The Wingham Times, 1885-09-25, Page 7HEALTH,
The Dangers of Narcotics.
The London Lancet has delivered certai
admonitions with regard to the prevaleu
uee of narcotic poisons for excitability an
sleeplessness, in such energetic and little
terms as these :
" The death of a medical man—Dc. Joh
Middleton, late Surgeon -Major in the 2ad
Life Guards, but at the time et his decease
practitioner at Stooktou—will again draw
attention tp the misohevious and, as we be
liove, wholly indefensible practice of giving
and taking such depreesiig narcotics as
chloral and bromide of potassium as a rem-
edy for sleeplessness. Sleeplessness is al-
ways wakefulness in one or more of its
multitudinous forms, and the reoource to
narootio poisons for its relief is utterly un-
scientific" and deplorable from atherapeutic-
al point of view. It is as clumsy in theory
—in so far as it can be said to have a theory
—as knocking a man down because ho needs
rest. What is it that prevents the natural
and phyaiologioal rest of the body atrhyth-
mical periods ? The brain is as truly a part
of the body as the stomach, and it is as
much a fault of the organs of the mind to
prevent sleep by mental worry or wakeful-
ness as it is a fault of the stomach to render
sleep impossible by bad digestion. No in-
telligent practitioner dreams of narcotizing
the nerves of the gastric organs to promote
sleep; Why in the name of common sense
should any medical man for au instant think
t legitimate to narcotize the brain because
it exhibits some disturbing irregularity in
its functions ?
" Sleep is not a special prerogative of the
brain. Every organ sleeps, and general
sleep is the aggregate of many sleeps. It
ie time to protest against this clumsy proce-
dure. If wo do so warmly, it is because we
feel that the mistake is of common making.
It is se match easier to write a prescription
or make up a bottle of medicine or a box of
pills with one of the rank poisons that mim-
ic sleep, and as they do so deprave cerebral
and nerve tissue, than it would be to search
out the real and active rause of wakefulness.
When will the progress of profeseional en-
lightenment reach that point at whioh all
those cloaks for ignorance that depend so
much for their significance on the negative
in are ostracized from our nomenclature ?
Dr. Clifford Allbutt has just pleaded forciib-
ly and eloquently for the discarding of that
wondrously silly word ' indigestion.' Will
no spirited scientist help to exorcise the
haunting folly that °liege to the term ' in-
somnia ? All terms with in, negative, im-
ply ignorance on the part'of those who frame
and use them, and, which is worse, are con-
tent with the state of knowledge arrived at,
or are too indolent to extend and improve
it. Who shall sound the depths or measure
the range of the stupendous unknown over
which the audacity of a specialty and the
apathy of a profoseion conspire to cast the
veil of ' insanity '? There are more than a
score and a half of known causes or forms of
sleeplessness, each one requiring direct and
specific treatment, and yet, as by common
consent, the profession sanctions the abuse
of such drugs as chloral and bromide as
' poisoned sleep ' producers. No medical
man is justified in undertaking the treat-
ment of his own maladies. It is impossible
that he should so far step out of himself as
to be able to form reasonable judgment of
his case objectively ; and no practitioner has
the justification of science for the recourse
to narcotics as remedies for sleeplessness ex-
cept when an exceptional pain is the acci-
dental disturber of a sleep f unction, or a habit
of wakefulness may be broken by an oc•
casional dose of the etupefier."
We have known several cases of young
men, who by medical advice have taken
doses of quinine or chloral, or of a bromide
compound, and in the course of a year have
broken down with shattered nerves and a
mental state bordering on insanity. A ra-
tional observance of simple hygienic rule
would have saved them the loss and worry
incident to such a condition.
09
0141% P
7!
shut '.themselves into :their own souls
famine, " Only a God or a brute Can dwol
in solitude," says the wise ord German.
The resources are n at sufficient to keep off
1
t Oaring Rheuwatirjpl with Celery.
d A German oorreependent of an Englis
g paper writes ae fohvwe : I hays had a sever
attack of inflammatory rheumatiem and wa
n healed in two days' time by a soup made o
the etalks and roots of celery : therefore
a desire to make this simple remedy know
through the columns of your paper for th
- benefit of all suffering from gout or rheuma
Hem of any form. I was induced to try i
by Boeing the following notice : " Numerou
cures of rheumatism by the uee of celery hay
recently been announced in English papers.'
