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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Times, 1888-05-18, Page 2THE THREAD OF LIFE; 0R, SUNSHINE AND SHADE, CHAPTER XI,- Dowx STRUAbs, leaving hardly room for the self•saorieciag 'd7ide served nExt morning at eleven ; and volunteer who. undertook the functions of unotua purveyor and bottle•v^asber to turn about p 1 tt the minute—for, besides being But the loekere were amply stored with e poet, he prided himself on hie qualities as is man of business --$ugh Maseemer sur• rendered himself in due course by previews appointment on board the 1l¥ud•Turtle at the Pool by the Tower. But his eyes were heavier and redder than they had +seemed last night ; and his languid manner abawod at once, by a hundred little signs, that he had devoted but email time sines Reif left him to what: lvlr, Herbert Spencer periphrastfoally describes as " reparative proeeases." The painter, attired for the sea like a common eaifor in jersey and trainee's and knitted woollen cap, rose uu from the deck to great him hospitably. Hie whole appear- ance betokened serious business. it was evident that Warren Relf did not mean to play at yachting. ", Ycu've been making a'nigh t of it, I'm afraid, Messinger," he said as their eyes met, "" Bad preparation, you know, for a day down the river. We shall have a loppy sea, if this wind holds, when we pass the Nord. You ought to have gone straight to bed when you left the club with me last evening." " I know I ought," the poet responded with affected cheerfulness, " The path of duty's as plain as a pikestaff ; but the things T ought to do I mostly leave undone; and the things I ought not to do, I find, on the con- trary, vastly attractive. I may. as well make a clean breast of it. I strolled round to Pallavicini'e after you vacated the Row last night, and found them having a turn or two at lana nenet. Now,Tans uenet s an amusement I never can reist, The con- sequence was, in three flours I was pretty well cleaned out of ready cash, and shall have to keep my nose to the grindstone ac- cordingly all through what ought by rights to have been my summer holiday, This con- clusively shows the evils of high play, and the moral superiority o£ the wise man who goes home to bed and is sound asleep when the clock strikes eleven," Relf's Mee fell several tones. " I wish, Messinger," he said very gravely, " you'd make up your mind never to touch. those hateful cards again. You'll ruin your health, your mind, and your pocket with them. If you spent the time you spend upon play in writing some really great book now, you'd make in the end ten times as much by it." The poet smiled a calm smile of superior wisdom. " Good boy 1" he cried, patting Reif on the back in mock approbation of his moral advice. <' You talk for all the world like a Sunday -school prize -book. Honest industry has its reward ; while pitch -and -toss and wicked improper games land one at last in prison or the workhouse. My dear Reif, how on eaeth cin you, who are a sensible man, believe all that antiqua- ted nursery rubbish? As a matter of fact, is it always good boys who pull the plums with self -appreciative smile auto! the world's pudding ? Far from it : quite the other way. I have seen the wicked flourishing in my time like agreen bay -tree. Honest indus- trybreaks atones ontheroad, wbilesuecessful robbery or successful gambling rolls by at its ease, cigar in moi#th, lolling on the cush- ion of its luxurious carriage. If you stick to honest industry ell your life long, you may go on breaking 'tones contentedly for the whole term of your nal ural existence. But if you speculate 'boldly on your week's earnings and land a haul, you may in time set another fellow to break atones for you, and then you become at once a respectable man, a capitalist, and a baronet. All the great fortunes we see in the world have been piled up in the last resort, if you'll only believe it, by auceessful gambling." "Every than has aright to his own opin- ion," Warren Reif anew ered with a more serious air, as he turned aside to look after the rigging. " I admit there is a good deal of gambling in business ; but anyhow, hon est industry's a simple necessary on board the Mud-Turtle,—Come aft, here, will you, from your topsy-turvy moral philosophy, and help me out withthis sheet and the mainsail." Messinger turned to do as he was direct- ed, and to inspect the temporary floating hotel in which he was to make his way eon- ' tentedly down to the coast of Suffolk. The Mud•Turtle was indeed as