Illinois News Index

McHenry Plaindealer (McHenry, IL), 19 Aug 1891, p. 14

The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

1 VAN SLYKE, Editor iiri PuMlsfcsr. s#»RY, ! 4 ' ILJLlNOtGL & TMJMFTLO AND I. KNOWIT. wr a. w. Foaa • out on K nwmowiWc trip, companion, I. K no wit • at ivny slowly," t>ayi it ««w. "Let us Just go ft P iow I. sJrfC'"' f t r m fast aud one would go slow, BSgk *t f Ktiowlt and alow i. Dunno. SKB way, felt about with hi* iMHhXi- tested the bridges; rfnu*nt on like a latei express train, • T-nra--»artns and Hvers and ridges; talfeMt auxl cried, "Get a move oil, old bwrr KftKf •*«» jog," said old slow I. Dunno. wr fcsgtt t *ngled and lost In the swamp M mmthaigti submerged in the mire; am bffiTOBii out, in hid leisurely romp, it (ki t^niund .was too sftft and went tf|h«; rteo milk mf cane wherever I go, aflrd&Mgr said slow 1. Uonoo. •S» «id!tt£«l o\rt all covered with mud, attswcmt *axi battered with bruises; m "AMSow with fire in his blood -- as wherever he chooses." mttmr t.«n> kinder mod'rate and slow, ill mill ImttfiTnil " said slow L BMM OerodMl slow, but he got far ahead ®r«w mnt« our usher, I. Knowit. (NM»« *ifr& naxti. "Let uscarefu'lv tread," K. Ifuwit sti 1 snicl, "S>t us go it." at ui> in the swamp of Dontoare: the beautiful land of Get there. i Hit*le VISE, OR OTHERWISE! , h 1 • ; •-. • ^ _ ' ; Am lHegory for the <!& •nfssd last, and generstty in afdiagl^ ^tod^ng wearily WORM) OF IHTIR very bad condition. I only 'TTTlftT^ iBf »•»* mm . *«*» fTUMil/ W 4«tt®Ul\. this as a fact, with no Attempt} lipOt, wbsrt, in the e&riy spring, . . . WWR^ «» umc vr.miAj r»|#»tug( aro u«4 to explain why it is so, Perhaps it is talked With Master Shrewdly Shallow, 16 MF " because Heaven smiles upon the human being who generously loves and earns for another weaker than himself. Or perhaps it is merely because the mus- ciles trrow strong, the heart brave, and thte bruin clear in proportion to the call Upon them. Whatever the cause may be, this fact remains, those who take tip •ach duty or responsibility of life, as they find it, seekiug not to shirk any burden that ha* been laid upon hu- the mn4 oontident youth. "Whither away, young friend,M called out the sage, and the shabby traveler turned his face toward the speaker, Lo, in spite of his ghastly palor, sunken cheeks, hollow eves, and quavering voice, the philosopher rec­ ognized him as the same young pil­ grim who had set out so gaily in the spring, oontident that by keeping clear of all incumbrances in the way of loved inanity, for its proper development, are ' ones dependent upon him, he should • «.... ... v . ' easily reach the shrine of worldly suc­ cess io advance of his more unselfish companions. " What, only just returned from the shrine?"inquired the old man. "Returned ?" said the pilgrim "Would to Heaven that this were so, but I have not yet been near the shrine. Alas! I am not a step nearer it to-day than I was when I met you just as I was start­ ing out this spring, indeed," he con­ tinued, bitterly, "I am now so broken in health and spirit that I doubt if I shall ever reach the blessed goal. I the ones who arrive first at the shrine, and nearly always they arrive happy, cheerful and smiiing. It may be that only such burdens could keep them ever in the straight high road. And this reminds me, my young friend, to caution you upon too account to loiter on your way, or make detours into the dark glades of yonder wild forest. '.Chat dense wood* i* fall of evil creat­ ures, who lie in vfair. for just such lads as you. They are ready to beguiie and flatter at first, but after they have weak' ened and discouraged their victim, they j only care now for rest, and doubt even nearly always destroy him. You will usually (when these evil beings are seeking to ruin you) be ac­ costed by a smiling, rosy-cheecked boy, named Pleasure-- who will woo you so sweetly and innoceutly, to follow his lead, that you will, "unless very care­ ful, find yourself almost unconsciously allowing him to Ins your guide. Pleas- are's haunts are garlanded with roses, but in each ro.se lurks a deadly scorpion, ready to sting your outstretched hand as soon as you pluck the blossom, and ere yet you have iuhaled its fragrance. if X have strength to run from the ogre Matrimony should I see him approach­ ing. Oh.let me lie down and rest, here by the roadside." The good philosopher spread his cloak under an oak near by, and assisted to this hastily arranged couch the pale youth, who was apparently very feeble and ill. He had aged many years during the few months that- had intervened since he bad talked so confidently wit'h the philos­ opher, - there on that , same spot. He now lay wearily down, upon the out- Then will sirens, dressed iu gay colors j spread cloak, gazing about him with W ||V We A KATHEK1NK CLAPtV ^ NCE upon a time, in the spring of the year, a youth left the halls of his father, aud set out upon a pilgrim ape to a certain shrine, in a distant city. He was very eager to visit this shrine, for he had been told whomsoever faithfully implored tihe foot of this shrine, would be j to receive rich blessings in the _sof worldly goods, aud material h 'IP , '(MIIPERITY. f • , inimm was another shrine, called the ' - , *K|hr Success," but it was situated L | V 'Mi • lofty mountain peak. The road ^ -f "fMt led to it was long and wearisome, " , ] " .flwi asveml pilgrims had told the youth thattbm atmosphere about it was very VMMk and, in fact, difficult to ^that finding _ this out 