Crawfordsville Review, Crawfordsville, Montgomery County, 5 August 1871 — Page 1

Poetry.

r:

THE

DEACON'S STORY.

»T X.

8.

BBMO*.

VW"*

Tlf* feolfetmi oil t*fli t&e ... Arertnrfn'. Il?n«* T" knowwt,3LL«-i-

Va

Well. thoa,i'U ULL TOP, tboagh moetly Itto whispered «bon» op the sir. Some six week* ago, achnrehroeetJii

Wu culled—for—nobody knew what Bat we went, and the Mrron w*e precent, And I Aontt khow Who, or who not.

Some twenty odd member*, I calclett. Which mostly *u women, of conree ^Sfcongti I doa't MM to mj »»«ht ag*»®

I've Men many ffathertir* wor*«. There. In. the front row. tat tho deacon*, The eldeet

wta

old Deeeon Pryor:

A

man coontln* fonr»core-and*««Ten

.*-* And gin*rally fnll of fcia ire.

Betide hJm, hi* wife, conntln* fourwofe,

A

kiad-hearted. motherly *onl: .And next to her, young Dracon Hartley, A good Christian nmn on the whole.

MW*P»r»OTi», a •pfratr of flfty, .wr. Ami 1 ../(1

aro

»dnci

lireelf next and, beside her.

Had wedded ««u, iwn«»

WM

Deacon Macro*—that'* myaelf.

The meeMn'

w'a»

foon called to order,

The parson looked glam aa a text We cared at each other ID silence, ,f And itletrtiy wondered 'What next iir.i

-„j^,en

g|owly nproM Dcacon Hartley ,i{ Hi* voice earned !o tremble with fear, A* he Mid: Bo* anrt man you have known me,

Mjr good frlen'da, for nigh forty year.

And yon ncarce may expect a confenfon ni" of error from me bat-yon know, Mr ttearly loved wife died last Chrietmas, .?•••*• If# now nearly ten montlw ago. 5.. 'i The Winter went by otig and lonalc,

The (springbnrrfed forward apace Tho farm-w^rk came on. and I needed A woman abonc the old place.

'"The children were wilder than rabbits, •f And atili growing worae every day No help to be found in the village,

•v-.r.

Althongh I wa« wlllin'to pay. In fa«. I wa« nigh'bont dieioilraecd Por CTcrytoing looked an forlorn When good lltt Patten-e McAlpine ».i

Skipped Into oar Kitchen one mom.

She had only ran in of an errand Bnt (he laughed »t our miserable plight, And fet to work, Jlec like a woman,

A-puti.tng Hie wltole place to right. And though her own fo'ks was «o huy. And ly her hclpin1 conld eparc, She lilt In and ont like a eparrow,

And most every day ehe waa there.

So tho aommcr went by tert o' cheerful. And ono ni^ht my baby, my Joe, Seemed feveriiih, and fretful, and woke me,

Hy crying, at midnight, you know. I wna tired with my day's work, and sleepy, And conldu't, way, keep him ftil So, at la*t. I grew angry, ana enanked him.

And then he ccreamea out with a will, Jujt abont then I heard a soft rapping, Away at the half-open door And then little Patience McAlpine

Walked nyly acrota the white floor. Says she: I thought Jo ey waacryln', I gaem I'd best take him away. .1 ew you'd be gettm'up ear y,

To go to the marfhen for hay, Sr.- 1 flayed her f-nlght to get breakfast 1 guess he'll be 'pilot with me. Come, Josi?y, kig-pupa, and loll him i- What a nice little man yon will he!'

She waa atoopln" '«w over tlie pillow, And saw the Ing tears on hl» che«k Her face wa- ro C.OHC to my wr.lBkere,

I dnrnn't move, scarcely, or fpeak Her hands were both holdlti' the: baby, Her eye by his shoulder waa hid But her mouth Was so nenf and eo rosy, '1 i—klsacdher. Tliat's juist what I did." *.

Then down sat the trcmbll .' sinner, Thccistera thoy murmured of shame," And "she shouldn't oughter a let him.

No doubt she was mostly to blame." When straightway uprose Dca on Pryor, Now hriithcrln sisters," he said, (Wo knowed then that suthln' was coniin', And all not as still as the dead), You've heard brother Hartley's confession,

And I speak formself, when 1 sity. That If my wife was dead, and my cliil..rcn Wire all growin' worse every day

v.