odd-looking and original a little craft as her owner and skip- per had proclaieied her to be, A centre- board yawl, of seventeen tons registered burden, she ranked as a yacht onlyby cour- tesy, on the general principle of hat the logicians call excluded middle. If the wasn't that, why, then, pray, what in the world was she? The Mut/.Vertte measured almost as broad across the beam as she reckoned feet in length from stem to stern ; and her skipper maintained with profound pride that she couldn't capsize—even it she tried—in the worst storm that ever blew out of an English sky. She drew no more than three feet of water at a pinch ; she could go any- where that a inane could wade up to his knees Without fear bf wetting his tucked -up breecbea, This made her a capital boat for a marine artist to go about sketching in ; for Rolf could to her alongside a wreck on shallow sands, and rim her up a narrow creek after picturesque 'waterfowl, or ap- proach the riskiest shore to the very edge of the cliffs, withdut any reference to the state d the tide, or the probable depth of the surrounding channel. "If she grounds,'' the artist said enthug- iaetioally, expatiating an her merits to his new passenger, "you see it doesn't really matter twopeneo ; for the next high tide '11 set her afloat again within six hours, She's a rat opportunief t she knows well that all things mute theft e t tri o him who w o can wait. The Mud ,Turtle positively revels in mud; she lies flat an it en on her native heath, and stays patiently without one word of reproach for the moon's attraction to oome in its round to her ultimate rosette." The yawl's aocontmodation was opportnn- let too : though excellent to kind, it was limited in quantity, and byno meansunduly luxurious in quality. She was a working- man's yacht, and she meant business. Iter desk was oaleulate$ on the moat utilitarian principles—just big enough for two persona to sketch abreast; her oabfnconteinedthree Wooden bunks, with their appropriate vent piseient of rugs anti blankets : and a small emd rimiti e v a n�eio e v clove visa of the ship 000kery, took p alnost sail the w n* span in the centre of the well, fresh bread, tinned meats, and other simple necessaries for a week's cruise. Thus equip- ped and aaooutred, Warren Rolf was aooue• tamed to live an outdoor life for weeks to' gether with hie one like-minded chum and companion, As for Hugh Messinger, a confirmed landsman, the tirst few hours' sail down the crowded Thames appeared. to him at the outset a perfect phantasmagoria of ever varying perils and assorted terrain. He composed his soul to instant death from the very beginning ; not, indeed, that he mind- ed one bit for that : the poet dearly loved danger, as he Ioved all other forms of sensa- tion and excitement : they were food for the Muse ; and the Muss, like Blanche Amory, is apt to exclaim, "'If me faut des emotional" But the manifold novel forms of enterprise as the lumbering little yawl made her way clumsily among the great East-Indiamen and big ocean-going ateamers, darting bold- ly now athwart the very bows of a huge Monarch -liner, insinuating herself now with delicate precision between the broad- sides of two heavy Rochester barges, and just escaping collision now with some laden collier from Cardiff or Newcastle, were too complicated and too ever -pressing at the first blush for Massinger fully to take in their meaning at a single glance. Hugh Messinger was at once amused and bewilder- ed by the careless confidence with which his sea.faring friend dashed boldly in and out among brigs and schooners, smacks and steamships, on port or starboard tack, in. endless confusion, backing the little Mud. Turtle to hold herownin the unequal contest against the biggest and swiftest craft that sailed the river. His opinion of Relf rose rapidly many degrees in mental register as he watched him tacking and lueeng and scudding and darting with cool unconcern in his toy.tub among so many huge and swift- ly moving monsters. " Port your helm 1" Relf cried to him. hastily once, as they crossed the channel j ust abreast of,Greeuwioh Hospital. "Here's another sudden death down upon us round the Reach yonder 1" And even as he spoke, a big coal•steamer, with a black diamond painted allusively on her bulky funnel, turn- ing the low point of land that closed their view, bore bastily down upon them from the opposite direction with menacing swiftness. Messinger, doing his beat to obey orders, grew bewildered after a time by the glib ra- pidity of his friend's commands. He was perfectly