause came again and again before the courts, i I had been called to the bar meantime ; , and Lewis had insisted that I should be | employed, and that my brief should be j handsomely marked. It was business } to me, and any business to a young bar- j rister is welcome. So I appeared. It j was really an effort of friendship on my ! part; for the bar was laughing outright I at young Lewis, as a fool who was ; throwing good money after bad. There ' was no hope for him. The Judges tit­ tered when I rose; the public smiled on whieh he was locked up. Heaetoally carried on his plana in the sponging- house , and, when he was tot oat, walked straight away to his lawyers. He would meet me with that strahge, sad smile on his face, and his first question would be: How was I getting along? Did I want anything? In a ww months all troubles would be over, and we should be in olo- ver. For I must do him the jastioe-- one leal of every trefoil he might gather was to be for vpur hvmtrie ssrranl let I never liked him. To tell how, on a snddem, fortone eame upon its would be to make a long story. The tenacity of Lewis' character carried him through. He looked siekly; but in the weak, weak casket was the mother's heart. He had the art of wait­ ing. When he was in Curator street, one day, overtures were mad® to him by the acceptance of which he would have secured to himself a handsome income for life. But he disdained it, and went quietly up to bed, on a November night, in the shabby sponging-house, with the observation -that he was in no hurrr. So that when au extraordinary turn in the lawsuit took every lawyer by sur­ prise, and the legal world stood aghast, amazed, dumbfounded at a decision that put him in possession of the entire -wealth of that remarkable uncle of his who used to pinch my ears, he alone was cool. I can see him now, fastening the elastic band about his umbrella as he walked out of the court, as calm as the cabman whom he hailed. On the mor­ row morning, when he had read the re­ port of the case in the papers, he turned to me and said: "I was right, my friend: you see that I was right. And now tell me which are the rooms in the Castle which you prefer. Drop in at Coutts' and see the liberty I have ventured to take with your balance. Tell me if yon like your brougham; it is ait the door. Now see whether yon cannot become Lord Chancellor." In sober truth, my brougham was at the door; my aooonnt was a princely one; and I had the pick of the Castle apartments. The scene was a glorious one when the sun of Lewis' fortunes was in its noontide splendor. The beautiful, the brilliant, the gifted, the, illustrious, crowded to his halls, thronged his drawing-rooms, peopled his park, and tasted all the sweets of his refined and liberal hospitality. He alone remained calm and easy, 1 might say unconcerned. Misfortune had hit him hard, and had not stirred a muscle of his face; fortune was now his gener­ ous friend, and she could barely extort a smile from him. I was, I think, more grateful. I blessed and thanked--the fates. For, while any care as to my means of living was removed faraway from me, I neglected no opportunity of promoting my own advancement in my own way. I worked at my profession, and Lewis was able to introduce me to first-rate business. I had at times more than I could well manage. When I was at the Castle I would retire from the scene of the festivities to my own apart­ ment, and there. turn out my brief bag upon the table and read into the small hours. Very few men, I flatter myself, would have done that with the advan­ tages that I had within my reach. But I was determined not to be dependent upon Lewis. I was determined to draw the line somehow; for, as I think I have remarked before, I never really liked him. I grew rich--I do not deny it; and it was Lewis' money that enabled me to make a figure in the world, which is half the battle in the professions. But he wanted me ; I was necessary to him; and therefore it was for himself that he was open handed with me. I am not the first orphan who has been adopted, nor the first school chum who has been befriended in after life, nor the first man who lias owe < his stepping stone to fort­ une to accident. I don't see why I should be pestered about it, as though there were something so very extraordi­ nary in the case, I make my acknowl­ edgments once for all, and I fail to see why I should be perpetually uttering thanks. It has been said that gratitude is a lively sense oi favors to come. I am sure that I expected nothing more from Lewis. The brougham in which I ride was his, granted; my house was part of his estate, granted. The case" in which I pocketed nearly three thousand pounds Was of his introduction ; have I ever de­ nied it? My wife's brilliants were a present made to her by Lewis when we were married. Does "not this happen every day in the week? Am I bound to like a man because he finds pleasure in my society and profit in my advice? Let me tell my story in my own way to the end. We were at the Castle. My wife and