0; ; 9m themselves, they had eome j/ , '.tack into the valley road and 56. - .f/mmtmi. tbeir steps toward the lower and with faces skillfully painted, so that to your upracticed eyes, they seem young and beautiful maidens, approach and offer you cups of wine, taste not from their cups, for in their depths lurks madness, despair and death --be­ ware of the halls of pleasure--for few 'come out of them as bright aud joyous lack luster, hopeless eyes. Suddenly, while they lingered thus, the sweet music of many voices, trained to perfeot harmony, broke the stillness, and soon a band of pilgrims. They were men and women of comely, as well as kindly countenances, and al­ though it is true that their garments as when they entered, even if they are ! were, in places, somewhat torn and •ft n* young man's heart beat joyously, • fa* journeyed along through the beau- fesf fields. Waid flowers bloomed in the hedges, ni asweet Zephyrs stirred his long curl- while overhead, in the deep fortunate enough to escape complete destruction." "Well, well, your talk is* doleful enough to give one an ague," cried the youth, "but I think that 1 can take care of myself pretty well, and these things do not greatly alarm me, I have heard talk of this kind before. But being un­ incumbered, I think it will be an easy matter to escape from the halls of pleasure, should be capture me. When­ ever! find myself ready to continue my journey--in fact I rather long for a little adventure with those sirens, whom you picture as being so designing, the only designs of which I am mortally afraid, are mat­ rimonial designs. I never expose my­ self to them, and that horrible ogre, matrimony (several of my best friends have been captured by him)--if I only escape him, I fell oontident that I shall arrive at the shrine of success all right and in good time." At this long speech of ibe youth's, the old philosopher again smiled, a Sr^wa 8Pi>' wise, sorrowful, compassionate Bmile, m Lurk sang"bis blithe"rounde- »»he replied: "Very well, you must go your own way, rash youth, since I am here to warn, but not to ooerce you. itls foenW ,,about to tell you, (whjile as published and treat it as valid. •J.-', 1 a ' said young Master Shre^es1 WalAosr (for this was the pilgiL mmmk ""verily, I am, indeed, a fortuN ••K--young and fairly good lookhij. Mis Ihsfh of health and strengr'P bMpadfsrthe shrine of H Success," w ImmpmUy ceitain to reach earlier ] •pr fcilew-pilgrimai for thev have aJ «JW Meambrance, in the'shape < jB vilfti • «c a child, or an aged pa ^ I Am alone, fortunately, and iT id swiftly, with light baggfir hate Master Shallow whistledN a " taw;, and cocked his pilgrim's »knowingly on the side of his tfuvt an old gray-beard, dressed > anther gewo of a philosopher, 'J MM not repress a smile of compassion. -WMther away, my aged friend," en- priaad the youth, of this aged man. Aoo, too, bound for the shrine replied tbe sage, flittering shrine, "I touched Noniat of these officers has any power to patr)e" upon the validity of a statute. Tha a power rests in the courts alone. An;*8 person denying the validity of a putf«, hshed law, and violating it, assumes th»n. burden of showing that it is invalid iill, court, and until a court of com petenist jurisdiction declares a published law itnd valid, all executive office^ ^opst treat iud ^or&Arbut really, it is a necessity rather than a pleasure in their case, since their weak, enfeebled digestions will bear no other kind of food. These men, the Cynics are extremely depressing as companions, and really of not very well rounded characters, nor very wise men, since they have only developed the material side of their natures. They are angry and embit­ tered at finding the joys that they have sought , - , -- t u r n e v e r t o a s h e s i n t h e i r _ _ long years ago, crftsT1 1<I have «ounded the depths of all -- tbf itnCaD h?St°W: a°d | disposition and usually poor in pocket; jrlfeavemy dwelling, clone to the f v</ wretch«d « th«v atSmr aurine, yonder on the mountain They are broken in health, soured in --but I deem it my duty to wan ' »wu here, sometimes, in order mmm.s. Baj give a few words of eoun- -y°®ng fellows who have not, atJablL teeu over this road" anuch obliged to you, sir, for f1, load a disposition, and shall be glad fl' #• liateu to you, while we rest under •4/g' -«aki Master Shallow. "Yet & V KlAncy Dhat I hoe the rules for finding m ' „ •••ferine, already pretty well impressed my mind--they are few %nd Let me repeat them to you. L Never loiter by tbe way, A,., fcjiag to assist weary companions who j??:Jwaa faUeo--but keep straight on about *,/' jCai uwn -affairs. f;' Aale2. Travel with light baggage, ' ' v sad never assume any responsibility 4MhaiiB not absolutely forced upon you. i. 1 IBtiie 8. Beware of the ogre, Matri- ""These are the three rules," oon- imsit Vive youth--"and especially do [ JSCan to heed well the last, m J have been told that the jgm llatrimony, if once he dtrihma •& man, will load him down nth a multitude of cares and burdens, nadsome .responsibilities that oblige As to keep straight along in a narrow •A monotonous path, plodding on, day •ar^ay. This would be terrible to for I mean to loiter a little, ^s I ami, trying the by-paths, stepping via oosaetimes into the dark reoesses f Cfeoae dense old woods, down the aad there,--in fact, I wish to see the mid, and have a good tiipe as I go Aaqg, starting so early in the day, base is no need of hurry. Che old philosopher sighed, as he •wwrf, "My