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The Exeter Times, 1886-10-21, Page 3BY ALVA MILTON Amin, He had boon , born in a eilaInef41 Piaeep and heir t9111110.011i.96.a4a evil days. There were few otherlegacies, but many gifts were thrust upon him—sneera enlace, neglect, and severance from the itickier born—sand these aeetned fatal. It may be through a law and, love insoluble to us it proved not so; that to the Great ,Father' e heart the stains, and wrongs, and sorrows thrust upon the boy, as to an earthly parent's, made him but the dearer ; but measured in the cold, hard, human way, his fate WhEil sorrowful, indeed. The region where he first took up the burden was a low one, a sunken, noisome quarT.the foul and squalid accretion of many sa,d conditions. • litre a day of flat, low sk.Ias, and sobbing, quarrelsome winds, that ended by a wet fog driving in upon the great city and settling upon the filthy quar- ter like a death -cloth., bad filled the vile neighborhood with unusual gloom. The spirit of insanity, the promptings to crime and abandon, always exhaled by such dis- eased, unhappysurroundings'seemed to in crease and multiply with the oppressive darkness. In at the doorwaysof the low, half -lit saloons the steamiug, pitiable popu- lace jostled and crowded i • from the thick, throat -clogging medium that filled the reek- ing, slippery streets, to the tongue.scalding, 'bram-maddening potions of the bar ; from distemperedselements without and within to mental ruin and forgetfulness. In one of these haunts of evil, a place of shame, of villainous music and dancing, were negroes, Poles, Italians, and men and wo- men, drunk and ruined, from Heaven knows what other quarter of the compass. What animalism ! 'What faces ! What swallowing of fire ! • By midnight the back room was a numb- ing whirlpool of delirious feeling ; heat, sweat, rags, music; lignor, profanity, the heat and shuffle of feet, cries, and maudlin laughter. Look at the roads along which these lives had come ! threads running from. by riehlY aPpareled men nod women, in cog ly ehairs upon tho porebess with rings. flaShing, bright rile beneath their feet, and a background of tinted glikes and splendid furnishings. A light that was alien to the face of little Tim slowly began tOjIltunine his pinched and pallid feature a ; then he wavered and went back; then that look of strange desight came into his eyes again, and he hurried on as if he were entering the borders of Paradise. Glittering carriages were rolling softly along the smooth pavement, and hundreds of women and children, clad in atin and velvet and flower-like fabrics, drifted with mingling hues along the avenue. The child forgot his rags, his bare feet, and crooked spine; the look of delight began to deepen in his eyes; then he saw that some started at him, that others ocowled and pressed back their costly clothing to let him pass, and the light died out of hie face, and he shrank froxn side to side and turned into a little park and hid. It smelled Sweet as heaven there among the blossoms, and he lay quite still on the soft grass with his poor heart fluttering. Up above him he could see the deep, serene sum- mer sky, hung here and there with filmy loops of lace that seemed to burn with pink and crimson from the far.off sunset. It seem- ed to him he had never noticed it before; that his hungry eyes had always been peer- ing into ditches and holes and filth, or blind with tears. How calm and sweet it was here where the rich dwelt 1 He cohld hear voices here and there from vine -wound porches fronting on the little park, and one, limpid anci engaging, was saying near by, Oh, I shall go to Dr. Easman's church. Do you not think his delivery beautiful? It rests me just to look at him ; he is so handsome, too 1" "Yes," said a silvery, affected voice in reply, "and he is so gentle. He is quite unreasonable about his salary, though, they say ; will accept but seven thousand ! It's too bad, he is so pleasant and handsome ; he could surely do better than that !" Then 'little Tim saw a form garbed in blue, and capped and belted, come between him and the peaceful azure of heaven, and he sprang up and ran, but was struck by a under this lecherous roof to every quarter cane, an . wavered and fell. But ere the of the globe ! • to 'cradles over the sea, to officer's fat paw could seoure him he was mother -bosoms north and south, east ana gone. west! The next avenue seemed fairer than the Did God, seeing it all, grieve that life had first, and, was alive with beautiful humanity been made a thing so capable of ill? or was flowing on toward the churches, Down this the fault, somehow, society's ? with a little thread of blood trickling from among his matted curls, he ran likea hunted At three o'clock in the morning they began human animal, and coming to a larger park to fight. In many the chords of sensation hid himself again, and lay there sobbing seemed eaten too raw for further pleasure. Sudden - Then some one was struck downand the while the shadows began to gather and hud- , reeling, half -blind concourse seemed. dle and group, and the clear stars swarmed into the voiceless deep above him. Then in a little time he crept away and came into the broad avenue again, going he knew not whither. A huge church was just beyond him, radiant with light and colored glass, and he drew back with fear. But at that a great wave of music went mellowing up through all the glowing structure, and the child's breath stopped and his rimy hands ly full of tigers. Men sprang upon each other; two were killed, and a woman, divid- ing the polluted atmosphere with shrieks, was thrown, jumped upon, kicked and drag- ged into a dark aide -room for dead. Then, when too late, the Law stepped in, the place was cleared, and the undiscovered wo- man, drunk and battered with the coming of the dawn, yielded little Tim to the world, and her a debauched spirit to the came together with a.clutch. e had never tery of d . Of such stuff are some reali- mys- heard other music thanthe banjo and drunk - ea ties ! Outof such elements was fashioned en, ribald songs, save at long intervals the far -away playing of a band, and the soft thunder of this, the level, roll, and swell, ancl melting fall, drew him like a turning world. Clinging, but palpitant, he crept into the a sadder fate. Into a net of evil even more shadows by the wide arching entrance and hateful than that wherein he sa,w his first listened. A stream of people, jeweled, satin - glimmering, doubtful dawn, she carried him. ed, and priamie under the showering lights: and all his earlier years were passed ln were passing in, ,but he could hardly Siee, gathering rags and holies, in stealing, and them, his blood was throbbing so. Sudden-- heingkicked, ancl cuffed, and beaten. Some- ly there was a sweet melody; , a wave of how his spine was weakened; I know not human voices, strong, smooth, harmonious, if from the s „dreadful hour, or by blows given aftei id by those who used him much as one might the boot's toe to drive into and loosen garbage with. One could not easily have told. how old he was, if the little Tim ! It seems well-nigh a pity, into what sha- dow so -ever the mother had gone, that he had not followed her. But he lived ; a drunken negress saved him from death to that swelled and sank upon the undulating organ flood and charged the air with sym- pathy- It was stronger then the ragged child; with lips parted and eyes hungry he enter - it to the dawn ; the east toOk fire with MO= ilia Ton slept 44. NA friend was there no word of pity • only a cricket eing- Scissored and Penned, FARM. ing Ai his ear, and the 'dew trickling down Let the pigs into the orchard if you have the cold well urn his piteous face, as if the very reeks she tears for their dead. THE LIME -KILN CLUB. "I has binaxed," said Brother G ardner, as he rose tip and surveyed the bald heads up and down the centre aisle, "If dis club am interested in internashunal qneshuns I should mile dat it am 1 1 has also bin axed to define our posishun on the fishery an' de Mexican queshun. to de former queshun. if dar am treaty which says dist we kin cotch fish a long Canadian shores, lets con- tinue to cotch until de treaty am torn up. If der' hain't no treaty, we hey no more right in Canadian waters dim dem Cannucks hey in Yankee cohifields. I' seems to me dat de queshun am so plain dat nobody need puzzle ober it ten seconds. "AS to de Mexican queshun, dar' am no treaty about it. Sunthin' ober seventy years ago dis kerttry kicked up a row ober de ques- hun of sailor's rights. Eber aerie° dat war closed no American citizen residire in a fur - rein' kentry has had any rights to go to war about. He kin be illegally arrested, illegal- ly plundered, illegally imprisoned or put to death, an' de case dean worry our State Department. Dis state of affairs has con- tinued until de weakest nashun on de face of de airth feels safe in abusin' American citi- zens. If any of 'ens chance to be purtected, it am by a any Consul, backed by de -British flag an' a British gun -boat. "Dat' has bin a good deal of talk among de members of dis club. Samuel Shin has walked aroun' o' nights wid a big sword buckled aroun'• him, an Shindig Watkins has h'isted American flag in his back yard an' sworn to shoot any •Mesnean who hauled it down. Some of you am jist achin' to die fur yer kentry, an' de rattle of de dram makes Elder Toots an' Uncle Jackson breathe as hard as a hoes gallopin' up hill. Drap it. Dar' hein't gwine to be any war. Uncle Sam am gwine to put on a grin an' purtend to be well satisfied, an' Mexico a,m gwine to chuckle to herself an' be a leetle mo' keerful fur de nex' six months." ELECTION. On motion of Sir Isaac Walpole the meet- ing then opened on the thirty-third degree andproceeded to the election of local officers. There has been a great deal of wire -pulling during the summer in regard to these offices, no other way of getting the windfalls picked up. A poor half -eared for and overworked ram will muse weak and spindling lambs. Don't forget it. To rush, cattle into market when pricea are tending downward has