New discoveries—or what claun to be dis
coveries—of the healing virtues of plants are
continually being made. One of the latest
is'that celery is a cure for rheumatism; in-
deed, it is asserted the disease is impossible
if the vegetable is cooked and freely eaten.
The fact that it is always put on the table
raw prevents its therapeutic powers from be-
ing known. .Phe celery should be cut into
bits, boiled in water until soft, and the water
drank by the patient. Serve warm with
pieces of toasted bread, and the painful ail-
ment will soon yield. Such is the declaration
of a physician who has again and again tried
the experiment, and with uniform success.
At least two-thirds of the cases named "heart
disease " are ascribed to rheumatiem and its
agonizing ally, gout. Small pox, eo much
dreaded, Is not half so destructive as rheu-
matism, which, it is maintained by many
physicians, can be prevented by obeyingna-
ture's laws in diet. Here, in Germany, we
boil the root and stalks, as the root is the
principal part of it, and afterwards eat it as
a salad with oil and vinegar. I received
such immediate benefit that I am anxious to
lot all rheumatic sufferers know of it.
THE LIME -KILN CLUB.
" De odder day I received a visit from ii
oull'd orator who wanted to sot out on a
tower," said Brother Gardner as the meeting.
was called to order, "He had built hieself
h a lecktur' an' named it: ' Was the Cull d Matt
o Left Out o' de Ark ? IIe wanted to begin at
e Portland, Me„ an' trabble to Galveston,
f Tex,, an' deliber dat lecktur in ebery town
I on de way, He believed dot cull d people
n war jist dyin' to h'ar it, an' dat white folks
o would stop work to pat him on de back as a
• new Cicero. I ar' sorry dat I couldn't lend
t him $20 an' givedrim a cc tidcate of char-
s peter from our club. He am heah yit, an'
o Sir Isaac 'Walpole may pass de hat an' take
' up a colleckshun. Sieh of you as fool like
• chippin' in to start de great orator on his
way shall hey do opportunity,"
The hat was passed and it came bank empty.
The President made a thorough search of it
and then continued :
"Die seems to prove dot, fust, a great
ou[l'd oratororter to hey at least $20 in his
pocket, and, secund, dat de aiverage cul['d
r
Fresh Alr for the Brain.
A physician noted for his skill in curing
nervous diseases almost invariably separates
the patient from her family, her old nurses,
and the familiar, anxious, sympathizing cir-
cle of friends, and places her in a ch.erful
atmosphere, among new faces and scenes,
where she no longer can believe herself the
centre of the universe.
" Thera is a certain healthy, helpful in-
fluence which naturally comes from human
beings to each other," he said, lately, while
speaking to one of his patients. " This wo-
man has drained all which her friends had
to give years ago. We need occasionally a
fresh moral and mental atmosphere, just as
mach as fresh material air to breathe."
Another physician, visiting in a country
house where the mother a delicate, affection-
ate, self-sacrificing woman, who lived but
for her husband and children) lay ill, with
no disease apparently but extreme weakness
and weariness, ordered her to go to the city
alone ; to spend a month in absolute idle-
ness, mixing as often as poesible with crowds
of people who were interested and excited,
at church, at concerts, oven in public meet-
ings. The patient, a shy, diffident woman,
obeyed, and came home with color in her
cheeks and new life in her heart.
" I once asked," said a well-known law-
yer, " the famous backwoods preacher Bas-
com what was the secret of his power as an
orator ; how he contrived to sway large
numbers of men to his will. ' First,' he an-
swered, ' I bring them close to mo and to
each other. Leave no empty benches be-
tween your audience. The electric spark
will not pass across a gap from one man to
the other.' "
These ideas may seem fanciful, but there
is a solid basis of truth under them all. Phy-
sicians usually bring all their skill to bear in
curing the ailments of the body. There is a
human magnetism which wo are all apt to
overlook in our materia medica,
Ha*d-working women in the lonely farms
or isolated villagea of this canary often find
themselves growing irritable and nervous,
and even troubled with religious doubts, in
spite of their fervent prayers. They do not
need tonics or moral discipline. They need
friction with unfamiliar minds, new ideas,
novel sooner, just se their lungs, after using
no all tho oxygen in a close room, need the
air out of doors.