friend, I have little tope that you will listen to my advice, haft £ must inform you that you have toatt. wery badly instructed,--in truth, jaar teachers must have been exceed­ ing ignorant ones. They seemed to fcys |»saessed no practical knowl- the route that laaab <to success. P'or instanoe <hat<dause in your first rule, about ,at- daa&ng strictly to your own business It toell enough, but you wUl find that yet, wretched as they are, so strong is their ruling passion that they will from sheer vanity caper and caiacole with their ancient and rheumatic limbs, rejoicing loudly in the possession of what they term their "liberty," and boasting that they have been extremely prudent and cun­ ning to thus outwit Matrimony. Now, the truth of the matter is, Matrimony has no desire to claim these miserable wretches--for this being, Matrimony whom you have been taught to look upon as an ogre--is a wise, kindly friend to mortals, and I advise you to place yourself as soon as possi­ ble under his protection and influence. Now, while yet you have something to savtf of streog'th, hope, health, and faith-*-but I fear that you will not heed me unless Cupid, Matrimony's archer, should get a good fhot at you, making you his helpless victim--but I now have warned you, this duty done, I will le­ gume my journey. We shall meet again, young friend, and in the mean­ time, 1 wish you Godspeed. The old philosopher bowed, and re­ sumed his journey. The youth lingered, basking in the sunshine, and laughing to himself at the old graybeard's seriousness. At last, so far from heeding the philoso­ pher's counsel was he, that lightly springing to his feet, he resolved to finft the bey Pleasure at once, that very evening, and follow on, to his halls, for, said the young pilgrim. "1 have plenty of time, and am plighted to no maiden who watches for my coming. Now, while I am young, is the time to enjoy myself, and find out what life is like. Later on, in spite of my efforts, the ogre may capture me, and then, so far as liberty and a good time are con­ cerned, it will be all up . with me." So saying, the youth took the first turn that led from the main road, into the forest, and soon he disappeared amidst its shadowy recesses. Days, weeks, months, passed away, and yet the young pilgrim was seen no more upon the road--tkelark sang on, the flowers bloomed and faded, other pilgrims journeyed to and from the dis- frayed by the briars and brambles that had bordered their path--and their hands were toil-worn, and * few lines of care marked each earnest brow, all looked cheerful, even happy, while in their eyes burned the holy light of con­ jugal and parental love, and the spirit of willing self-sacrifice. There trere beautiful little ohildren in the band--and parents and ohildren were chanting a hymn, in praise of Matrimony. A benign and stately being, whose face shone with spiritual beauty, and whose sweet, serene smile, as she advanced to his side, comforted even the dying pilgrim. "And art thou the one whom they call Matrimony ?" asked the youth. "Art thou him from whom I have been running all these days of misery?--and is this the aspect thou dost wear ?* "Even so," was the reply. "I am Matrimony, despised and sneered at by those who set snares for the feet of youth--yet I am the guardian and con­ servator of all life's holiest treasures, to those who have eyes to see, and hearts to understand me." The youth, gazing eagerly at the land of pilgrims, said: "Lo, yonder I see many of my old companions, young men who started out upon this journey "en­ cumbered with burdens, yet it is evi­ dent that they have long since touched the shrine of Success, in the city of "Worldly Prosperity, and are even now returning home." "True," said Matrimony. " , "Alas!" cried the dying pilgrim, "woe is me, that all this time I have been fleeing from thee, who would have been to me a true friend, keeping me iu the straight path, and away from the be- guilements that have wrought my ruin. Oh, that I could live my life over again." "It is too late," said the old philoso­ pher, sadly. "Every day some young pilgrim is led away into the woods, as you were, only to be destroyed. They are all so confident. When they start out having youth, health, opportunity, they trifle with these gifts, until they wake some morning to find that they have lost them beyond recall." "The young pilgrim's life was now el>bing fast. His old companions, with faoes full of sympathy, gathered around him. The aged sage, leaning over him, said: "My .poor friend, I ask of you one lit­ tle favor. I want your testimony jts a dying man, as to the lesson your sad experience has taught you. Tell me, in your opinion, as yon now stand face to face with death, is the young man who lives for himself, shirks the re­ sponsibility of wife or child, and sooffs at matrimony, wise or otherwise?" The dying pilgrim opened his eyes for an instant, and gazed earnestly into the faces of his friends. Then, falling back, with his last breath, he whispered his reply. It was only - answered^* "Otherwise." ;IN2>INFTS OF INTEREST T<| EVERY WAGE EARNERi V!