HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times, 1887-3-10, Page 2PROLOGUE
We all know the terrible coOoequanee0 to
whielt a fixed idea, a ruling passion iodulged
without eontrol, may lead; is it not Sur,
*Weed that Eir,eno Aram was drawl t
neurdee by his unregulated appetite for
s tudy ? Therefore, however fantastic' the
f ollowing frightful eonfession may at first
sight appear, ib is nob, in reality, at all so
improbable as it seems. But tale is quee-
ion which the reader must deeide for him-
eelf ; my part is to lay the melancholy and
fearful tale, without comment, before him.
Here it is:
THE M. S.
My hours are numbered; my race ia ruu.
You raven croaking on the housetops, yon
owl that whoops from the blasted elm -
tree out these by the stagnant pool, would
tell me so, even if Ilsea not myself alrea.cly
determined it shouldle thus. What ? You
do not belieyedn iimene ? Ha, ha ! Neither
did I, fktsta: littleWeeks ago. Yet I believe
nowainOwill you when you have read this,
eny confession, which necessity—pshaw I
'Why not say it at once ?—which /ie compels
me to wake before I go. I am mad—true;
yet I am quite capable of fulfilliug his com-
mands ; for mine is, so to speak, a sane
maduess—an orderly and methodical mad-
ness—a madness which makes no interfer-
ence in the ordivary thinge of life. And
therefore you, to whom these pages are ad-
dressed, ma.y eredit every word of thein;
what I tell you is the truth, the whole truth
and nothing but the truth. Of my own
:feelings 1 say nothing ; I confine myself
,strictly to facts. Let what is hidden re-
main hidden. Oh 1 that awful word! that
.aveneine Name. 0 Goy 0 GOD 0 long.
forgotten, fearfully -remembered God I
You will know at once who I am when I
say that my name is John Mayfern, son of
Hon. Senator Mayfern, of the city of Toronto,
the radiating point of the culture and edu-
cation of these confederated Provinces. You
will know why I speak of myself, as of an
only son; for, indeed, ever since that mar-
riage of Robert—ha, ! of poor unfortu-
nate Robert—have I. not been practically so?
That is some twenty years ago now ; but you
will not have forgotten how he, the eldest
son, was disinherited and cast off, and all
left to me. Of course you will not believe
me ! why should you? You will laugh at I
my protestations, if you can laugh on read- ;
ing this. And yet I tell you I was genuinely j
sorry for Robert; for I had always liked '
him and his frank bold ways and I possessed
none of our father's overweening pride. To I
me, Robert's choice always seemed an em-
minently wise one, seeing that his wife was
young and beautiful, though very poor; but t
I could. do nothing, even after our father's
speedy death; for you have heard how jeal-
ously the property was tied up and guarded.
I mention these things as being necessary.
Now hear the story of my life since I came
into possession of the family estate in the
ditV. gtddeattdd
rseste pealion-
ate y evote to science. This for years was a
‘, general devotion. At theuniversity of myna-
s' tis -city, where I studiedmxty fellow -students
envied Inc my faculty to retain and put in
practice the results of my scientific readings.
I loved and studied the sciences at large,
without feeling a marked preference for any
one in particular. But afterward!, with me
as with most others, the circle of study con-
tracted; until my attention was directed,
. at last, wholly to that grznitlestof all among
the natural sciences—ch.enustry. After my
father's death I gave myself up' entirely to
this favored. pursuit, and gradually became
altogether absorbed in it.
Who levee his chosen calling with so de -
N 0 an entire a love as e professed
scientist? Talk of the a,rtist's devotion to
art, e lover's ()don eve ! What are
these to the scientist's devotion to science?
His love is madness ;" for it he forgets all
else—he forgets the world, he forgets him-
self, he forgets his soul, he forgets his God.
And so it was with me—all the more easily
that I had nothing to hold me back from
this fearful madness. My religious educa-
tion had been of the peorest and ve,guest-
0 curse of curses I. Inever loved, never felt
the beauty and the goodness of woman. I
had. no kindred, Robert, my only surviving
relative, having disappeared, no one knew
whither And And so my disease—yes! I know
it now—iny damnable and hellish disease
grew upon me, and I prospered in it, and
in desolation. Trues, my, conscience did
prick me sometimes, at first, about rny sel-
iish mode of life. True, the voice of God
would for a time cry aloud in my heart with.
awful warning. But I stilled both, until a
the one died, and I ceased to believe in or
regard the other, and the world, to me, was
conscieneeless and Godless. A materialist,
an agnostic—that was what I proudly called
myself, I was one of those wise practical
men, who believe in what they are and
touch—and in nothing more. God? Where
NITBS he? A hereafter ? Prove it I But
what, then, are your ideas of right There
is no wrong ! Such was the proud position
I took; unlike those degenerate soi-disant
philosophers who first—ha, he, !---t,ell you
• there is no God, and with the same breath
begin a sermon on morality. I had one
merit tit lea.st—and only one : I was con-
seitent ! But let me thne presses.
