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HJfUctwg fPlaindcakr J. VAN SLYKE, Ufa tsriftMUw. McHENRY, ILLINOIS. OAKEY HALL, once a prominent po­ litical figure in New York, who went to England about the time of the Tweed •disclosures, has become a naturalized English subject, and says he never ex- pectB to see America again. Still there are hopes that this bereaved country will be able to pull tlirougli. JAMES M. TKAGABDEN lives in Kansas City, and is 80 years old. He was married in Knox County, Ohio, in 1836, and his golden wedding-day he brought suit for a divorce, which has been granted. His wife is 75, and had de­ serted him. When the divorce was granted the old man bowed his head in his hands and wept like a child. BENEDICT KIRK, one of the old-time Mississippi River gamblers, died a few days ago at Maysville, Ky., aged 75. Kirk used to say that Sargeant S. Pren­ tiss, the famous Southern lawyer, was the heaviest better he ever saw. Kirk spent a winter at Jackson, Miss., and At his game Prentiss lost $6,000 in the first three evenings. He ended the winter a loser by $10,000. THEODORE BARTH writes in the Ber­ lin Nation that of all civilized people, the Americans are politically the most conservative. In the matter of domes tic comforts he thinks the Europeans could learn much of Americans. Amer ican architecture from the 'aesthetic point of view is, however, still in its in­ fancy. "Not only the grandest, but the most beautiful structures in New York is Brooklyn bridge." AN original genias in Iowa named Stehr obtained a loan from a money lender by giving a mortgage on five white steers he claimed to have on his farm. When the man came to collect his money the wife demurely presented her five children. Unfortunately for Stehr, his creditor could not see the joke, and in a matter-of-fact sort of way proceeded to have him arrested for pro- curing money fraudulently. THE annual report of the statistics of the industries of Pennsylvania says, under the head of lumber and its pro­ ducts, that there are employed therein 25,575 persons, whose average weekly wages are $6.95 each. There are 303 tanneries, with over 5,000 employes, to whom are paid $2,017,327 in wages. Of street passenger railways there are re ported 44, with 4,398 employes, whose yearly wages average $557 each. Phil­ adelphia contributes 18 of these com­ panies. ^_ "I HAVE been a conductor on a Pull­ man car running between Chicago and Hornellsville for the past five years," «aid a young man to a Chicago Herald reporter, "but I must confess that sever saw a single station on the line between Chicago and Youngstown, O., and I pass them all three times a week. No, I am neither blind nor deaf; but you see the run between Chicago and Youngstown is made in the night, and I have no opportunity to see the towns west of Ohio." ' REPRESENTATIVE S. S. Cox has re­ covered from his severe' illness. In a private dictated note to a friend in New York he says that he suffered a million deaths, but was lifted through by two pictures, one on each side of his bed, of a life-boat going out and one coming in. "Knowing," he says, "that my system had saved nearly 30,000 lives, I thought, perhaps, that I could hold the rudder and pull through." He adds: "I wish some good writer would show the effect of such associations on human misery and happiness. - WASHINGTON spiders have discovered that game is plentiful near the electric lights which illuminate the public buildings. In consequence, their webs are.so thick and numerous that portions of the architectural ornamentation are no longer visible, and when torn down by the wind, or when they fall from decay, the refuse gives a dingy and dirty appearance to everything it comes in contact with. Not only this, but these adventurers take possession of the portion of the ceiling of any room which receives the illumination. HENRY WARD BEECHER said to a ^Philadelphia reporter the other day: "Holmes, Lowell, and Whittier are all that remain of the Abolition party of the past. As for myself, I found the British people had the most absurd idea of the importance of my work in the cause of the emancipation of the slave. My services in that matter were always dwelt upon at length by those who introduced me when I lectured. I finally got to believe that two people were alone responsible for the emanci­ pation of the colored people. I was one, and my sister, Mrs. Harriet-Beecher Stowe, was the other." . WHEN Mile. Say married the son of the Due de Brissac her reception in the Faubourg Saint- Germain was frigid. Her invitations were not accepted, the aristocracy could not accept the sugar refinery; but bravely she waited her time. One, day as she served tea to some of her husband's friends, a few drops fell upon her dress. As she touched them with her handkerchief the Due de Choisenl-Praslin said: "Be careful, sugar stains." "Less -than blood, your Grace," the young hostess replied with the greatest coolness. The Duke blushed and turned away, for he remembered a trial in his own family--• a trial caused by bloodshed. WITH reference to the submarine boat so much talked of recently, the English Mechanic points out that the idea is old, for in the reign of James I, a . Dutchman, named Drebbel, constructed ted a boat which traveled under the surface of the Thames. Since then (Many snhmarine Tassels have been de­ signed, but none of them as yet accom­ plished what has been don£ by Prof. Trek's Peacemaker in tile Hudson River, New York. That -vessel appar­ ently dives with ease, and returns to the surface as desired. A very power­ ful submarine vessel is being built to the designs