And it my house noedod attention, nnil I'atlenco :Alpine had come. At 1 tidied the cluttered up kitchen,

And made the pluce seem more like at home And if 1 was worn out and sleepy, And my hahy wouldn't lie still. But fretted and woko me at midnight,

As babies, wo know, sometimes will And If Patience came in to hush him, And't»ns all as our good brother se/.— 1 think, friends—I think I should k.es her,

And 'bide by the contcqnences."

Then do* sat tho elderly deacon, The y.iunger one lifted his face. And a smi ippled over the ineotln'

Uke light in a shadowy pla.e. Perhaps, then, tho matronly slsterj Uuinvmbereu their far-away 5011th, lr tho daughter* at home by thrlr flro-ldcs, rthrlned ench her sh, modest truth For tliolrjudgmenti grow gent and kindly,

And—well—UH I started to say, Tho rolomnold bcls In the steeple Aro rlt gii.' a bridal to-day. —Applcton's Journal,

Miscellany.

MnssechiiHdls Hadical Organ on tho "Thiuvliig Carpet-Baggers."

TUB Springfield NcpublicaniBone of the oldtfit and nbKftt inipers in Massachusetts, and though ol the intense truely loyal stripe, setms to have occasional spasms of virtue rnd veracity. In it late issue it has a fiw words to nv of "the thieving carpct bnRgcrs," as Mr. Greeley calls them. Hays the Republican: "Mr. Greeley never spoke a truer or more timely word in his life than when he denounced the carpet-baggers to the people of New York city, ihey arc doing more haim to the country to day than the locuHt or citerpillar, or any other kindred ptst. They are teaching the less intellient and discriminating Southerners to espise and ht.tj the Noithcrn people more heartily than ever they are debauching the freed men ihey

di

are

VOL*, XXIT:

bringing

disgrace upon the great Republican psrty and upon the national government. That their rapacity is insatiable, and that they steal every penny they can lay their hands on, arc ccurpjir-ilively trivial counts in the indictment ag-vinst them, ^et this constant plundering is a very serious matter to the communities which are plundered. It means increased indebtedness and heavier taxation. Onespjcimen job has just como to our notice. The Mississippi public schools were lately supplied with 7,000 desks a #7 per desk. Market price $3.50 cirpct-baggers' profit $24,r80. This is a very small affair, to be sure, when compared with tho wholesale stealing in South Carolina, but it illustrates how the thing is done. It is just such rascality that is muking the name of Republican a stench in the Southern States, and bringing suspiciou and enmity upon honest immigrants. And matters will not mend much s- long as needy and greedy adventurers are appointed to responsible Federal offices, and fellowshipped by Norihei.i Rea re

Mit. BAKUY, in his work on Russia in IS70, tells a story of the time when slavery was an institution in that country: A -rtaiu ironmaster wiiiscd a man who had offended him to be locked up in an iron cage, and kept him confincd in it for a length oi time. At last, while he was absunt on ft journey, the case of his wretched prisoucr cauie to the knowledge of the Governor of the province. The Governor caused the man, cage and all, to be brought to the government town, and invited the tyrannical ironmaster to dinner. After dinner was over, the Governor sent for a quail In a wooden cage, and offer* to sell it to bis guest lor 10,000 roubles. The offer being treated as a joke thc Governor said he had a more valuable bird to to Bell, and told his servants to bring

Gulled.make

it

I come here every afternoon try-

jg to up, my mind to have it out, and as soon as I come in sight of your house it stops aching, and as long as I sit on your doorstep where the confounded thing knows It can get pulled if it gives .trouble, I "have some rest. Now if TOU want me to go to another dentist I will "Oh, no," waa the re^ly, under the drcumstaaces stay by all means, my friend."

but of Rgtit, out of'mind," as the mad wag said when he saw a blind lunatic.

JIT WIFE'S PRE8EHTIMESt.

I HAD completed my preparations for one of my periodical tripa to the West, and was standing, valise in hand, in the porch of my house, waiting for the conveyance that was to take me to the ferry. "What is It, my dear You seem to have the blues this morning. I shall be back in a week, yon know."

I noticcd that my wife, after bidding me "good-bye" more than once, seemed still unwilling to have me go, and was inclined to adopt any little device to detain me a few moments longer. Turning rather unexpectedly, I observed her brushing a tear from her 6yes. Iler conduct was unusual, for she had been accustomed to my absence cm tours mnch longer than the present was intended to (M. "Ob, nothing at all, I Euppose," the said, endeavoring to smile. "I know you must think It foolish) but I do dread this present journey of yours, and for no good reason tnat I can think of. I think I must be a little nervous, that's all. I don't believe in presentiments. Do you

I endeavored to reassure her, but was only partially successful. I had no time to ask the nature of the troublesome presentiment before the vehicle arrived, which I forthwith entered As it turned a corner I saw my wife still gazing intently after it.

