HomeMy WebLinkAboutExeter Advocate, 1901-5-2, Page 7•
the Tragedy of St. Mark's
Steeple.
ejo You lenow, sir, I ca.n never look
et that Steeple without turning cold
all over., although itee mearee forty
Years *ince it 'happened—and the old'
man pointed toward e the distant city,
:where the tall, !slender spire of St.
Mark', rising higher than the rest
was silhouetted against ,the 'gloev of
the eetteng bun, whose last rays made
the gilded nano on the euramit euro
ae with fire.
It's forty eare since, be continued;
but it Might Rave been yesterday, so
vivid is the horror a it; but come in-
side, and I'll tell You all about it.
She wan young enough then, and
a bonriy a girl as there wee' in all
Warwickshire, which I don't think
there was a plainer, more awkward
Ind than neyeelf in the whole county.
But I loved her—as e dozen othere did
—only I clan't think they could ever
• have loved her 'quite ae I did; and, if
I wagn't a beauty, I had muscles of
Iron ena nerves of steel, and 'Steeple-
jack Jim," woe known for fifty pence
round.
IShe event(' never let on that she
cared for me; she was too artful a
•
puss for that, but I thought I had
a chance, and I went for it for all
I was worth. She used to drive me
mad with jealousy, flirting with this
man and smiling on that, until I could
have killed. the whole lot. But Inev-
.
er let her see it; I wan much too deep
for that.
Only let a girl know you're jealous
and she'll make your life a—well a tor-
ment, jut for the love of teasing and
showhag her power on eau. I always
came up smiling; and she couldn't un-
derstand it; but it conquered her in
the end; and for nearly forty years,
blees her, she's been the sweetest,most
loyal wife a man ever had. ,
But thee is an old story, you say;
and so it is, but still it's always new—
and I'll get on to the tragedy quite
soon enough.
The only man I wae really afraid of
was my partner Jack—Jack Heeding
—asefine a young fellow as you ever
eaw in your life, tall and straight as
a lath; and with a face like a young
god '• but he was a bit inclined to be
wild, ,and that's a fatal thing in my
line. Ruth was fancier of him than
of all the othere—what girl could help
it ?—and if he'd only played his. cards
even, he might leave had her, without
giving any of us a look in. '
But jealousy! Why, nier worst at -
'tacks were mildnees itself compared
With Jack'se-and he coanclei't 'conceal
:them as I did. He had some Spanish
blood in is veins, I always thought—
lie looked like a Spaniard—and if she
even enailed at another man his eyes
flaehed ae if he would strike them
both dead; and more than once he
•loet his temper, and said things to
her that no girl would etandneast
of all Ruth.
. ;Well, to come to the point, I soon
saw that the prize rested between him
and me; and though I thought my
chance wan Etiaall enough, I wasn't go-
ing to loee her for want of asking.
If I live ,eo'be a hundred I shall al-
ways remember that 'evening when I
asked her if I had a ch'a'nce, and if
, she could enarryggeclumsy, ugly man
like me. "'Chance ?" she said, as she
look -ed up at me roguishly out of her
blue eye,e. " Why, Jim, you donkey,
you've got every chance, and if you
hadn't been 'blind you'd have seen it•
months' ago," and then she laughed,
a kind of hysterical laugh, and hid her
blushes on my shoulder.'
' Well, eir, if she'd knocked me down
I couldn't have been more surprised—
it wes all o sudden and unexpected;
but I had the preeence of mind ,to
put my, area roundher and .to draw
her face up to mine and kiss it; and
then—why sir, there wasn't a man in
,England half 'as h-apey as ine.
" Butawhat about Jack ?" ' &aid,
when I'd come to a bit. "About Jack I"
she said; arehly; "well, when yon say
You're tired, of megIell begin to think
,aboutehime-if I eine long.'enough.",
When jack beera of et'lee went mad'
.-lean ..mad—wore he would killaus
both, 'ane ,flung himself ,into a wild
orgte of drink and_ dissipation. 'Isaw
next to nothing of him for weeks,
and, when we Met he passed an the
other gide of the road, witheat look-
ing at me. Of course, I was spry for
hem but it, eves the luck of war or
rather of ieve,, and I had 'played nay
cards honoura'bly ; while I was far too
busily and happily occupied to have
any feare for what he might do to
Then one day he seemed completely
changed; came to me with an out-
tretched hand and asked my peedma
*eying thee.I'd won fairly, and wish-
ing me e,uck. But somehow I didn't
like the looks .of him, and didn't trust
him ; and I had good ground for my
distrust, as 1 was soon to prove. Dur-
ing his rinking bout I had to hire
an 'assistant for any job that' came my
way; but when he Offered to join ille
again I took hien on jut as if noth-
ing had happened.