I made many woorletaal discoveries; I
made great advances in my chosen science
• but I shared nothing with the poblic—I kept t
• all for myself. I was one of your misers in
knowledge, who -cannot bear to part with a
fractioti of what he has acquired., and who, 11
withal, counts himself the only true Ishii, ;`
oeopher —the ouly real lover of 'wisdom for
wisdom's sake. Ancl so the world knew no-
• thing of me, and I cared nothing for the
world. °
I think it Was the failing of my faleanS
• Whi011 first suggested the accursed
• Time, the property was tied. up; but 1 anta
• cipated its restaircea by loans, &C., Until I
• became seriously erriberraseed. For 'my Ma.
periments Were Often of a most tostly nature,
and my expenditnre, frequently, beyond my
• income ; hist as so passionately loved
science, And oared nothing tor reoneer in its
aola I spent freely until had little more to
• spend. Then t,he idea streak me ; its incep
• tiOri Aided by the nature of Ilbth.e experiments
• on Whielt I had. beeo lately engaged. • Stici-
• denly I saw open beim% aapoeeible way
by Which I might. escape all cliffietiltiea, and
• be able to poreue niy one chosen calling, ab
eolutely without check, to ike end. of iny
essesta sly west Love:a—It hint be remembered
that these are the worai Of a semoonfessed madnute
eayeelf into a atranger'e dwelling. Bet ne
eeeeity knoWS LQiaw ; and, theagh• traVei.
; tear 111Wcwkoietie,:tmp!rieneei I Ilave never ()been'
eleetrie cliepl
omeut
wayes,pnatitatliotayufoscratrlee
erave ag°' May
g At ? 1 have lot
iny
would fait asunder at a certain time, n I broke out anew with fearfel violence ;
that as a n •••enuous e
retriQvQ i .n this
'inky blacititeae,"
;313118.711tdhedie; ;.314sa,bk°;:at(11:81.1Ilat`t'ylleea:'ite's`tfv:°1'euuleIeclici,°vut°11:teb'entiinituu.)'d°:°b;
a higher evolution c>f wetter whose partie es
( while the 'dreary hell was all filled and
pass on into other forms. The idea was riot illumined with the awful Ares of heeven,
pleaaiug—of course IAA annihilation cannot
be a pkasaga.. Bat ggeu there was no help for A.nd, lo from the 9,Ye ,of the etranger fix -
to o • - otit ttrougU
; aod It was only tO enjoy while one could, t, hoe° dark glasees an answering flaoh,
You will know now what my idea was; more vivid than the lightning itself. I
sulliee it jnst 310W to say that its acconam
in d med as I observed • bub the stranger
plislaneot depended entirely on my possible stoodiafl unmoved, and ttrgea sgeaaa was
sesames In makutg a certain chennoal dis- '
. Irestored tried to reassure my evident alarm.
e e 3 t o yeses mote, ann eve'.
ioueasmg em-bure,semeas, I worked niggt Bb this he attributed to the violence of the
and day at my self-appointed task; ' atOYM ; a 'Mistake whiols led me, first, , to
doubly hard, as haarthg a double workedbiesii44._,, 'question hie' supernatural character, though
"v"' not his errand to me. Somewhat relieved
to labor—ooe the indirect pecuniary inter-
est ; tho other—and,'direetly, by far the I ta9•ISbuein"aenvebtelil:e!lilwteaisnoyisTleirfi,nIlleedi)rm°8yengeteloos tf
strouger—the scientific interest of the end.
ie pest ; for this latter was very ,tre-' recently vacated.
s itt in here to this 'same room, whieh I had so
At the end of two years I had sold ouse i
and lands, and retired to this blasted and ' Here the stranger speedily made himself
at home ; and • that with an easy good -
accursed dveelliug-plome, as being at
People said their waaeouteteimee`oa t4e' °Id ' dom.'
,ccile;°.• humour, an open' frankness of manner, whieh
precluded any possible offenee at his fref:-
the quietest and elievest L„could flad.
house, and no one evOillta, liaree tileateS, but He took off his overcoat, and hung it
this only pleased me, asJitanade. the rent a , up a3alust the window, so as to exclude the
dreary aspect of the eyeless night staring
mere nominel one, malted:19' my I'Stin°ed. blankly in upon us ; he drew the lounge
oireumstameeta I wee Moor -t-Ohi :s° P.m."— Suto a ccanforta,ble position, and flung him -
and unable any longer to prime
researches ; and yet, one More '°811);tilf bueildolflorVeettgItg, ii 71111111Addin).1110keolko-
plied in the chain of reasoninge't one t
forward in the path of knowledge/ el':ial
ceuld grasp such taches as mortal man, I Inca, with an apology for his boldness, if I
oflO him ;' and, in fine he ended by asking
yet called Lis awn. But—and I eqs0 ‘ .had nothing to drink. in the house, To tIsis
my heart while I thought it ; eursOcItbiaal- I replied,• abstrauteclly, that I had not, dn.