1

I crossed the ferry at Chambers street, and took a seat on the Erie train, which, emerging from the darkness of the Bergun Tunnel, was soon shooting across the llaokei.sack meadows and through the hills beyond. The morning was foggy and disagreeable. I myself felt gloomy and depressed, because my wife, usually so cheerful, had seemed low-spirit, d. It was remarkable that she should speak of presentiments, for she had always bfen accustomed to ridicule such notions. The car which I had entered was filled with wsengera. A stranger occupied a seat by my side who had such remarkably red hair as to attract my notice. He was reading one of the New York dailies. Aftei a lide of an hour or two in silence, be offeror! me the paper and made a remark with reference to the state of the weather. I was so irritable that I answered curtly, and If ar rudely. Seated by the open window, with my cars filled with the never-ceasing clatter of the engine, I mechanically fixed my eyes upon a painting on one of the panels at the front end of the car. Suddenly there was a jar, a grating, crashing sound: the panel on which my gaze had been directed was gone, and in its place huge timbers of a shattered car came driviDg through and in the midst of the human forms in front of mc. Seats, heads, cushions, glass, legs and arms seemed collected in an_ avalanche and descending upon the particular seat which I and my red haired friend had selected.

When consciousness returned I found myself lying on my back on a hard, uncarpetcd floor. I ende avored to move, but not a muscle could be brought into action. Gulliver, wlun he awoke in the morning on the island of Lilliput bound hand and foot, was not more thoroughly helpl- ss than I. My vision was so indistinct that I mid only discern the glimmer of light gradually, however, objects began to assume shape before my eyes. My hearing, disturbed at first by a clatter as of a thousand engines rushing around an iron track spiked to the inside of my cranium, was restored by degrees to its normal condition, and at last became painfully acute.

Limited as was my range of vision, it comprehended a portion of the walls of a room covered with time-tables, and lined with the inevitable row of scats, which told me that I was in the waitingroom of one of the Erie Railroad stations. On the platform without I heard the hasty tread of feed, and often excited voices, and could occasionally gather such words as collision," misplaced switch," killed and wounded," and the like. By a sidelong glauce I perceived on the floor ghastly objects, which I soon concluded were dead bodies horribly mutilated. Lying near me was a body, which a second glance convinced me was that of the redliaired companion who had shared the seat iu the car wittf me. His face was blanched, but not disfigured, and he was evidertly dead.

I was now satisfied that I was the room alone with the bodies of those who

brought

insensible, under the supposition that I was dead. My first impulse was to call to those without, and make known the fact that I was alive, but my tongue refused to move.

I had now an abundance of tune for meditation, and I think two or three hours passed while I was so occupied. I arrived at the conclusion that I had met with such a concussion of the brain that I was for the time paralyzed that my condition now, whether lrom the shock or other causes, was at least similar to that of which I had often read, called "catalepsy aud that I might expect, after a reasonable time, to recover from it.

In this rather gloomy situation I awaited events. Occasionally some of the curious ones on the platform without, would stretch their necks to gaze over the curtain which had been drawn

in.

Folding doors tlew open and the iron cage with its miserable captive was set down before the astonished gue-'t. Now! said the Governor,

what

do you think of that

for a quail« But this is a very expensive bird, I want 20,000 roubles for him. All right," said tho alarmed proprietor, I will buy this one and send it down to my works without the cage, and your messenger shall bring ba£ tho amount." The matter was thus plcBftutlv settled, and the company adjourned to their papirosses and coffee.

A CXHCIHHATI dentist, who had become nervous by frequent burglaries in his vicinity, was somewhat startled recently by having a man come daily at the same hour each eveaing and sit on his doorstep. He finally suggested that if it would be all the same to him, he would be pleased to liave him divide his attentions, and sit on some neighbor's doorstep for awhile. "But It woulJirt be the same, shouted the visitor in return, "nor anything like it You area dentist, and I have an infernal aching tooth that I haven't the courage to get

across

the window,

and get a view of the dead bodies in the waiting-room. Besides this, nothing of interest occurred until after a long time, when I heard the distant whistle of an approaching engine, the rumble of whee1*. and the usual clatter and confusion as a train rushed iuto the depot and came to a sUp without.