*y' labor afi&trs pf your close companions and 1 tant shrine, and the old philosopher ••Chivalrous." An exciting story of the rescue from diowning of a Japanese by an English­ man whose life the Japanese himself had set out to save, is told in a Japanese paper, the Kobe Sh im bun. The En­ glishman was a resident of Tokio. Be­ ing on his way to Yokohama, and find­ ing no ferry-boat, owing to the swollen state of the river, he determined to swim across with his clothing in a bundle tied on his head. The daring attempt attracted a orowd of sight-seers, one of whom, observing that the stranger was apparently in difficulty, plunged in and swam to' his recue. The Japanese was a good swim­ mer, but the waters ran swiftly, his strength gave out, and he was carried down stream. Then arose a cry from the spectators, for they saw that the Japanese was going to sink. By this time the Englishman had mi- most reaohed the opposite bank, but when he heard the cries of the crowd he turned about, and eeeing the drowning Japanese, he again faced the current, and coming up with the drowning man, caught him with one arm, and swim­ ming with the other^band he brought him ashore imid the cheers of the crowd. "How chivalrous was his action 1" ex­ claims the Japanese journalist in con­ clusion. "His name we know npjj^ fent he has our highest admiration." *re matters of importance to 1 •JHisdso--and if their affairs are going ai wrong, and you, in your selfish, one- flBsad absorption in your own business, dhaai lift a hand to rignt them, you B&' life sr by your neglect, since no one ne for himself alone with impunity 1 pilgrimage--and, directly or in­ ly, whatever harms one is sure to Another peculiarity of this is the fact that those pilgrims baldened with some loved one de- apon them--like wife or cbil- f fe been tbe ve ry ones to f i rb t_ . th*goal, and the ones who have j his mission of warnini themselves .to 'mm': flff have! figusi, unkempt, often appeared, and dutifully gave them the benefit of his experience of the road. A few took his advice, but many listened half contemptoualy to his well meant warnings. At last, when the cold rains of autumn had set in, one dreary day, when dead leaves fell to the ground, and were trampled into the ground by the horses hoofs--very much as the glowing' hopes and aspirations of youth are trampled into the mire of this world's selfishness--the old philoso­ pher, trudging along, bent upon saw a forlorn 'and bt- Trtck Lettuce. 'i Trioks have arisen into the dignity of deoorating dinner tables. If you soak germinating lettuce seed in alcohol for about six hours, set it on the table {>lanted in an equal mixture of unslaeked itne and rich soil, aud at the soup sprinkle with lukewarm water, it will sprout immediately, and the lettuce will#grow to about the size of hazel nuts before the time for serving salad. "I'M on to yon," said the mustard plaster to the boy with a colic. "Ah, come off," answered the boy as he flung tha dkraspeotful plaster into the eoupi. I ghe began to fix upthe bundle, Wfcat fs Being Oou b y f and iter the WorklB|tt«B and W«riEingwom«n «f the Country--A Col^f far Those Whs *oll. PAPER linen defies defection. ;> ' r4 MEXICO has no shoe factories. ; BOSTON Italians are < rgauized. ^ ^ CHICAGO wants a lal or temple. ^ ^ CHINESE ara leaving' California. BROOKLYN plumbers/amalgamated. NEW" YORK carvers work eight hours. "VIENNA compositors won nine hours. . VINOENNEs miners Agreed to arbitra­ tion. ' i, • j. ,;; ], BROOKLTJI engineers *04 bureau. . •/«•> ?- • > CHICAGO has a railway employes* hos­ pital. THE German Government runs lace sehools. • « •. T&e Colored Farmers' Alliance is spreading. •%> THERE a socialist party ito San Franc i sco / " ' 'V- • - • • CHINESE matting workmen get 5 cents aday% 'FRISCO paperhangers get from $1.50 to $4.50 a day. ST. PAUL barbers want 15 cents for a shave. THE Lumber Shovers' Is Chicago's biggest union. A MILWAUKEE brewery will make its own bottles. LONDON (Ont.) plumbers want nine hours and $2.25. BIRMINGHAM (Ala.) miners get 45 cents a ton. MEXICO will have a $2,000,000 ex­ hibit at the World's Fair. LOUISVILLE negroes struck against working with Italians. THE Brotherhood of Painters and Decorators has 300 unions. AUSTRALIAN eight hour workers want a half hour for a smoke. GERMANY publishes more periodicals than all the rest of Europe. Two HUNDRED labor papers died in four years in the United States. NEW YORK Hebrew trades unions have a naturalization bureau. THE Steam Bailroad Men's Union of New York has 5,000 members. SAN FRANCISCO musicians get $3.50 for one engagement and $18 a week. COLORED people will erect an eman­ cipation monument at the World's Fair. VERA CRUZ lias a seventy-two mile street railway, the longest in the world. PHOTOGRAPHERS' assistants in New York work seven days for $7 and $9. They will organize. THE gold produced in Venezuela in 1890 amounted to 2,424 kilos, 525 gam- mes; value, $1,040,506. ELECTRIC welding is being used in America for welding band saws, and also for replacing broken teeth in saws. BECENT advices from Asia state that electric motors have been adopted for planning and drilling machines in works at Tokio, Japan. PARIS had seventy-three acres under roof for its exposition, but Chicago will have 115 acres. It will be a show not soon to be surpassed. UNLESS some catastrophe not antici­ pated overtakes the crop Nebraska will crib 200,000,000 bushels of corn this year. The crop of 1889 was 150,000,000 bushels. THE number of accidents in British collieries during the first half of 1891 was unusually small. The total num­ ber of persons killed by explosions of firedamp was only 18, against 276 in the corresponding period of 1890 and 56 in the same time in 1889.. WHAT is called London proper covers an area of 117 square miles, which is sixty-three miles less than the area of Chicago, and in this area resides a