Young girls aro too apt, voluntarily, to
force themselves into this state ; disappoint•
od in their natural longings for a congenial 1
companion, they resolve to live alone, and ,
PEOPLE.
Signor Luigi Canape. a composer whose
three previous works have had some success
in Italy, is writing an opera with the title
"In Carnevale," which represents an episode
of Florentine history in the time of the
Medici.
At the special invitation of the Emperor
of Germany, Mme. Christine Nilsson has
consented to sing for the first time in Berlin.
The opening performance will tike place on
October 12, the operaselected being "Faust,'
on which coca ion all the members of the
imperial family will be present.
Florence, the actor, got into a street car
the other day. • He says : "The seats were
all full. A lady had her little boy in
the seat along side of her. She told him to
get up, and let the old gentleman, meaning
me, sit down, I came home feeling my 54
years."
A book called "Wieland and Reinhold,"
which has just appeared in Germany, con-
tains the following extraordinary estimate of
one of the greatest German musicians by one
of the greatest German poets, In 1793 Wie-
land wrote to Reinhold : " I should be
pleased if your visit could occur on a day
when the operetta 'Der Baum der Diana
will be given, the music of which is said to
be extraordinarily sweet and charming—
whereas, on the other hand, Moz trt's 'Figaro'
which was to add to the pleasures of out
celebration day before yesterday, is the most
disagreeable thing I have ever heard in my
lie.
'William M. Everts fell in love with his
wife when she was sixteen, and he a green
boy at college. She was the daughter of
Treasurer Wardner, of Vermont, and was as
pretty as young Everts was homely. They
became Ong ged at her home in Vermunt,
and Evarts went away to New York, prom-
ising to come back when he had made er ough
to warrant his marrying At twenty-five he
had made a name for himself as a lawyer,
and was a member of one of the chief New
York law firms, one making, it is said, a to-
tal of $60,000 a year. At this time he mar-
ried, a ad his wife, after bearing him thirteen
children, is still well and happy.
Once in a while the question is heard :
" What has become of Mrs. Tilton ?" The
little woman who wa'a few years ago the
most widelyknown American woman in tha.
world, lives with her aged mother, Mrs.
Morse, on Pacific street, in Brooklyn, in
comfort and quiet. Ever since tne remark-
able scandal trial she has lived in the same
way. .The home of Mrs. Tilton with hor
mother is one of taste, refinement and eleg-
ance. Many of the pictures that were made
famous by the -repeated yarns in the court.
room, of how Theodore, in his nightshirt,
used to go around the home rehagging them
at all hours of the night, are to be seen on
the walls of her present brown -stone home.
A good story was told about Mr. Henry
Irving at a reception of Htrvard alumni at
Buffalo. When the English actor visited
Boston, President and Mrs, Eliot were
among the spectators at his first perform-
ance; and in order to do honor to the
stranger, he was invited out to Harvard,
shown all the college "lions" and finally en'.
tertaincd at a luncheon to which a select
party of distinguished ones were bidden.'
"By the way, M•'. Irving," said the presi-
dent,, with a praise -worthy desire to open
the conversation upon a subject of general
interest, "Are you a university man ?'
"No, sir," was the actor's answer ; then, as
if he felt that the reply might be taken ss
in some way implying disrespect to the col.
lege and co leges in general, he added, "but
my business mat ager here is.
In a new volume by Mr. R. ad, the veter-
an reporter, a chapter on "hearing and m s-
hearing gives somo emueing illustrations of
the mistakes sometimes m tde by r port-
ers owing to imperfect hearing, caused not
infrequently by the imperfect articulation
ef the speakers they were reporting. Thus .
"overtax" was once written down for "over
act ;" "Watching from the Roman eye" for
"Watching from their home on high;" "a
good Sunday coat" for "a goose and a goat;
and the "Countess ef Ayr" for "county sur-
veyor." A speaker in parliament once said,
"What do the Turks want? To bo a ne•
tion." This was printed "I'o bo in Asia."