My suspense was brought to an end by the rattling of a key in the door aud the entrance of three individuals, who, I soou learned, were a coroner and two physicians from Jersey City. The oldest of the two physicians had sandy hair, and such a florid complexion as would suggest a too frequent tasting of some of the more conctntrated alcoholic tinctures. The younger physician who seemed an assistant of the older, carried in his hand a small mahogony box.

Well, coroner, which are they!" said the older physician. Thim two," said the coroner, punching the toe of his boot into my ribs, and pointing at the same time to my auburnhaired friend. Neither of 'em has got a scratch upon him, and p'raps theys died of heart disease, or somethin' suddint that kim upon 'em in the cars before the c'lislf they did, the company's not responsible for their indings, at any rate, You kin pos'-inortem thim, sure."

Come. Grunt, let's get to work: we've no time to lose. Coroner, send in the

The coroner disappeared, and in a few moments two attendants entered, bringing a piue table six feet long iy three in width. On tlie table were pails, sponges and a ss.*.\

This Journey Lasn amounted to much, has it, doc.?" said the younger surgeon not even an amputation among all the wounded, nor a case for the hospital It don't pay to come BO far for such game.'

Not if there is much to do in the city, but business is so dull just now that I have plenty of time. Hoy's practice with youf

Miserable—nothing doing. If the weather keep* &s cool as this, there won't be a case of cholera morbus nor any sickness among children this summer. Still, we may have some typhoid early in the fall. Well, which one shall wo take linlf" "Tiy the red-head: he's the nearest. Catch hold of the feet—HI Uke the shoulders." fiyinf thta, they approached the botfy

of my late companion one seized it by the bead, the other by the feet, and with a swinging motion they laid it on a table just brought in. The body gave a heavy thud and the head a clear, resonant thnmp as they came to their resting place upon the dcil table.

Well, Grunt, you have the knives pitch In," said the elder Abernethy. The young surgeon opened his mahogany e»ae, selected two or three knives of different sizes, felt the edges of one with his thumb, and approached the head of the corpse before him. Separating the hair, he made an incision through the skin from one ear over the top of the head to the other. Having separated the scalp from the skull, he turned one portion in'idc out over the nose and face, the other over the back of the head and neck. The round, glistening hemisphere of the cranium was now exposed, like an immense ostrich egg protruding from its nest. He next took the saw and commenced the circuit of the skull, sawing through the bone as he progressed. "Look out for your fingers, Grunt! That saw slips sometimes," said the sympathizing physician of the florid complexion

While this horrid scene was being enacted before my eyes, which I coula neither close or avert, I fully understood the danger I waa in. It was certain, fron the words of the coroner, that I was also to become a subject of dissection. I made a desperate effort to move or scream, but the spell could not be broken. My only hope was that the first incision of the knife when I came upon the operating table might arouse me from my wretched tranee but I almost feared that even then I might not. scar* further mutilation, so horrible did the scientific coolness of the surgeons appear tb me.

The saw finished its work without injury to the fingers of the surgeon a chisel was introduced between the divided edges, and a few blows of a hammer separated the upper portion of the skull-cap from the lower. The whitish, shining semi-circumference of the brain now preeented itself, studded with dark blood-vessels and rolled in convolutions, which, from some singular fancy, I could not resist mentally comparing with the larger folds that constitute the beauty and gra".e of chignons so fashionable upon the heads of belles at the present day. Like the bird charmed by the glittering eyes of a sDake, I became fascinated by the scene as the different steps of the operation were in progress, and I even found myself calculating at what precise point my life must of necessity become a cacrifice when my turn should come.

The surgeon, with a little aid from the knife, rolled the brain from its bed dexterously into the palm of his hand, held it up to view for a moment, and then deposited itVith a pat upon the table. With a large kpie he smoothly sliced it in pieces, much as a corner grocer would cut his chcese, and examined the surface exposed, apparently with much interest. vessels in a high state of venous congestion," said the older physician. "Open the ventricles, Grunt. Yes, filled with bloody serum. Concussion of the brain died of the shock. 'Twon't benecessary to proceed farther with him. Come, close up and take the other one."

Saying this, he whistled, put both hands in his pantaloon pockets, turned toward me, and seemed to be taking a survey of my proportions. Putting the toe of his boot under one of my arms he raised it a little distance and let it fall. "Not much ca 'averic rigidity there yet," he remarked.

IIow fresh he looks!" Appears as if he liked a drop occasionally," said Grunt, as he glanced toward me from his work.

Sly time seemed now near at hand. Grunt was hastily replacing the mutilated brain, readjusting the skull and stitching together the divided edges of the scalp. While I felt indignant at the cool impudence of the doctor, whose ey' were fixed upon me as if he weir in a deep study, I still felt the necessity of nerving myself for the new trial that was now upon me.