My little girl was very nervous
about me noev that I' was so much
to her, and begged Me to give upe
eteepee-clinabeng and work on olid
ground ;but there ie more money in
the air, for me, at, any rate ; and as
I wanted to eave „for that little nest
I had in view, I thought I would etick
to my eteeples a little longer.
When Game the !job that cost Jack
hie life and nearly cost me rriine—re-
gilding the vane on the top of St.
Mark's steeple. How well 1 remem-
ber that morning, a .bright, fresh
morning in May, when everything-nny
heart included-nseemed to dance for
joy of living and loving, I found eincie
to run round Lo Bee my little girl be-
fore beginning, work, and found, her
ead and tearful.
IShe had ereamt the previoue night
that elle eaie rnet ,fightlieg „with, e man,
lo raidectite, and:ellen all at (Mee ee'fell"
down, and etreicie theearth with ea
eickeraing ethud` ter'her very feet.
eDfee't go to -day, aim," be pleadee
ae the tear e chased each other down
her cheeke; "1 know eomething
happen to you." A
In vain I argued and chaffed, and
when at last I tore Myself away with
a promise to run in in the evening,
she covered her face with her hands
and etood Motionless at the door till
I was, out of eight, as it shutting
eoine horrie, epeetaele from her eyes,
lack was Ispecially cheerful when I
joined him—too gay, I thought, as I
saw the reckless light ,in his eyes, and
thought he had been drinking.
" You lucky dog," he atd, ae he
elapped me oa the ehoulder. ')iou've
been to eee Ruth', 1 knowe and her
leLee is tvarna an your lips. Ab, well,
I shall have my turn of luck some
day—maybe sooner than you thinkle
"1 hope eo too my. lad," I said
sympathetically, as, we set to work;
"and the *ponce the loetter."
A few hour e later we were suspend-
ed, one on each' side of the eteeple, a
couple of jaundredi feet above the pig-
mies that were crawling beneath us.
We were both busy ae we could be,
gilding the 'ball frotm which' the vane
eprang—Jack on one bide and nae on
the other. <
Each of un was standing on a tiny
platform, little larger than the seat
of a chair, with a ela'eer, dizzy drop
of nearly eeventy yards beneath us;
and each, for additional safety, was
attached to the steeple by a _life -line
running under his arm.
Jack had not epoken a word for
nearly an hour; but I thought noth-
ing of that, as we were working
egabast time, and the darkness was
beginning alieady to creep over the
sky. Yon know, when., you're work-
ing at that heigh't, removed as it were
from all the world, and with noth-
ing but eilence above end around you,
the, slightest noise sends a shock
through a man, however ,strong 'his
nerves may bee' ••
You can imagine then, how start-
led I was when all at once I heard a
loud shriek of laughter, almost as it
seemed at my very ear. There was
something uncanny about it, ‘too,that
eet my heart thumping and my flesh
creeping a$ they had never done be-
fore, or Once.
When the laugh ceased and sil-
ence came again as an awful relief
I said; "What's the joke, Jack ? Don't
keep it to yourself."
" joke!" he .aid, "I shoulci think
it would be a joke. I was fancying
you shooting irlow-n like a stone" to
the pavement down there, and what
Ruth would think evhen she Raw the
pieceet."
"What a rummy ideal" I anewered,
with affected coolness, though my
heart was beating faster than ever,
and ecemed as if it would suffocate
me. "But I'm -going down a little
elower than that as soon as I've fin-
ished thie bit of work. But pull your-
self together, Jack, and get your gold
an, and then we'll isoon be down there
on our two legs."
