McHenry Public Library District Digital Archives

McHenry Plaindealer (McHenry, IL), 4 Jun 1884, p. 6

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A WALTZ QCADULUL • « BY KLI.A WHEELER. The b*nrt wt* plftvlng a waltz qn«drill*-- I felt *H llaht an a wind-blown feather, A* wr floated iiway at the caller's will Through the intricate mazy dance topcthet, T'lke a mimic army onr line were meeting, r-i . . Klowlv advancing. and then retreating. All decked in tbeir bright array; , * - V»» And back find forth to the music'* rhfttt "e moved totrother, and all the time .*•'••. C I know you were going away. Isf-;*1- -fe The fold of vonr strone arm pent a thrill 1 From li< ar! ui brain as we irentlv slidod • , Like leaves on. tne waves of that wait* quadrille, . ' • J* Parted, met, and njirain rliv.dcd. You drifiinu one way and 1 another, iL£ Then miditenly tnrntnc and facing each other; fj> " ,Then off in the lilithe chaese; f," , Then airiiy l«i<k to our j-laees svrayinsr, <y> j • While every beat of the music seemed saying That you were going away. ;' 1 said to my heart, "Let ns take our fill Of mirth and pleasure, and love and lauehter, f •>. For it. all ifttust end with this waltz ouadrille. And life will never he the same life after. 0! that t!:c caller miirtit «ro on callinc-- i Oi that. ti:e mnsic mi;z!it iro on falling i - Like a -sho-.ver of silver sprnv-- .: While we whined on the vast forever," Where no hearts break ami no ties sever. And uo one (Toes a way." A clamor, a crash, and the hand was still, Twits the end oC the dream and the end of the • - measure. .The last low notes of that waltz quadrille Seemed like a dirge over the death of pleasure. Von said e<vd night, and the spell was over-- Too warm tor a friend and too cold for a lovor-- There was nothina more to say; But the liuhts looked dim, and the -dancers -, , weary And the music was sad, and the ball was djraary AfWr you went away. ONLY A MAIQ-HF-ALL-WORK, "Even tlie clock seems to tick faster, as if hurrying to make np for lost time," . she said to herself as she re-folded the ; telegram announcing her brother's arrival in New York. The ticking seemed louder, clearer, than it ever sounded before, she thought, as her - eyes rested on the clock, and noted the apparent rapidity with which the minutes separating her from her broth­ er were measured off. The liou-e seem­ ed f-o silent, too; or was the stillness broken at intervals by the claiig of tho mills mere fancy? The summer air Mew in through the open door, tossed half a dozen withered leaves from the vine through the win­ dow, then lifted a paper lying on the table near her. She grasped it quickly, sighed, mid said: "Thanks be to God, he's well over, anyhow. He sailed on tho eighth--and here it's only the eighteenth, and me V- allowing twelve days at the lowest! Sure they couldn't do much better than that if they built a bridge over the ocean. He'll be here be lore I have everything ready for him." She looked at the clock again in an absent-minded way. It was plain her mind was not upon her work. For that matter, the bulk of her day's work was done. The room was clean; every­ thing was in its place. The maid-of-all- work was enjoying a "breathing spell " "When the messenger boy came with the telegram she was making curious marks on a piece of paper, the paper she now , , held in her hand as she looked at the - clock, as though noting the flight of the hours that divided her from her brother. "I wonder what he is like now?" she asked herself. Liko people who scru- ....... tin:zed an unexpected letter, examin­ ing the post-mark, date of reception, and cbirography, speculating upon the * writer, she indulged the pleasures of anticipation. "It was on a day much . like this I left Banbrilge. The grass "was green--far greener than it is here * --anyway, there's no such dirt as we •*»tl»aTe here. Will I ever see such a sky again? Jamie wa* a bit of a gos-oon ||r that oared-no more for the next day than /-^hair. ; '• • * r ̂ the wind that tossed his curly He was the worst--and the ? - brightest lad in the school. He scarce- * iHtly sat still long enough to tind the place r~ in his book, the master told me, and he stood at the bead of his class. No thanks and no credit to him, as Dr. Low said mors than once, for it cost him no I • trouble at all. He'll be a head taller • ifthan me at least, if l:e takes after the Sloan's side of the house. He'll be six Jfeet, maybe." She marked a spot on the side of the door, smiling curiously, walked back and looked at it. "That's about the | height I'm to look up to all my life, I "• - suppose. John reaches there, and if my brother is as tall--but what odds whether he is short or tall. It's all " ' one--only he might have told me. It's a grand secret he has made of it every- . where. And he'll be here to-morrow. She looked across the river at the hilltops, where quiet stretches of farm­ land lay in the broad, warm sunlight; at the columns of smoke vomited from the great chimneys near, and which sometime* shut out the beautiful land­ scape, darkening the sky. Then again «he was recalled to herself by the silence of the house. Whero were the children? She looked out of .the win- -dow. At a considerable distance from the house, something that might be a <jhildVhead or a dog was moving b.ick •of a log. Then another object appear­ ed and disappeared, but the instant of time sufficed to satisfy the maid of-all- work. The children were playing in the open field near the hoiise. But where was the nurse? Strolling a long ^ distance from the little heads that were bobbing up and down betweon tho loga that were scattered over the open fidd, Nelly Moore observed a familiar figure; Reside her. moving an arm as th >ugli he were switching the air with a cane, was another form