Wh'lc endeavoring to prepare myself for tl" issue, the key again clicked in the lock, the door opened and the coroner entered, followed by twelve men, who seemed to be farmers from the vicinity. The look of sympathy which was expressed on the honest countenances of many of them as they gazed upon the

,. UlJVLly U1 tUClil oo llivj upv.'n vuv

had been killed by the railroad accident, before them was peculiarly grateful and that I had been brought there whi to me after the exhibition of professional indifference I had just been witnessing.

Some hardly entered within the doo~, but gave a hasty glance and turned away. WeH, jintlemen, hev ycz viewed the bodies?" said the coroner. Most of them nodded assent and withdrew. The train laves in ten minutes, jintemen," said the coroner, turning to the physicians. "Hev ye finislieel

The doctors hurriedly finished their work, left the body upon the table and took their departure from the room.

In a few minutes four men entered, bringing a door which had been removed from its hinges. Upon it they tenderly placed the dead bodies, one afiei the other, and bore them out. My turn came last. As I was carried along the platform I had an opportunity to learn something of what had happened. An overturned engine and two or three cars, more or less shattered, by the side of the track, told the tale of a railroad accident As I glanced upward the clouds above seemed perfectly glorious with the last rays of the setting sun. Men, women, and "children gazed, some with curiosity, but most with compassion, upon my apparently lifeless form ss it passed by to the baggage car.

The door of the car was closed, and again I was alone, surrounded by dead bodies. The whistle sounded, and the train was soon speeding its way over the track I had traversed in the morning. Approachirg twilight gradually rendered indistinct the objects around me until complete darkness shut from view my hideous surroundings, except when they were rendered visible for a moment by a flash of light from some station as we hurried past Thoroughly exhausted by the intense mental excitement of which I had been the subject, I tried to compose myself and gain nerve for any new emergency.

I think I must have become insensible tiom sleep, for I remember nothing more that occurred until I became conscious of seeing before my eyes the familiar walls of the cozy back parlor of my own house. The bright light of day was streaming in at the window, the canary was chirpingjn his cage, and the room was as cheerful as ever. How I had reached my home, or how long I had been unconscious, I could not determine. Still, I could not move a muscle. I heard near me conversation, in low tones, and soft footsteps. My wile aud the undertaker were in the room. I could not see them, for my face was turned directly upward. I gathered from the few words of the undertaker that he was explaining to my wife the necessity for putting my body in ice.

I wish it could be avoided if possible I cannot believe that he is dead." The voice was that of my wife, but sad and tremulous. A moment after I saw her face bending over mine as I was lying upon the sofa. The look of hopeless

iifmnTtwr-"'

wretchedness and sorrowful tenderness depicted on her countenance I can never forget I could not but feel a selfish satisfaction in the unmistakable evidence of her intense affection. I lorged -to comfort her, but my eyes, which were blankly staring upward, would cotchange their expression nor turn to follow hers.

I am sorry to say that there can -be no doubt that your husband is dead," said the undertaker with lii3 professional whine. "They often have that lively coior. I remember once when I had charge of the funeral cf—"

Never mind, Mr. Sniff. Do what you think proper without consulting me," said my wife, struggling to suppress her emotion, and turning to leave the room.

Come, Tom now let's get him in the ice as scon as possible. It's high time, the weather is so warm," said Sniff in his natural voice to his assistant.

He approached me, took my nose between his thumb and finger, lifted my head a little and deposited it with a slight thump in an exact perpendicular. He then closed my eyelids, and retained them in position by something metallic placed as a weight on each, so that the little I had been able to see was shut from tiew, and I was left in utter darkness.

With no very gentle hands I was transferred from the temperate zone of my own parlor to the Arctic regions of the icecoffin. Pounded ice was under me, chunks of ice were around me, huge blocks of ice were over me. A reminiscence of my early boyhood, when, heated by the exercise of skating, I plunged directly into an open hole in the ice-pond, was first brought vividly to my mind. I next felt that I was realizing in my own person what Gustave Dore has so strikingly depicted in his painting of the frozen regions of hell, where the miserable victims are twisting their stiffened limbs in endless contortions among the floating boulders of ice, always congealing but never congealed. Soon a numbness, commencing in my fingers and toes, crept gradually up my arms and legs, until they appeared to be gone entirely, and I was only a trunk. By degrees my boely bccame insensible, and at last I felt that there was nothing of me but my head. I recognized my existence fully, but it was not in my body— only in that little sphere the head, which seemed to occupy the entire coffin.