"No, eir 1" he shouted, " I'm going
to have `a race, with you to the bot-
tom, and who ever gets there „first
Ruth can have.. Come on; naVer for
a • junp together."
hesaid this he craned hie head,
round the corner of the, eteeple to
get a look at nae, and a single glance
at hie wild eyes showed me that the
man was raving mad, and that I was
alone in raid -air with a maniac, who
hated me and would certainly kill me
if he could.
I was powerless. If I called for help
'neigh!, be heard, but who could come.
to my 'assistance poised as I was at
such a giddy height above the enorld?
And in a single moment I might be
in th2 th.cns oea lingo nd-death etreg-
gle with a man quite as etrong .es
myself and made ten times stronger
by madness.•
He was !slowly and 'surely working
round towards me, and, there was not
a moment to waste. .:Something must
be done" nuicklye` deed everything de-
pended on keeping cool. In a moment
Thad eased the hitch of the line round
my hand, and was swinging round to
meet him. Before he had time tdpro-
tent hiraself I had seized him by the
throat and had forced him down on
his saddle -board.
But it ,Sita..5 only for a moment, for,
etrong as I was, nay strength was as
a Ohild's compared with his. With e
wrench he vvae free, and had flung
his powerful arms' around my chest
and was equeezing the very -life out
of me. -
. In vein I et.ruggled, ,n,e we , swung
backward and forward against the
face of the eteeple: I tried to call
out, but my voice tstuck in my thioat,
nay 'ey,es.lelt ,a$ ,if they were being
forced out of my head, and nay,breath
came in convilleive gasps. e All the
lamp. ainiel ',the, horrible silenceeheok-.
ere only by the creaking of the ,ropes
and the grating of the saddle against
the' steeple, his eyes were glaring in-
to mine. and his, hot breath was oigray
I felt my eensegrapidly
when my leand, by accident trucknay
tool -box and instinctively as it were
clutched a wreneli. With a last effort
I reject], ray hand, etruck him with all
my remaining etrength full on the
temple --and then I reniembered no
When I came to myself I was lying
in bed, and Reith'e eyes were looking
down on me with jut such a look
in them ae an angel's might have;
but she said no word and I sank into
unconsciousness again.
It was weeks before I was „about
again or heard what happened after
all became dark about me on the top
of the eteeple. It iseeins the strug-
gle had been seen ,by the people. in
the Street below ; an excited crowd
had gathered but they could do ,
noth-
ing but look andwonder ane ,evait.
They -had seen me strike 'Jack and,
then fall back senseless in the saddle
as, his arms released Me ; and then, to
heir horror, they had eeen him slip
off his platform and drop like a stone,
rebounding off the steeple and fall,
ehattered heap on the (stone paceee
ment almost a.n,their feet. He inuet
have slippedhi lite -line in the strain-
ludkily Mine eaeed .me, and
with great difficulty 1 was eafely low-
ered down and carried home. „
elierfne little more to tell.
They buried poor jack; and three
Months later the wedding -belle were
ringing for pee and the sweetest bride
hat week brought a man trent the
gates, of ileeth back to a life that has
been all „eurtshine,., „ „..
_
825ePeileel in 'the'ea-e'er:lele, record
on a eeilingeghip, 500 foi•
MIR.Pg1
BURNED MANURE.
Every farmer ime had more C)Lpeti-
e r1/3e than he &leered with "firefang-
ed" manure. The cause of it, how to
prevent the heat action, and how
xreafth damage the manure heap act-
ually suff-ers from, it, are questions
that /nest faxneer.s haye had occasion
to flise,thse somewhere along the line
of tieeir farming experienee.
The hay -like lightnese of fire fang-
ed manure and its mouldy appearance
naturally give the inepreseion that it
has In it but little oS value; as food
for plants; yet as an offset to the
impees,siori, made by the appearance
of the arei,ele we will at times find
fanners who declare that they had
just ae good crops from it as from
the bast of' barn manure.