almost as familiar. The nurse evidently was proud of her con- - quest. It was not every girl in her sphere who could boast* a lover who carried a cane. The maid-of-all-work turned back " from tl:c window, renewed the fire in the range, and sat dowu at the table -with the paper she still held in her hand. Producing a piece of lead pencil as long as one's finger, she bent over * Ahe paper. And she drew curious lines upon the paper, her thoughts ran thiswise: "The new suit, the cravat, gloves, hat and boots1- must wait Jamie's coming. So long as the main thing-- the nionev--is provided, I'm noways uneasy. There's enough and to spare --it'll be my lookout to set him off so that no one will call him a 'Paddy-- although there's no disgrace in it--only when one comes among strangers there's I nothing lost by putting the best foot foremost. Many a pain and aclie I would have been saved these seven years past if Fomebody had thought for and Srovided for me beforehand. I hope amie will never experience what I've endured, md nobody any the wiser. Therer" looking sideways at the paper covered with curious marks and lines crossing each other. "That'll be Mow­ er's milts up there by the dam. I think I*ve not got it too near Drexel's mills. He'll never lose himself once he is in sight of either. That's the short side uf the e ty, too. If hell get Penn avenue set fairly in lii- mind, the long side will be as easv to learn. But I must make the. near "cut plain--the near cut across to the South side. And the bridges-- that'll be all that's needed. There's a mill left out." "Nelly!" a voice cried at that mom­ ent It wn*>Mrs. Br.tfc, who stood on -the landing. , "Yes, ma'am.*" "Where are Mary and the children T' "In the open lot. * ° '"Is Mary with them?---the fence is 4own now, and they must not be allowed to go near the railroad. Tell her t6 be very careful. I am croing to my room and must not be disturbed." Mrs. Kritt spoke liko a woman ac­ customed to implicit obedience. Mrs. Britt, a well-meaning woman who had never experienced hardship nor mis- fortune -one of those people who are born to ease and plenty, and accept them as a matter of course rather than as blessings--sat down before her escritoire, waiting for the inspiration which experience justified her in as­ suming nine times out of ten was belat­ ed ere it reached her pen. The best incident;', the extraordinary coinci­ dences and dramatic situations were al­ ways worked out by other people. In her leisure she had vrit en many verses--performances that occupied her time, were admired by her friends and dreaded l>y the editors of the daily pa-, pers of Giitsburgh more than a com­ petitor's proposition to compare circula­ tion. Unfortunately for Mrs. lhitt and the editors, two or three of these per­ formances got into print, and ever after they were compelled to do penance. Mrs. Britt's life was as placid as a pord of water in a prairie, but like many whose lives are barr* n of incident, she was forever in ruost of the intense; her disrel'.sh of the common-place was so great that she was in the habit of de­ claring "it positively amounted to dis­ gust." Time and again she b.3gan in- ti nsely thrilling poems and stories, but she never got farther than five or six verses or as far as the middle of the first chapter. Fragments oi these per- fo: mances littered her e-i ritolre and amusi d her liusb ind. Of the tragedies enacted every day about her, she had no conception. She sought incidents in the new West, in flood and battlefield and in the wake of lost steamers. The drudgery of every day life could not supply her with hero sm. Mrs. Britt had at last found a thril­ ling situation. All it required was good management. There Mas the great ste imer with its machinery disabled, signal guns firing, a tremendous clilF within biscuit-throw of the steamer, the steamer pounding on the rocks, and breakers foaming all around the hepless passengers. It required some dexteri­ ty to reach this point and extricate the half-do. en passengers essential to Mrs. Britt's story after committing the re­ mainder to the waves. Down stairs Nelly Moore was making strange lines and marks on the paper that occupied her attention. Mr. Britt, who was employed in a large factory near " at hand, "run in a moment to see how they were doing," and to satisfy the inner man with a pieco of pie and a glass of milk. He was in the habit of popping in and out unannounced. As he returned to the factory a vision of a curly head, laughing, mischievous eyes, and blue stockings--stockings that seemed to twinkle in the sunlight, as bis younge&t. Bennv, scampered from log to log, scrambling np and down "with his broth­ er Oscar and his sister Grace in. his wake--rose before him. The first chapter of Mrs. Britt's new story was half completed, when the loud, shrill and unusually prolonged whistle of a locomotive attracted her at­ tention. She glanced carelessly, aim­ lessly out of her window. The noon express was thundering around a curve near the open lot where her children were at play half an hour ago. Here and there a head was thrust out of a car window. A cry of warning, a pierc­ ing cry, followed by others, as shrill and sharp caused Mrs. Britt to rise and ad­ vance to the window. Then suddenly Mrs. Britt's pulses seemed to stop, her heart swelled as if it would burst She strove to cry out, but her tongue clove to the roof ot her mouth. There, fair in the path of the rushing locomotive, standing motionless as though paralyzed vith fright, stood her baby boy, Benny. Sky and earth were blurred together, as Mrs. Britt fainted dead away. The open lot was not large enough for Benny. His venturesome little legs had marked out new territory beyond the fence-line: beyond the railway, up nearer the hillside. While the nurse