"Attenders of clubs," (lotto of Mr. Bright's
speeches, was transformed into 'vendors of
gloves The latter part of the statement t
that "all reforms in this country have been
brought about by pressure," was reported
"brought about byI'russia." "Pew rates d
are the greatest enemies of the Church" was t
converted into "curates aro the greatest en-
emies of the Church, ) o
man of to -day dean keor a copper whedde
his ancestors got aboard of do ark wid Noah
or paddled aroun' on deir even hook. De
faok am, our race am not sufferin' to h'ar do
voices of orators half as much as fur fall an
winter undershirts. If our ancestors went
along wid Noah dat am all right ; if dey war
left behind dat dean' make tu-morrer's job of
whatewashin' wurf airy de leas. I would
advise de orator to change hie leoktur' to :
' How I Got Left is Detreit,' an' go to work
an' earn his liven' in an honest manner."
ACCEPTED.
An official communication from Robert E.
Towers, Secretary and Treasurer of the
branch Lime Kiln Club at Norwich, Conn.,
extended an invitation to the Detroit Club
to send a delegate to a meeting to be held
October 15, at which time the branch will
discuss the question : "Should the length of
a man's heel make his standing in society ?"
The branch reported a membership of fifty-
six highly respectable members of the com-
munity, with $32 in the treasury and an en-
thusiasm which would carry it to the 1st of
February without any fire in the stove.
Brother Gardner observed that the sabjeot
was one he had given much thought, and
one which all colored societies and lodges
would do well to agitate and discuss. Elder
Toots, who has the longest heels of any man
in the State of Michigan, would be sent as
a delegate. He will not only have a certifi-
cate of identity properly signed, but all
strangers will recognize him as Toots by a
scar on his chin, the abeenoe of all front
teeth, and a hesitancy in his speech which
sometimes causes him a delay of five minutes
in answering a person who wants to borrow
fifty cents for a day or two,
IN A BAD WAY.
The Secretary announced an official
communication from Montgomery, Ala.; re-
citing the fact that the drug store and
branch Lime -Kiln Club in that place was on
the point of disbanding. The club started
but to do business on a high moral plane,
bar black sheep had crept in and made their
influence felt until the organization had
practically ceased to exist. Only two weeks
since the club passed a resolution to the
effect that it was every member's duty to
steal water -melons and chick
"I shall send Giveadam Jones down dar'
right away," said the President, "I ar' satis-
fied dat de inflooence of half a dozen individ-
uals has brought about die state of affairs,
an' dat as soon as dey kin be got rid of de
branch will resume de pith to glory.
Brudder Jones will be instructed to go down
dar' an' seek out de unregenerate an' labor
wid 'em He has a way of 'laborin' dat am
mightly uncomfortable to a pusson who can't
be convinced by moral suasion "
FAILED TO PASS.
The Rev. Penstock arose to a question of
privilege. Dur rg the last three or four
years he had suffered, dreadful pains in ob-
ving the fact that eight out of every ten
marriages among colored people took place
before a white clergyman This was in the
face of the fact that there were plenty of
colored divines in the country who couid do
the business up in first class style. No white
couple ever went to a colored preacher to be
married. Why should colored people pa-
tronize a white preacher ? He hoped the
"Lime -Kiln Club would instruct the colored
population of this country to change its
tactics.
Giveadam Jones, Shindig Watkins.
Pickles Smith and Col. Cahoots opposed
any such business. This was a free country
and if a citizen wanted to be married by a
Chinaman no one should dictate. Elder
Toots was preparing to sustain Penstock's
idea when the President said :
" De coll'd people must be left to deir own
dieoreehun in de matter. While I has no
doubt dat Brudder Penstock kin tie do knot
wid de best of 'em, it seems to be considered
a leetle mo' high -tined to call in a white
clergyman."
• REPAIRS VOTED,
Tho librarian reported that during the
summer vacation rain, rats and mildew had
destroyed over 2,000 of the almanacs and
railroad guides on the library shelves and
he recommended speedy repairs. The sum
of twenty-four cents was voted from the con-
tingent fund to buy tar and shingles to stop
the leak.