of Mr. Nerdenfelt, with engines of 1.300 horse power, and it will probably be ready for trial in South­ ampton water in the spring. AN "expert sandbagger" named Kent has just been sent to the penitentiary from Chicago, and gave a reporter Bome points on his business before going. "Winter is the proper time for going bagging," said Kent a few days before he went to State prison. "It is the only time in which the work can be done safely, and the night must also be dark. Your man must be picked out early in the day, and you must know the route he takes to his home. Of course he is bundled up. Men going home after dark--business men -- are like cows going home to be milked; they take the some path all the time. See? Well, what's the matter with bein' in an alley­ way when he is about to pass? If you want to be successful you must wear rubber shoes, then you can sneak up when his back is turned and do him. He's stunned for a couple of minutes, and gives you time to go through him. He doesn't know who. struck him, an' the chances are two to one that you'll escape. But never soak the stuff; that's how I was caught." The only way to escape a collision with a sandbagger is to provide yourself with a 44-caliber revolver and take the mid He of the street when going home or to work at a late hour. Mr. Kent has prescribed this rule, and his authority cannot be questioned. A BRAVE and skillful act was per­ formed by a coachman in Philadelphia the other day. The coupe was going eastward on Chestnut Street when one of the horses becoming frightened, and his impulse of terror apparently com­ municating itself to the other, both dashed off at a furious pace. The driver Boon saw that the horses were wholly beyond his control, and that he could not hope to stop the runaways. He therefore, as the coupe neared the corner of Nineteenth and Chestnut Streets, braced himself for the shock, and, throwing all his strength upon first one rein and then the other, steered the horses full upon the lamp­ post at the southwest corner, and swung them around it so as to strike the car­ riage just at the right point to snap the pole short off, detaching the horses at one blow from the vehicle, and then dropping the reins he let them run. All who saw the brave fellow's action were filled with admiration at the cour­ age, determination, and skill with which the driver accomplished the feat that saved the lives of two ladies under his charge. The horses were soon stopped, and the vehicle beyond the breakage of the pole and the shattering of the plate-glass windows, sustained no dam age except a few scratches. THE inhabitants of Humphrey, a small village near Olean, N. Y., are in a great state of excitement over the nocturnal visits of a huge panther. The hamlet is situated in a valley com­ pletely surrounded by mountains cov­ ered with dense forests. A large num­ ber of sheep, hogs, and calves have been destroyed by the panther, and several persons narrowly escaped Nvith their "lives. A farmer named Whitney was imprisoned in a small out-building one cold night and nearly frozen. The panther stood guard at the door while devouring a sheep." Whitney's family heard his cries for assistance, but dared not venture out of the housa A church congregation which had assembled at the school-house, one evening, was im­ prisoned for three hours by the pan­ ther. All the male inhabitants, plucked up eourage and, armed with ancient shot-guns, rusty rifles, and various other weapons, and led , by a mongrel pack of dogs, they hunted the panther. The dogs discovered the beast in a ra­ vine in the dense woods, three miles from the village. He took refuge in a tall' " ̂ lock, but not before he had killei-f/wo of the moBt courageous curs. Then from a safe distance a volley of musket balls and buckshot was fired into the tree where the animal Was partly hidden from sight. Some of the balls took effect, and with a scream of pain the panther fell to the ground and soon expired. He measured over eight feet from head to tail. Managing a Kicking Hone. The American Cultivator gives the following directions for preventing a vicious horse from kicking while in the shafts: A kicker is a dangerous piece of property, and when the habit is con­ firmed it will be better to consign the subject to the horse-car stables. The habit can sometimes be broken up by the following method: Take a small cord about two-thirds the size of a man's little finger and twenty feet in length; double it; place the center upon the top of the head, back of the ears, bring down on each side of the face, place the cords in the animal's mouth and cross them, bring them up between the eyes, cross again, and slip both ends through a small ring or loop and carry the ring# down to the point where the lines cross between the eyes so as to hold them in place. Have two small rings sewed to the headstall about two inches apart, and one ring an inch or so in diameter fastened to the backstrap of the harness at the point where the hipstraps pass through. The latter can be slipped over the crupper against the hipstraps, which will keep it from slipping for­ ward. Pass one end of the cord through each ring on the headstall, bring the ends together, carry them al«ng the neck, pass them under the saddle, extend them along the back and through the ring over the hips, then bring one end down to the right shaft and the other to the left, and fasten securely to the shafts, leaving slack enough so the animal can travel easily. When rigged in this manner every at­ tempts to kick will bring a strong pressure upon the cords crossed in the mouth and divert the attention of the