ready to aot as :he was bid when once he understood his inatsuotions ; but the seafaring mind seems unable to comprehend that landsmen do not pdsseas an intuitive knowledge of the strange names bestowed by technical souls upon ropes, booma, miffs, and mizzsn-masts; so that Massinger's attempts to carry out his orders is a prodigious burry proved productive for the most part rather of blank confusion than of the effect intend- ed by the master skipper. After passing Greenhithe, however, they began to find the channel somewhat clearer, and Relf ceased for a while to skip about the deck like the little hills of the Psalmist, while Masainger felt his life comparatively safe at times for three minutes together, without a single danger menacing,him ahead in the immediate future from port to starboard, from bow to stern, from brig or steamer, from grounding or collision. About two o'clock, after a hot run, they cast anchor awhile out of the main channel, where traders ply their flow of intercourse, and stood by to eat their lunch in peace and quietness under the Ise of a projecting point near Gravesend. "If wind and tide serve like this," Relf observed philosophically, as he poured out a glassful of beer into a tin mug—the Mud• Turtle's appointments were all of the home- liest—" We ought to get down to White - strand before an easy breeze with two days' sail, sleeping the nights in the quiet creeks at Leigh and Orfordness." That would exactly suit me," Masainger answered, draining off the,mugful at a gulp after his unusual exertion. "I wrote a hasty line to my cousin in Suffolk this morning telling her I should probably reach White - strand the day after to -morrow, wind and weather permitting—I approve of your ship, Relf, and of your tinned lobster too. It's fun coming down to the great deep in this unconventional way. The regulation yacht, with sailors and a cook and a floating draw- ing•room, my soul wouldn't care for. Yon can get drawing -rooms galore any day in Belgravia ; but picnicking like this, with a epics of adventure in it, fella in precisely with my own view of the ends of existence." "It's a cousin you're going down to Suf- folk to see, then? " " Well, yea ;• a cousin—asort of a cousin: a Girton girl': the newest thing out in won en. I call her a cousin for convenience's sake. Not too nearly related, if it comes to that ; a surfeit of family's . a thing to be avoided. But we're a decadent tribe, the tribe of Messinger ; hardly any others of us left alive ; when 1 put on, my hat I Cover all thatemai r Rs of ua• , andin a sou hoods a Capital thing in its way to ,keep up under certain conditions. It enables a man to pay a pretty girl a great deal of respectful atten- tion, without necessrialy binding himself down in the end to anything definite in the matrimonial direction" " That's rather a cruel way of regarding it, isn't it ?" " Well, my dear boy, wh is a man to do in these j ammed and crushed and overcrowd. ed days of ours ? Nature demands the safe- tyvalue of a harmless fiietation. If one can't of ord to marry, the ria total ff. will find an outlet, n a cousin or somebody. But it's quite impossible, 4e things go now- adays, for a penniless man to dream of telt. ing to wife a p nniless woman, and living on the sum of their joint properties. Acoordt ing Ito Cocker, nought and nought make nothing. When a man has no patrimony, he must obviously make it up in matri- mony, Oniyy the great point to avoid is letting the penniless girl meanwhile get tee deep a hold upon your pbrsonal feelings. The wisest men—Tike me, 4or exam lo—are downright fools when it Domes to high play or the dontestio Matinee*. Bveit Achilles d h vulnerable point, you know, So hast every Wise man. With ,A.ohillee, it was the heel ; with Mt !t'e the heart. The hears Will 'reek the profeendeee and meet deliberate phfi000pher living, I aokbowledge it my. self. I ought to wast, of course, till I °etch the eminent alderman's richly endowed daughter, ,instead of that, I shall doubtless ding myself away like a born fool upon the pretty cousin or some other equally unpro. Stable investment.., " Well, I hope you will," Rolf answered, cutting himself a huge chunk of bread with his pocket deep -knife, " I'm awfully clad to hear you say so. For your own sake I hope you'll keep your word. I hope you won't stifle everything you have got that's best within you for the sake of money and position and mom.— Have a bit of this corned beef, will you?