a tendency to lower them still more. , The use of many of the tools is over for the ,season and they should be housed care- fully ler another year. The profitm of the farm invested in per- manent improvements are as surely and eafely invested as if in the best savings bank. I must say that a man with a poor farm and no money with which to buy manures, cannot do better than to collect all the night soil he can find. The U. S. Dairyman says that the cry is that honest dairymen cannot compete with men who use cheap fat in making bogus but- ter. In the same way how can honest milk- men who feed pure, sweet grain, hope to compete with those who use rotten refuse or will? The dairyman who is most careful to fur- nish shelter for his cows when the cold ra,ins and frosty nights come on and who feeds. • most judiciously, never letting his cows shrink in their flow of milk unnatural- ly for want of food of the proper kind and proportion, is the one who will get the meat product. My idea is that fruit growers who want better prices should pay more attention to the temperance reform. Plug up the sal - eons and we shall open a new minket for our fruits. It is a matter of business, fruit - men. The less liquor sold, the more fruit bought. If you have turkeys that you intend for the Thanksgiving market, • be sure that you keep them growing right along • if they do not come home every night with full crops fill said crops up with grain of some kind. You can't half starve a turkey from the time it is weaned until a few weeks before market time, and then by extra feed make an extra bird of it. If oleomargarine were pink, blue or green, or•readily distinguishable in any respect from butter, dairymen could not reasonably ask protection even though its sale. destroy - and it was felt that the election would prove ed their business ; for it could only do so be- an exciting contest. .A.n informal ballot for cause consumers preferred hog. butter. The Secretarybrought out thirteen candidates, five of whom could neither read nor write. When this fact came to be whispered about, Brother Gardner arose and said : "1 want to say to you five gemlen dat dis we could eat. We began with strawberries am not a pollytical 'leckshun. If itwas you'd and are now eating apple sauce. We have be all right. A mankin leave de fool asylum fruit on the table at every meal; not a little to -day an' run fur alderman in any city in ' taste for each one, but a regular dish. We de land to-morrer, but we do bizness on a have had no sickness. I figure that we have different basis in dis club. De five of you saved at least $20 in the meat bill since May. purceed to absquatulate or you'll h'ar sun- 1We are all healthy and fat. Fruit eating thin' drap !" I not only brings good temper and comfort, A formal ballot Was then taken, and Way- but it saves dollars. down l3ebee was re-elected by a majority I In conversation with two or three farmers of .28. He returned his thanks in a few well within the past week, one claimed that it .selected words, in which he rung in Nero, I cost over two dollars a tclg to harvest his Plato, the great Sahara . Desert and the hay crop; the second presented figures to Mormon question. An informal ballot for show that the total expense was but a trifle Treasurer brought out twenty-eight candi- over one dollar; while with the third the dates, and the feeling promised to be so expense was stated to be between three and high that the President „again rose and , . . four dollars. These figures simply illustrate • people should be protected from fraud whether they are producers or consumers. A correspondent of the Rural New Yorker says: This year we have had all the fruit s. • the cost of doing busmess under different s.i.",,Isly frens, I doan want to keep inter- ' systems, or want of systems. After all that .rtiptin' . de.. purceedin's, but I mus' remind has been said, there is not the attention You. agin dat. dis club doan' hold its 'leek- given to the cost of growing and harvesting shuns on a polytical basis. In pollyticks it that there should be. We have not yet am net. eben considered cheeky fur an em- learned he economy of farming, or that in' bezzler to lay his wires to become a public order to compete successfully the business ' treasurer, but de case am different heah. must be systematized. Dar's a heap of you who doan' know 'nuff to add five to seben, or to subtract two from number of his years were eight or twelve, so ed. . Oh !. Oh ! what a beautiful place !. six, an' der' am some others who could't get cowed and deformed a spirit looked out of music, light, color, and fragrance ! He a bond of $50 signed to save deir necks. his blighted face. The yellow and green of stood bdwildered. Then suddenly he felt Dar' mus' be more absquatulashun." putrid pools and gutters seemed settled in himself softly pushed and heard a low menac- His bilbf speech produced a wonderful his skin leaving.