frisky subject TEE LITTLE FOLKS. r:-: <thut Jack Saw in the Clondih Jack and I in pleasant talk, ' * * Rattffad one mora * woodland w*ik, ' Leading from our sea-^irt town* To abroad, braeze-courted iiown: v '•> ' Soon, Jack's ever restless eye, •» Keen and curious, sought tlio - ** Fragments ct a gale o'er blown . Round the gusty heaven wera,.str»wH| <• "Oh!" quoth Jack, with sudden glM,' • *' "Father! did you ever see Such uncouth, fantastic shapes? Ton cloud-head is like an ape's. Grinning, with his monstrous month O'er those gri.n pines pointed south; And above the jagged rocks There's a mist-formpd, wily fox. Running from the wind that sounds Rearward, like a pack of hounds; And--why--father! don't you spy- That big fellow lifting high Both his vapory arms to smite Some one lurking out of sightf Then, half crimson, and half don, Mark that face of impish fun. With a sun-ray, red as rose. On the tip of his huge nose. Strange, how many shapes then be Floating round this sky-l orn seal Yes, another! . . . watch it sail Thr jugh the swift waves ! . . . that's a whale, Harpooned too . . . beyond a douM . . . How he jets the life-blood out 1 While a mighty ship behind Seems to labor down the wind 1 *Cin the heavens be growing clear? Nay! for other f. rms appear. Quainter, funnier than before 1 , , , What a head, all bald and hoar, No«ls, in oddest fashion bowod. Pown from yonder glimmering cloud I Very bald, and very big, Grandpa's head--without his wig; And look1< ok! a hand like Joe s-- (Our old barber's), grows and grows Larger from the circling mist--' Till one views his knotted fist Flourishing a razor thin Under grandpa's stubby chiaj i Sliave.l as neat as any fig, , Ere the barber fits his wig1; v ; Ab.! but can't I see them plain? No, I can't! all's void again!' '• ' Grandpa's head and Barber Joe Melted like the Christmas snow; Pshaw! tilings get absurdly mixed- Nothing's clear, and nothing's flxeda Say! What makes my sight so dim, " Sky and clouds before it swim?" * ' "What? . . . my lad. you're wovfeB enough Out of fancy's airv stuff- So your large creative eyes, (Dazed by mocking fantasies), Lower from those marvelous skies I" --fnitk'i Companion. The Rait of the " Medusa.** In the course of these narratives it cannot have escaped my readers how often danger has been lessened and catastrophes avoided when there have been obedience and discipline, and on the other hand, when these have been wanting, how in most cases all has been lost. The most terrible example of this latter kind is found in the wreck of the Medusa, upon the whole perhaps the most disastrous event that has been recorded in nautical annals--one, too, in which selfishness and brutality played such prominent parts, that for years afterward the French navy, to which the ship belonged, was held in contempt and abhorrence. The Medusa, a frigate commanded by one Chaumarevs, set sail from France in June, 18 Hi, to take posses­ sion of certain colonies on the coast of Africa, and witbin ten days an error of no. less than thirty degrees was made in her reckoning. On the 1st of July she entered the tropics, and notwith­ standing that the captain was in doubt of the position of the vessel, he per­ mitted the crew to indulge in all the wild amusements usual on "crossing the line," without taking any precau­ tion against danger. Though there was a suspicion that they were on the banks of Arguise, the lead was heaved with­ out slackening, and while the officer in charge was stating his opinion that the ship was in a hundred fathoms of water she struck in six fathoms, three times. The tide was then at flood; at ebb there remained but two fathoms, and after some bungling manuevers all hope wf 'getting the ship otf was abandoned. The Medusa possessed but six boats, not nearly sufficient for the crew and passengers,' and from the moment that this fact was understood, all discipline and good feeling was thrown to the winds. A raft was indeed commenced, but hardly any one could be induced to work at it. The rest "scrambled out of the wreck without order or pre­ caution, the first who reached the boats refusing to receive their less fortunate companions, though there was ample room for more." The captain himself stole out of a porthole into his own boat, leaving his crew to shift for themselves. All that could be extracted from the runaways was a promise that they would tow the raft when it should have been launched. This raft, constructed without skill or design, was miserably ill-suited for its purpose. It was sixty-five feet long and twenty-five broad, but the only part that could be trusted to was the middle, on which there was room for only fifteen persons to lie down. "Those who stood on the floor were in constant danger of slipping through the planks; the sell flowed in on all s-des. When the one hundred and fifty persons who were destined to be its "burden were on board they stood in a solid block without a possibility of moving, and up to their waists in water." It was understood that the raft should carry the provisions, and, being taken in tow by the six boats, the crews should apply at certain in­ tervals for their rations. The whole affair; however, would appear to have been a blind, in order to quiet the poor wretches on the raft, and perhaps the consciences of the others, who were ^nly looking to thdir own safety. As they left the ship a M. Coneard, inquiring whether the charts, instru­ ments, and stores were on board, was told by an officer that nothing was wanting. "And who is to command us?" inquired Coneard. 