population of 4,000,000. In this area there are 233 miles of railroad owned by seventeen different companies, one company haviug as much as forty-four miles. IT is announced that tbe Yorkshire, England, miners, instead of spending an accumulated fund of half a million dollars in supporting strikes, propose to devote the money to the election ex­ penses and salaries of twenty members of Parliament chosen to represent them as to all legislation affecting their inter­ ests. ^ There is no salary attaohed to a position in Parliament. THE Census Office reports, concern­ ing the tobacco statistics of Virginia, that the total number of planters in the State during the census year was 24,- 034; the total area devoted to tobacco, 110,579 acres; the total product, 48,- 522,655 pounds, and the value of the crop to the producers, estimated on the basis of actual sales, $4,323,649. Senator. Palmer and the Baby. President Palmer, of the World's Columbian Commission, is nothing if not polite. He is also something of a joker, as any one who knows him well can testify. He is especially noted, too, for the little attentions he pays to women, and he always stands ready to help a woman out of any difficulty in which he happens to find her if reason­ able assistance will do it. Senator Palmer is sometimes attentive and po­ lite in person and sometimes by proxy, but polite be is always sure to be. He sometimes combines his humor and his politeness, and his secretaries have to pay the freight. Ford Starring, the secretary who accompanies the Senator on his present trip to Chicago, tells the Evening Post of that city of a very amusing experience they had together last winter. "Senator Palmer has a farm a little way out of Detroit," says Mr. Starring, "which commands a great deal of his in­ terest and attention. An electric street railway runs to within a mile and a half of the place. The old man (spoken iu profound respect) finds it necessary to go out to the farm pretty often. If it is a pleasant day he drives out from his house; if it is unpleasant he always takes the electric and walks the mile and a half the cars do not carry him. One day last spring he summoned me and told me to make ready for a trip to the farm. It was muddy and sloppy and cold and drizzling, and the rain and sleet made a fellow shiver. On this particular day, of course, the old man wanted to walk. So we jumped into au electric car, and after we had gone out some distance the only other passenger in the car was a very slight, petite, little woman with what appeared to be a huge, awkward bundle. She stayed in the oar to the end »f the line. She didn't attract tlie old man's notice until we reach i he end of the road and Then »»'M word, but wfcw ifee wj r t se the o ld mal l . . . _ , saffli* 'Ah! madam. Permit me.' 6h« handed over the bundle and followed out of tbe car. Tbe old man hadn't gone very far before he exclaimed: 'Why, madam, this is a baby, isn't it?' "The woman answered that it was a baby." -"-v ' *'Boy or girl!*" (i ' •» " 'Girl' she answered. ' "Well, madam, wheu this little girl has grown to an age when she can com­ prehend what it all means, you might tell her that when she was very young she was carried in the arms of Presi­ dent Palmer, of tbe World's Fair. Ant.--madam--(then in a deep aside)-- "Say Starring, look here"--you might :tell her, too, that she was carried for some distance by Ford Starring.'" "He handed that 'bundle' over to me, and while I toted it for a mile and a half up a muddy road the old man fol­ lowed alter me talking with tbe little wotfan." „ . Jk Mew LML "I am going to turn, over a new leaf," he said feebly, his pallid lips wearing just a ghost of a smile. "Still delirious," said the doctor with professional gravity. "No,"said the sick man's wife--she was also his nurse and sole watcher," Jim is in his tight mind when he begins to turn a new leaf." "Oh, that's a habit of his, is it?" asked the doctor kindly, as if he didn't know what everybody else knew, that poor, weak, shiftless Jim Worthen was always going to do something that he never did. "I've Been it all since I've been lying sick." It was Jim's feeble voice now. "I've been such a worthless, selfish hus­ band to you, Nellie---such an idle, gOod- for-nothing!" "No, no, Jim," protested his wife, crying softly, "you were always kind to me. It wasn't your fault that things went wrong." "Oh, lean see now as I never saw before, how I have wasted the great op­ portunities of life. But I'll turn over a new leaf--this time I am in earnest." He had done it many times. All the fair white leaves of his life he had turned over, and now the recording an­ gel had them in his keeping, soiled, blotted, illegible, nothing to compute from their poor moral arithmetic but the time he had wasted.' Hush! the sick man is talking. Not turning the leaves over now, but back­ wards, for in his troubled sleep his pale lips move, and he babbles of his boy­ hood's days--of a deep still tarn in the woods where the trout leap--a place that he only knows of. His wife smiles. He is dreaming, she says. When he awakes with a start, he looks strangely at them all: "Why-why-where am I? Where is mother? His faithful wife is forgotten. An­ other face--one that has been under the graveyard mosses for years--is in his memory now, "I thought she was here," he said faintly. "Oh, I remember now. I was sick and dreaming. Let me get up. I want to begin all over again. I have turned over a new leaf." "Yes, dear Jim." Nellie held his wan white hands in hers. He did not feel the tears that were softly dropping upon them. "We'll go home first and visit the old folks. I never took you home, Nellie, and they'll be glad to see us. I've been the prodigal son, but they'll forgive me. What was that mother used to read? "In my Father's house are many man­ sions." There'll be room for me there, for I've turned over a new leaf--its--all white and clean--a new leaf--" "Jim, oh, Jim!" His eyes gently closed -- he had turned the new leaf.