PASSED OVER,
The Secretary announced a communica-
tion from Vicksburg, setting forth tho fact
that the Hon. Backhold Smith, an honorary
member and an orator who rates Al with
Bradstreet, had passed over the deer to be
known on the shores of ear,h never again.
He ruptured a blood -vessel while lifting on
the end of a corn•c^ib, and as near as could
be remembered by his wife he died happy.
Tho knob of the outer door was ordered
draped in mourning for the usual thirty days
and after voting down a resolution by True -
toe Pullback to permit members to sit with
their shoes off during meeting, the audiencp
dispersed and someone stole Prof. Slaybaok e
white plug hat and loft an old straw in its
place. ...
A man of mark—a marquis.
Sober thoughts—the kind that come next
morning, you know.
Every succor in the land ought to be put
hrough a "course of sprouts."
The brewer who maketh good beer in the
,The
and putteth a good head ou it is batter
lean he who drinketh tho beer at night and
waketh up in the morning with a good hoad
n himself.
YOUNG -FOLKS.
Blue Eyes`
Dainty Baby Blue Eyes, fair from head to Leet,
bike a little flower, very, very er eel.
Dowel the river Balling all the summer's day -
Blue Eyes kept us happy with her merry play,`
Naughtygrown-up (adios frowning at the heat,
Stopped to smile at Blue Eyes, singing eat and
sweet;
gentlemen quite weary of the tedious way
Waved a kiss to Blue Eyes, who was good all day
Dainty Baby Blue Eyes, little blossom sweet,
With the lisping prattle, with the, tripping feet,
Did you dreamt ou taught us, all the au nmsr's
day,
That a happy temper cheers the longest way 1
The Count's Strange Guest,
BY DAVID KER.
The sky was black as night, the rain fell
in torrents, the wind howled through the
swaying pines, while clap after clap of thun-
der awoke all the echoes of the rocky hill's
whioh started to view ever and anon in a
blinding glare of lightning, only to vanish
again in deeper darkness. It was a night
when no one who could help it would have
oared to be out upon the wild Hungarian
mountains between Nagy-Varad and Koloez-
var ; and so, evidently, thought the tatter-
ed, half-starved man who was struggling up
the drenched and slippery hillside,
" If I had with me half a dozen of the
brave lads who lie dead yonder," he growl-
ed, " I shouldn't need to slink Into the for-
ests like a hunted wolf. Where on earth
have I got to I wonder ? I must keep clear
of the villages, for every one knows me
here,"
Just then a brighterflash than usual show-
ed him the towers cf a castle a little way
above him, and his sudden start showed
that he recognized them.
" Karolyi Castle ? This is running iato
the lion's mouth indeed. Were the Count
to guess that I was within hie reach, my
head would be onthe highestof those turrets
in a trice, I'll warrant."
He turned as if to take flight, but in an-
other moment faoed round again, and setting
his teeth doggedly, went straight up toward
the castle gate,
"Let him kill me if he likes," muttered
he. " A little more of thiswoulai soon make
an end of me, and I'd rather die by a brave
man's hand than be starved by inches like a
homeless dog."
Supper was over in Karolyi Castle, and
the guests had retired, but the Count him-
self and one of his friends stood watching
the storm from the sh-Iter of a turret.
" Well, the Gorni [mountaineers] won't
trouble us. much after tnis last beating we've
given them," said Karolyi, laughing grimly,
•' especially if Mor [Maurice] Racz himself
was killed, as our men say."
" I wish we could have actually seen him
dead, though. That fellow has more lives
than a cat, or he couldn't have so often es-
caped the hands of your Excellency, the best
swordsman in Hungary."
" Some said Mor Raez was better," growl-
ed the Count.
" But although I've often crossed blades
with him, one can't judge of a man's swords-
manship in the thick of a battle. If he
were alive now, and we could have a quiet
half hour together, with no one to disturb
us, we'd soon settle which was the better
man."
" Done !" said a deep voice out of the
darkness below.
" Who's there ?'' cried Karolyi, p ering
over the battlements into the gloom.
" Come down and you'll see," answered
the unknown.