children had been staying there for months, and I had been in the habit of running down in the intervals of my ard­ uous professional duties. Lewis had stood godfather to our oldest boy, and had settled a sum of money on the en­ gaging young fellow that insured him a good position in life, so that we felt bound to humor the godfather's desire to have the boy as much with him as possible. Lewis was very fond of chil­ dren, and they, I am bound to add, were very fond of him. Well, on a certain autumn morning-- the first pn which a fire bad been deemed necessary in the breakfast-room--Lewis asked me to give him half an hour in the library. I had business of my own in hand, but I was always a good-natured fellow, I believe, and I followed my old school-fellow. He began quietly, as when he put the band round his umbrel­ la when he had gained his cause. "The vicissitudes of my life are not ended yet. My dear old school-fellow, learn onoe again that I haven't a penny in the world.", ^ At this point I begged him to excuse me for a moment, and I ran to my wife's boudoir and told her to have everything ready for the midday train. Above alL, she was not to forget her diamond* ! She was the most obedient of consorts, | and I will do her the justice to say that she did not forget a thing--even to the "Ithasoometopess as I have told yon. IfceryfciaAwhoee honor I hive relied has beteajW me. My model oot- tegera, Iam toSd, kogh at mefor a fool I have tnUn lM tniiki m my country town, aad the townsfolk haven't a good woadtfor ms^althoagh they had plenty turned week I a oopy I a rogue, i should advise yon to clear the winking ship while theiw'a a 1$6at-- that is a ooaflh--at hand." "Leave you, Lewis, at such a mo­ ment I" I explained; for I was hurt at his suggestion, which was not a very delicate one under the circumstances. " Leave you now 1 I would not think of sueh a thing; nor should anything less than the case--the tremendous case of Thtmder vs. Batter, drag me from your side to morrow." A smile passed over the placid face of Lewis while I spoke. It was a smile I had seen before, and at which a less amiable man than, I can say without vanity, I am might have taken offense. " You leave to-morrow, then ?" Lewis asked. *' I must" " Well, we shall tide over the week, I dare say; but there will be elboW room in the Castle before then, I can see." c I did not like Lewis* style. Of course, I made every allowance for him under tke circumstances; and when I had seen my wife to the station with the chil­ dren, the maids, the jewels and dress­ ing-cases, and my dispatch-box in which my deeds were safely under lock and key, made a second attempt to be kind and sympathetic. I asked whether there was anything I oonid do for him in London. " Yes," he said, raising his cold blue eyes, and cutting his words with his glittering teeth. % " Yes; remain in it I" This was too much, and I left him. Now all my impressions as to his charac­ ter were confirmed, and I could under­ stand thoroughly why I never liked him. At the railway station--for T left that very afternoon--I found more than half the Castle servants. The station -master was compelled to put on three or four luggage vans; and 1 kept the train quite five minutes getting my boy's pony (Lewis' last present) into a horse-box. When I reached town I heard more than I care to relate about the immense ruin in which Lewis had involved him­ self. He hjftd trusted vast sums of money to friends and relatives, right and left; he had listened to any kind of got- up tide of distress ; he had been imposed upon in fifty directions. A splendid man of business; a powerful, clear- headed administrator, he had doubled the_ value of the enormous property which came to him, after so many years of battling and of poverty, from his uncle. But, you see, he ruined all by putting faith in men who were not trust­ worthy ; and I am told that when he left the estate there wee not s man they© to carry his carpet-bag to the railway. I cannot help feeling a kind of warmth toward the man when my wife comes like a Queen into her drawing-room, covered with the marriage parure of diamonds ; but my conscience is at ease --is as quiet as a babe asleep--for, as I am sure I must have remarked twenty times, even at the height of his pros­ perity, I never liked Lewis--never I-- London Society. The Ylklngs. These Northmen j' or Vikin gs, were not merely s far-away people with whom we have nothing in common, but they really belonged to the self-same race of men with most of ourselves. They were, perhaps, the aotual ancestors of some living Americans, and kinsfolk to the majority. They were the same race who conquered England, and were known as Saxons; then conquered France, and were known as Normans ; and finally crossed over France and con-r quered England again. These Norse vikings were, like most of us, Scandin­ avians, and so were really closer to us in blood and in language than was the great Columbus. .What were the ways and manners of these Vikings ? We must remember at the outset