ly and terribly; forgetting that 1.00iWed less he'might care to test the purity and
which I
not in that which I cursed. byeetliat 'link , strengbla Of emne absolute alcohol,
could never be forged, that step eonIcl,never, kept yiatif me for scientifie purposes. IA no
be taken; for what I needed week:utterly .waseataken abeck, he 'replied cheerily that
and hopelessly beyond my reachaayathough nothing could be bettor ; that elcoliol was
I had b k II y q Alm soul of all good drink—the epirit of
„ , . -'• wpm, as it had been finely and appropriate -
ted , .
It is now exactly fourteen clays ago since: 3i,, naltned ; and that he would thank me
I sat alone, at dead 'of uight, , here. in this s ncerely if I would. produce of my store,
very room, brooding darkly over My misfor- , pro vide(' it were not too numb trouble.
" I am ree great drinker," be said ; ".but
tunes. It WAS a dull, heavy, starless nieht,• indced • is night . •
. a q i
and a storm seemed to 143silently gathering.
Through the ourtainlest window I Soinething to keep11im in heart. A friendly
see not a gleam anywhere along the hco(11114.:SI
rlwaSasysor two will do us no harm • I have
been an upholder of modem:to enjoy -
blackness without, save where 'alone the • • h,
low horizon, ran a belt of livid and preter- ,
natural light, which was that ' of neither 1 (CONCIXDED NEXT WEEK.)
moon nor stars. Within, the cliin fla,me of
my solitary candle rose, at times, erect into DANGEROUS PLAOES IN PARIS.
the breathless air; then wavered and shook -- .
with a ghostly swaying, as a low and mourn- The cellars Where 'aitieves and Murderers
ing wind came up and onward from the sky- Resort.
line, swelled groaning around the house for ;
a moment, and then passed on into the eye- . On leaving the Chat Noir the other night
someone proposed that we should visit the
less darkness. And then, as now, I remem- cellars near the Central markets, writes a
ber, the owl hooted, and the raven croaked,
Paris ,corresponclent. In the Faubourg du
from blasted elm -tree and housetops.
Temple, at La Chapelle, and in the neigh.
Was it that the lonely desolation of the
borhood of' the Place Maubert these cellars
place and. hour increastd the inward desola- or vaults below grog shops are famous as
tion to frenzy? Or did indeed that person -
the resert of thieves and bad characters.
al devil in whom I now so awfollar believe— They are among e sights o criminal Paris
and whom for years I had seSamcl, in my
h the stranger rarely visits, however
•
bliudnesCunknowinglY--thentaenter in. and ,whi9
much his curiosity may have been awakened
take coni-Aelete possession ofesoy heart, to by the descriptions given by Eugene Sue m
prompt rhe to my final and 'irrevocable de-
struction ? However it inays laity,e'..been, , thls "Mysteries of Paris." So we made up
whatever the cause, I.° ,t,Ii45-1, . mt 11. the .1
e mornin we evil which I had mats, gt ,$3,3,g and. obstiu-
4' * 17 ti a party o three, an e ween a
f th d. b t 1 and 2 in
arrived Central
ately in ray soul, fotind 'Mita' and vent for markets. lYire left them to their dreams,
itself in that aascuied hour. What if and descended by a narrow staircase
I was an agnostic? Platt: if I did believe ' INTO A SERIES OF VAULTS,
in nothing but avhat . T lib. sr maul felt? tthe white -washed ceilings of which were
i ary melieve spgerecl.wth 4rabescluoa-und.namen weilaillom
4ittilsaelfiry*L:11.1d..- uanableviiers
iambilttergr as in black with the smoke of ' a candle. In
another man. '7.1 asplien-iy a 'How could 1 one part of thekenatultsm, 'gtotip ofanen were
blasplunne against ',Velma was not? 'Still; drinking and singing miteochee of church
there might bk k Ohd.: So mugh the bet- hymns. .