1 am to com­ mand yewt?" said the officer, "and will be with you in a minute," with which words he slipped oat of a pert-hole, as his captain had done before him, into one of the boats. The raft had been towed but three leagues when the line that united it to the Captain's boat was broken (proba­ bly on purpose), which was taken as a signal for all the other boats to cut their cables. At the same time, with some instinct of cowardice and cruelty that it is impossible to understand, the crews exclaimed, "We abandon them," which they at once proceeded to do, amid the yells and curses of those they had betrayed. When we add that the weather was quite calm, and that these boats were then but twelve leagues from the African coast, which, indeed, they reached that very night, it is diffi­ cult to find a parallel to such an act of baseness. "Not one of the promised articles," says the narrative from which this account is taken, "had been placed on board the raft." There were a few casks of wine, but no provisions save some spoiled biscuit, and that only suf­ ficient for a single meal. The one pocket compass they possessed had fallen between the planks into the sea. As no refreshment had been issued since morning, some wine and biscuit were distributed, the last solid food ,wh ch was to pass their lips for thirteen days! The night was stormy, and when the dawn appeared twelve poor wretch­ es were found crushed to death be­ tween the planks of the raft, and more were missing, "but the exact number had taken the billets of the dead in or­ der to obtain for themselves two or even throe rations." It must be confessed, indeed, that vile as were the wretches who had for­ saken them, they were not much viler than their victims. The physical ago­ nies these now began to endure were accompanied by the most selfish and reckless crimes. The soldiers drank immoderately, and some, under pre­ tense of resting themselves, actually tried to cut the ropes that bound the raft together. These wretches were thrown into the sea. Then these mad­ men quarreled with one another. The raft was strewn with their dead bod­ ies, and, "alter innumerable instances of treachery and cruelty, from sixty to sixty-five perished during the second night." On the fourth day many of the sur­ vivors were reduced to feed upon the bodies cf the dead, which, as usual, provoked another outbreak of madness. A more general attempt was made to destroy the raft, which, being opposed by the less reckless, ended in the slaughter of half the remaining crew. On the fifth morning} but thirty men remained alive, and et'en these "sick ang wounded, with tfc| skin of their lo^wer extremities ccjrroded by salt water." After a cotuunl of despair it was determined, as a «ple biscuit and wine still remainul < to throw the weaker membeis of th^ company, since they consumed a part .of the common store, into the sea. v uth these were thrown all the arms o- /board, with the exception of a single cHa>er. On the ninth day "spjmtterfly lighted on the sail, and thoupol it was (justly) "held to be a messeng t of good, many a greedy eye was cast pon it." Every­ thing that could be a oured, however little it resembled at' irticle of food, such as some tooth-po rder, was fought for, while the daily di' ri but ion of wine awakened such feeling s of selfishness and ferocity as are , ^possible to de­ scribe. On the sever ienth day a brig was seen which took ' f the survivors of this scene of desp* r and carnage-- fifteen in number! { As the Medusa hat money on board of her, it had seemr I worth while to the French authorit s to send a ship to look for her; but f: nn untoward cir­ cumstances she did n«; ; reach the wreck till fifty-two days afte the catastrophe. Sixty men had bee . abandoned on board of her, by wftat the narrator calls, with bitter irony, "their magnani­ mous countrymen." Of these, three were found alive, desperate and fero­ cious. When their provisions had quite given out they had shrank into separate corners of the wreck, and "never met I ut to ran at each other with drawn knives." Such is the tale of the wreck of the Medusa. Many of the details of it I have shrunk from giving; but todiave altogether omitted it Vould have been to leave these narratives of peril and privation incomplete Jndeed. With the exception of M. Coneard, who did what little lay in his powCT to stem the tide of mutiny and despair, no one on board the ill-fated vessel seems to have shown the least spark of duty or even of com mon humanity. It is a consolation to reflect that neither the flag of England nor that of the United States, though both have often witnessed such calami­ ties, has ever been stained with such disgrace.--Harper's Young People. Witchcraft, SevaraL persons sfose executed as witches in Massachusetts prior to the extraordinary outburst at Salem. The latest instance had been the hanging of an Irish woman in Boston, in 1GS8, ac­ cused of bewitching four children. During the winter of 161)1-92 a conjt- pany, consisting mostly of young girls, was in the habit of meeting at the house of the clergyman, Mr. Parris, in Salem Village (now Danvers Center), for the purpose of practicing the art of necromancy, magic, etc. They soon began to exhibit strange actions, at times being seized with spasms, drop ping insensible to the floor, or writhing in agony. The village physician de­ clared the children bewitched, an opin­ ion in which a council of the neighbor­ ing clergy<i.en, including Mr. Parris, concurred, .being pressed to make known who had bewitched them, the girls first accuscd an Indian woman named Tituba, a servant of Mrs. Tar ris; Sarah Goode, a woman of ill-re- pute; and Sarah Osborn. who was bed­ ridden. They were