I was now fully satisfied that I was rapidly approaching death. I believed that my body was already frozen, and that my spirit would soon leave the brain, which seemed to be its last retreatingplace before taking its flight. I gave up all hope, and was endeavoring to prepare myself for the change which would occur when the slender thread which held me to the cranium I inhabited should be broken.

While so waiting, by some process which I can neither explain nor account for, I suddenly saw distinctly all that was in the room in which my body was lying. More than this, I saw, apparently just below me, as if I were floating in the air above it, the ice-box in which my body was lying, and in it my own body. There it lay, covered with ice, my pale face looking dirci v'y upward, my eyelids closed, and on ach of them a five-cent nickel.

My philosophy was now completely floored. Whether I was dead or alive I could not determine. I still seemed in some way connected with my own body, but not an actual occupant of it. I had no sensation, and doubted whether I should ever again experience any. I had no longer the dread of

suffering

which had distres ed

me when I was expecting scientific mutilation in the waiting room of the station. I even could watch the preparations for my own funeral with something of the indifference of an unconcerned spectator. The undertaker was viewing his finished work with apparent satisfaction, and, gathering up the spoils of his trade, was preparing to leave the room. I did not feel entirely satisfied with the familiar carelessness with which he had manipulated my body so soon as my wife left the room, rolling it about with professional rech'essness and indifference. I had known Sniff somewhat intimately, and thought, for old acquaintance' sake at least, he shor Id have shown a little consideration for my mortal remains. I forgave him, however, when I afterward witnessed the scientific manner in which he displayed to the best advantage my features in the handsome coffin he had provided, and the real gratification he appeared to take in seeing his work well

I can only glance at what occurred while I was waiting for my funeral. I remember how. during the lonjj night, I watched over my own coffin, linked to, yet apparently separated from, my own body view-

?ng

We'll have to leave one of them, if that's the case,"-said the older physician. It makes no difference, however. He no doubt died from the same cause as the other: they were found together."

I had received my respite. I was not to bo mangled as I had just seen my companion. The reeot^n of my feelings was so great that I wonder it did not rouse me from my trance..

my own pale countenance by the dimly burning gas-light overhead listening to the never-ceasing "drip, drip" of the water from the melting ice observing how the morning sun again shone cheerfully, but could not dispel the gloom of my little household how the undertaker busied himself about my body, unconscious that he was watched by his late occupant how my friends came during the day, viewed the remains of their late companion, expressed their sympathies to my wife, and went away.

I must not omit to mention a mysterious phenomenon which occurred while I was apparently separated from my body. During the day my wife had passed a longer time than usual without entering the room in which I was. I felt a desire for her presence, and was wondering how she cou^u be occupied. While ro doing I unexpectedly found myself by her side in the room on the second floor where she was accustomed to. spend most of hertime^ She was sitting, apparently in sorrowful meditation, in the easy-chair I had so often seen her occupy, while near her was the vacant seat I usually selected for myself. Her sad, pale countenance did not alter its expression, and she evidently knew nothing of my presence. A dressmaker in the room, engaged in the preparation of mourning apparel, was equally ignorant of the presence of a third person. I found that by a simple effort of the will I could come and go as I chose, and during the day I experienced a new and unexpected source of consolation in watching, though unseen, at my wife's side.

This new power of locomotion, of which I accidentally discovered that I was the possessor, I exercised still farther. My thoughts at one time reverted to the scene of the accident upon the Erie road, and in a moment I was there. The spectators of two days before had deserted the place, the overturned engine bad been righted and placed on a truck, the fragments of the demolished cars had been removed from the sight passing trains, the waiting-room, my horrible prison, was open and unoccupied, and only a baggage-master and a switch tender were to be seen in the neighborhood.

My thoughts turned to my red-haired companion and fellow-sufferer. While thinking of him I found myself in a neat inland village which I had never before visited. A modest wooden house, punted white and with green Venetian blinds, presented itself to my view. Led by some Influence which I cannot explain, I found myself inside a room which seemed to be the parlor. There I saw a neat coffin, with the lid partially removed, bearing on a silver plate the .inscription, "James aged 35. Died June 15th, 18—." In the coffin was the body of the companion of my journey, of whom I had been thinking. A depression, forming a line around his forehead, caused by a partial separation of the divided portions of the Bkull, was all that told of the late work of the surgeon I felt guilty of an intrusion, and was glad to find myself again at home.

The hour for my funeral arrived.

'A^l'9

Wtn iS*-

fAi

a-tsSl ctO

CRAWFORDSVILLE, MONTGOMERY COUNTY* INDIANA, AUGUST 5, 1871.