ter ; in that case, He would hear my blas- : This did not come up to our expectations
phemy and tremble; the relief, the devilish so we went to "La Jenne France," a famous
joy, would be to me all the greater. You cellar, where a man had been assassinated
shrink, you tremble at my fearful words. only a few nights before. We passed
Ay ! they are fearful 1 yet be content' through a gate, down one flight of narrow
Veri y have had my consolation. And stairs, then stooping low we passed under a
now, it is God's turn; and I have not even narrow archway, reserved. in the founda-
the relief of thinking that He deals unjust- tion.e of the house, then down another flight
ly by me. It is I, not He, who have d.arrin. of stairs, then through another archway,
ed myself. Say so to the fools who talk of along a tortuous passage, and so to a tunnel
the injustice of eternal torment. about seven feet high, five feet broad, and
That night I cursed fearfully—I bias, twenty feet long. The vault of the roof was
phemed most terribly. The wonder is that. covered with green telliswork ; there were
He did not strike me dead then and there benches and rush stools to sit upon; wooden
for I gave myself up wholly to the devil;'tables bearing the mark of strife; and, to
I spoke all he prompted ; and I ended by light us, two, gas -jets. We were here at
calling on him to appear and help me, if in- the very end of the mouse -trap, and we now
deed, he dd. haply• t, understand why the police never eater
have it. The last word had hut just left these " ca,veauk"--there is no possibility of
my lips, when the deeps of night were rent a fair fight. When we entered the "caveau"
asunder; far and fiery yawned a livid hell there was nobody there, but after we. had
amid the blackness ; the thunder bellowed ordered some wine two musicians came in.
ike a miltiou fiends roaring exultation from The one was a miserably pale fellow,
their infernal abyss ; and. the lightning of
heaven, descending smote my evil dwell-
ing, tend shook it -from roof to basement.
Then the ram came down like another del-
uge.
Amid. the lull which succeeded, and whilst
I stood entrameed and confounded by that
dread aaswer to my summons—for as
such I knew it from the first—I was sudden-
ly startled back to conscious being by a
and, long knocking at the door. My flesh
rept, my hair rose bristling on nay head, a
old shudder convulsed my whole being and
my soul swooned within me; for I felt that
this could be none but one—and that, he
whom I had called on. It was now, how-
ever, too late to repent—I neither could nor
-would do so : the door must and should be
opened to him who knocketh. Quelling,
then, my shuddering limbs, and gulping
down, BO to speak, the heart which throb-
bed in my throat, and all but stifled me, I
seized the candle, and staggered from the
room. I vvould have given millions at that
moment for the presence of the meanest
human being beside me; but I had not
even a servant in the house : I must face
the ordeal alone.,
HALF STARVED AND HALF BLIND,
with a thin blonde mustache. He sang and
accompanied himself by striking a few
chords on a guitar. The other was a short
bony man, with a black beard, drunken
blue eyes, round shoulders, and an appear-
ance of humility, as if he were constantly
afraid of receiving kicks. He sang in turn
strumming on a single brass chord. Tbe
tip given by some watcher soon brought
four other visitors—a burly ruffian, who
wore a hage red fez rising eighteen inches
above his crown, a young man wearing a
thin cotton blouse, and two others dressed
in cast-off clothes of fashionable cut, but
without a vestige of linen. The humble
musician sang, above all things, an air from
"Mignon," keeping his eyes fixed on the
ground as he sang, and pointing to his heart
with an awkward gesture whenever the
word "heart" occurred in the romance.
Suddenly, one after another half a dozen
a,theletic, square -shouldered men, varying
in age from 17 to 25, crept bhrough the nar-
row archway, passed rapidly in without
even glancing at our table, and Messed them-
selves at the end of the vault, lolling on the
benches, smoking cigarettes, and drinking
With trembling bands, and quivering at our expenae, for we thought it only.
ips, I undid the bolt, turned the key in the polite to offer these gentlemen a glass of
oak, and, stepping baeltward, threw the wine, the more so as the musicians were
'oar open. A smothered shriek rose to my playing fer our amusemeut. After "Mig-
ips, and died there voiceless, as he stepped non" the raffian with the ted fez Baked for
uiclay in, and slammed the door to behind the guitar, took a tuning fork out of his
im. Then, turning, he faced me. Was it t, d 't with la' , and tuncd
ndeed he? If so, I did not, in my first the instrument properly. Then the ruffian
wild gla,nce, perceive anything oharacteris- in the cotton blouse rime and with fine voice,
ic about hirn. A rather lowmized, broad perfect sentiment, and correct gesture, sang
houldered, strongly -built man alert and other airs from " Mignon," and also . from I
vigorous, with bus m bin& hair, beard and " Cern-tem" All t,he ruilisam listened in per-
whiekete, and a swarthy, sale -burned face feat silence to the singer, who was real
by no means unpletming sa its aspect --such artist, ana two women tvho had joined the
was the appearance of hint who stood be, band melted into tears at the end, one �f
fore pie. He wag dressed, comfortably, them exclaiming "Ah, music When I
though rather outlandishly, and FiRd A gen- hear 'Mignon' I can't help it. cry like
61'9,181k at Once tontraelictotily roagit-attd- calf," The scene appeared to be idyllic
ready and gentletticailike aboot him. Aad, imam- than
in fine and most oricl ' nitiomean-ait Alen Mumma
Pair of' large and intoned)" dark bttle Vac' However, it appeared, atter all that we
teedes, Yet never for a momelit donhted ighb have been m 'better cortmemy • for at
that 1'1118 Wt48 the 01 erne' one m Person, ora a sign from the wester I slipped out of the
least an einissarYsbnt him; even tried to vault, "You bad Isetter give the word to
shape the gneetion with my bloodless lips, yege aromas te mime els stairs, bkia
but eotficl. not. ,• alinoet au core:plot, and it is the very band
The new -corner stitvoyecl me in silence, that aseaatinate.d ft, Map here lag week\ rf
and apparently with goine surprise duly their chief happent to eomo in you might
disordered aspect, for some moments Then, get in trouble:" We. did, tot,. wait to be
speaking in a rich, cheery, mellow voice, he warned but Wished the gentlemen
costed 1110 f d g, d d a th ,` ,
"Exeuse me, sha" he said, for the readia without Undue preeipitation, and yet with a
"th which r have 'Ventured to thrust kind Of ititernarsensation of rapiditY.