that their name implies noth­ ing of royalty. They were simply the dwellers on a vig, or bay. They were, in other words, the sea-side population of the Scandinavian peninsula, the only part of Europe which then sent forth a race of sea-rovers. They resembled in some respects the Algerine corsairs of a later period, but, unlike the AJgerines, they were conquerors as well as pirates, and were ready to found settlements wherever they went. Nor were the Vikings yet Christians, for from the time when Christianity came among them their life became more peaceful. In the prime of their heathenism they were the terror of Europe. They car­ ried their forays along the whole conti­ nent. They entered every popt in En­ gland.. and touched at every island on the Scottish eoast. They sidled up the Semef and Charlemagne, the ruler of Western Europe, wept at seeing their dark ships in sight of Paris. They reached the Mediterranean, and formed out of their own number the famous Varrangian guard of the later Greek Emperors, the guard which is described by Walter Scott in " Count Robert of* Paris." They reached Africa, which they called "Saracen's Land," and there took eighty castles. All their booty thev sent back to Norway, and this wealth included not only wha,t they took from enemies, but what they had from the very courts they served; for it was the practice at Constantinople, when an Emperor died, for the Norse guard to go through the palaces and take whatever they could hold in their hands. To this day Greek and Arabic gold coins and chains are found in the ouftes of the Norwegian peasants, a^id may be seen in the museums of Chris- tiahia and Copenhagen.--T. W. Hig- gimon, in Harper'* Magazine. AGRICULTURAL. when Lewis took his seat among the at- |. baby's socks. I returned to the library, torneys. When we failed my Temple friends wouid come round me and ask : " Well, has Young Infatuation had enough of it now V Lewis' brother died when he was about 19, and Mrs. Lewis followed soon after. I thought he would have gone mad. He was certainly an affectionate son; but who would not have l>een affectionate with such a mother? Had it not been for his precious lawsuit he would have followed Mrs. Lewis in a month or two; but as the difficulties increased, and the and, taking Lewis by the hand, ex pressed my regret. He continued : "Not a penny in the world I am beggared, my dear friend, bj the men whom I have he.ped to affluence. My own people have turned upon me. My own stewards have destroyed me. The people and places I found poor and bare, and that are now thriving, are the cen­ ters of the infamy that has stripped me. You heard one of njy bailiffs this morn- ing give me notice.' This rascal is rat number twenty, and carries off a hand­ some competence with him. But we are chances became less, and less he only j not at the trouble of masking their in grew firmer in his resolve--to spend his last farthing and the last hour of his life in the fight. He spared me all I asked from him--which was not much; and hn contrived that we should continne to live together, so that I might carry on my profession. I intended, you may be sure, to refund him to the utmost penny some day; but who can tell what the eeyeemtsekhn* the eul- Î orrovmay bring fartfe? idou*think gratitude. There is no creature on two legs, nor upon four, half so uugrateful as a bad servant whom you have petted and can pet no longer. See that fellow crossing the park with a loaded cart|? He came to me shirtless; rat number twenty-one." i >•• "But how has this oome to pass, my dear Lewis?" I asked; "isit altogether irremediable ?" Frivolous Man. v " Women are so frivolous, so fond of dress, parade and show, that they would make of government an everlasting spectacular drama," says the man. " Possibly," retorts Mrs. Livermore, " but I cannot remember ever to have seen women walking delightedly for hours in a torchlight procession through muddy streets, amid the thun­ dering of cannon, the flash of rockets, and the blaze o/ colored lights. I think I havo never seen them parading by daylight, clad in bits <f abbreviated aprons, ornamented as to the shoulders in what seemed exaggerated horse-col­ lars, their heads supporting an infinite amount of 'fuss and feathers,' and their padded coats over their swelling bosoms nearly bursting with ecstatic delight as they caught admiring glano.es from the other sex in balconies and at chamber windows." ' Ton must work; nothing is to be got for nothing, AND BO man who chooses to be industrious need be under obligations to another, for labor of every kind com­ mands its wwsifli llenewla* «1» Orefcwfc ® U Is not best to renew the omshard by planting voting apple trees in the plsoes made vacantoy the dewy and dsstiuc- tion of the old ones. To a oertam ex­ tent the material needed for thegrowth of the apple-wood haa been extracted from the soil, and many of the enemies with which the apple has to contend have found a location there. It is better to supply a vacancy with a tree of some other fruit, or perhaps leave it vacant, and plain a new orchard in some other locality. 