was listening to the soft nonsense which flowed from a loiterer's tongue, Oscar and Grace heedlessly pursued Benny on the new ground. When the train swept round the curve the nurse was nowhere to be seen. The eldest chil­ dren were on me sid'* of the track, Ben­ ny on the other. Benny started to meet his brother and sister; Grace was en­ deavoring to rea>'h him when Oscir held her firmly, shouting to Benny to run back. So lJenny stood dazed in the middle of the track while the locomo­ tive swooped down upon him. Nelly Moore was smiling in a self- sat sfied way over the b:t of paper with the curious marks and curves on it, when the pro'onged whistle of the loco­ motive attracted her attention likewise. She looked quickly across the vacant lot. It was deserted. Then she described the children on the hillside. "I'll save the child if I die for it! she exclaimed between her set teeth as she sped across the open lot. Those who witnessed her subsequent actions from a distance averred they never beheld mortal lessen distance as rapidly as Nellv Moore in that mad race for a human life. Men at a distance shou'ed warningly. Passengers on the train seeing people on the streets mak­ ing motions, craned their necks out of car windows. The supreme moment in the life of Nelly Moore presented itself then and there. She realized that the chances were against her ; that in all proba bilitv one, perhaps both, would be killel. If she had time to grasp and throw little lieuny from the p ith of the locomotive, its cruel wheels would grind her remorselessly. How often had she shuddered at spectacles pre sented near that spot? The laws of great State, powerful and far-reaching though they were, were not as powerful as the railway lobby that exempted the groat corporation from the out'ay necessary to the erection an mainten ance of that simplest form of preventive --an enclosure. The corporation plowed its way through flesh and blood as if they were things of less moment than the machinery tlu>t mangled human forms bey on g recognition^ The passengers looking out, and the witnesses on the street turned shud deringly away as Nelly Moore Bprang upon the railway and tossed the chi far Irom it. The many wheels revolv ing stopped with a grating sound, and score of men rushed to the spot where the maid-of-all-work lay writhing and gasping in a heap. ; "I'm next death's doer--take me home," she gasped when thej lifted hor tenderly. "I would never have belaved that, snr, if I had not seen it with my own eyes," said a fine-looking, straight- limbed young fellow, whose dress and accent indioated the new-come Irishman. He vai visibly affected. His von e trembled. He did not attempt to restrain his tears as be looked after the jgroup bearing Nelly to her mistress' residence. "What did you syr her name is?" to a lad standing neai? who was talking with the volubility of youth to those around him. "Ail aboard!" the conductor shouted as he walked leisurely toward a plat­ form. The young Irishman looked at the molionless train, turned ag iin to the group of horror-stiicken people near, anil again asked: "What name did you say, my lad ?" "Nelly Mooro. She lives with Britts over there, and--" The man's strong hand grasped the boy's arm with a vise-like grip as he bent over him. His lips were drawn, his face ashy pale, his eyes staring wild­ ly, as he ex • I aimed: "It can never bo--it is not possible-- there's- some awiul mistake, mv lad-- I--" " His - features worked convulsively, his gr«»sp relaxed as ho staggered back, and James Moore, who had never known either sickness or fear, swooned, and would have fallen had not a friendiy hand caught him in time. When he re­ gained consciousness lie said: "Take me to her. If there's life in her, she will remember her brother, Jamie. The merciful God will not let her die without seeing--without speak­ ing to me." But Nellie Moore to all appearance had loooked her last on things earthly. She was groping feeMy, very feebly in the night which precedes death. Per­ haps the morning would never dawn ajain for her. When James Moore sat down beside her, lie lifted her unmainied hand to his lips, kissed it through blinding tears, stroked it gently, and with streaming eyes said: "Aye, this is the hand that worked and slaved to pay for my school­ ing; that gave me all I ever had; that paid my way over, when I was running over the meadows, and dabbling in tho burn, this hand wrought ha d, l>earing my burden, sparing me all the sharp corners. She might have saved her earnings--pnt them in bank--she might have done like thousands before her--married and made a home for herself, and no one would have said she did not do her duty. But she never thought of herself. She was not con­ tent until I was schooled--made fit for the new country. 'When you come, Jamie,' she wrote me, 'I want you to surprise the Americans extractin' the cube root, you t ilk about. Don't come,' she wrote, 'till I send for you. I'll be sure to send in good time.' She wrote me the names of the coin--and the cu­ rious words a poor stran?er like me onld never make out at all. There was nothing she did not think of; no task too heavy for her. And I was to repay her four-fold soma day. That was her ay of putting it. She would have a double pleasure--the pleasure of help­ ing me, and of getting her own back with interest when I was sure of my footing." He stroked the cold, nerveless hand that lay limp in his own; softly, now, with dry eyes, kissed it again and again, and, kneeling down beside her, bowed his head in prayer. Through the long night he knelt be­ side her. When the attendants looked in upon this picture--the brother kneel­ ing beside the sister he had traveled thousands of miles joyously to meet-- when they saw his haggard face and burning eyes, they stole