Who is right on, the question of
value? To discuss it inlellige,ntly, let
us begin by determininge.the cause
of firefan,g, A deyelepment of heat
always aceonepanies, it, and in point of
fact it is the heat which Preeduces
'but wheat produces the heat? It is
caused by the gee oxygen, which is
one of the elements of the air we
.breathe, uniting with elements found
in the manure pile, producing -slow
c.o.rabustion, which developthe heat
we find there, ane tlae dark, charred,
appearancei each of which are the
natural products of conabustion. It
is this same ax,y,gen that by the
same slow process of combustion
when ••taken into our own lungs com-
bines with some of the food elements
that digesiion has given to the
...blood, those of a fatty nature, and so
develops that temperature necessary
to keep up the union between the soul
and body which we Call animal heat.
derom manure piles, where there can
be no combustion there can be no
heat, and where there is no air there
can be n,o, combustion. It follows,
therefore, IS we can keep the air from
our manure we can prevent it heat-
ing, . and consequently burning or
"fieefanging."
There are three ways of doing this
by ,keeping it so moist as to extin-
guish Combustion at its ineinient
stage, to pack it close either by keep-
enig cattle or hogs tramping it or by
having the piles so deep that the
pressure will exelude the air; and still
a fourth method •ire sonaetinaes-Prae-
eised, that of al:eying the Tile so shal-
low •caesmall that the temperature -le
VeineV•the' eeenheeeeeeneeeeintn '
Now, paasing from the cause of iirce
fang • and thee pr*eventien of it, 'let -us
consider a moment the effect of it
,on the v,a.liec. of, the manure heap. The
action of the oxygen on the nitrogen
which enters into the canapesition of
the maniere practically destroys it in
the burning Process. -Thee is reall
all the ,essential,loss our manure hea
has undergone.
The absence of moisture, which ha
been dried out by the heat, is i
reality no loss, as far as its plant foo
Yellen ,goes. The only vital chan,g
then in our m,anure is that it has los
much of its nitrogen, the phasphori
a,ciel and potash contents being th
same in quantity after it has bee
fierefanged as they were before.
Now we are prepared, if our reason-
ing thuts..far is 'correct, to determine
the value of this variety of manure
to the farmer. We have not a table
of analysie at hand; but it is safe to
say that- the nitrogen constituent of
'barn manure is about equal in value
to the phospharic acid and potash ele-
ments c,o,enbined. On this basis of
value badly firefanged manure is, cord
for cord. worth about half as much as
that which is, in its natural condition,
If it be asked, how then, can any
farmer find the same -venue in it as
in that 'which h,as neer been burnt
the answer i, ,the same in kind as
that to.. be made to those wha tate
that on their crop, leached wood ashes
have as good an effect' as do the un-
ieaChed. It is in'both eases that the
cinrh dideotpmanot'need- nweaesx:iit
d the r c),erii
aasenat4(elewmretilnte,,
ether' potash.' If the niteog,en burnt:
'otet could he 'returned, then the inane
-are would of course; te,es weluable ae
before; this cane beedone byeadding
'fish .waete, night soiror .some -chemi-
cal richeingtraitrogen to the m,anure
heap, such. a,s nitrate of geela or sul-
phate of ammonia.
,
FEEDING TURNIPS.
,
At a recent meeting of ene of nee
NIew Brunswick Agricultural As-
socia,tio.ne, the matter of feeding. tur-
nips to deiry cattle came lip fon dis-
.
eu,ssion. During the discussion 'the
,question was asked as to wbat sea-
son is the woret for turnipy flavors,
and the answer ;made was. "Un-
doubtedly the falLe An,other of those
,
present 'said the robes cannot be sefe-
ing turnips at different period
storing.
BEST METHODS OF CULTIVATION,
aen very mule interested in the
idea that deep cultivation of trees is
vexee injuitous to them, writes Mr.
John Chamberlain. All .stirring of the
eeel is in itself a benefit to a crop,
but it is easy to disturb the roots
of a plant or tree if the plow or hoe
goes down deep and so do it harm.
I am sure that cultivators do not
watch eueh things at fdl carefully as
a xule, a,nd so they may be destroying -
a great many small roots without
knowing it. There is a great mis-
apprehension among farmers as to
tlae real thing aecnanplished by culti-
vation, so that in many cases there
would be very little of it done if it
were not nece,seary to kill the weeds.