- it a palid olive, and his Ing voice bid him quit the place, and he effect, A formal ballot brou ht out only three candidates, and of those Jrustee Pull- back received a majority of the votes and was declared elected. He expressed his thanks in broken remarks, which were about equally divided between the glacial andsrestful•floarfed out.thesplendul doorway period and the latest nnprovements in corn. blue eyes had ,a cringing, frightened, furtive looked up at the stately, odorous usher, and. look. . shrank out of the great doorway into the Away at onetside43f tharearing city, and. shadows again. in a leprous hovel at the river's edge, swas Then the rnusic fell away hito,silence, and where the 'first 'years went over Idin, mercis odors delicate and faint and sounds subdued m less, crushing. Slow-moving their passage,- The Pig -Feeding That Pays. Every termer, says Thomas D. Baird, who makes the feeding of animals an impor- tant part of his business ought to know that their unremitting giowth is the only right way of treating them. This is the course which the most successful pork -raisers pur- • sue in feeding their hogs regularly and fully through winter and summer till they are sufficiently fat in autumn. To fatten hogs Often he turned sick when cligging .the .past the child:.• 'Then a voice.came with the shellers, and sat down amidst the heartiest to the best advantage the pig should be fed slimmering slime, and all his base surronnd- odors—deeps even,. mellow, and handled applause. 1 and managed with resiard to a rapid and ings 'swam before him ; by times he fainted like Musics The Minister wile praying, but ' continued growth. I know of no better Brother Gardner said that other commit - in his loathing and weakness, and was. carri prayer to little Tim was .something all un - ed home and burned back to life again With known. Like words that were flowers it fiery liquor. The negress held his poor life drifted' by him, a long train of Soft melodi- es in a vise, and her home was a place of mis clauses. We could not understand it, cursing, of theft, of fighting of drunkenness. but he felt its beauty. Thethread of humil- The child, like a . weak worm under foot, ity running through it, the tender pleading, used'often to fight for his life, only to be the the pathos, and gentle adoration sent a great harder cursed. Oh ! it was pityful ! Yet wave of loneliness across him ; a kind of here were thousands no better off than he ; clear, thick darkness, an isolation that was some worse; and there beyond in the beanti- plain, crushing medium like heavy envelop- ful city were other thousands, clothed silk- ing iron. Ah, how widely he was isolated enly, fed richly, and bearing no heavier from every heart and every good ! He burden than time and, perhaps, too much could not comprehend why but his con - of happiness ! Down into which region were dition crushed in upon him like descending the mournful eyes of the pitying Christ. death, until quailing and moaning lie sank turned most often, think you? beneath it and crouched in the shadow on But little Tim could not go on unchanged; his bare knees,' with his . face against the mutation, which' makes . and unmakes, but ; 'cold wall of the Father's house, he wept and yet is nature's savior, opened at last a little I struggled. Suddenly a great peal of music fissure in his life, gave hint one fatal glimpse swept up—voices and organ -chords in a lif t - of sweet and grateful light, then shut him ing, joyous flood, and the child, as if God's out in darkness. ' . ' votce had called him, leaped in at the door. He was ten years old then, yet, from way and stood straining and wavering in the lameness and his foster mother's cat like' light. Only a Moment he stood there, wild' care, the child had never been beyond his I with a thirst for comfort, quivering to be fostering quarter, save in hack alleys when ' saved ; then that musky presence rose again' feeling well took what he supposed to be conclusion that fattening hogs did not pay; gathering garbage at the misty hour of dawn, i before him, and the usher's big white hand, four pills and then slept the sleep of the when the true reason WaS they were overfed or when carried or dragged thither at night ' grasped and led him to the entrance. There. ?ust. When his wife awoke in the morning and excess of food was wasted. A farmer upon some thieving , errand by the Degrees' the stately presence muttered something, she began a search for four shoe buttons may withhold the proper quantity of food evil Was; .., . ' , .. ' pushed him a little; and turned away, And- which she intended to. sew,On baby's shoesMs from hogs and even half starve therrA for The ern Nie uinb With 1 lignor that after- sra.gged, Tim,' lames, and &llama ,blind with before the little one awoke. She. could. not montlifiand then -glut them. with excessive *11%._ noon ;1 lmid ie left this night mother and .ffight and 'feeling, tripped and : plunged. i find them, and the husband joined in the food and thus hope rapidly to put them in . i the white t lig who was her consort, and he 'headlong down the flight Of granite steps, I search. Finally he remembered where he a fat condition. But careful