softly out a?ain. Mrs. Britt, who was prostrated throughout the night, was up betimes in the morning. As she flung open her ndow shutters and looked out on the reddening sky, the sound of a voice be­ neath her arrested her attention. It as the brother's voice praving for his only -sister. Mrs. Britt stole softly to the side of the crib where Benny and Oscar lay with arms interlaced, and bending over, kissed first one, tnen the other. Then she descended to the liv­ ing room. The disorder noticeable everywhere reminded her of tho dying servant. Nelly's dress--the dress the surgeons removed with a single move­ ment of the scissors, was lying over a chair. Mrs. Britt lifted it mechanical­ ly and removed the articles from the pocket Among other articles was a piece of yellowish, tough paper. A crumpled, yellow envelope attracted her. A footstep approached at that moment, and her husband looked over her shoulder. " Why, she must have known he was coming, Oscar. 'J^his is the saddest of a;l."' Mr. Britt read the telegram slowly. Poor Nelly--that should have been given to her the evening before. And she got it at noon yesterday. Don't you see the date here?" His finger gointed to the hour the message was re eived. "No matter. It is not worth making a fuss over now," he added sad ly, for he smpreciated the excellent qunlit es of tho dying maid-of-alhwork. "I will m-ver--never forgive myself," sa d Mrs. Britt, Fobbing. "If I had even taken the trouble to talk to Nelly of her brother more--if I had looked at tni.s iii.->imich yesterday--who knows? Her life might h ive been saved." "What is this?" Mr. Britt smoothed out the c timpled paper covered with eccentric 1 nes and curious marks. "It is a rough map of the city." Here are the rivers--the point--tho Court House --and what are these? This is real.y wonderful." Mr. Britt looked at his wife wonder inglv, who in her turn now examined the paper. "Why, what male the poor gitl waste all that time when she could have bought a good map of the city for half a dollar. "You do uot understand it," said Mr. Britt. "Every mill in the city is down every largo manufacturing establish­ ment--all the principal point) of interest. Plainly this was made for her brother--a guide for him. Wis li this in his pocket he could never go as tray. He w onld learn the city thorough ly in a week's time, or less. The thoughtfulness that girl displayed sur passes everything." lie folded the pa per almost reverently, an l carefully placed it in his pocket. "I will give this to her brother when she is dead.~ The sun was gliding the eastern lior izon with its wealth of summer beauties when the watcher fancied he naw the dying girl's eye-lids move. He l>ent cioser, grasping the hand he had held the livelong night. "Speak to me. Nelly. Open yonr eyes that 1 may nee their light before yon pass into glory." Instead of opening her eyes, Nelly startled him by saying very quietly: "Hands off now. Give one a chance. There's never one of yon can beat me across the burn, an' give me lair play. But no holding back now. 'I here! I won't run at all. Listen I Huith I Be quiet, Jamie. See! That's th« •sweetest bird ever sung--the bird oi birds. See! You an* 111 never be as high a^ that, Jamie, till we are in the arms o'the angels." "You are all gav an' merry this morn, as if we hadn't a hard day's work before you. Well, it's work ye'il have wi hout let or stop till ye go to America, where they've nothing to do at all, they say, but eat and drink, . and wonder what new dish they'll have for supper. II I'd a few more years over me, I'd go there ravself, and take you along Jamie. "Withs! There's the lame Magnire. Sorra oho of him will ever pit a sound fut on the ground again, I'm afoer t. Patience! Look at the sack on his bick. Come now--who'll bo the first to g ve him a lift? Snro there's as much fun in it as in pad Uin' over the burn. Do a good turn when you can--it costs nothing." "Now, Jamie --hoot! ain't ye ashamed to lot your sister beat ye ruiinin'? Now then. Hold! That's n6 fair, Jal'mie. Como back--come baok, an' take a tail start. I'll give yo as far as from here to the road--an' beat ye across the meadow. Come--away now--away. Jamie, an'no trippin." And so the spirit of the maid-of-all- work sped heaven^viax&a.--David Lowry, he Current. TI1E FAMILY DUCTOil. To abort a sty, paint it over careful­ ly with tincture of iodine, using a small camels-hair brush so as to avoid touch­ ing the eyeball.-^-Dr. Foote's Health Monthly. To MAKE MUSTARD WHEY.--Boil to­ gether one pint of milk and half an ounce of brui ed mustard seed, until the milk is curdled; then strain. This whey lias been found to be a useful drink in dropsy. A teacupful at a time may bo taken. To MAKE^BEEF TEA.--Take a pieco of raw, lean beef, chop it tine and im­ merse it in cold water ten minutes, and then boil tenjninutes, and flavor it with ^alt. perhaps a very little pepper, and gardually add rice, bread, eta, as the patient can bear it. How TO CUKE STAMMKUINO.--Dio Lewis's Monthly contains a queer story of how stammering may be cured. Dr. Lewis tells of a wonderful magician who successfully cured many stammer­ ers in his neighborhood. Dr. Lewis determined to learn his secret. It wai easily done--by the payment of a large fee--and is recited as follows: "The stammerer is made to mark the time in his speech, just as is ordinarily done in singing. He is first made to beat on overy syllable. One may beat time by striking the finger on the knee." "1 doubt," says Dr. Lewis, "if the worst case of stuttering can continue long if the victim will react an hour .rvery day, with thorough practice of this art. ob­ serving the same in his conversation." This is worth trying. As it costs noth­ ing all who stammer should try it CHAKACTER AT HOME.