,
(34e Type Of the Medea DIVeep
Sr G. mows,
a'A 940—'pon my• belles
—ho I hot he I
Roalia. Ina K004 foir, excuse me ; you're quixotte,
don't yo tt know.
PORIOaeta• ha,l ha well, thet's od'
A :poultiee rightly used, la a eovereign
remedy for rnanY IJls, espeoially loeal inflam.
matiofiaand ,awellings, Ifere aae a few of
their appropriate uses ;—
Always po 0409 a wiles soon, as it,S 81181
aeteiris deteeted. Change peultice ofte
enough to keep hot until the boil is soften
ed. Then have the boil (riled, and con
anise the poulticing., elianginglese frecloesit
ly unless discharge ss free.
Ponitice 8 felon hi the same way, but d
not watt for the swelling to soften. Open
Row am S my brother's keeper? What is laeams to
1..1 mem ctpeeoliellesuery:ii, my inane mill:one mock his bitter
,- Though nm," riotous abundance" Aggravate Ids deep
' Oen 1 help it? Who begat hint? Phi 1 niaka him 7
' Reed 1 care,
° Xen successful; he's a failure ; that's the way the
world p;oes,
. alight here been the other way with Lewes and me
—who knows?
MB 80011 as coavinced of its charecter. Wait
lug often ceases death of bone.
Apply apoultice to any angry looking
the patient. A jotrat swolleo and painfu full fed •
hard swelling, if grateful to the feelings ci
, Re in robes and I in tatters • half starved I and he
All his 01111(114n plump and rosy; mina in tears for
froni a sprein, is often wonderfully relieved
by a poultice changed every hour or two.
In pneumonia, and pleurisy, after the
aeute onset of the disease has passed, noth
ing gives the patient more relief than A
hot poultice changed often.
Other deep seated iuflaanmations, as in
flamtnation of the liver, chrome gastritis,
and inflammation of the bladder and othei
pelvic orgaus, aro often relieved by poul-
tices thoroughly applied.
In some cases of chronic dyspepsia of long
standing, relief is most speedily obtained by
the use of poultices applied over the stomach
almost continuously for several days or
weeks in succession.
The efficacy of the poultice is due to its
warmth, moisture, and emollient proper-
ties. There is little special virtue in the
particular article used, Bread, linseed, and
slippery elm, are the most useful, in the ma•
jority of ceses.
It Is seldom necessery to apply the me -
thrall of the poultice, directly to the affect-
ed part. It is much cleaner and more con-
venient to put the poaltice in a bag of thin
muslin or cheese -cloth.
Poultices should never be applied to the
eye.
11110 01 UtQiiCl.
Homeless I and helpless, hopeless, living, dying in
despair
All the world to him an Rden, ever ()hanging ever
fair, -
Red the luck been so against me—fate so pitiless and
rim—
'He'd have let nie grin and bear it 'wet I could; so
let him.
•
There's the poorhouse ; let him enter. No, I would
not see him die,
Beggars dying on the sidewalk would destroy life's
harmony.
How to Oure a Cough.
That of all, stop coughing. Three-
fourths of the coughing is from sheer force
of habit. There are thousands of people
who spend an hour every morning of their
lives in unnecessary coughing. A little ir-
ritation is felt in the throat. A cough is set
up, and habit keeps it going until the irri-
tation provoked by the cough, produces a
really serious disease. Coughs are some-
times contagious. Some old lady who has
a pet cough which she has nursed for twen-
ty years or more, sets the ball rolling in
church just when the minister begins to
read the hymn. Another auditor takes up
the tune, auother and another from all
quarters of the house, until they fairly
make the arches ring with chin music. The
minister continually raises his voice in his
effort to drown the noise, but he is no match
for a hundred people, hemming and hawk-
ing and interjecting chest coughs and throat
coughs, and chin coughs, and every variety
of this sort of vocal exercise ; for the high-
er he raises his voice, the louder grows the
din. Bye and bye, he gives up the contest
in sheer despair and stops reading. Now
obeerve what a change,—a silence like,the
" stilly night " begins as soon as the lest
cougher has time to get breath and clear his
throat. No sooner does the speaker open
his mouth again, than the coughers take up
their dismal refrain. Is not this fact as
good evidence as one needs, that coughing
is an act under control of the will in a very
llrge number of cases, and that, IN° eitpf
clicatron 112 the "m mind -care fs op rofilt-
ate ?. The writer has cure,denre chronic
'aoughs by, simply. ordering lh sn stopped.