Down went the Count without hesitation,
although, for all he knew, he might find
there a band of armed men ready to cut his
throat. But all that he found was the rag-
ged stranger already mentioned.
" Come in, man, whoever you are," ex-
claimed the Count heartily. " I wouldn't
shut out a dog on a night like this,"
" Before you admit me, hear who I am,"
answered the stranger, proudly. " My name
is Mor Raez."
" What 1 not dead after all ?' cried Kar-
olyi, in a tone of satiefaction which might
well have surprised any one who knew that
this man was hie deadliest enemy. " Cume
in !come in 1 We'll have a chance at last
of trying whioh of us is the better swords-
man ; but I suppose," he added, with a keen
glance at his enemyb haggard face and was-
ted figure, " that you're hardly in fighting
trim just'now,''
" 1 have not tasted food," answered the
mountain chief, " since my comrades fell."
"Two whole days, eh ? Well, we'll soon
put that to rights. Just wait here for one
moment."
ha He ran upstairs, apologized for bidding
is friend goodnight, by saying that a man
had come to him upon urgent business, and
then returned to R.acz, whom he led into
a small room on the ground floor, and set
such a meal before him as the hunted man
had not seen for many a day.
Mor ate like a starved wolf ; and when ho
was at length satisfied (or rather when he
could hold no more) the Count, who had
watched his performance with considerable
amusement, led him up to one of the turret
chambers, and taking the key out of the
door, placed it in his hand.
A momentary gleam of pleasure lighted
up Racz's worn face. He understood that
his enemy was too proud to secure him by
locking him in, and he felt grateful for t
the courtesy. M
" Sleep well," said the Count, as he closed fe
the door ; " and to -morrow at daybreak s
we'll try whioh of us can kill the other." w
When the Count carne to the turret next h
morning he found his strange guest already fu
astir, and fairly started at the latter's alter- fi
od appearance. After all his sufferings, ono to
good meal and one night's rest had sufficed b
to recruit the mountaineer's iron f. ame ; and to
s he stood there, With the light of battle in a
his great black oyes, and an elastic quiver to
of repressed strength in hie long, sinewy to
limbs, he looked a match for any man upon w
earth. lo
The Count locked the door inside, and of- a
fored the two swords that he had brought o
with himto Racz, who took one without a t,
word. The next moment the blades Met and fe
the combat began. in
Karolyi was a splendid swordsman, but he
this time he had met his match. In vain he sh
tried countless feints and passes which had w
never failed him before ; Mor's blade seem- qu
ed to play around him like a flash of light- da
ning, mewing and baffling hint at every go
• turn. The swords shot forth' showers off'
"sparks as they rasped together, and the
vaulted item: eohoed with the clash of steely
the stamping of feet, and the hard breathing
of the combatants.
Suddenly Mor attacked in hie turn, and
for a few moments the quickest eye could
not have followed •the blades as they darted
to and fro, rising quivering, falling and ris-
ing again. All at once a sharp° crash was
beard, and the Count's sword blade, broken
off within an. inch of the hilt, fell ringing up-
on the stone floor.
Any other man would have given himself
up for lost ; but not so Count Karolyi.
Quick as lightning he snatched up hie cloak,
twisted it round his left arm, and was about
to rush upon'his ;adversary with no weapon
save the broken sword, But Mor, drew back
and flung down his weapon
" We have been enemies," said bra proud-
ly,"but Mor Rtcz can not strike eat unarm-
ed man. Get yourself another sword, and
we will begin again, '
" Not I, my br..ve fellow," cried Karol-
yi, grasping the mountain chief's strong
brown hand warmly in his own. -
" We have been enemies, as you say; but
when a man can spare his enemy's life in
the heat of battle, as you have just spared
mine, any warrior in , unwary may beproud
to call him friend ; and friends we will be
h• ncefarth,"
And they wore so.
STRANGER THAN FICTION.
"The Marquis of Londonderry, whole-
sale ani retail dealer in coals," is a sign to
be seen in different parts of London.
In some of the public hospitals Japanese
paper handke-chiefs, are now used, with
much satiefaction for drying wounds.