--Home life is the true test of character. Let the husband grow cross and surly, and tli^ wife grows cold and unamiable. The children grow up saucv and savage as young bears. The father becomes cal­ lous, peevish, hard; a kind of two-leg- ged brute with clothes on. The wife bristles in self-defense. They develop an unnatural growth and sharpness of teeth, and the house is haunted by ug­ liness and domestic brawls. This is not what the family circle should be. It one must l>e rude to any, let it be some one he does not love--not to hiflk wife, brother or parent Let one of the loved be taken away, and memory re­ calls a thousand sayings of regret. Death quickens recollections painfully. The grave cannot hide the white faces of those who sleep; the coffin and the green ground are cruel magnets. They draw us farther than we would go. They force us to remember. A man never sees so far into human, lire a? when he looks over » wife's or mother's grave. His eyes get wondrous clear then, and he sees, as never before, what it is to love and be loved. It is a pitia­ ble picture of human weakness, when those we love best are treated worst-- Hearth and Home. AGRICULTURAL Fish as Food. The efforts made by the Government to restock our streams with fish has di­ rected considerable attention to them as an article of food in the community generally. It becomes a matter of in­ terest not only to understand tho value of tho various substances as nutrients. The e'emcnts that composo tho flesh of fish are the same that compose the flesh of other animals, though differing from them in flavor. To compare the nutrient value of different kinds of fiesli, the offal, entrails, bones, skin, etc., must first bo removed; then allowance must bo made for the water contained. The proportion of these differ greatly in different kinds, and also in the same kinds in different states. Thus a sam­ ple of flounder contained 68 per cent of refuse and only 32 of flesh, while hali­ but had only 18 per cent, offal and 82 of flesh. Lean beef contains 77 per cent, water and fat beef only 55. In­ vestigations in this direction have for some time been made under the super­ vision of Prof. Baird, of the Smith­ sonian Institute, of Washington, D. C. The valuo of all articles of food i? determined not rnlv by the amount o edible solids, but al-o by the amount: of their chemical constituents. Tho most important ingredients may be d vided into three classes--albuminoids, or protein, fats, and carbo-hydrates. Examples of albuminoids are such sub­ stances as albumen (white of an egg) lean meat, curd of milk, and the gluten of wheat. Lard, butter, tal ow, olivj oil, cotton-seed oil, etc., are fats. Sugar, gum, starch, celulose (woody fiber), and glucose (grape sugar) are carbo­ hydrates. The carbo-hydrates and fats are composed of only carbon and hy drogen. The albuminoids are charac­ terized by containing nitrogen in addi­ tion to the other two. The use of t!ie carbo-hydrates and fats is by theii combustion in the lun^s, to supply the animal heat, and also to produce mus cular forces of strength. The albu minoids are converted into earbo-hy drates and fats, and thus perform th< work of both; but besides tliis, they go to form all the nitrogenous tissues ol the body, muscles, nerves, cartilage tte. With albuminoids we might sus tain life for a long time, but with onl fats and carbo-hydrates as food wt should soon starve. Albuminoids are tliere!ore, the most valuable, the fat aro next, and the carbo-hydrates ar< the least valuable. When the chemica composition of a substance is known w can readily calculate its value as* food --Cincinnati News-Journal. A CONNECTICUT OX, readv to die from effects of a stolen visit to the meal box, was saved by a dose of from four to six quarts of bread yeast, administered from a bottle. THERE is so much difference in cel­ lars, that while some will keep fruit well, in others a large proportion of the (ruit will decay before wiuter is half over. Fruit to keep well should be kept in a cool place, where the temper­ ature i very even. To attempt to keep fruit where one day the temperaiure is thirty degrees and the next day sixty degrees is to invite a failure. For this reason the fruit should never be kept in the open air where the sun will shine on the barrels; in fact, to have fruit keep well it should not be disturbed after being gathered and stored away until wanted for use or sale. THE Practical Farmer says it is well known that cultivation is likely to in­ jure m my of the large roots of trees, and if cultivated at all it should be very shallow. By frequent top-dress­ ing with fertilizers, it is believed that the trees will do equally as well in grass as when cultivated, and the pasturing of sheep or pigs in the orchard is a good method of disposing of the grass and enriching the soil. The animals will eat the fru't that fall prematurely, thereby destroying the larvse of the ccdling moth contained in it Should no stock be used, and the gra«s grows, benefit may bo derived by cutting it and allowing it to remain as a mulch. THE following note on the keeping qualities of English cheese is from the Provision Trade Circular issued by Mx\ Thomas Duwnes, Fenning's Wharf, Tooley street, London, S. E.: "In reference to make and quality of cheese in American factories, they can never be equaled in quality to skilled English dairy farmers, whose wives look after the making. English cow-keepers who do not maiie good clie?se find it more profitable and less laborious to sell their milk, and this steadily increases, fortunately for customers; so do im­ ports of America. Probably half our consumption is foreign. English im­ proves by keeping; America)" deterio­ rates." SMUT IN WHEAT.