Try it. a
A Winter Tonic.
People who shut themselves up in a stove
or furnace -heated houses during cold weather
depriving themselves of the delicious, crisp
winter aim, with its dense, pure, life-giving
oxygen, are preparing themselves for a not
mysterious "dispensation of Providence"
in the spring in the form of a spring fever,
or "biliousness," or some other well deserv-
ed punishment for their cowardly fear of
one of nature's most efficient tonics.
Nothing is more really invigorating than
a walk in a keen frosty atmosphere How
the cold air makes the nose and the cheeks
tingle ! How sharply the air cuts as it is
drawn into the lungs in panting breaths
and how the cheeks glow, and the eyes
sparkle! and with what increased energy
does the mind apply itself to its tasks!
and how the clouds clear away from the
mental horizon, under the exhilameting in-
fluence of pure, cold air, when -one returns to
Ins study or his desk after a half hour's
vigorous tramp through the snow of a win-
ter's morning with the temperature away
down below nothing!
Hardening Against Colds.
According to Dr. Brown Sequard's ex-
periments, colds generally result from ex-
posure of the soles of the feet or tlie back of
the neck, which are the most sensitive parts
of the body. He advises as a preventative
that the feet and neck be hardened by ex-
posure to pold. The feet are daily placed in
, cold water, for a few minutes, and cold air
, is blown upon the back of the neck with a
bellows. The same effect may be obtained
in the old fashioned way of bathing the
Ineck with cold water every morning, on ris-
ing. •
Wholly inaponeahle in norms casee, and but little
othereoss , it- 12 for the reeXier tri deterthitte What truth
they may contain. -4614
Fainting.
If von feel faint, get into a horizontal po-
sition as soon as possible. If possible, get
the head lower than the rest of the body.
Apply hot water, if it eau be at once ob-
tained, to the top and back of the head.
Hot water is mut& to be -Preferred to cold.
If the fainting be prolonged, apply the hot
water over the heart as well, by means of a
fomentation.
If faintbess occurs while taking a hot
bail, immerse the head in. the water for a
few minutesinstead of getting out of the
bath, as ie usually directed'. The latter
method geuerally sends one headlong to the
floor.
Artificial Dizestion'
T
has created a BOW and. 1Pred igested f°c;c1t1"
he inoclern craze for
tnmense industry.
Sem ee cf ms re corn eting with each
other lit the pro netioa o novelties hi the
lineof digested foods: By the delusive de-
seriptions of" the rneritg of these /stemma,-
'Hops many jieoplei are deeivecl into the bee
lief that ths drgestive process to which
these foods are subjected, is a real substitttie
fOF idiertatilied proeess of cligeetion within
thobbely,', That this is not acne was shottaa
b* tbe eXpetinie ta of S in. Bobsrbs.
This binirldnt playeiologiet made ail experi-
mtet t With' tvao healthy ltietehs. One he
fed by digeeted food, the ogles upon. milk.
•The,firet named soot: fell behind the otho
in weight, shewing the stmeriority of food
natural state 8Sau ,ditary di '
p 91 C
0 781000 bisysles tid t -I; •
been s6i.a m the United States during the
past ten, years.
Shall I not wear gorgeous clothing, eat the food my
soul adores,
Just because luck's so against him that the dogs can
lick his sores?
Though his starving children shiver, pinched and
blue with bitter cold,
Why not mine lu fure close mantled, costing all their
weight in gold?
Though they herd in Lathy hovels, pestilentially
vile,
May not my palatial dwelling o'er their squalor proud-
ly smile?
Don't I pay him daily wages when rye work for him
to do ?
Screw him down to bottom figures 1 Why, of course,
that's business, too.
Ain't it his affair, not mine ; his at least as much as
min e ?
Cheap as may be will I get him, thoUgh he fast the
while I dine.
Each man for himself the word is ; climb and push
your neighbor down.
Anvil you must be, or hammer, so the world
smile or frown.
"Live and let live," once a motto, will not do these
modern days.
Now it 'Choke your rivals off, and on their ruins
fortunes raise'
Competition 1 Competition ! That's the law that
governs trade,
Cheaper you can buy your labor more's the money to
be made.
That's the only thing worth doin' ; money 'as what
marks the man.
Gospel good enough for me that; give me better one
who can.
Noney 1 Money I Nothin' like it ; have all that I
can get,
Get it any how I can and hunger for more money
yet.
No, not any how I can—not exactly; there's the
law;
Stupid jackal who, when hunting, with the trapper,
leaves a paw.