Frtends who had been respeetfally invited to be present began to appear. My kind pastor offered thfe temarks UEUSI- on such occasions, and ascribed to me virtues which I fear I- never possessed. The whole proceeding had the same^matter-of-fact air as many others of a similar nature at which I had been present without feeling the same degree of interest in them.

After my body had been removed from the ice-box and placed in the coffin, and the chill from the ice began, I suppose, to pass away, I felt myself drawn nearer to it, as if I were once more apart of it Suddenly all was again darkness. I perceived that was'rigain inhabiting my own body, with limbs still immovable, and with only the senses of hearing and feeling at command. My ethereal wanderings were over, and I was again dwelling in the flesh. It was a change like that which takes place when, after wandering in bright dreams through places near and distant, we suddenly awake and find ourselves in bed amid the darkness of night

Hie lid of my coffin was screwed firmly on, and I was deposited in the hearse. I htfftd the rumbling of wheels as we passed through the streets, the plash of the paddles as we crossed the ferry, the smooth rolling as we left the pavements and enteiid the drives of Greenwood. I was left alone in the family vault The last words I heard from Sniff were an order to his attendants to open the vault in the mcrning and place the coffin in the crypt that had been assigned to it.

I was alone for the night, again surrounded by dead bodies, and my last opportunity for communication with mortals was to come in the morning. How the twelve or fifteen hours passed I hardly know. I think I may have been, part of the time, in a kind of sleep, for often sn hour would pass, as indicated by the striking of clocks in the church towers of the city, and it would seem but a few minutes. Hearing was the only one of the senses I could exercise, and I listened eagerly to eveiy sound, to assure myself that I was still in the material world. I could hear all the katydids on the trees without, the croaking of frogs in the ponds of the cemetery, the music of tree-toads, and once a whippoorwill poured forth his note with startling distinctness lust at the door of the vault

Near morning anew phase my condition occurred. I began to feel in my hands and feet a sensation as if they were overrun by. an army of ants or spiders. At first I thought these insects had found their way into my coffin. They seemed to be crawling up my legs and arms and over my body in countless multitudes. Then I felt a sharp tingling, as if each ant were plunging a small needle ia my flesh—then a pain, as if each needle were a hook at which the ants were vigorously tugging. Then there was a quivering beneath the skin and a tremor of the muscles of the legs and arms. Finally, with some forebodings, I made an effort to move my hand, and as I did so I heard the rustling of the stiffened trimming of the coffin. The sweetest note of a Nilsson could not afford the pleasure that the sound gave me. By repeated efforts I moved my extremities until they were entirely under the control of my will. I tried to articulate, but could only produce a sound which I was ambitious enough to call a groan. Still, I hoped it might be heard without the cof-

I think it was about seven o'clock in the morning wlieii I lxcaul a

rottling tKo

grating which constituted the door of the vault. The hinges creaked, and a moment afterward 1 heard the sound of footsteps and voices near me The upper hole's the place to put'm. Take hold of t'other end, Pete. Little end fust," said a hoarse Afritan voice.

I felt myself lifted some distance from the ground the foot of the coflin was rested on the edge of the crypt, and the head, I suppose, was suppoited on the shoulders of two men preparatory to its being shoved into its final resting-place.

I thought my last moment for rescue had arrived. If I could not make myself heard now, my fate would be finally decided. I concentrated all my energies upon the effort: Oh—oh—um-m! oh— oh—um-ml"

4

What's dat? who dar? What did you say, Pete?" Wnffin' fi

Nuflin'. I guess suthin' must be the matter wid you.' Again 1 tried, more desperately than before: "Ah! oh—um-um-m!'

I heard suthin', I'm sure, Pete. Who's dar? I say." Once r-iore I tried: Oh—um-m! "Oh, Golly! Urn's in de coffin. Clar out, Pete! Dis rigger's gwine, shuah

The ery next instant I was sensible of a concussion as if all Bismark's Prussians had planted their batteries in the head of my coffin and fired them off simultaneously. Meteors, shootingstars and sky-rockets, intertwined with innumerable streaks of lightning of all sizes, shapes and colors, shot through and before my eyes. My coffin was standing upon its nead, with the foot resting against the edge of the crypt, having been dropped by the Ethiopians at the sound of my third groan. The light of day was streaming through the broken lid, which had been split by the force of the fall. Pure air also was admitted through the aperture, and, whether from this reason or becau-3 I was roused by the violence of tlie concussion, I found that I was once more breathing freely. I was alstf able to see, through the clunk in the coffia-lid, that te negroes in their flight had left the door of the vault widely open. I now felt sure of my escape and final safety.