5l HWiMMVMfc In harvesting Indian corn and wheat we cut them long before the grain--the seed--is ripe. When the grain m either is fully formed, the stalks are cut; ex­ perience shows that the ripening process goes on; the stalk contains sufficient nutriment to perfect the grains, and it does this after the plant is cut away from the root. Indeed, the grain thus treated often comes to greater perfection than if the plant were left until the seed is fully ripe. What takes place with these crop piants, also occurs with weeds. Many weeds, if cut up while in flower, still have nutriment enough in^ their stems and leaves to perfect and ripen a crop of weeds. It therefore happens that the mere cutting up of many weeds and leaving them to dry upon the ground does little toward their exterm­ ination. The common purslane, or " pussley," for example, has remarkable vitality, its very succulent stems will re­ main alive for weeks, and even continue to grow after they have been deprived of the root It is one thing to cut up weeds with the hoe ; it is equally im­ portant, and it should'always be done in gardens, to gather up the weeds by the use of a rake, and carry them to a brush heap, where they will ultimately' be burned.--American Agriculturist. - Increase ot Ktfgm* The production of eggs is a thing de­ sired by every poultryman, and is opepf the most profitable branches of the poul­ try business. Ordinarily every hen will lay a certain amount of eggs in the year, but with proper food and care they will lay more than if neglected and forced to search for their own living. The pro­ duction of eggs is a great drain on the hen. During laying time from one and a half to two ounces of highly-conoen- trated food is secreted throughout the tissues every day or every other day. Four ounces of solid food is the average amount consumed daily, which shows almost an equal amount needed for egg production and to supply nourishment and wastes of the body. To the think­ ing mind this is well known, and few persons keeping poultry, who have a love for their feathered flocks, and are desir­ ous of gaining something by their keeping, but do not feed and care for them well, thus obtaining the best re­ sults. A desirable food for laying hens muse oonsist of grain in variety, wheat, grass seed, oats, barley, corn and buckwheat, wheat and buckwheat being best. But to keep up flesh, muscles and heat oats, barley and corn are necessary to keep them thrifty at all times. Corn should be used sparingly, particularly in sum­ mer, as it is too heating and drying to blood and tissues, but with other grain in oold weather it is desirable and cheap, and fowls like it much better than other grain. Vegetables and calcareous mat ­ ter are absolutely essential to egg pro­ duction, and fresh meat occasionally helps to keep up the " shelling out/' tacccM With Turnipw. Turnips or rata bagas need a rich, well-dressed, mellow soil. It can hardly be too rich with well-rotted barnyard manure, and if then some phosphate or bone dust is added it will likely increase the crop. The soil should have been well plowed by the first of May. and frequently worked with cultivator and harrow since that time. It cannot be too finely pulverized. Sow any time in June after the 20th. The condition . of the soil, as regards moisture, at the time of sowing, has much to do with success. A large yield will depend very much on having an even stand all over the field. The soil must not be too wet nor dry. In either case there will be many vacant places. If rather dry, work the land with the cultivator, roll and sow immediately--all in the same day--giving no opportunity for drying before the seed is in the ground. If quite dry plow again and roll just before sowing. If sown on level ground always roll before sowing. One or two pounds of seed for an acre. Some prefer to ridge the land. This is done with a shovsl or common plow, then put on a roller and the ridges will be flattened so as to allow the drill to be used. It is easier hoeing the first time when ridges are made, and when thus flattened they will not dry out more than level land. A rich soil and moist seed bed is the best protection against the fly, as a quick growth will soon get the plants beyond damage from its attack. The first hoe­ ing should be attended to with prompt­ ness. In this case "a stitch in time saves nine." There are few cultivated fields in this State so free from weeds as to afford the turnip-grower any respite from Adam's curse. As soon as the turnips are well up, the weeds are weU up, too, and working can commence. A sharp thin hoe drawn along just beneath the surface on each side of the row will do good work. Some of the new hand cultivators are fitted with teeth or small shovels so as to work close to the row. When the plants are two inches high, with a common hoe cut out its full width across the row, leaving two or three filants in a place, to stand for a few days onger. They seem to grow better when there are a few together than when singly, while they are small; but it will not do to let theik stand in this way too long or they will grow spindling, and when they are thinned to one plant it is weak and tender, and will not get to growing again for several days. The after cultivation should be frequent and thorough, especially if the weather is dry. They will not bottom much till cool weather, but if well worked will by that time be ready for growth. A hand cultivator on a small plat, or in a larger field with the rows thirty inches apart, a nice light horse hoe with sharp steel teeth will do the work with a norse attached, a great saving in hand labor.