brought before the magistrates for examination March 1, 1092. The excitement became extreme and Bpread through the neighboring country. Others were accused, and the most eminent clergymen and lay­ men encouraged the prosecution, in the belief that Satan was making a special effort to gain the victory over the saints. But few had the wisdom and courage to resist the de'usion. A spe­ cial court was appointed for the hear­ ing of the cases, but the trial was a mere mockery. II opened at Sa' em in the first week oj June, and several sessions were lielq, the last opening on Sept. K Nineteen persons, among them some of the most pious and re­ spectable citizens, were hanged, tlio first execution occurring in June and the last in September. Six were men, including one clergyman, and thirteen were women, Giles Covey, a man over 80 years of age, for refusing to plead, was pressed to death. A reaction in public sentiment now began to set in, and though at a court held in January. 1093, three persons were condemned, no more executions took place, and in May the Governor discharged all them in jail, to the number, it is said, of 150. Mr. Parris, who had been one of the most zealous prosecutors, was dis­ missed by his church in lt>96, although he acknowledged his error. The Church of Kome subjected per­ sons suspected of the crime of witch­ craft to the most cruel torments; Pope Innocent VIII. issued a bull against witchcraft in 14s4, and thousands of victims were burned al ve, while others were killed by the tests applied. J oan of Arc was burnt at liheims as a witch, May 30, 1431. About 500 witches were burnt in Geneva in three months in 1515; about 1,000 in the diocese of Como in a year, about 15*24; an in­ credible number in France, about 1520, when one sorceress confessed to having '1,200 associates; 900 in Lor­ raine between 1580 and 1595; 157 at Wurzburg between 1027 and lt)29, old young, clerical, learned, and ignorant; 30 at Lindheim. and more than 100,000 perished, mostly by the flames, in Ger­ many; in Bretagne, 20 poor women were put to death in 1624. It is esti­ mated that the judicial murders for witchcraft. in England in 200 years amounted to 30,000. In Scotland thousands of persons were burnt. Among the victims were persons of the highest rank; the last sufferer in Scot­ land was at Dornach, in 1/22. This is but a mere glance at the subject. It seems incredible at this time stich pro­ ceedings ever occurred in civilized eauutries.--Toledo .fiiflflf,, - CHARLOTTE CORDAY. Bin Nye- Tolls Soino Thinj-s Ho Knows About Hcr-Alne Some Things He Don't Know. Charlotte Corday was born on a for­ eign strand, now known as Normandy, named in honor of the large speckled gray horses with thick, piano legs and gross neck, that come from there to en­ gage in hauling beer wagons in the land of the free and the home of the brave. Here Chaflotte was born in the year 1793. Like the record of Sparticus, who in speaking of his own experi­ ences said that his early life ran quiet as the clear brook by which he sported, the childhood of Charlotte Corday was almost devoid of interest, being monot­ onous, and unanimous, as a self-made man said to me not long since, refer­ ring to the climate of the South. She early turned her attention, how­ ever, to the matter of patriotism, hop­ ing to obtain a livelihood in the patriot line some day. She investigated the grievances of France, and gave her at­ tention almost exclusively to the inven­ tion of some way by which to redress these grievances. Some of them had not been redressed for centuries, and they ought to have been ashamed of themselves. According to all accounts, the griev­ ances of France were, at that time, in full dress and short sleeves, ready for the ball to open. It fell to the lot of Charlotte Corday to open the ball. She was a beautiful girl, with clear blue eyes, placed at equal distances from a tall, light-colored nose, which was pale when in repose, but flushed delicately when she was in tears. Her ripe and ruddy French mouth opened and closed readily when she was en­ gaged in conversation, and her white and beautiful shoulders, ever and anon, while she talked, humped themselves like a hired man on his way to dinner. Her costume was simple and did not cost a great deal. It consisted of a Normandy cap made of cheese-cloth in shape like the tale of a setting hen, and trimmed in front with real French lace from the 10-cent counter. Her dress was all wool delaine with a pin stripe in it and trimmed with the same. Her other dress was different. Her stock­ ings were tall and slender as seen hang­ ing on the woman clothes-line at Caen, but her heart was gay and happy as the day was long. Charlotte Corday was one of a large family whose descendants were called Corduroy. They were the instigators of a style of road that has done more to shorten the spinal column and jolt the jejunum into chaos than any other line of inventions throughout the United States. Charlotte Corday had a voice which accompanied her in all her, rambles, and it is said that it was very musical and sounded first rate. Her parents were poor, so she had very few advantages as will be noticed at once by the careful student who reads her MSS. to-day and notices where she has frequently spelled cab­ bage with a k. She spoke French fluently, but was familiar with no other foreign tongue whatever. She took a groat interest in politics, but did not endorse the administration. She felt more especially bitter toward a gentleman named Marat, who waB rather literary in his habits and who also acted as a kind of chairman of the National Central Committee. To his other