Practically all of our commonest
weeds are tap rooted and if allowed to
get a g,oud steel must be torn out
deep down to kill therm, On the other
hand, all of our garden vegetables and
field crops are very elaallow rooted,
with the exceptien of moot crops so
that deep c,ulti,vation, is injurious to
them. The obvious way out of this
dilemnaa is to cultivate very shallow
and often. Any weed from seed is
killed by merely breaking it in tWee
if done before it ge.te past it' first
stage of growth, so that shallow
cultivation =ewers every purpose.
Let us plow unplanteed soils deep, but
cultivate the surface only.
SHIP FULL OF TAFFY.
Strangest Cargo -Ever carrIed-aose Elve
Thousand Dollars ror Owners.
- The Charing Cross, from Itoeario;
Argentine Republic, recently landed
at the Londe* doe,k,s with the strang-
est cargo ever carried. She started
out originally with 31,000 bags of
sugar and 8,000 bags of linseed. The
ves.eel, however, was mysteriously
converted into a candy factory when
at sea, and nobody knew anything
at all about it, "e
Her cargo was towed away in four
different holds of the ship, and the
work of unloading commenced on the
day following her arrival. The ship
and dock hands rapidly cleared. the
East, second and fourth holds with -
oat experiencing- any difficulty, but
when they came to unload No. 3 they
found that the sugar there had be-
come o,ne soled block of a dark brown
substance -12,000 bags,- equal to 1,000
tons of sugar, had been converted in -
no taffy, The mese Nva.s as hard .as
maa•ble, and it was found impossible
to unload it in the usual way. - The
hard substance was , firmly , at tac ad
to the eidee fthe vessel and nad,ene
'd'onipas,sed•- everything else' in. its
grip, so nothing could be done but
deg the stuff out. A body of 10 men,
using picks and ,shovels, was employ-
ed in breaking up the taffy berg in
the hold of, the ship, and
AFTER 35 DAYS' LABOR
the men at length .succeeded rie clear-
s iln,g away -the last bit of 'taffy.
n, It had taken eight iini only nine
d days to unload the other three hatch -
e, ways,•oentaining the major balance of I
ly fed before they are sweated . An-
other speaker said turnips were fed
lergely ,.in 'S.cotland, NV,11 th out, hurting,
the sale of the milk, and he expressed
a desire to see experiments tried -for
the pu,rpoee of showing at what
Stages in groWeb they are naost liable.
to cause taint. Still another epeaker,
who dealt with the -question, express-
ed the opinion that the long season in
Old Country gives a better flaeor to
the turnips than is produced here.
That' turnies are ordinarily fed do pro-
duce an injurious effect seemed to be
conceded. One man eaid that a ship-
ment of butter had been sent from
Prince Edward Island to Newfound-
land with a turnipy flavor; and as a
result no more orders cerne from that
source. A second speaker stated he
ClOu1K1 not feed turnips and sell butter
to his customers, and he added that
turnips were not necessary as, four
qua,rt,s ot emote:wheat neiddling,e, would
give better reeul,t s than twohusheJs.
ef turnine, It taiget be worth while
fez the elemerimental Union .tte take
thee matter' up, 'end see it there 15 an.
.sbeanser.j defeerenee in ,the 4esulte frein feed=
STORIES'
OF THE THRONE
ABOUT HEI? LA'rE MAJESTY AND
HER SON KING EDWARD.
The Tsetortlo Era tn figares—interesOng
Itelattotts About *Ifs ltajeoy Atha
Ear,ard--Permmat
The Victeanan Jere has taken its
place in history. It dawned at twenty
minutes pat twa on the morning of
June 20, 1837 and ceased at half -past
six on the evening of January 22, 1901.
It lasted ,23,223 days, 557,386 full hours
33,443,170 minutes, • and 2,000,590,e00
eeclonels. All but 546 1-2 hou-re of it
were in the nineteenth century. It
helps the to realize the importance of
the Vieturian Era in history when we
remember that only thirty- reigns of
the same length would take les ha,ek.
to Julius Caes,ex.
SAID SHE WAS DEAD.
Pour years ago one of the beet
known, papers in Paris came on.t with
the startling story that Qeicen Vic-
toria was dead, and that ehe had been
dead for eighteen years! It was as-
serted that the Queen's death had
been kept secret fon reasons of
State, and that only two or three per -
in the Empire .knew the secret.