--Free Press. An ObHtacle. A theological student who had preached one Sunday in a city at a con­ siderable distance from the school whioh he attended, wished to take the early train back on Monday morning. He was delayed in starting, and had to stop on the way to get a check cashed, so that when he reached the upper end of the station, the train which had stopped at the other end had already started out. It would pass him, however; ao he waited, and when the baggage car came along he threw his bag on board, and with sensible precaution decided to wait for the last car before jumping on him­ self. The bystanders watched the proceed­ ing with interest, and broke into laugh­ ter as the rear car came along. There, on the lower step of the last platform, stood a man who must have weighed fully 300 pounds, an effective hindrance to any attempt toward boarding the train. The young man fell back and waited for tbe next train, while the obstacle continued in his position on the steps quite unconscious of anything exoept the cigar he was smoking. Camp-Fire Fllekerlnga. Langdon and myself had discovered, in.Becker County, Minn., a small lake, which, from its general weird appear­ ance, hemmed in by tamarack swamps, and from certain mysterious things seen and noises heard in the dusky twilight, we had named Witch Lake. It was swarming with fish, and when, on our return thence to Detroit City, we found a party of home friends from Dakota there, we returned to the lake to give them some sport In the evening as we Bat upon the shore, N., who has a slight impediment in his speeoh, turned to me: "Wh-wh-wh-at do vou call this lake?" "Witch Lake," ' ^ > "Wh-wh-wh-y, th-tlt-th-ia out," "Witch Lake." "Th-th-th-is one, I say, r-r-r-rs here. "And I say, I Witch Lake." "C-c-c-c-confound it, th-tli-th-th-is one, where we've b-b-b-een fishing." "W-i-t-c-h, witch, 1-a-k-e, lake, Witch Lake." "Oh!" as Langdon's suppressed laugh broke lortb, and he realized "which was witch."--Forest and StreamJ Butiy Men. Watch the crowd as it passes a oomer not far from the great bridge. Every­ body is in a hurry. Men, women, and boys hasten back and forth as if the af­ fairs of the metropolis must be settled np long before Lieut. Totten's collapse of the universe takes place. But see, two little newsboys are climbing up a fire escape for a penny wager. The busy men stop to look, a crowd of small boys gather; even the female book agent pauses in her cyclonic career. In two minutes a vast throng of people in a hurry has gathered, and for a time weighty matters are forgotten in the excitement caused by a climbing matob. Surely a great part of this bustle and rush and hurry in the metro abadhabitt . That1 a< A - Chinese Ifaadarin, General Tohang-Ei-Tong, gives the following Interesting account of the Chinese higher education, in a communication to the Asiatic Quarterly Review: It is by no means uncommon to hear our Mandarin class, or "literati," spoken of as an all-powerful caste, in full possea- •ian of the country, and governing, ac­ cording to its own good pleasure, other castas that yield a passive obedience to it, without any intelligence, and, above all without any influence. Nothing can be more unjust to our "literati" than to describe them thus, for they are far from constituting a class separated from the rest of the Nation. The "literati," in fact, are not recruited specially from among any certain number of families, ,for which are reserved the special ap­ pointments of administration and gov­ ernment. Favor has nothing whatever to do with it. The selection, on the contrary, is a most severe one, taking in the entire Chinese territory, and draw­ ing out from the whole mass of the Chinese people the most capable indi­ viduals, to form of them tbe members of the corps of instructors and of the functionaiies of the State. It is the ex­ aminations, open to all, which establish this selection. Neither birth nor for­ tune confer the claim to aspire to the title of "literate." Nothing but the capacity of the individual can cause him to be admitted. There is no such thing, therefore, as "class" in this "person­ nel," which is constantly drawn from the inexcusable reserva of our hun­ dreds of millions of human beings, and which senews itself every year by new comers, recruited without distinction from all the social strata of the coun­ try. This popular origin has, more­ over, in our eyes an enormous advan­ tage. By the infusion constantly of fresh blood, our administration is always being rejuvenated, remains by that alone in permanent contraot with the people, and can neither ignore nor forget the wants and aspirations of the governed. With us, the son of a shop­ keeper, of a mechanic, or of a laboring man can become a "literate" on the same conditions as the son of a "liter­ ate." The young man whose father modestly cultivates his patoh of rice in some distant province, comes to Pekin in order to pass his last examinations. If he succeeds, he becomes at once, by this fact