--Smut is a fungus with very minute pores, that feeds upon the grain, replacing or destroying the organs upon which it feeds. The best preventive used is a pound of blue vit- rol in two gal ons of water. But it is not enough to sprinkle this over the wheat. Put the grain into enough of the solution to cover it, and stir slowly to allow the light material to rise. Skim, and at the end of an hour spread the wheat on a dry floor, and sprinkle it with quick-lime, previously so slacked with chamber lye as to leave the lime in powder. So continue until you have all the wheat treated. In this stat ̂ it may be heaped and remain several days before sowing, if the heap be occasion­ ally turned. If the wheat remains damp, it must be still further dried, so ifcwill pass easily from the drill, if it is to be drilled. The above plan is rec­ ommended by the "American Encyclo­ pedia of Agriculture" as the only cer­ tain preventive. Yet even this may fail sometimes.--Inter- Ocean. IN answer to those who advocate the planting of trees beside the roads and along the fences, a Maryland man urges that the roots of Buch trees occupy a large area which they deprive of the elements required for the growth of crops; that they furnish a shelter under which grow all manner of briars and forest trees; and that the plan of plant­ ing fruit-trees beside the roads cannot bo satisfactorily carried out, or, rather, that such trees will become an eyesore rather than an adornment, because the boys will ever keep the branches bro­ ken and the ground below strewn with clubs and stones used to knock the fruit down. "Young America," he says, "must be educated to let his neighbors' fruit alone. Parent must teach their children that it is a crime and misde­ meanor to steal melons out of their neighbors patches, but as long as parents tell before their children what grand times they used to have as boys, when they stole the melons out of "Old Grimes'" patch, the youth of America will follow in the footsteps of their progenitors, and cherries, and nuts, and melons near and convenient to the pub­ lic highways will suffer." ROAD BUILDING.-- The Massachu­ setts Ploughman discusses this sub­ ject as follow: "Straight roads are not as important as good roads; to build a road over a high hill, that it may be straight, when it can be built around the hill without increasing the distance, is not wise, yet it is often done. In building farm roads it is the best to build them on hard land; but when it becomes necessary to cross a low place care should be taken to build the foundation of the road of Rome mate­ rial that will permit the water to readily pass through it and drain off. In localities where rocks are plenty they should always bo used to make the foundation of the road bed through wet land, and in fact over land that is comparatively dry, a road is very much improved by underlaying it with one or two feet in depth of large stones or small rocks. By covering them with six inches in depth of good gravel a load may be made that will hold up the heaviest loads during tho entire season when the frost is coming out of the trround. Never make a road by filling the bottom with loam or mulch, for such roads, though cevered with six inches of gravel, at certain reasons of the year will not hold up a heavy load; but the water failing to drain off, re­ mains in the gravel and softens it so he wheels break through, and the mud or loam is brought to the surface and mixed with the gravel, sr> that in a short time the whole road becomes soft and impassable to heavy loads. In road building under-drainage should >:ever be lost sight of, for when this is properly done surface drainage re­ quires but littlo attention, except to keep the road a few inches the highest in the middle and a good gutter ou each <ide of it. Whatever other roads aro •leglectcd, those which lead to and from the public street to the farm buildings hould be well built and kept in good epair." HOUSEKEEPERS' HELPS. FIRE in chimneys may be checked. !* not arrested, by thrpwing salt on th fire below. Stopjjhfg the ehimney a the top with a board, or wet hay, arrest the current of air and helps to extis guieh it SHORT BREAD. --Two pounds of flour, nw pound of butter, four eggs, one tound of powdered sugar. Rub the <utter and sugar into the flour; add the ggs. Boll out half an inch in thickness ud cut into cakes. J FISH SAUCE --To about four^ounces >f melted butter add three tablespoon- uls of mushroom catsup, a tablespoon- til of essence of anchovies, a table poonful of vinegar, some cayenne, and > teaspoon ful of soy. COFFEE M LK FOR INVALIDS.--Boil a lesserts; oonful of ground coffee in early a pint of milk a quarter of an iour; Uwa j?ut iato it • sheviag or two of isinglass, and clear it; let it boll a few minutes and set it beside the fire to clarify. BAKED DUCKS.--Steam one hour. Make a dressing of one cup of bread crumbs, one cup msahed potatoes, but­ ter size of an egg, one onion chopped and fried in butter, s dt and pepper to taste. Place in the oven; baste with salt and water the first half hour. CHEESE CAKE.---Take one pound of loaf sugar, six eggs well beaten, the juice of three lemons, the grated rind of two, and one-quarter ol a pound of fresh butter. Put these ingredients into a saucepan, and stir the mixture over a slow fire until it is as thick as honey. COOKIES.--One pound of flour, one half pound of butter, three-quarters of a pound of sugar, four eggs, o le-lialf pound currants well washed and dredged, one-half teaspoonful of soda dissolved in hot water, one-half lemon, grated rind and juice, one teaspoonful of cinnamon. Drop from a snoou upon a baking tin lined with well-buttered paper, and bake quickly. MACCAKOM PUDDING.