observations had been spurned into the street, where he glancod froin t le curving base 'with a cry o had found the pilis and said. , prove that the profits of raising and fatten - lay a long, time bruised and full of pasts, pain, rolled into the shadow, and ley still. '1 " Good heavens 1 I swallowed them Then dizsys aittliOrying,be came away ; diz- I . ' ThOtutheni flowed. on, but the child did buttons." zy fronthie hurt, and'crying because heavaa' ' not hear It. '' " We thank thee, 0 , Lord, leaving the little reg -matted hole under the that then art merciful," it pealed i " that Forced Politeness. stairway where he had always slept, because thy strong arm doth save the righteous and be Was parting from the , hard taco about confound the wicked I" and it swelled and Mrs, eitdricks, the landlady, and Mrs. hini, the venomous creature who had starved died away. Then the pastor's lingual music Simpson, Who keeps a rival T4tablishment and beaten him, and her sunken, ahanibling 'Caine again, mellow, pleasant, perfect ; round, around the corner, were returning frommar. hut I' . - . , ' edgelesa words that wove like velvet shuttles ket when 'Dhinley chanced Meet them. , . , • , Ah, he had never known .elee ! By day a dissolving, beatiteotts fabric before bia He alnioif swept the ground with his hat. .and by night, whiter and summer this had people, • For an hour it t.ose and fell, science "That is , Mr. Dundey, my fourth floor been his all,. his World, his home : Bander and revelation, linked, and. interfused With back," explained Mrs. Hendricks. it, you whcasleep on,down in, chambers frag. poetry and fine allusion ; but ' ragged Tim, I "Indeed !" said /sirs. Simpson, " what a rant and • lined With rose aild gold 1 You, lying there in the ghetto* With his oozing : very polite and deferential young Malt." who are9111 but solved with honey, was not temple on the uncushioned granite; gave no ' "He is three Weeks behind with ' his. here a Sou/ ?—your own twin -essence, starved heed. and ruined, moVing in brother.fiesh across The pastor's sermon melted lido silence, the,Field .of Lessons? , ..-.• . . ,,,- . . . . tho glinting organ-pipesthrobbed and For it tithe'lie followed the riVer, thriving trembled With their fibiett of melody again, and sobbing, and 'gaging through his tears wave after wave of blent, harmonious voices 'into his polluted depths, as if :yearning after , floated daimon the buoyant,billowing medi- tlie soft oblivion it int ht yields Bat,' When tun of the pipes, the benediction felL . and • tees of less importance might be named way an sow rye in the y later on. Such persons as had been named , spring pasture. More than a month can be were expected t� enter into connnittee work . gained in this way, for the rye comes on with energy and enthusiasm, and seek to early, while clover is slow to start, and make a success of whatever they might be should not be turned on until in blossom. asked to do. It was announced that the .After this it would be well to turn them in Library would open at 7 and close at 10 a clover field where there is plenty of pure o'clock through the fall and winter months • fresh water, and give an additional feed of and frequenters of the place were cautioned 'sweet milk, wheat bran, and cornmeal. about indulging in either political or re- i Pig's managed in this way have their bone ligious debates in the room. The janitor land muscular frame well built up, their ap- was instructed to secure the services of a petites strong, their health vigorous, their civil engineer to make a survey of the halldigestivepowers active and their ability to - stove and estimate the amount of money I assimilate all they can 'digest as strong as it, which would put it in safe condition for the can be. Now the pig is in good condition winter, and the Keeper of the Sacred Relics for forcing in the fattening process. was cautioned to keep his eyes peeled for al Many. intelligent persons suppose that cheap bust of Orem Jackson to stand in the Poor animals may in a. short time be chang- southwest corner of the main hall. The stuffing them with rieli • ed. into fat ones.by meeting then went home. food. I have seen farmers who supposed the more food they could get their hogs -to a eat in a .day or a week the faster they would gain, -become discouraged because the gain was not in proportion to the food consumed and in their disappointment come to the Some Pretty Hard Pills. He went home a few nights ago and no board," replied MrS. Hendricks grimly. Can't Understand It. "Confound these stamps 1" exclaimed Whopper. " There ain't any nmeilage on 'eni or else there's something on My tongue his sore feet toughed the water his poor little out the arching entrance rustled the thong, that eats it off," " Maybe We lye," said heart .,‘vttenot stout enough, and be Mimed with ainiles and aalutations,flash of jewel and Jones, trying , to he sfacetious, and it has (Way, and ere 'long mote into. a •beantiful • eye,. soft einiech and happy laughter, but the always .puzzled him since why Whopper '.8,Vetlue; theilheteslsed