It is a curious fact that wasps' nests often
take fire, as it is supposed, by the chemical
action of the wax upon the material of whioh
the neat is composed. Many of the fires o£
unknown origin in haystacks and farm build-
ings may thus be accounted for.
A citizen of Kansas has in his possession:
the ballot he cast in voting for General Grant,
in 1868. ):t was printed on silk, and after
it had been kept en the file, as the law re-
quired, in the office of the clerk, he obtainedt
it, and will hand it down to his childrea
as an heirloom.
A man put a large spider on a floating
chip in a pond. After walking all about the
sides of the chip the spider began to cast a
web for the shore He threw it as far aa
possible in the air and with the wind. It
caught on some blades of grass. Then turn-
ing himself about, the spider began to haul
the chip toward shore.
The Cheniere,'as well as Grand Isle in the
Gulf of Mexico, was once a sugar planta-
tion but the force of constant winds, blowing
from one point of the comp iris, has several
times caused the rollers to sweep across it
for several days, and this, after a time, made
the saccharine juice more salt than sweet.
1 people are obliged either to use the
wood drifted in upon the waves or bring it,
in loggers from a di,tance. As the salt in
the drift wood rusts the cooking sieves there.
are none in uee nn the island. But if the
meals are cooked upon an iron frame in a.
great, wide-mouthed fire place they loan:
none of their savoriness thereby.
The Journal cf Chemistry relates that se
celebrated Parisian belle who made a pro-
fuse use of nosmetics from the soles of her
feet to the roots of h r hair, took a medicated
bath, and on emerging from it was horrified
to find herself as bteck as an Ethiopian.
The transformation was complete ; not a ves-
tige of the " supreme Caucasian race" waa
left. Her physician was sent for in alarm.
On ar.ival he laughed immoderately, and
said : " Madame, you are not ill,• you are
a chemical product. You are no longer a
woman, but a sulphice. It is not now a.
question of medical treatment but of simple
chemical reaction. I shall subject you to
a bath of sulphuric acid diluted with water.
The acid will have the honor of combining
with you; it will take up the selpbur, the:
metal will produce a sulphate, and we shall:
find as a precipitate a very pretty woman."
The doctor went through with his reaction.,
and the belle was restored to her usual color.
A Boy's Hunt for Offi..e.
Soon after President Cleveland took pos-
session
of the White House a little chap.
about twelve years of age, named Howard
Fairfax Lee, obtained an audience, and
earnestly pleader for an appointment in one
of the deparements, to moist in supporting
his mother and several brothers and sisters.
The little fellow pre3sed his claim in such a
manly, straightforward way that the Presi-
dent's interest was excited, and he resolved,
if the case proved, on examination to be a
worthy one, to assist the young office -seeker.
Howard is very small for his age, but is re-
markably bright and intelligent, and ex-
presses his ideas of men and things in lan-
guage that would do ere lit to a person many
years his senior. He lives beyond the city
limits, in the vicinity of Brightwood, and is
the eldest of four or five children. The
President spoke to Secretary Manning about
providing a place in the Treasury Depart-
ment for the boy, but when the l-tter made
his appearance before the Secretary ho was
pronounced too small to be of any material.
value to the publio service. Thereupon,
Howard repaired to the White House, and,
with tears in his eyes, told the President
he result of his interview with Secretary'
anning. Some one suggested to the little
llow that ho would probably be more
uccessful with Secretary Lamar. Off he
ent to the Interior Department, where
°found the Secretary surrounded by a room -
1 • f politicians and oflloo seekers. He
nally got au opportunity to state his case
tho kind hearted Secretary, who at once,
°carne interested in his story and promised
help him Day after day the youthfulpn
pplicant haunted the corridors of the In-
rior Department,d watched hiee.hanco
eteal au interview with the Secretary
hen the vigilant colored messenger was not
eking. Finally the b:y was taken sick,
nd the Secretary missed his visite to his
Mce. Oae afte'noon last week the Secro-
tiry, upon inquiry, found whore the little
Hew lived and called to see him. Find -
g that the case was really a deserving one,
informed the bey's another that hor eon
ould have an appointment of seen as ho
as able to bo ab*ut. The geed news
ickly restored Howard's health, and a
y or two ago he was appointed a messen-
r in the Pension Office.