--Take an equal quantity of ham and chicken mixed,and mince them small. Then weigh out half the quantity of maccaroni, which must be previously boiled tender in broth, two eggs, beaten well, one ounce of gutter, cayenne pepper, and salt to ta?te; all the -e ingredients to be mixed tlitoroughly together. Put into a mold or basin, and to be boiled for two hours. The maccaroni must be kept in as long pieces as possible. BAKED INDIAN PUDDING.--Make with milk and sifted meal a pint of thick mush. Let it boil till thoroughly scalded, and set it away to cool; when cool, add two well-beaten eggs, a small cun of sugar, a tab'espoonful of ginger, half teaspoonful cinnamon, a little salt. Fill up your basin with cold milk, and with your hand, mix well; set it into oven, and when well crusted over, stir the crust in, adding a few raisins, a piece of butter half the size of an egg. RICE griddle-cakes are composed of one cup of cold boiled rice, one cup of sour milk or buttermilk, one cup sifted Graham flour, one egg, well beaten, onu teaspoonful soda, dissolved in boiling water. Moisten the rice with the milk, and mix them well together; if thero are lumps remaining, mash fine with a spoon--or a fork, which is better. Stir in the Graham flour and beaten egg, forming a thin fritter l atter; then th»» dissolved soda, and beat well. Bake in small, thin cakes to a good brown; the griddle must be clean and well oiled. Cold samp (fine hominy) mixed in thq same way is excellent. The Late Senator Morton* Governor Morton was elected to the United States Senate in January, 1867, and, resigning the Governorship, took his seat ou the 4th of March, for the term ending in 1873. Many of the great war Senators were still in their places. Mr. Wade was there as Presi­ dent of the Senate and acting Vice- President. Charles Sumner and Wil­ liam Pitt Fessenden still occupied the seats held so many years with honor. Grouped about them were Edmunds, and Morgan, and Wilson, and Trumbull, and Frelinghuysen, and others of simi­ lar character, who will ever be remem­ bered among America's ablest States­ men. Originally of splendid physique, with flashing black eyes and the voice ot .a Senator, he gradually decayed, as he advanced to the leadership of the Senate, and finally had to be carried to his seat in a chair by two men. If he rose to speak, ten minutes on his feet would exhaust him so that he would have to lean upon a high rest attached to his desk, and often pain and weakness compelled him to finish, sitting, a speech which he began standing. But, sitting or standing, sick or well, he was the strongest debater in the Senate, and the best partisan leader either house had Been since Thad Stevens died. Governor Morton always lived, while at Washington, at the Ebbitt House, where he had a parlor and a bed-room np one-flipht of stairs, opening out upon a little balcony over the main entrance, capable of holding about a dozen per­ sons. From this balcony Senator Mor­ ton delivered many a political harangue. It was a noticeable characteristic of the man that h > rarely let slip an opportu­ nity for mak'ng a political speech, and never, so far as my observation serves, made such a speech without throwing his whole power into it A serenade at his hotel by a half-hundred darkies, would bring him out upon the little bal­ cony in all sorts of weather. I have seen him more than once standing there bareheaded on a most uncomfortably cold night, and heard him deliver a po­ litical philippic for nearly half an hour, when his whole • audience would not number two hundred, packed in the street below, and they mainly a rabble of unkempt young darkies and r-mall boys. At such times the thought has often forced itself upon me that he was not elevating his high office; but the mati could not resist such opportunities. The Presidential maggot possessed him like a demon. He gloried in political power, and lived on political excitement. From nine in the morning until nine or ten at night, when he usually retired, his parlor at the Ebbitt was almost con­ stantly the scene of some conference, except when he was at the Capitol, where he never missed a day's attend­ ance if he was well enough to be out of his bed.-- Ben: Perlcy Poore. The Audacity of RlnlT. The best game of bluft' I ever saw was played in Weiser City, Idaho. A stray horse, which had been running for sev­ eral months within a short distance of the city, was claimed and sold by a sa­ loon keeper named C, A stranger, who had just arrive^ in tho locality, hearing the circumstances, procured a description of the animal, and calling on Mr. C., asked him if ho had sold such a horse. "I did," Mr. C. replied. "By what authority ?" was the nest query. "I claimed him," said C. , "Well," said the stranger, "there is no use disputing about the matter. You claimed him and I claimed him. We will just let a jury decide who he be­ longed to." "Stop, stop!" exclaimed C. "There is no use of that. If I macta a mistake, I am very sorry, and am willing to make amends." "Now, Mr. C," the stranger replied, don't aggravate the offense by denying it You would stand far higher in my estimation if you would acknowledge that vou stole the horse." "Well," said C., "we won't quarrel. Say what you valued the animal at and i'jl pay you." "Fifty dollars," was the answer. Five minutes after the stranger de­ parted with th 't amount in his pocket, having received payment for a horse he never saw.-- Viro hni Ch rnnicle. A PERSIAN cap G»rea a man a fes-tive PITH AND fOM A LAWTKR writes on the roughest paper, and gives as an excuse, that it has to be filed anyway, so it don't make much difference. Carl PreUef* Weekly. WHEN a farmer neglects the raising of grain and stock on his farm, and tries to raise grain and provisions in Chi­ cago, some Chicago man raise% him Ml of his farm. --Paris Beacon. If a body _ Greet a body JTith a knowing wfalfc ' Should a body Join a body > _ Going for a drink? --John Trotter. MR. HE\TH is the author of SON# verses entitled, "There is No One Like a Mother." Mr. Heath is correct It would be up hill business to try and run society without mothers.