to weep wonder swept 'little reg.heap, in tho shadow Made no Sign. treats him SO 001IY. the tears front .hie bellow eyes, it Was Sidi- The doorway to the fathers house Was s --ss • sas - bath --.though he know it not., --and .the sun timed sleep lapped the vaster and hie COm tont to II060Mblend. was going. down' 'in a great flush ofrelear V6- people iii its dreanietigetidering fleece ; dent . Pe militsisfat away at the other efia Of the leemt. gathered on the will above the fallen child, " Well, Thomas you mai you have a re. • teens street, lighting a...thong:and ',SOO and and crickets hi the , gratii.fringe round the eontinetid:?" "‘: • , • • glinnitering.fireti iileng. the stately dwcllhag8 ftag stonoS lisped the (Mend& " Weitif Yeas •I'Sah‘ t brought' My fadah fie it ; hilfery whets *ero doweps The Maw Slowly over. the stars Uhl reetnninen'ino 3 he's knoWed Me all ' exquisitely dreiflied dIuldreit, lovely girls int. strove to take it in their silver set but lost • niy ife, sah. Ing hogs are realized only when they are re - regularly fed from day to day with neither too scant nor too heavy rations. Some ob- ject to this mode; they wish to finish the fattening in two or three months and think it is too expensive to continue it for one or twe Years. Heavy feeding is not requisite to keeping lip thecontinued growing condi- tion of an animal. Snails are largely eaten on the Continent. In the marketof Spain maybe counted as Many as fifteen different species offered for tale ; while snaibgardens are common all over Europe. There is, for example, one at Ulin, near Wurtemburg, which sends out no fewer than ten millions of the largest kind —the Helix pomatia—to be fattened in other gardens before being sent' to the various convents in Auatria for consumption during Lent. At Dijon a ellen farmer clears about three hundred' pounds per anninri. Large quantities of the common snail are sold ni Covent -Garden Market to the foreign colon- ies in London. It is also said that they are eellected round London for exportation on a, wall kale to Paris and the United States, Kralinie SehnOt"Teikehtit t " Where doest all mit grain tot� t" listO the hopper." ." NVhtt hopperl"' Grasshopper r pliantly-Shtited a Seholitt,.. FREAKS OF ELECTRICITY, lienuteliable riienosnexin Attending the gratillet of Xenia Taro% ere. Aniong the many extraordinary natural phenomena attending the eruption of Mount Tarawera, one which appears to me not the least singular has been paseed over in com- parative silence and without exciting eon, ment, as far as I run aware, among the scien- tific or unscientific, public. I allude to the fact of their being unable to make water boil on that terrible night, when earth itself appeared to be in a state of ebullition, I give here the narrative from Mr. IVIcRae's own lips: Imade George Baker, the cook, put SiMe water on the Are to make cocoa for the women, who were cold and shivering, poor souls, though holding 'up grandly. About three-quarters of an hour afterward he met me in the passage and said to Inc "'Come here, sir.' " 'What is it ?' said I. " I can't get the water to boil,' he said. " Tut,' said I ; ` poke up the fire.' a good fire,' he replied, and 80 it was, it glowing fire of blazing rata logs—_a splendid fire. Put your hand in there and feel it,' said he, taking the lid off' the boiler. "Ldid so, very gingerly, I can assure you, and found the water as cold as when we put it on. Thertywere so many extraor- dinary things happening around me that this particular one did not excite my Won- der very much. I thought it was owing to the electricity in the air. George Baker can vouch, as well as myself; for the fact of the water having been on the fire for full three- quarters of an hour, and at the end of that time being as cold as when it was put on. We spoke of the circumstance to the others at the time as being curious, but soon had Matters more serious to distract our atten- tion." Now, surely here is a nattual phenomenon worthy the investigation of all our scientific men, not only in New Zealand, but through- out the civilized world. We of course all know that the greater the atmospheric pres- sure the greater the nuinber of units of heat required to make the water boil, but some other deterrent cause must have been at work in this instance, as after having been placed for three-quarters of an hour on a good fire the water remained absolute- ly cold. What other cause was there? is the problem I suggest to our scientific men as one well worthy of their research. On the night of the Tarawera eruption the Hazzard family had in their cash box, among other moneys, a half -sovereign lying on the top of four half crowns. During the storm which burst over their devoted resi- dence the building was struck by lightning. On digging out the effects the working party handed over the cash box to the friends of the Hazzard family. Mr. John P. Morpeth of Ponsonby, at whose house Mrs. Haszard has been staying, has now in his possession the half sovereign and four half crowns, which form a perfect curiosity. The