— A woman who salts herself for money is bad enough, though it's woman's way—they've all teen trained to it for geuarations, But a man who sells himself for money—who takes himself to market for the highest bidder ---who makes capital out of his face and his manners and his conversation --is absolutely contemptible, and nothing abort of it.—I could never go en knowing you, if I thought you capable of it, But I don't think you so. I'm sure you do youraelf a gross iujustioe. You're a great deal better than you pretend yourself; If the occasion ever actually arose, ' you'd. follow your bet- ter and not your worse nature. ---.I'll trouble you for the mustard," (To Be QonTlxvi:A. ) SJ*e Got Him Rome. A woman up at St. Helen's, says the As- toria Pioneer, is the wife of a man who loves to bang around a certain grog bazar, and in so doing he sorely negleote the helpmeet who sits patiently at home. Many a time and oft has she reasoned with him in her quiet, motherly way, and tried to point out to him the disgraceful way in which he was using her, but all to no purpose. She even went ao far as to request the teller in tun aforesaid booze emporium that he cease selling her husband liquor. But the poison - mixer bade her go hence and exchange New Year's calla with herself ; but she turned on her heel and left his hateful presence. That evening as she eat alone she heard a racket down cellar, and upou investigation found that a skunk had got his tail in the rat -trap. Now it is a well-known fact that a skunk will hold its peace as long as his bushy tail is held, whether in a trap or the hand, and remembering that elle had no fear. Suddenly a bright thought entered her head. The clock in the house was strik- ing one and she wanted papa to come home. With a quick movement she threw a bag over the animal's head, and, after grasping its tail, opened the trap, and thus armed headed for the saloon. ,It was only a short distance away, and finding the door partly open, she tossed the skunk into the midtt of the crowd, and swiftly stole away. It had the desired effect and papa came home. The saloonkeeper, who never took a vacation before iu his Iife, has gone into the country to visit relatives, and the saloon is closed for repairs. Why the Year WOO Wili Not be Counted Among Leap Years. ' The year is 365 days, 5 hours and 49 min- utes long ; eleven minutes are taken every year to make the year 365e- days long, and every fourth year we have an extra day. This [was Julius Cigar's arrangement. Where do these eleven minutes come from ? They come from the future, and are paid by omitting leap year every 100 years. Bat if leap year is omitted regularly every 100th year, in the course of 400 years it is found that the eleven minutes taken each year will not only have been paid back, but that a whole day will have been given up. So Pope Gregory III., who improved on Cnnsar's calendar in 1852, decreed that every centur- ial year divisible by 4 should bo a leap year after all. So we borrow eleven minutes each year, more thanipaying our borrowings back by omitting three leap years in three centurial years, and square matters by hav- ing a leap year in the fourth centurial year. Pope Gregory's arrengenient is so exact, and the borrowing and paying back balance so closely, that we borrow more than we pay back to the extent of only one day in 3,866 years. The German Empress. "The German Empress," says a writer in the Journal des'Debats, "is the soul of the Imperial household. She is much better loved there than outside, where people are unjust to her. She; has committed the mis- take of remaining English—as all the Eng. lish do—and to carry the pride of her race into the middle of a people which admires itself with a naive and enormous compIais- ance ; she brought the pride of her birth into a family which believee itself the first in the world.; her ;aristocratic tastes into a where town w h e art shows itself in clumsy im- itation end patchwork ; the independence of her views into a court where everything is regulated and prearranged ; and the liberty of her religious and political senti- ments into a centre where religion has its narrow forms, as the politics of which it is the servant. The independence of the Princess, and the' winked habit which she had contracted of thinking for herself, rather Jellied the old Hohenzollerns, But entire harmony exists between the Empress and her husband. She reads serious literature -••- Adam Smith, Thornton, John Stuart Mill, Herbert Spenser and other political eoono- miets. The Emperor enquires into the social problem,' and studies the theories of the Socialists. This