Pshaw 1 you philanthropic fadists 1 how you stir my
very gall 1
'Tis a law of nature forces him and such like to the
wall.
In the "struggle for existence," "might makes
right" 's the proper view,
That's the law of evolution ; I'm Darwinian through
and through.
Winter, the King of Fair Canada's Year.
BY IYORALArOBB
I
To—" Ye Warwiekehia lads uide
xit.
Canadian brave lads and lair ]arses
Gaily welcome each season that passes;
They're proud of the charms of their picturesque land
Where nature has lavished With bountiful hand;
But proudest of all,
Spring, Summer or Fall,
Are they of the drear
Winter, the Eing of fair Canada's year.
When snowflakes Bayer the bare maple trees,
Happy voices float on the icy breeze
As merrily down the steep toboggan slide
Many stalwart lads and pretty maidens glide;
• For foremost of all,
Spring, Summer, or Fall,
Stands winter the drear,
• Winter, the King of fair Canada's year.
Nay,i who will deny that winter is Ring?
' List to the sleigh -bells that merrily ring
' As they sweetly ankle Miro' the frosty air
Seems:each merry tinkle to firmly declare
That foremost of all,
Spring, Summer or Fall,
Stands winter the drear,
Winter thelfing of fair Canada's year.
Tile Sunny Side.
True it is that cloud and mist
Blot the clear bine weather;
True that lips that once have kissed
Come no more together.
True that I have lived alone
With my pale dejeotions
True that I have learned to moan
Oyer crushed. affections.
True I loved with right good will,
Mourned my hopos departed,
Dreamed my golden dream, and still
Am not quite brokon-hearthd.
Evil comes and evil goes,
But it moves me never,
For the good—the good it grows,
Buds and blotsoma ever.
What has been can be again,
Love to love returning,
Sunshine always follows rain !
Bright my hopes keep burning.
Vain regret to mourn the past
Be hopeful, never falter.
To -day your lot 'raid sorrow oast,
To -morrow things may alter.
The sunny side of life should be
Our first coneideration,
And if it le, our lot shall he
Content's continuation.
An Earthly Heaven.
BY JACINTA •TAQES.
Love is more boundlesS than the sea or sky,
Deeper than depths of ocean or air ;
Freer thrill all the wings of birde which sy.
Than moOn or stars 1001e beautiful and fair,
Love sweetens labor. At the close of day
. The weary ploughman to his home retires,
The laughing children meet him On the way,
And cheery glow their humble hearthStone fires.
Cares come, and sorrows with their blighting breath H
Sickness and famine spread their fearfull pall; •g
Strong men bear down before the reaper Death,
mid one by one home's cherished idols fall.
70014111101T 114170, ,
There aim nobt 40 telephenea 14 nfig /4
NOB., .
Calgary has narrowly escaped a coal
famine.
Alexanuer Cambia ConimissionO of
Vatents at Ottawa, .is (lea
For driving 'without bells three persous
have been tined $O and oasts each at Paris.
Twelve hundred tons of coal have been
mined at Edmonton during' the year past.
Applioation to have Windser erected into
it city will be made at the approaching ses-
sion of the Legislature.
Joseph Matayes, merried man with a
family, was instantly killed en the Pettesme-
eva a few days ago by it tree falling upon
XL Samuel Watson, of Amherst Isla,nd,
fell from a load of bay oue day last week,
struck on the back of Ids neck, aod wee in
stantly killed,
the Strike of the Pietou miners soon' ends.
A coal famine throatene Ilalifax,rees
The oottou factory eloaed down lesf! week
for want of fuel.
A man iu Seymour Township has desert-
ed a wife and sixteen children and eloped
with it woman who left behind her a hus-
band and four children.
Maud Williams a forty-year•old colored
woman, was Lound in a filthy room at Hal-
ifax recently, destitute of furniture, fuel or
clothing, frozen to death.
Antelope are gettiug pretty numerous in
the river bottoms in the vicinity of Leith.
bridge, N.W.T., and herds of 30 to 40 may
be seen ahnost any dav.
11 18 reported that 65 deaths from men,
sits have occurred among a band of Indians
of 25 lodges living at the Marshy Lake, 100
nines north of Lea Bicho.
An Indian woman at Fort Rupert, B,
was much disappointed last week when she
found she could. not prosecute her husband
for pawning the blankets.
The bakers of Vancouver, B. C.ala,ve ad-
vanced the price of bread to ten cents per
loaf or three loaves for twenty-five cents,
and the loaves are to be pounds in weight.
At Calgary recently a man had his feet
badly frozen through two .pairs of socks, a
pair of moccasins and a pair of overshoes,
and it is believed, amputation will be ne-
cessary. The tightness of the moccasins in.
terferecl with the circulation of the blood.
Hence the freezing.