Her Majesty, it was said, was per-
sonated on certain occasions by a
woman of humble origin who bore
a' striking resemblance ta her.
The Duke of Norfolk rntust have
been obliged to smile at himself in
his capacity of dictietorr to the ladies
of England on the martte,r of mourn-
ing. He has been, a widawer for ,some
years, and his +sisters whci are his
only feeninine advisors,, belong to a
group of ladies who observe, on relig-
ious principles, an almost quaker -like
plainness or dress.
WHAT THE KING OWNS.
It is understood that the Kin,g will
vacate Malborough House, with
which he has been so long associated,
and that the building will be occupied
by the Heir-Appare,nt. Brailt en the
site ot the ancient pheasantry of St.
James' Palace, from designs by Wren,
for the great Duke of Marlborough,
it was first oecupied in 1710.
" The King is proprietor of the beds
of ail British tidal rivers, suah as the
Thames, the Mersey, the Tyne, and
others. Ile aleo owns that part of the
shere all around the coast line which
lies between high and low water
mark.
WHY' NOT KINGDOMS?
Queen 'Elizabeth was Commonly
epaken of as Queen of Ver,ginea.
Vir-
gidia and Carinina Were king'dotme un-'
de,r the Stuarts.' elaseachusette was
recognized as eik"eister king -clew -a" by
Cromwell's Perliament. Nava Scotia
was also a kingdom, It. is suggested
in the London -Times that Canada,
Australia, and Nem Zealand should be
xalised to the dignity of .Kingdoms.
King Edward VII. is the first Bin,
tish monarch since the days of James
II. who has taken a personal interest
in golf. Hie Majesty *has held the
captaincy of St. Andrews; he has
se-veral times ta,ken part in a game
at Cannes; and he has enjoyed a game
on one or two private links, more par-
mularly an that of the Grand Duke
ichael, in the home counties. Hence
t is that the proposal is already be -
ng made that at a suitable moment
Is Majesty should be asked to associ-
te hiraself with the game in the most
iibsiteinguished honorary capacity pose
NEARLY LOST, HIS LIFE.
A Paris correspondent rela.te,s a
urious episode in the life of King
.ward when Prince of Wales, which
at form
a previdential' circustance,
-meld have resulted in his death. The
rince had engaged a box for the
vening, at the Odeon Theatre,' and
adered dinner for himself and a
lend at the Restaurant looyot, which
situate,d at the back of the theatre.
TWO hours before the play, the
rince received a visit from the.
rince de Pox, who was so no.erof
p,raiseof a enea.y, veleinlieeens t O. be, re-
aereichiedeethat evening at the Opera
,
u
that the Prince of Wales renonced
goingto the, °dean, countermanded.
ths aice: and -dined et his hotel, '
'
At the time when the Prince would
have been eseated at the Iteeteurant
1
tile cargo, the minimum rate at which t
a shipload of sugar can lee discharged m
being 50 LOIN per d,ay per eight men. e
But the comben,ed efforts of 40 men' i
engaged in clearing oat the taffy pit h
in the ship's hold could not turn out a
mere than five 'tons a day. n
The determination of the congeal- s,
ed mass t,o resist the onsleught of the
40 men resulted in the breaking- of ,
about one ton of iron todis of all
spans, including, wedges measuring, ee
three feet long', which got twisted and e
bent like so many limp wax candles; °
pick -axes, whose Toiats got flattened ee;
oat; chains,' the strong iron links of -e-
which snapped in two; great iron 0
bolts that gat splintered like clothes 2
pegs, axed huge crowbarthat got bent ,.'11
like hair pine. le those 12,000 bags of ie
sugar had not got converted by a
mysterious agency into taffy their re- Jen
atonal from th.e ehip would have cost e"
only. $165, but in the present instance
the cost of digging „out-theeharaeneel
..stuff c,ofet $2,350: .
' fillie SUGAR' MARRET '
hnslost 12,000 ba:ge •cif "fly faney,e
. as sugar is . called 'ate the decks, lent
-confectioners' and breweries have le
bought the taffy, giving $35 a ton ti
forit, or less thahalf 'its original
value. Al:than halt
the making of
that -thousand tons of taffy means a
lass. of $3,000 in the. ,aggregate, but
the .shr,p hasomm
hhece famous, for the
Charmn Croes is no,W refereed to as
the "taffy ship."