accounts, perhaps, for the Sooialist'flavour of his addreae to the German people. The Loss of Temper. Temper, too,.. there is no question, is good d t o keep ; *et we ourselves remember occasions when we would have given all the world to h eve been able to lose our temper thoroug ly, completely, irrevoca- bly, Stimulate loss of temper is a great gift ; but a reaii genuine Ioas has a power of closing a oentroveray or putting an end to a situation where -stimulated Ions Gan effect nothing. No doubt the losing is ex- pensive ; it generally mean apology or oompeneation of some sort ; but for the moment it carries a man through a dffii. culty unconselously, and, as it were, on winge, The wounds received in the ex. element of battle are said at the time not to hurt and to of sstemper 'man n � - Menne � Z� a . oitemont where wounds given and re. sewed beooms almost a pleasure.—[Ler don Spsobator. E<aA-Shaking . From the man with the limp, damp, ex.. presaionless handshake, all through the list of the side -motion shakers, the pump.handle shakers, the vice -grip shakers and al1 the others there are many varieties of hand- shakers. You may get an idea how the cue. tom began by reading this taken from the Home dol ruai History tells us that band -shaking first Game into fashion in the time of Henry II. lop to that time our ancestors were more affectionate in their greetings than we, their colder -natured descendants, embracing and .kissing each other much in the same fashion as that now prevailing in some parts of Europe, Germany espeaaally. The historian who is pleased to date the commencement of hand -shaking in place of osculation and embracing about Henry II.'s time is perhaps in error, as it is more probable the close embrace of acquaintances begaoyn to be die - continued later on, perhaps When toba000 was firat introduced. This certainly seems a probable surmise, as even in''our present year of grace a man who has been smoking a oheap cigar or a rank pipe is certainly not the most embraceable objeet in. the world ; and only think what thetobaoed of Raleigh's time must have been like 1 Hoveever, wheth. er Henry IL did or did not begin the fashion of " shaking hands," it is now rapidly be- coming overdone. Everyone hakes hands with everyone on every occasion, on enter• ing and leaving a room, on meeting on the street, and on sayiug " god morning," "good night," or " good bye." The fine " flour des poia," the "cremede la creme,' the quite too -too people are the only ei;cep tion to the rule. Nothing can be more dignified than the way many orientals salute a friend ; their wishes for his welfare, of tho a dear to him, expressed in a few words, are to the point ; yet nothing can exceed the s lime imbecil- ity of some tribes of Arabs, o aeize each other's right hand thumb n their right hand, and go on through th entire list of their relations changing th grasp as each relative is named. How is our father, A. grasps show B. s thumb • is ur mother,B. grasps A.'s thumb ;how is yo r uncle, grsp ; bow is your aunt, grasp ; yo r nephew, your niece, your cousin, your grandfather, etc,, grasp, grasp, grasp, and so on for a quarter of an hour. The Persian saves himself all this wear and tear by simply touching hie forehead at you, something like your groom does on being told to go home, while the Chinese, Burmese, and moat other nations do something nearly as simple. Considered at a Farmer's In- stitute.' The black knot on cherry and plum trees was shown to be a fungus,draease penetrat- ing the bark. The only bafe remedy is to out it off and then rub the spat affected with turpentine, The tomato rot was also declar- ed to be a fungus, the preventive being sul- If phur powder. Col. F. D. Curtiss spoke upon pigs as a dairy and fruit farm necessity, and how to feed • them lean, He advocated a radical change, and said it was a mistake to think it impossible to keep pigs without corn. Corn is the farmer's Meal of everything, and it is all wrong. Piga ought to be fed but twice a day, to give time for rest and an opportunity for di,estion. The food should be strongly impregnated with phos- phate nitrogen. Feed them with meals, turn them into rye fields, put them in clover fields and apple arebarde-that is nitrogen- ous food. Follow up with sweet cornstalks and sorghum. The best, quality of pork is made out of apples alone.. He pictured the difference between the effects of carbgpaee- ous and nitrogenous food, and such ai�pig could be fed ao long on cern as to be starZceic to death. t Dr. J. S. Woodward addressed the farm• ers