light- ningappears to have fused the coins together, and in some mystericius way, though the face of the half sovereign is not defaced, the gold appears to have been driven through the centre of each of the half crowns, as each in the centre is colored the size of at.shil- ling as if svith gold. As a souvenir of the Tarawera eruption it is one of the most re- markable that has yet been exhibited. The North American Fisheries. The fisheries, and especially those for cod and mackerel, which stretch along the coasts of Newfoundland, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, are of, their kind the most valuable in the world. For about three centuries and a half they have been fished by smacks and schooners belon - mg, among European nations, to Englan , France, Holland, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway, and, amongAmerican, by craft be- longing respectively to the hardy fishermen of the Dominion of Canada and of New Eng- land. Vast, indeed, as is the amount of fish drawn during that long period of time form the inexhaustible deep, the supply is illimitable ; nor is there seemingly any pro- bability that it will decayaud be extinguish- ed so long as the Banks of Newfoundland shall last, or the stern and rock-bound coast of the neighboring maritime pro- vinces continue to hit their beetling and weather-beaten fronts above the stormy main. We are told by M. Louis Fignier that tho cod -fish is the most voracious of the deni- zens of the deep, feeding indiscriminately upon crabs, molluscs, herrings, and other small fry. The habitual sojourn of the cod is in the North Atlantic between the forti- eth and sixty-sixth degrees of latitude, In his vast range there are two large regions which it seems to prefer. The first extends from the coast of Greenland southwards to Iceland, Is/et-way, Denmark, Holland, Ger- many, and the east and north coast of Cape Britain, comprehending the Doggerbank, the Silver Pitts, and all the salt water lakes and arms of the sea upon the west coast of Scotland. The second range, infinitely su- perior to the first in productiveness, includes the coast of New England, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, and, above all, the Island of Newfoundland, to the south of which lies the famous sand -bank, nearly two hundred leagues long and sixty-two broad, covered by fifty fathoms of water. Here the hungry cod swarm,, as they mealier - rings and other small fish in abundanee, upon which they prey. The English, French, Dutch, and Americans, adds the same authority, give themselves up to cod - fishing on the 'banks of Newfoundland "with inconceivable ardor," The Island was dis- covered lasa the Norwegians in the eleventh century, long before the discovery of North America, but it was not until 1497—subse- quent to .Columbus—that shames Cabot visited Newfoundland, and gave it the name which it has since borne, and called atten- tion to the swarms of cod-fith inhabiting the neighboring sea: From that day to this " the Banks," and also the coasts of the Dominion's maritime provinces, have been eagerly fished by the seamen of all nationa. An Innocent Drummer. Ue bade his wife.a tearfnl.good-bye. "My love, my only one -1 The 'time will exam be here when I Omit be in 4 position t: snap my fingers at fate and set up as my own ebett ppartings"newe, shall have no more of these l "Aril you will be true to ine ?" dia,'‘,y4y ,ds 1 Lk,,ildw141YO faontig, ethteolpeisipt ottiset(.1. photo you m had especially taken for e in ' gripsacks' 0011, dear, no. Are you sure you v 11 look at it somethnes, love 7" " You wicked doubter ! You know tt I abould. be Wretched withont atleast such .21 nightly."semtiOf my 'pet to idols at daily and Draw the veil of eharityover his grief and the treachery, of one 111whoni he had such unbounded confidence. ' In brief, She; his only hive, his pet, his wife, had secretly planned to make hint "wretched."' She had taken that photo- graph front hie gripmek, and :was gloating over his misery when he should discover that only memory remained to him, for the time being, of his darling's looks. " The dear fellow, how he will scold inc for the trick," she thought; " but I will send him the photograph in the first letter I write tc)hiim." Thus appeasing her conscience, she waited for his first letter. It came from Chicago: "My heart's delight," it began. "Got here 0. K. this A. M. Have been wrestling with the trade all day, and a tough thne I've had of it. Weary and fagged,I have retired to my room, shut out the gilded atmosphere of sin that envelopes this terrible city, and taken from my satchel your sweet picture. It is before me as I write. I shall kiss it when I have said my evening prayers. It will rest under my pillow. It is my one so- lace until I hold you, my sweet wife, in these faithful arms again.' Thus far had she read then she toppled. over on the floor. What comfort she found there it is hard to,. say; but a great determination rose with thes stricken wife, who went out an hour later - and sought a telegraph office. Her