alone, one of the [first of tbe class of "literates," and henceforth the highest appointments in the State await him. No "literate" will ever look upon, nor will he try to look upon, shopkeepers, artisans, or field laborers, as belonging to a class less honorable than his own. Such an order of ideas would be perfectly strange to us, and I congratulate my country upon the fact Instruction is not compulsory in China; nevertheless it is very rare to meet with an illiterate person. Our elemen­ tary instruction is, in fact, much more extensive than in Europe, the result of the greater difficulties attached to the learning of our writing, and to the mul­ tiplicity of our ideographic characters, acquaintance with which makes neces­ sary long and oareful application. As soon as a child is old enough to receive instruction, it is sent to some school, kept in a modest room, by a "literate," who, having acquired a very complete education, has not yet been successful in passing the examinations. Here the little boy learns to read, to trace his letters, to understand and to retain sundry precepts taken from our classes. By; and by the pupil attacks literature, familiarizes himself with poetry, and anon, with Mstory. Simultaneously he begins to learn drawing and paint­ ing in water colors. He has to store his memory with a considerable number of literary extracts, and so to acquire gradually the style of our great writers. All this work has taken some years to get through, and the student prepares for his first examination, which corresponds to your bachelor's degree. Those who pass this, prepare for the second examination, and then for the third or doctor's degree. Suc­ cessive eliminations reduce the candidates for the last degree to a very small number. At this examination, which is held every third year in the capital, out of 10,000 candidates, not more than 200 succeed in passing. The studies of those examined have in­ cluded, besides history and general literature, our practical philosophy, which is, in one word, the theory of the art of governing. Until very lately the sciences have found but little room aioeng-^hese studies; but during the last thirty years we have made |the necessary eftort in this direction, so that our special schools, combined with tbe mission of students sent abroad, suffice to bring us up to the level of our requirements. Our ancient national program perfectly fulfills the object for which we intended it. In effect, this program develops, in the highest degree, public and private mo­ rality. It inculcates upon us, with the worship of the family and respect for our parents, the love of our neighbor and the desire to be happy through the happiness of all. We need not be moved by the reproach, which is some­ times made, of living in the past If our "past" had been retrograde, I oould understand the reproach. On the contrary, however, this remote past bas bequeathed to us a doctrine of incessant progress, admirably suited to our nat­ ural genius. It has taught us that the family should always keep the happi­ ness of all its members in view, that each individual should interest himself iu the lot of all his fellow human be­ ings--in a word, that the supreme ob­ ject of government is the happiness of the people. Kings of the Olden Timcv A ring possessing a strong claim to ^notice purports to be the seal ring of William Shakespeare, and was found March 16, 1810. by a laborer's wife in tbe mill close adjoining Stratford-on- Avon churchyard. Kings were in Shakespeare's time an almost necessary part of the outfit of a gentleman--they indicated rank and character by their devices. Hence the wills and inven­ tories of the era abound with notices of rings, many persons wearing them in profusion, as may be seen in portraits painted at this time. The Germans particularly delighted in them, and wear them upon many fingers and upon different joints of the fingers, and fore­ finger espacially, a whimsical custom still kept by their descendants. The ladies even wreathed them in the bands of their headdresses. Rabelais speaks of the rings Gargantua wore because his father desired him to "renew that ancient mark of nobility." On the fore­ finger of his left hand he had a gold ring set with a large carabunole, and on the middle linger one of milled metal. On the middle finger of tbe right hand he had a curious ring, made spirewise, wherein was a perfect ruby, a pointed ! diamond and an emerald of inMtimabie I valn»--2*A« Western 4 , mik'&m feigns to b# amused THE best friends aiwtfce friends wh» have been through a trouble together. THE safest Mid best of all God's ©reap tures is the woman who is happily mi# tied. THERE is nothing more id guard against than deeeit, unless it |l flattery. . jgf THE excuse of every man who dosit not mind his own business is that he ifr . trying to do good. 1 L^ YOUR enemy will admire you if yo« defy him, and despise you if you hum* • ble yourself before him. v IF it was not for the fear of public opinion, most men would go to the devfl in the day time. WE wish we were a character in i> novel, so that by the stroke of a pen wp*"'i could be made happy ever after. ^ EVERT man is sure he would hswfe^ amounted to more if he had had hii neighbor's opportunities. < THE last one a man tells that he it* making money, is his wife, but she ift the first one he tells when he is losing ifc THE Lord never realizes what hand work is until He tries to save a manfc soul without a goodnoman to help Him. THERE are two sides to a questiuu; the trouble is that when men look aft one side, they imagine they are seeing both. MEN with great ability and litt!a energy find it impossible to cope witj§' the man who has little ability and great - energy. So MANY people -reserve their best manners for strangers, and show the|t friends all the ill-humor and unfairness in their natures. THE belief that he is a Messiah lurloi in the hearts of men as naturally as th* belief that she is an angel lurks in thft hearts of women. 