--Detroit Post. prooess of separating this starch gluten and tannic acid, the last for teenni al uses and tbe others for food.-- Scientific American. » y --i . , .hi • ;":f Old Stene-Wsll Ifenaatry* ' I know a ruined wall whose history dates back a oentnry and mora, now a scattered rambling pile of weather-beat- en, oftfnre-saturated bowlders. Half- hidden beneath its covering leaves and creeping plants, it aeems almost like a grave, and in many places it is lost be­ neath a covered mound, where nature has at last entirely reclaimed it, and wrapped it in her bosom. Tnis ancient landmark follows the border of a lane of equal antiquity, for­ merly the wood road of the pioneer for­ ester who redeemed its neighboring sunny meadows from the wilderness, and whose hands laid the wall that, liV« himself, has now returned to earth. The remnants qf his old log hut, it is said, are even now to be traced among the new-grown timber on the mountain side, surrounded by the crumbled pile of the massive log fence built about his primitive habitation as a barricade of defense against prowling wolves and bears--and even Indians, too, if the reo- ord of the sod is to be believed; for many are the tomahawks and flint arrow heads that have been turned up by the plow among these meadows. ThiB wall has long since gone out of service, but its innumerable foster chil­ dren have risen up to do duty in its stead; for here are almost impassable thickets of hazel bashes, dwarf cherry and filbert jungles, with here and there at near intervals majestic shagbark hickories springing up directly from its heart of stone. The sloping roots have raised and rolled away the bowlders on every side. There are occasional whole colonies of pig-nut trees, and now and then a huge spreading butternut, and the finest specimens of wild cherry to be found for miles around--all scattered along the length of this ancient wall in an exquisite ab&ndon. The sharp whistle of a ehipmnnk greets you here at almost every step, and in such a spot there is more fehan ordinary significance in that shrill voice. It is a voice from the heart of the wall, for the chipmunk is its companion «">d its historian. I am aware that nature has given this little fellow several black marks. He is doubtless a little thief, often making havoc among the farmer's stores and taking his regular three meals a day from the granarv. As a type of greed his name is almost proverbial. His vast subterranean storehouses bear witness to his acquisitive and miserly proclivities, as they are often in a mngl#» season packed with provender represent­ ing ten times his actus! need. How often have/1 seen this little fel­ low on the homeward jump, his head puffed out with a pig-nut In each cheek and a third between hie teeth ! But the inference thus conveyed is as undeserv­ ing as the black marks which he car­ ries. If his gluttony is proverbial, it is equally providential. He must not therefore be condemned as a profession­ al gourmand, for his true vocation--the one with which he is accredited *in the book of nature--is that of a most skillful planter and landscape gardener. We have him to thank for many of our most highly-prized specimens of standard trees. It is from the providential pleth­ ora of his subterranean treasure houses that have sprung these noble oaks and hickories, these massive chestnuts and this outburst of hazel and wild cherry among this bed of stone. There are other tenants that people its crevices. The little weasel has nis beaten tracks among them, where he threads his way in search of hiding field mice that make their nests beneath the stones. The chipmunk sometimes en­ counters him in the hallway of his bur­ row, where this dreaded enemy has lain in wait for Mm, and the partridge is sur­ prised by that same stealthy approach while searching for buds among the ha­ zels.