upon "Nitrogen, Potash and Phosphoric Acid." He said the air was the great store. house of nitrogen ; another source was the coal fields. He described the ammoniacal liquor of the gas factories, 'and said it was one of the best forms of nitrogenous manure. Potash is found in plants in the mines of Germany. Phosphoric acid builds up the frames of animals, and is found in the banes of animals. It also exists in the slag of iron furnaces, in natural deposits in the south, along the St. Lawrence and in the Canadair. A. Romance f Compressed Air. A gentleman vfho, by the way, is quite a celebrated organist himself, was wander- ing through the organ loft of St. Andrew's Church in New 'S?iork when he slipped and fell into the diap son pipe of the huge in- strument. He we t down feet foremost into the Done of the ripe mei' he was firmly wedged. dd The more he dstruggled the tighter he wedged himself, rind, being about twelve feet from the top of tee pipe, the air soon began to give out, ati4he became frightened at the idea of dying in the prisonwliere accident had lodged him. His frantic shouts for help did no good. After spendina night in this dangerous Z l3 g and dismal hole/ and having in his atrug- les stripped off ' coat, ahe wound it about ut g p his waist , so th lit no air could escape from below. Soon he iheard the sonorous tones of the organ, and escended the pipe until he could reach the tip with his hands. Then he knew that air had been pumped in below himand that a at b r dual com res i eon of th ,� p e air, he had been 'greed up as througha pneu- matie tube. As e drew himself out of the pipe,gave on heartyand fervent shout rC 1 of sued S 1 which rangabove the tones of the organ, and ne rly frihtened the organist to death. The Sang of a Flirt. Oh, a dainty toy is the heart of man 1 For all toys known sines time began Compare with thii. one what one can? What rapture to atoll It chill and burn And burn and chil and tremble in turn— Then with dafntyl shed feet carelessly y spurn 1 Oh, 'tis rare,indec ewith a victim smitten -- This delicate game a la manse and kitten— To cajole, soothe, dress --then "give him the mitten." 1 Take all other toys, then, but leave tee mine; Take riohea and pleasures and palaces fixe; Take all but my plaything—the heart inns. online, tiaraAviS. The following advertisement recently a . peered in the Londe ,t Candid ; "A, lady of famlt without means With good► t thorough knowledge of everything, would be grateful to anyone who would give her 000upatton, not particular as to ?that.' Authors and, Se l tue>rlltoN Nobody but us literary ;le knows h closely grows the ettaohntent between author au4 hie eharaoters,'. It is related Mrs. Harriet Besoher Stone that when the pages of her manuscript she road; death of little Eva, the entire famely t bathed in tears, nor could one of theta sp ' k a word, but all mournfully separated, pinto their rooms as though they had jus attended the funeral of a dear friend, Some friends met T'haokeray on the street one day, and his countenance bore traces of intense grief. " What is the matter ?" they asked, " I have just killed Colonel Newooms," hs sobbed, bursting into tearu as be hurried away. Charles Dickens bad the same experience. So did I. Mine was even more harrowing, When I wrote my firat funny story about Mr, Bilderbeck go, ing up on the roof to shovel .off the snow, and making an avalanche of himself and eliding down into a water barrel, I was al• most heartbroken. I didn't kill Mr, Bil. derbsek myself. Ab, indeed, I hadn't the heart tc do that. The managing editor, that dear, considerate soul, saw how I felt about it, and he killed hint for me, He also killed all the other dear, loving gentle oharaotera in the sketch. And as .I was leaving he remarked that he would kill me if I ever came bank with any more such atuff. He meant it, too. People who saw me coming out of the office, scraping duet, and lint, and pine slivers, and gouts of paste off my bank, saw at once, by my grief- stricken face, that something had happen. ed. But I could not toll them what, My poor, bursting heart was toe full.