work he had also added the tedious and exhausting task of picking out people and indorsing them as suit­ able persons to lie beheaded! Being a journalist he had to write hard all the evening to get the hook full of red-hot Eolitical editorial copy, and then when e should have gone to bed and to rest, he had to take the directory and pick out enough people for a mess the fol lowing day. In this way Marat was kept very busy, with the foreman on his heels all day and the guillotine on his heels all night,and everv man was afraid to see the deputy Sheriff coming for fear he had a supocua for him. It was no unusual thing in those days for a Frenchman to turn off the gas and go to bed, only to find his shirt collar all bloody where the guillotine had banged his hair just above his Adam's apple in the morning. Those were indeed squirming times, as M. de Lamartine, a humorous writer of France, has so truly said. No man felt perfectly safe when ho saw Marat at a sociable or a caucus. It was im­ possible to tell whether he had come to write the thing up for his paper or pick out some more people to be killed by the administration. They got so that Marat could induce any of them to sub­ scribe for his paper, and people adver­ tised in his columns for things they did not want in order to sho.w that they felt perfectly friendly toward him. It was at this time that Charlotte Corday called one morning at the apart­ ments of Mr. Marat M'ith a view to as­ sassinating him. She sent in word that a young lady from Caen desired to see Mr. Marat for the purpose of paying her subscription. She was told that the editor was taking a bath. She laughed a cold, incredulous laugh, for she had seen a great many French journalists, and when one of them sent word to her that he was bathing she could ill repress a low, gurgling laugh. Finally she was admitted to his pri­ vate apartments, where he was indeed in the bath with an old table-cloth thrown over him, engaged in writing a scathing criticism on the custom of summer-fallowing old buckwheat lands and sowing Swedish turnips on them in July, when the country was so crowded for cemetery room. Charlotte apologized for disturbing the great journalist at such a time, and remarking that we were having rather a backward spring produced a short stab- knife with which she cut a large over­ coat buttonhole in the able journalist's thorax. She then passed into the office and leaving word to have her paper stopped she went to the executioner, where she left an order for him to call lier for the 7:30 execution. But we will not enter into the de­ tails of her tragic death. Nothing can be sadder than the sight of a young and attractive woman called up before breakfast to participate in her own exe­ cution and wondering whether it will hurt very much. Let us learn from this brief bit of his­ tory never to assassinate any one unless it be done in self-defence. BILL NYE. Senator Wlndom's Love Story. We have a friend at Centerville who went to school to William Windom, in Ohio, when he was a slender, pale-faced school teacher, and before he went to Minnesota and became senator and member of the Cabinet and possible {(resident. Now it seems there was a ove story back of it. In those Ohio days he fell in love with a girl and paid her a good deal of attention, and in due ticfte made her an offer of his hand and heart, intending also to endow her with *11 Iris worldly goods. She did not look with favor upon the prospect of becom­ ing Mrs. Windom and told him so in such curt phrase that he took it seriously to heart and went to bed sick. The soli­ tude of his own room gave him time to think over the matter, and he finally rose with the resolve that no woman could keep him down or influence his career. So he went to work, removed to Minnesota, when in due time he be­ came a United States Senator and secre­ tary of the treasury. Defeated for the senate, when he again offered himself for a candidate, he went into business and is now worth his millions. The woman who rejected him is now old, faded and worn out, the mistress of a Knox county hill farm, trying to raise eggs and chickens enough to help eke out an existence. If she occasionally looks back at the past and sighs over what ought to have been, she can re­ flect that she is not the only girl who has gone through the hedge and selected a crooked stick at last.--Keokuk Gate City. Impregsion&af Pekin. From the walls the city of Pekin looks its best, in fact quite different from what it really is. There you are too far away to see the filthy streets, the many dogs which go about with torn ears, the pools of stagnant water, and all the unpleasant sights which it is impos­ sible to avoid on closer inspection. You only see here the fine trees planted in the courtyards of all the better houses and in the open spaces of the Tartar city, the quaint gate towers, the fine cathedrals, and the dark background of the western hills, behind which the great red sun dips suddenly, leaving the cloudless sky still comparatively clear and bright notwithstanding his absence. The walls are sixty or seventy feet high, ending in a crenulated parapet, and are as broad as an average carriage-way, They are, however, so overgrown with bramble that in some places it is diffi­ cult for two people to walk abreast on them. The gates are numerous, and beside each a small wicket is placed, through which you pass to get on the top of the walls. Over the gate is the tower shaped like three or four immense pigeon-boxes placed one upon the other, and each smaller than the one below it. These are roofed with the peculiar Chinese tiles'sucli as