The cause elf the transformateen
cannot be diseovered. The sugar was
loaded in troPical weather, and those
particular bags which went wrong
mast hay e contained sugar which was
in an abnorrraally moist condition. The
hold in which it was etored is just
eibaf t the engine room, and subject
to great heat. The subsequent
change of temperature from torrid
'lo frigid latitudes, helped -to. solidify
the mass.
The men who assisted in digging
out the taffy had to be careful of
themselves "While ' at work. If they
stayed longer „than. a, minute in, one
'position the surface of the taffy berg
beingeso,glextinnusg they got stuck
there, and cou,ld ',only be taken off
again evith the a,s,eistanee of four or
five men, and then the soles of boots
were frequently left behind.
()Tot, a bomb eXploded under the•
ble which was reserved far him,
_the well-len,own author, Laurent Tail-
hade, Nvho was seated at the next
table was segiously wounded by a'
splinter. and lout the sight" of one eye.
The criminal Was never discovered,
and so fax- as the Prince was concern-
ed the police judged it advisable to
keep silenee.
NOW TI.IE CONTRACTOR IS SILENT.
A certain well-known railway con-
tractor has the reputation of looking
after .theenaMor details of hie great
bueiness with a keen eye. One morn-
ing, while. out ,inspecting the work
-thee was being doiee' on a railway lie
picked, up a stray bolt- lying by the
side of the Inc. Then he walked to
whore 'the men were working on the
road.
Look here, be called out to one of
the workmen, how is it that I find
bolts tering about wasted ? Thave to
pay for theee things, you know.
Why, where did you get that, eir?
/ found it a little way up the line
here.
Oh, did you ? cried the workman, I'm
much .obliged to you, eir, fax I've
been hunting for that bolt all the
forenoon, and wasted a morning's
A. FAIR' TEST.
•
'A gentlernalf was once being taken
over an idiot aeyium. He asked an at-
tendant how they knew when an idiot
was considered to be sufficiently re-
stored to eanity to be disch,arged.
Oh, eaid the attendant, it is easily
managed. We take thenl into a yard
*Where there are several troughs. We
turn on the tape and then give, the ,
idiots e eniceeets,"tp bale . out, the nrya,-. 1
terexit' einpee the troughs. Many of d
thern:lieepS baling aWay while the tap
keeps ,rueninee, elent, them' thet ien't s
idiotee htop§the' tAp.' A 0
vorth of (your money. 'I knew there
vas one missing.
The anguet contractor concluded
;hat he could give that worktnan 00
points, on CCODOMY and left, in pit-
ence.
,
-
For e-ery 194 Germen families who
sept sere -exits ,,10,,years eigo,, only 173
,
A nian elandiege on lite, eea beach
ees 31-2 miles out, t(x eea, if on. a
111f 100 feet high he can ce 13 neleee.e
AN HOUR WITH IIIVOLE SAM
PERSONALAND BUSINESS NMS
ABOUT THE BUSY YANKEE"
Nelzhboorly utereiot tit tits Dotaigi-thie
t,er:iirlu
te,,facTej7en:onlas.eald Mirth cateferred
Marble is said to exist in twenty-
four Staten
t Che (C:!,:yirsdliirtoa
sig officer
tubl e tl ndh
population i ss eoe;
Alaska is 63,592.
fehe abandoned farms in Rhode I
land number 319 according ,to the
Ste te's official catalogue.
The output of coal in Washington
State for 1900 was about two nedlion
two hundred thousand tons.
The retired list of the regular U.
S. army includes 764 officers on half
pay averaging about e3,000 each,
The number a saloonin Ohio last
year was 10,348, an increase of 4770
Over 1899. T.he license receipts wera
$1,864,612. '
The Presbyterian Board of Foreign
Missions has in centeraplation the
foundation of an industrial sehool
the Philippines.
Reports from all over Northern
Wisconsin indicate that this ,i1l be
a phenomenal year in the white pine
lumber industry.
American exports of bicyclee were
more than $77,000,000 in 1898, enlY1
$4,820,000 in 1899, and a teifle over,
3,000,009 in 1900.