'r ; THE more a woman allows her sons tiM spend time aud money in dressing thenar* ;• selves up, the more it will cost thefe father some day to dress them down. THERE is a suggestion of a skeleton covering itself with gay colors and flow­ ers when an old woman tries to make the world believe that she is young aud g»y. WE imagine that if anything makes * man feel ridiculous, it must be to take poison to kill himself, and then awaken to find peo{ le working on him wilth il. stomach pump. Jm Ntmpmrm Outdone? The mystery which has always hung over the Grand Falls, in the interior ola Labrador, is to be cleared away at last, and in a few months the scientific world will know whether they are the greatest in the world, or whether the previous accounts have been greatly exaggerated. This knowledge is to be gained through Henry G. Bryant, a Philadelphia lawyer, and Prof. Kenie- ton, of Georgetown University, who ara now on their way to visit the falls. Only two white men have ever seen the falls, as far as is known, and they both place the bight at 2,000 feet. Above the fall the river is said to be 500 yards broad, contracting to 50 yards at the falls themselves. If this account be tr^e then, in the whole world, there is no other fall having such a volume of water descending at a bound from such a stupendous bight Niagara's volume of water is far greater, but its hight is only 164 feet The famous falls of Zambesi are but 100 leet In the Yosemite Valley there is a fall of 2,550 feet, but this is broken into three leaps, and the volume of water is not equal to that of the Grand Falls of Labrador. Thus, taking into aocount the combination of the hight and vol­ ume, these Grand Falls of Labrador throw all others into the shade. A fall of 2,000 feet has generally befft regarded as utterly inconceivable, how­ ever, and various efforts have been made to verify the reports of MacLeaa and Kennedy, the two white men who profess having seen the falls, but all of those who have started out in search of them have been forced, for some reason or other, to return before reaching the falls. Bryant and Keniston exjgect to return in October. ; * Si /j*# r" * * ,>k -dntfi * a J* -.it- 'jr> . .•/ AswJkS-'.W PlMing IlruK Button* The beautiful ornamentatiofi tpfth rainbow colors now produced on brass buttons is the simple result of stringing them on a copper wire and dipping them in a bath of plnmLate of sod»; freshly prepared by boiling litharge in caustw soda and pouring it into a porcelain dish; in this solution a linen bag of finely pulverized litharge or hydrated oxide of lead is suspended, so as to keep up its original strength, and while in this solution the buttons are touched, one after another, with a platinum wire connected with the pole of a battery until the desired color appears. The galvanic current employed is of but moderate strength, and a greater bril­ liancy is given to the colors by their be­ ing heated after they are rinsed and dried. Colored films, however, are more conveniently produced upon bright* .brass by different chemicals by paint* ing them, or by immersion--that is, for a golden yellow, by dipping in a per­ fectly neutral solution of acetate of cop* per; for a dull grayish grain, by repeat- ' ediy painting with a very dilute solu­ tion of chloride of copper; for purple^ heating them hot and rubbing them, with a tuft of cotton saturated with chloride of antimony; and for a golden red, a paste consisting of four parts of prepared chalk and mosaic gold.--4) Chemical Trades Journal. Tempering Tout*. The following is said to be the Swiss' method of hardening cast steel for out- ting tools. Mix iu a suitable vessel four parts of pulverized resin and two , parts of train oiL Stir well in this one part hot tallow. Into this mixture the article to be hardened is plunged at a low red heat aud held there until thoroughly cooled. Without cleaning off, the piece is again put into the fire and suitably tempered in the ordinary way. An examination of steel thus hardened indicates that the hardening is deeper and more uniformly distri­ buted than is oommonly tbe case, and ' that the steel is less brittle. Artioles thus hardened have excellent aud durable cutting qualities.--Stone. ^ The Bloat Curious Hook in the World. A book belonging to the family of the Prince de Ligne, now in France, is said to be the most curious book in the world, because it is neither written uo* printed. The letters of the text are cot out of each folio upon the finest vellum; and. being interleaved with blue papef» it is as easily read as print The lubo* bestowed upon it was excessive. Rodolph II. of Germany offered for. it» in 1640, 11,000 ducats, probably equal, to $(50,000 at this day. A remarkably circumstance connected with this literary treasure is that it bears the royal ftra»e of England; but it cannot be ttacedLftO %ave ever been in that country. . _ ' >:?4ns?*r , V s i t > ' - I ' -V ' - A / ' - ;J - J

Powered by / Alimenté par VITA Toolkit
Privacy Policy