--N. Y. Graphic. "You should never say ride when yon mean drive,"saysan Englishman. "You only ride on a horse; in a conveyance you drive." Oh! you do, do you? Well, in this country most of us keep a coach­ man to do the driving, while we ride. "How WELL you are looking, dear.* "Yes, I exercise daily with the James- unpleasant class, you know." "James- unpleasant class! What in the world is that?" "Well, vulgar people call it gymnastic class."--Boston Bean Ga­ zette. "IT is ground-hog day again, I see," remarked the red-headed boarder, cast­ ing his eye over the break fast-table. "Why, no it isn't," contradicted a fly telegraph operator. ".Then what is that Bauaage doing heref" rejoined the red­ headed boarder. LAWYER to witness--"You are verj minute in your statement, and you are very particular -in your details. Now, I want to know if you are really so con­ scientious that you are afraid to state something that is not so?" Indignant witness--"No, sir, not in the least; quite the contrary."--Texas Sifting8. A SCIENTIST says that "water com­ poses tliree-fourtlis of the human body." This may be true as a general thing, but it is safe to bet that something be­ sides water composes three-fourths of the body of a politician in the year of a presidential campaign. Chicago wonld be a good place for further scientific investigation next June and July.--Peck's Sun. "FURTHER advances, by which minor supernatural agents became merged in one general agent and by which the personality of 1 his general agent is ren­ dered vague while becoming widely ex­ tended, tend still further to dissociate the notion of objective force from the force known as such in consciousness," tays Herbert Spencer. Exaotly. We agree with Mr. Spencer that it requires a great deal of objective force to kidfc the agent--especially a book agent*-- Newman Inde endent. A PRACTICAL TEST. "Dear heart," I said, "art weary Of this constant care and Of the day so lonjj and dreary, * Of the mockcry of life? Would'st lay thy hands in minat ISWOT ® • And close thy tired cyca, JLnd soar away, oh. fond der^ In fancy to the skies?" "Yes, dear heart, I'm weary Of thin constant care and strife Of the days so long and deary, ' Of this mockery of life; And I close my tired eye*, lova, And in dreams I will aapire To be a fair and fond dove, While you can light tho --New York Journal. | THE Pennsylvania courts hare deci­ ded that while you mustn't lie about it directly and openly, it is lawful to keep your mouth shut during a horse trade, and while you must not warrant an an­ imal as perfectly sound in wind, limb and condition, without fault, spot, mar or blemish, when yon know that he has a glass eye, goat neck, mange, saddle galls, roach back, ring bone, quarter crack, spavin, flat foot, wind galls, scratches, capped hock, stiff joint* blind staggers, ox-foot, rattail and hol­ low back, yet you are uot compelled te call attention to these minor defects in the splendid Kentucky bred animals you are trying to trade the stranger fox a spring wagon, set of harness, two-year old colt and heventy-five dollars cash. This is a wise and humane law, and lets the deacon out of a great«many tight places, where otherwise trade would be paralyzed, the arteries ol commerce choked and f-tagnated by the unwise hand of opprrssive laws, and panic, mistrust, and depression would settle down upon a hopeless world in the rayless gloom of mistrust and sus­ picion.--Burdettr. Were Whaics Load Animals t The President of the London Zoolo­ gical Society, Prof. W. H. Fowler, LL. L>., F. R. S., says on the origin of whales: "The evidence is absolutely conclusive that they were not origin­ ally aquatic, but sprang from land mam.mals of the placental division, ani­ mals with hairy cohering and with sense organs, especially that of smell, adapt­ ed for living on land; animals, more­ over with four completely developed pairs of limbs on the type of the higher vertebrates, and not that of fishes. Their now dimply homodont and mon- ophydont teeth had ewdently degraded from a perfect type. But tho great difficulty was in determinating the par­ ticular group of mammals whence the whole whale family (Cetacea) arose. One of the methods by wliioh aland mammal might have changed into an aquatic one was clear'y shown in still surviving stages among the Carnivores. The seals were obviously modifications of the land Carnivores, the sea lions and sea bears being curiously intermedi­ ate. Many naturalists had been tempt- el to deem the whales a still further stage of a like modification. But there was a fatal objection to this view, as was shown. It was far more reasona­ ble to regard wlialos as derived from animals with large tails, which were used in swimming to such effect at last that the hind limbs were no longer needed, and BO at length disappeared. The powerful tail with side flancres of skin of the Pteroneura Sandba* hii, an American spa iesof otter, or the beaver's tail might give some idea of a primi­ tive Cetacean." "Betsy and I Are Out.*' I "Is the curl-paper editor in?" asked a golden-haired maiden, pausing timid­ ly on the threshold of the sanotum. "The what?" "The editor who cuts the papers and makes the selections of poetry." "Iam lie." "Will you be kind enough to tell aif when 'Betsy and I Are Out,' was written ?" "I don't rememlter the exact date, but it was just after a big jail delivery." "Oh!" and the lovely vision vanished. --Brooklyn Eagle. THE man who recovers from epilepsy is an example of the "survival of thie fit-ist" WRITING vtrk. wrong y is the "iKi

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