A large bronze statue of john
Brown -with drawn sword, holding
a negro child, is to be erected in Lin-
coln Park, Chicego.
The army and navy exPensee of thte
United States since the beginning of,
tbe war with Spain have amounted,
to more than $400,000,000. -
The, population of Philadelphia is'
1,e93,697. The population in 1890 was
1,04.6,961,. the increase in ten yeare
being 246,733, or 23.57 per cent.
It was considered that cotton would/
not groiv north of Texas. During the
year past Oklahotraa's _ cotton crop
brought nearly 66,000,003 to her petne
ple.
Texas has now become the "Empire
State of the South," leaving nearly a'
irtillion more inhabitants than Geor-
gia, which has heretofore had the'
Proud title.
The Canadian French- are said to',
comprise over 23 per cent. of the
population of Rhode Island, and froin
10 to 12 per cent. of the other New.
England States.
. .
' There are signs that the inerni-,
gration of Northern families to thel
South, which has been notably, large
for the past five or six years, will
be 'larger this year.
Piens ,have been adopteeleby the
TenaTeramee Committee of the Gen-
eral Assembly of the Presbyterian
ethiounr.‘
c‘h for a national campaign of
th
education on e - temperance ques-
The largest amount paid for a sin-
,
gle crop of cotton during the recent
boom is said to have been paid to
Joseph II. Smith, a well-known 'plan-
ter of Athens, Ga., who received $100,-
000 for 2000 bales.
The Rev. 'William Kirk Guthrie has
been made associate pastor of the
First Presbyterian church of San
Francisca. Ile has been a protege of
the Rev. Dr. Mackenzie, pastor of the
church. The young preacher is a
grandson orthe faraous Dr. Thomas
Guthrie of Edinburgh.
BUILDING STONE.
.4 tierzatan l'racess by iTtalch It Is ESad
to Order.
An establiebanent for manufacture
ing building stone by a new and pro.
raising proc,e,senhas begun operations
lax Germany, with every pro,spect of
su.cce,ss. The ...process is exceedingly
einaple, only lime and eand being
usetheeenhe proportions, are from 4 to
e,°r ceint.nef lime to 94 to '96 per
cent. a sand. Then-reaeezeues having
been mixed thoroughly and shaped. in-
.
to blocks of the desired size,'the latter
aieet•hrust into.. a boiler that' is sub-
sequently closed hermetically, and
eubjected, to the influence reef steam
at a'pressure of from 120 to 150*
pounds to the each. This Operation
lasts abaut ten hours.' The censolicia.-,
tion of the lime and sand is effect-
ed not- only by mechanical. fence; but -.
by ch,emecal action.. Nor is this
c,homical actin th,e same as that
which occurs in making mortar. The
calciuna of tne lime, unites with the
silica of the sand to form entirely new
atempontids. These are of a flinty
c,haracter, and give the stone a
peculiar ha rclnes,s.
It is claimed that a greater output
of sand -and -lime stone than of brick
is pessible with the same investment
of capital. Dryinig elects are not
necessary. The plant can operate all
the Teter round. The stone is harder
than brick anel th,ere is no waete
through breakage. ,It has a higher
compressive strength. The granulat-
ed cinder from blast furnaces can be
used instead pt sand.
SNAKES AND 13EASTel,
,
During tlie year 1899 no less that"
24,621 human 'beings were killed bir,
the bites of venomous' snakes in India. '
sThe nanahex was larger than in'
seeeral preceding years hecanse, it 19
thought, of the floods, which drovee
the snakes to ehe high lands where
the homesteads are situated. Wild
beastsduringlives,thestigersaMee'cbtl eeine tgr
cd2,666
spensible for 899 , of , the victims,
Nv,olvee for 338, leopards for 327, while
the xemeining 1,402 were: killed by, ,
bears, elephents; leyenees,' jackals,
ar,ececli1ei9 'end ot,leee.,anineals. The
deetrUetierneref ' Cattle aMoiliith(1.:` to
89,2e8 kilind byeendel.'beeete, 'and'1),44e
by :snAk,s. ';'„Ulycse ste.tieteeee fere fieerie
thee government relkart ,b.CindIat