may be observed in pictures; long closed-up pipes alter­ nate with horizontally ribbeid tile, and look extremely picturesque. The roads outside Pekin are bad. Inside matters are still worse. In addition to all the miseries usually attendant on crowded thoroughfares, one gets jumbled up among innumerable camels, ponies, carts, and like impediments to progress, all of which seem bound for some place in an opposite direction to which you are going. A Pekin cart is something to be experienced, and not merely de­ scribed, if justice be done to it. It is drawn by a most respectable mule, directed by a not very respectable driver. The arched roof is covered with dark blue cotton, except in rainy weather, when oil-cloth is used. It is doubtless unnecessary to say that springs are conspicuous by their absence--a re­ mark which would apply with equal force to most of the remaining resources of civilization in the city. A thin, hard mat is spread on the floor, and on this you squat as best you can. I tried tailor fashion, but afterward found it better to sit quite across the cart, with my back propped up against one side. The atti­ tude is not very comfortable, and I have not heard that it is considered graceful, but, all things considered, it is perhaps the least objectional position. Its drawbacks are experienced when a rut a foot deep is crossed, or wlien one of tHe flags with which some of the streets are paved is missing. 'Two or three feet of a drop is nothing to the mule or its driver, but to the barbarian inside it is inconvenient. The awning extends -for­ ward so far as the mule's head, and protects you from the fierce rays of the sun. When' the road is bad the driver walk B, and when it is good--that is, when it is not excessively bad--he hops up in front, and shuts you up in a veri­ table oven.--Anon. Industrial Education. There is a new kind of school and there are new lessons and new teachers coming. Books we must have. To learn, we must read. But we may read all about boats, and yet we can never learn to sail a boat till we take the tiller in hand and trim the sail before the breeze. The book will help wonder­ fully in telling us the names of things in the boat and, if we have read about sailing, we shall more quickly learn to sail; but we certainly never shall learn till we are in a real boat. We can read in a book how to turn a heel in knitting, and may commit to memory whole rules about "throwing off two and purl four," and all the rest; yet where is the girl who can learn to knit without having the needles in her hands. This then i3 the idea of the new school--to use the hands as well as the eyes. Boys and girls who go to the ordinary schools, where only books are used, will graduate knowing a great deal; but a boy who goes to one of these new schools, where, besides the books, there are pencils and tools, work­ benches as well as writting-books, will know more. The other boys and girls may forget more than half they read, but he will remember everything he learned at the drawing-table or at the work-bench, as long as he lives. He will remember more of that which he reads because his work with his hands helps him to understand what he reads. I remember long ago a tear-stained book of weights and measures, and a teacher's impatienoe with a stupid child who could not master the "tables." And I have seen a school where the tables were written on a blackboard -- thus: "two pints are equal to one quart,"and on a stand in the school­ room was a tin pint measure and a tin quart measure and a box of dry sand. Every happy youngster had a chance to fill that pint with sand and pour the sand in the quart measure. Two pints filled it. He knew it. Did he not see it, did not every boy try it? Ah! Now they knew what it all meant. It was as plain as day that two pints of sand were equal to one quart of sand; and with merry smiles those six-year-old philcsophers learned the tables of measures; and they will never forget them. This is, in brief, what is meant by industrial education. To learn by using the hands--to study from things as well as from books. This is the new school, these are the new lessons. The children who can sew, or design, or draw or carve wood, or do joinering work, or cast metals, or work in clay and brass, are the best educated chil­ dren, because they use their hands as well as their eyes and their brains. You may say that in such schools all the boys will become mechanics, and all the girls become dressmakers. Some may, many will not; and yet, whatever they do, bo it preaching, keeping a store, or singing in concerts, they will do their work' better than those who only read in books.--CJiarlet Barnard *t*$k HitikQl&i* AMONG THE FIRE-WORSHlPl** Barring the I>cad In a White Tower--Welcoming tl»c New Y«M, [Ex-Mini»ter Benjamin.