husband had been saying his prayers. aebicsreo,ia,vcoelniathat evening and when-he got to his hotel about midnight, his spiritualemotions ylove."a deshock by a telegram from It was elaborate for a despatch, but under the circumstances, one could. not expect an outraged wife to transmit her feelings by the slow mail. The despatch read: "You are no longer the only drummer who is not a liar, as you have always claimed. Let the fraternity make you their chief in the art. Had you taken the pains even to look for the photograph you say yourprayere is dead 1 ,eyaeu7ould have discovered that I had— to tease you—removed it. My faith in you The husband clutched his hair. i"Why'ss,at did I write to her, anyway" hemuttered..After a while his face cleared. "By jove 1 I must have been piling on the taffy. That's what a man gets for trying his best to make a woman feel good! Poor little dear, what a fume she must be in Lucky for me she gave her grievance away. What geese women are! Bless her little noddle, her faith shall be resurrected." friend: he telegraphed to a knowing f "Send me, first mail, photograph of my phaorwticulla,frusms'eseitille word. Will write all wife. Beg, borrow, steal i , get About a week later, a drummer, in digni- fied martyrdom, stood face to face with a , stern, but very wept -out wife. She expected to see him meek and humble, IsbiuktnIciee.gazed upon her with muc scorn, and then he passed on to his room in crushing She was amazed. With quick impulse she followed, thanking heaven he had not locked her out. "Well 1" she began, with wavering cour- age, "what have you got to say for yourself, now21- Coldly, cruelly he looked at her. I " I s" he queried. "Woman, if it were I not for the over -mastering love I bear for you, I should never look upon you again 1',1 Ms face convulsed with tragic suffering that was balm to her heart to witness, but she only sneered : "Can you explain the deception you tried to practice upon me 7 " Can you obliterate the insult put upon your husband in that unsvoinanly dispatch 9 A woman with so little confidence in her husband would be better off to live alone. For my part, I am not only disgusted but disenchanted." He turned sorrowfully away, and bowed his face in his hands. She approached him and laid the letter which had caused her such grief, under his eyes. "Read that. Knowing you had no pic- ture of mine, what was I to think ?" "What any intelligent, right-minded wife would have thought; you wonld have sai& to yourself: He is incapable of deceit; he has my picture, somehow.'" "But you did not have it." He looked at her with sad, resigned sor- row. His lips quivered', as he sadly mur- mured: "Oh, woman 1 without an atom of faith 1" Then he put his hand in his pocket and produced her photograph. "Oh, darling forgive me ! This old thing taken long before we were engaged! Why, I didn't know you ever had one of these!" The restored confidence made her pretty blue eyes swim in tearful joy. She put her arms around him' asking his pardon, cares- sing even his coatcollar. "My dear," said he, looking into her face with grove, but loving reproach, "let this be a warning. Never doubt me again, no matter what appearance Ma,y be. I can always look you squarely in the eye, and say, am innocent,'" And she believed him. He Was Young. The plba, of ignorance is often made in be- half of youthful offenders, but not often more plausibly than in the following case s A tramp was prowling abant in search of something to steal, when his coat was seized. by a dog, The, owner of the dog promptly. appeared, and demanded, " Diet dose slog bide yon ?" No lint he grabbed ine coat." " Well you must Meese oxcuse hint. Ven he vas oldter, he vill seize holdt mit dose Wet off him, andeadt all der polies ondt-of your pody He vat too younk yet already, bud von he ged dater, he ho,Ve more vat you call slot, experience The Girl he Loved Decided to Wed. " Well," remarked a young man to a group of friends, " the only girl I ever really loved is to be married the 10th of next mouth." " Too bad," old fel," said a member of the party. You have my sympathy." "You know the old story about as good fish in the sea, don't you ?" inquired an- other. "Why don't you punch the lucky fel. low ?" asked it pugilistic inernber, and prevent him from coming to thne at the wedding ?" " Who is the lucky man ?" asked a fourth member of the gathering? " If you would only give me 0 chance / will tell yon. She is to marry me." "What makes that girl Walk so funny? inquired De Smythe of Browne." "Is she intoxicated t" Oh tto ; she's not intriiii• tatedt" reepolided ''It's only her shoes that are tight," The Indiana towns of Washington and Vincennes are at loggm heads, and 0 boycott is the result. At a recentsueeting in Wash- ington her elergyinen, editors, merchants, farmers lawyers, and eitimens generally solemnly agreed not to buy anything of Vin- cennes bk 01 her citizens. Why is a baby fed from ten to a. dozen times a day? Because babies, bless 'ein, should be filled tip whohmtrthey show symp. toms ef " hollerness."