—[Bob Burdett°. The European Situation. The uncertainties of the European situ, ation seem to be increasing rather than dim- inishing, Thoruptureof diplomatistrelatione between Greece and urkoy has brought in a new element of com lioation. To the on looker, rioting from a distance the persistent intrigues carried4R under Russian influence to bring about disturbances in Bulgaria and Roumania, it would seem to indicate that the long -predicted convulsion is inevitable, and its outbreak simply a question of time, The unmistakable tenion of feeling in Au tri points to the same s - conclusion. On the other hand, Prince Bismarck, whose impor- tunities for taking irz the whole situation are probably unequalled, and whose position makes him in a manlier the arbiter in all European disputes, is represented as san- guine that peace willnot be broken. It is possible that his knowledge of the inauf• flolenoy of Russia's preparations may give warrant and confidence to his opinions, or may be that he hes some inscrutable ob- it y jests in view that are best promoted by maintaining his characteristic attitude of imperturbability, It is very likely that if Russia eau manage by any course of diplom- acy and intrigue to have Iter chestnuts pall- ed from the fire by .some other means she will prefer to avoid Cho tremendous risks of a great war. But that she will ever con- clude, save under cenatraint of the direst necessity, to abandont her cherished objects, and especially to leave Ferdinand in peace. ful possession of the Bulgarian throne, is iu* credible. To relinquish a purpose once form- ed and attempted, wojild be to break the historical record of the:most pertinacious of monarchies. 1 The One -Armed Pianist, Count Ziehy, the atraordinary pianist, says TI"e Queen, of Lo don, never plays in public except for chars ble purposes, being not only of high family'jbut also possessed of ample means, and the singular and romantic facts with which his present extraordinary efficiency is connected linsure him crowded audiences wherever beappears, Count Zieby has from childhood been a great lover of music, for which he hall extraordinary na- tural gifts. As a youth he devoted himself to the study of the violi 1, on which be had already attained great ;proficiency, when a terrible aooident while but shooting turned the course of his life. et was found neces- sary to amputate his right arm, and it would have appeared to moat persons that with this all hopes of an aotiee career in art must be abandoned. But the indomitable charao- ter of the young Hungarian noble triumph- ed. In ayear from thti time of hie recovery he had mastered the moat extraordinary difficulties on the pfaforte with the left hand, which remained o him, and now this one•banded pianist pro uses effects whish, if the eyes were closed, would oonvixee the listener that he was lis: ening to two, and even sometimes to fours hands upon the in. ''' atrument. The Carrot. The carrot, like all is het root crops, de lights and grows to eat perfection in a deep, well enriched, li t, Ioamy soil, The seed should be sown in` hallow drills about sixteen inoheaapart. Sot. early in the spring, just as soon as the grot�nd can be properly prepared. If the sowing is delayed until later, it is advisable tai soak the seed for twenty-four hours in tepid water, and then dry it by mixing with dry sifted ashes, when it may be aown.If the ground is dry at the time of sowing is advisable to firm it well ever the seeds Au ounce of seed will sow 120 feet of 411. In our fine edit the fernier, if he have time to spare, may find it profitable to try a good sized field patch Sof shorthorns, inter mediates and long Reds, thinning to fivo inches or so in the row and drill two feet wide to admit of hors rl hoeing. A score of e exploits of the Monitor, an experime talrs a hwarcraft designed and built in the Unite States, drew the at- tention of the marl ime world, and did much to inaugurate he revolution which ;ices since been wroug t in the construction and equipment of nav's. Another experi- mental vessel, the YeI nails, was launched tiro other dayfromhe American Navy Yard, which bide fairto attract no less at• teatime and, should pportunity occur, to t-lf outdo thefeats of its eh r vedredeceaso . The two (thief p r £n oval SR in regard to the Vesuvius are the high Bate of altered. antiei. gated, twenty knots an hour, and the unique character of her Wendy() armament. Tile latter is to lconsist of three guns, each fifty -foul feet in length, and ' adapted to View a dynamite shell of two hundred p nde weight a dis- tanee of one mile with pi -edition. If this can be aeoomplished, nd the dynamite oartridge trade to explo a on striking, it is evident that no ironcl could withstand the shock.. Whether, however, the long range guns, now so inuoin vogue in navel warfare, would leave th little slumbering velem* mun chatterer Ger of earning mn g twit �( ! striking ''wage of its intended victim it one of the unoertainties of the exportmeub,