-- William Hamilton Gibson, lit Harper's Magazine. «a» [From Chmiil)--' Joarnal.] The approach to the islands is< higly lovely. To those who know the Thousand Islands in the St. Lawrei Alcohol from Acorns. It is said that alcohol equal to that made from grain can be made from acorns. The acorns are freed from the shell and ground finely; then they are mashed with malt and allowed to ferment. Acorns contain about 20 per cent, of starch and 18 per cent, of gluten. They would be a valuable article of human food if it were not for the tannic acid (about S per cent.) which they contain. Vast quantities which go to waste every year where hogs are not fed in the woods might be gathered by boys and oonverted into alcohol for use in the arts, thus freeing an equivalent amount of grain for use as food. Or some young student of practical chemistry might make a good thing for himself and for 1 tikfi bv Lawrense, the Bermudas will seem quite BO strong is the resemblance. The first beauty that" attracts the eye is the won­ derful color and clearness of the sea, like beryl, emerald and sapphire sparkling on a silvery bed. Next you an straw by the peculiar and beautiful appearance given to the landscape by the snowy whiteness of the square-roofed build­ ings--forts, barracks, churches and houses gleaming like Bnow among the dusky sage-green foliage of the cedar. Aout 800 isles and islets lay before us, only 180 of which are recognized by Government survey, and but four oi any importance whatever. Three of these, Ireland Island, the Main Land and $t. George's, are connected by bridges and a magnificent causeway about halt a mile long, which cost £32,000. These connected islands in the form of a horse­ shoe--St. George's being at one end, the dockyard at the other and Hamilton IK# far from the middle of the circumference of the shoe. The town of St. George's looks pretty from the sea; but ashore it, is found to be small and crowded, and the streets mere lanes. The climate of Bermuda is trying, but upon the whole good. It is sufficiently bracing in winter to make warm cloth­ ing necessary, but seldom oold enough for a fire. Few of the houses have grates or stoves in the parlor, and on chilly days, if kept indoors, one misses the cheery glow of the tire. The winter season is more like the Indian summer ©f America than anything else. When the south wind blows man and beast are depressed. Horses trip, and their riders scarcely care to keep them on their legs. You go to bed in good spirits and awake feeling like a washed- out rag. What is the matter ? During the night the wind has gone from norm to south. You car© for nothing and no­ body, If enough energy be left to com­ plain, you say with the aesthetes : " Hol- Yalencia. Altogether, Valencia is the oheariest of Spanish cities, unless one excepts Barcelona, which is half French, and in its present estate wholly modern. More­ over, it abounds in racy and local traits, both of architecture and humanity. The Street of the Cavaliers is lined with somber, strange, shabbily-elegant old mansions of the nobility, with Gothic windows and open arcades in the top story; the new houses are gayly tinted in blue and rose and cream-color, and the gourd-like domes of the cathedral and other large buildiugs glisten with blue tiles and white, set in stripes. You find yourself continuallv, as you come from various quarters, bringing up in sight of the octagonal tower of Santa Catalina, strangely suggestive of a pa­ goda, without in the least being one. The Silk Exchange, from which the shining web that wealth is woven with has long since vanished, contains one of the most beautiful of existing Gothic halls under a roof sustained by fluted ' and twisted pillars, themselves light as knotted skeins, and from the outer eor- nice grotesque shapes peer out over the life of to-day, a grinning monk, an imp playing a guitar, a crumbling buzzard, serving as gargoyles. Just opposite is the market, where you may buy enor­ mous bunches of luscious white grapeM for a penny, or pry into second-hand shops rich in those brilliant mantles with the "cat" fringe of balls for which the town is as noted as for its export of oranges. The old battlemented walls of the city, it is true, have been torn down; it was done simply to give employment to the poor a few years since. But there are some fine old gates remaining, those of Serranos and Del Curate. We drove ou^S one and came in by the other, about half a mile away--a diversion that brought us under a rigid examination from the customs guard, which levies a tax ou every basket of produce brought in from the country, and was inclined to regard us as a dutiable importation. One may go quite freely to the port, however, the Grao, which is two miles distant. A broad boulevard hedged with sycamores leads thither, and in summer it is crowded by tartanas--bouncing little covered wagons lined with crimson curtains, usually filled with pretty senoritas--and by more imposing equip­ ages adorned with footmen in the En­ glish style. Everybody goes to the hliore to bathe toward evening, for Val­ encia is the Brighton of th* Madrilenos. --Geo. p. LaUirop, in Harper's Mag­ azine. . UNDISB the new law Chineie home to make a visit with the inten­ tion of returning to this country will require a passport, but the identification of a Chinese is a difficult matter, he differs so slightly in appearance from thousands of his race. To prevent the possibility of fraud it has been suggested that the authorities should take advant­ age of the fact that no two human