} When a Guebre dies at Teheran hia corpse is taken to the lonely cemetery five miles south of the city, situated on a lonely rock eminence thai overlooks the vast plains quivering with miragew It resembles a white watch-tower, being built in the shape of a round hill-fort. It is white, and has ho apparent way of entrance. The walls are bnilt of cargel, or mud smeared with plaster that preserves it from the weather. Winding slowly over the plain and up the barren height, the procession of mourners* outcasts in a land they once ruled, bear the dead to his last resting-place. A hole is made in the wall of the ceme­ tery, through which the corpse is takes to the grave. Strange to say, the grave is not duff in the earth. The surface of the gronna within this unroofed inclosure is divi­ ded by raised brick into numerous ol>* long cells of uniform size, much like the parterres of a garden. The corpse is laid in one of these, dressed, and left there exposed to the elements.. Vul­ tures and buzzards hover over the cem­ etery in flocks; they know full well what is taking place in the desolate spot. Then the mourners retire to a little distance up the hillside to watch the birds of prey swoop down to devour the dead. They have a reason for thus keenly observing, for they believe that thle destiny of the departed soul is revealed! ' by the acts of the birds. If they de­ vour the right eye first, the soul is £a heaven, but if the left eye is attacked', first then the mourners go away sor­ rowful, for sad is the doom of their de­ parted friend. But the Gnebres have other and more cheerful customs than this. Their new year is called the no rooz, or new day. It comes at the time when the sun crosses the line in March. Their tradi­ tions state fchat this festival was or­ dained by their great legendary King Shah Iemsheed. Although most of the Persians are now Mohammedans, yet they all accept the period for the com­ mencement of the new year established in their country long ages before the camel-driver of the desert sent his armies to force them to his creed, and thus, at the no rooz Guebres and Mus­ sulmans alike rejoice. The latter pre­ tend that they celebrate the occasion because it is the birth anniversary of their prophet, but this is a mere flimsj excuse, concocted in order to show their disdain for the Guebres. But in a hun­ dred ways the Persians show that m their celebration of this annual festival they are following the traditions of their fire-worshiping ancestors. Nowhere is the new year celebrated with more mysticism and pomp and universal rejoicing than in Persia. Fer weeks before it arrives the people be­ gin their preparations for the occasion. Every one seeks to raise money to pur­ chase the new suit of clothes he is ex­ pected to wear at the time, and the confectionery and provisions for the ten days of feasting, as during the pe­ riod, the shops are mostly closed. So important is it to be properly prepared for the no rooz, that articles of price that are family heirlooms are often sae- rificed in order to provide the needed money. When the new moon of that month appears, devout Persians look to the East, then, covering the face with their hands, they are slowly turned until, on withdrawing the hands, the gleam­ ing sickle of the new moon is seen di­ rectly in front. Perhaps our supersti­ tion about discovering the rfew moon over the right shoulder is suggested tagr this Persian custom. The eve before no rooz is also til* occasion for a curious ceremony, ev|» dently suggested by the mystical mean­ ing the Guebres attach to fire and light. The common people leap over heaps of burning brushwood laid in rowa It is possible the heathenish custom alluded to in scripture of "passing children through the fire" may be a form of tfttift ceremony. Some Remarkable Meteors. A remarkable meteor was seen ne*? Lafayette, Alabama, in the summer of 1885. It exploded in mid-air, leaving a train of light which remained visible for eight or ten minutes, at first motionless, and then slowly changing from a straight to a curvilinear form. The moon shone brightly at the time, and the atmosphere' was clear. A meteor fell near Grafton, Wisconsin, last summer, which caused great excitement 'among the country people. A party of harvesters were working in a barley field near the vil­ lage named, when they were suddenly startled by a loud and strange noise, not unlike the roar of a long train of cars. The noise increased in volume to such a degree, during the space of only a few seconds, as to become almost deafening The unusual sound seemed to come * from the heavens, and, gazing upward, the spectators saw what appeared to be a huge ball of smoke rapidly descending to the earth. It struck the earth withoi a few rods of where the men were stand­ ing, and buried itself deep in the ground. At last accounts the aerolite had not been found, though a deep excavation had been made where it struck tlie earth. Mr. John G. Henry, of Havana* in this State, has been laboriously rein­ vestigating the remarkable meteor of July 20, 1860, and reaches some note* worthy conclusions. This meteor was visiblfc^ver a belt of counrty over four-, teen lfundred miles long, and several hundred miles wide, its path being sensibly a straight line as it moved over Lake "Michigan to a point south of Rhode Island. Mr. Henry thinks he has proved that it was an asteroid, witk a diameter of sixty rods, and that, after • grazing the earth's upper atmosphere, it sped on its way into the depth of spaae with an actual velocity of eighty thou­ sand miles per hour. According to Pro­ fessor Lyman's data this meteor, the ap» parent disk of which was one-half thaft of the moon, approached nearest the earth (forty-one miles) a mile south otf Bhode Island, passed forty-two milea above Long Island Sound, forty-four miles over the Hudson, fifty-one milef over Elmira, and sixty-two over liuffuli\ If these data are correct, it would seem probable that, under the earth's attract tion, it finally entered the Atlantic Ocean. It was also seen ont at sea at a distance of three hundred miles off our Atlantic coast Very Deep. "Did you hear that Fogg had gone to. Canada?" "No. Has he?" « ̂ "Yes. Slid ont last night with h» partner's money." "Pshaw! I suppose that might termed a sort of toboggan slide." J "But why toboggan slide?" '.:i "Because its a Conadian slide, • know."--Pittshurijh Dispatch. MARTIN LUTHER'S followers reoeived ie Protestants in l529. v ' .