A man took a keg of whiskey to au Indian
camp at False Creek, 13. C., in the hope of
being able to dispose of it. The Indians
did not feel compliineutecl by the visit, how-
ever, and they took the man and forced hiin
to sit upon the keg for three days and three
nights. Then the end of the keg was
knocked ant and the liquor spilt.
John Albertson, 105 years of age, died at
Norton, Kings County, NS., a short time
ago He was an old British soldier, who
was present at the battle of the Nile and
Trafalenr, and subsequently at the battle
of IYaterloo and other memorable engage-
ments. He was probably theelainsurvivor
of the battle of the Nile, fough 90 years
ago.
A Cornwall constable made an importaiat
discovery recently. For some time past he •
has been on the track of smugglers of coal
oil, and during his tour he made up his
mind. to follow a certain sleigh track which
led him to a barn in the. old Gordon French
property, abopt one, rdilenorth ,of Maple
Grove. Ilere'he forand concealed '26 barrels
of American coal oil, which he had. conveyed
at once to Cornwall.
A sad accident occurred at cne of the
Emery Lumbering Company's Amps, four
miles from Walmapeta a 'feesIklays ago,
causing- the death of Kenan,
teamster. He had got on part of the load.
and was going to another roll way to finish
his load, when the binder got lose and
swinging round it struck him back of the
neck, throwing him in front of the sleigh
which passed over him, killing him instant-
ly. He came from the village of Carp,
where he has a brother. He was a single
man.
British India.
The territories of the Indian Government
comprise an area of 853,00) square iniles,
with a population of 184,000,000. Besides,
they hold in trust for native Governments,
and rule as British territory, two States—
Mysore and Berar—which contain an
additional area of 47,000 square miles and
a population of about 7,000,000. In a,ddi-
tion, indirect control is exercised over a
large number of native states, in some in-
stances through the immediate superinten-
dence of the Government of India in others
by that of the local Government' to which
they are contiguous. The area thus super-,
intended is about 575,000 square miles, with
a population estimated at 49,000,000. Of
-these the Govermrient of India has under
it inamediate superintendence states with
an aggregate population of 291500,000; the
states superintended by the Punjab Goy-
ern:nent have a population of 5,500,000;
those attached to Bembay and Madras
7,750,000 respectively. , Bengal superin•
tends native states with populations aggre-
gating 2,500,000.
Canadian Pacific Railway. Statistics.
The first sod was turned by the company
on the 2nd May, 1881. The last spike was
driven November 7th, 1885. Time occupied
in building the road, four years six months;
or on an average rate per day of 2.6 miles.
Total length of main line between Quebec.
and Vancouver, 3,065 miles. • Eastern "vi-
sion, 2,114 miles; Western division 1,845
miles; Pacific division, 4.47 rid a total
mileage, 4,306. Comparative d.stances c
Canadian Pacific railway, Montreal to Van-
couver, 2,906 miles ; Canadian PaCifie rail-
2N,1e6w2 Yin°111e1 ;thNoVratluieci°•111.1;areitfivearaBill'woitcyk,
eve York to Portland, Ore., and shortest
-onnections, 3,235 nines ; Union and Cen-
tral Pacific railway, New York to San Fran-
cisco h te cannecbions, 3,271milss.
The Canadian Pacific tailvvay is thus the
shortest line between, ocean and, ocean by
365 miles.
)3ut love sustains the heart and strengthens to ender° ;
Bends o'er the couch 61 grief with words of cheer,
Soothes with its tone the pain it cohnot cure,
Awl on its beenst the dying feel no fear,
It dignities tile lowly heart and softens pride ;
pringa comfort to the soul by sorrow riven.
W1h love a dadydwelipr at the fireside,
our cottage walls bind in an earthly heaven,
Time Present.
nay after day our open is shortened and
our powers are lessened ' • but those who de -
site to o • od have aimeye bfine wherin
to effect it, and love and virtue do not per.
ish. Example and the good we do in life
aro our tritest immortality. Per one life
that we have redeemed by our own, one Im-
petus that eVe have giveri to the ball of pre-
gteea, we may well give amats of personal
sorrow. and no time is lost that (shone a
brtws fotiob te pain ihah bars &8appoiitt
ment with equatunity, or that does ono
hair's.breadth of aetual geed,
He Al—ways, Lost His Load.
N
1.,igwilr,taa?geoit
g”
,gis.h 15tui:t,sehirf:r y
dTiomu
Dolan todtive one of the wagente" •
Exptess MS.11a.ger,—",YOS. Isn't he all
to find:Ont. Where -he was 'employed he-
' fore he was all the tune losing his load.,”-
• Exprese Manager—" Why', came well
recommended. 'What did heliatil '
• Waggish Clerk—" He drove a oprinkling
"Well, go9dby, old friend, yOU will never
d8118 again"1 t 1 novor7°"A
then, Gustavus, would you 'mind lending
me another sovereign 7"