heads are shaped exactly alike. It is proposed by means of such a machine as hattem use for measurement to represent upon every passport by small holes punched through it the outline of a horizontal oi the own**'* head. disagreeable and shoes .and kid gloves, and every­ thing that will mold, are ruined if not constantly worn or watched. Mold and cockroaches are great enemies to books, destroying their bindings very quickly. Ants and other insects are also very try­ ing to Europeans at certain seasons. People in this mild and equable cli­ mate live to a great age. I saw several old men between 80 and 90 years old daily parading the streets quite as a matter of course. I also knew of num­ bers of very old people who were unable to walk out, bat were in good health, and in perfect possession of all their mental and most of their physical facul­ ties. The people in general are healthy. It is a great mistake to suppose that yellow fever has a home in Bermuda. It has been there several times, but on each occasion it originated from infec­ tion from outside. It is probable that the good health of the Bermudass is largely due to their use of rainwater for all purposes, no other being available. In all the islands there is neither lake nor rivulet The rain is collected in large cemented tanks built under the houses. Every roof has to do duty in collecting water for man and beast; and on the hillsides you will see large spaces laid with stone, cement^ ed and edged, from which the rainwater runs in to large tanks lying below. These are generally built for some special pur­ pose, as for barrack supplies or washing establishments. One is surprised to see so little land under cultivation, cedar olothing the hills, with an occasional fiddle-wood and calabash tree, and oleander, tamarisk, and mangrove skirting the marsh /lands everywhere. Of the 12,000 acres of land in the largest islands, less than a third are in tillage and grass, the rest remain­ ing in wood, marsh and natural pasture. The fact, however, that most of the land is rocky, or very thinly covered with earth, accounts to a very large extent for this apparently-neglected state of cultivation. The comparative absenoe of smaller forms of animal life in Bermuda renders solitary walking an insupportable lone­ liness. In the somber cedar woods, no bright-eyed squirrel sits aloft and re­ lieves the dreariness by his chattering and scampering; no song-birds, such as there are in England, fill the air with melody. Innumerable ants noiselessly pursue their endless labors; and no sound breaks the silence but an occasional chirp from a cricket or gasshopper, the hum of the cicada, and the occasional whirring wings of some silent bird. But when tired of quiet woods and gardens, ' the visitor in Bermuda will find much that is interesting on the_ sea shores. The beaches are lovely, white as snow, and abounding in shells, no less than 269 varieties being found in this little isle. The seaweeds are wonderfully deli­ cate and beautiful, and fish in endless variety swarm in the waters. Fighting About Trifles. What a world of trouble, time, and nerve irritation would be saved, if boys, and men, too, would learn to never mind trifling annoyances. Only the other day (says a contemporary) we overheard one boy telling another what a third boy had said about him,'and nrging him to "lick him." "Oh," said the second boy, "'tisn't worth miuding. He knows it ain't so, and I won't stoop to his level by taking any notice of it." We inwardly thought, "that's a very wise head on young shoulders." It reminded us of two men, one of whom started on a foot journey of 150 miles or so. Two days later the other man followed on tbe same road, and on the fourth day over­ took the first one. The latter remarked, " This is the worst and slowest road I ever traveled. There is the greatest lot of snarling, barking little dogs I ever saw, and it has taken half my time to drive them off." "Why, said the second man, " I didn't pay any attention to them, but came right along as if they weren't there." v Half the time of many boys and men is wasted in fighting trifles. A certain circuit Judge was always sure of meeting some cutting or sneering remarks from a self-conceited lawyer when he came to a certain town in his rounds. This was repeated one day at dinner, when a gentleman present siud. "Judge, why don't you squelch that fellow?" The Judge, dropping his knife and fork, and placing his chin upon his hands, and his elbows on the table, remarked, " Up in our town a widow woman has a dog that, whenever the moon shines, goes out upon the steps and barks, and barks away at it all night." Stopping short, he* quietly resumed eating. After waiting some time, it was asked, " Well, Judge, what of the dog and the moon ?" " OA, the moon kept on shining," he said. LOST, somewhere between sunrise and straset, two golden hours, each set with sixty diamond minutes. No reward is offered, because they are gone forever. . --Homm Mmu*. ,

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