Standing on one's head in one's coffin 13 not a comfortable position. By a decided swinging motion I succeeded in dislodging the foot of the coffin from its restingplace, and in bringing it to the floor with a crash not quite equal to the first. The lid of the coffin had been so shattered by the successive falls that I succeeded in bursting it open after a severe struggle.

I was now free. The concus 'on had fairly aroused my vital powers, an.gg lough weak and trembling, I climbed steps thai led from the vault. The first objects that met my view were the two colored individual standing a few rods off, and staring with dilated eyes and outstretched necks toward the door of the vault. My head had just risen above the surface when with a yell they turned their backs, and fiving heels and vibrating elbows remained before my vision but a moment, and then were hidden by a corner. The view from Greenwood is at all times beautiful, but to me, after my escape, it seemed glorious beyond description. In the beautiful spn lipht of a June morning, the glittering dew, the grass, the trees, the bay, the distant hills, the neighboring cities, united to form a picture which seemed too charm ing for this world.

I next thought of home and of the method of getting there. I had been attired for the grave in an ordinary suit of black, but was without hat, shoes or purse, which the undertaker had consid ered useless incumbrances in taking the last journey. One or two early visitors to the cemetery looked at me as if I were an escaped lunatic, as I was tottering as rapidly as possible toward the gate. Tlie gatekeeper stared as if he were witnessing an apparition when I passed. I approach©! the nearest hack-driver and asked to be taken to New York. He surveyed me from head to foot, and demanded his pay in advaMe. I effected a compromise by offering a stud whicli had been left in my shirt-bosom as security, snd was soon on he ad a

For the first time my hfe I experienced some embarrassment upon entering my own house. I hesitated whether to announce my»elf or send a message by the driver, bat decided upot^he former course.

I ascended the steps and rang the belL The servant who opened it gave a bewildered look at me, and, with a scream of horror, precipitately fled to the basement. I pushed on and entered the parlor. My wjve, alarmed at the outcry, descended the stairs, and seeing the open door of the parlor, hastily came in. Her eyes met mine, her face flushed, she said rapidly, I c-xpected. it—I was sure you would—'* Her face

lip3

and

blanchcd she tottered toward me, and before I could advance to meet her, fell headlong to the floor.

Many days elapsed before I could summon qgurage to relate my wretched experiencefand ask my wife to infonn me what was the nature of the presentiment with which she had been troubled on the morning of my departure. Her reply was this:

When you left I had only a vague but a strong conviction that some mischief would befall you what it was I did not know, nor could I give any reason for the belief. When your body came home it seemed a partial fulfillment of a forgotten dream- The different events of your funeral, as they occurred, seemed exactly what I had anticipated, though I had not definitely foreseen any of them. The occurrences of those days, in their effect upon my mind, I can only compare to a panorama of familiar scenes passing before my vision. As every picture presented itself, I recognizsd the scene as one with which I had been acquainted, though I could not tell what would next appear until it had been unrolled. When you were placed in the vault I felt that my presentiment had not yet. been completely fulfilled, but I could not imagine what was lacking, nor determine whether the conclusion would occur inthisworldorthenext. Whenyou reapappeared I felt that the sad and mysterious prophecy of which I was the unconscious and unwilling medium had been verified, and believed then, as I do now, that my presentiment had received its accomplishment."

A year has passed since the events I have described took place, but the weeks 6eem short in comparison with the hours of those days, whose very minutes seem separately and indelibly scorched upon my brain.—Lippincott's Magazine.

MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS*

WHEN conscience is awakened nowadays, it don't like to say, Is it I?" half so well astl It is you."

A. F. WILLMAKTH, Vice President of the Home, of New ork, is a policy-hold-er, stock-holder and director of the Washington Life.

A FOREIGNER hoped that if that was a Fourth of July, Heaven would deliver him from the other three-quarters.—Boston Post.

No man with a dependent family is free from reproach if he fails to insure.—LORD LiNDiruRST. Insure in the Mutual Life, of Chicago.

A PRIVATE in the army recently sent a letter to his sweetheart, closing with: May heaven cherish you aud keep you from yours truly, John Smith."

A JOYOUS damsel rushed into a citizen's arms at Savannah, exclaiming. Oh, you are my long-lost brother!" She soon discovered her mistake, and rushed off in a confused manner, accompanied by her long-lost brother's pocket book.

THIS is the way aNew York printer

vertises

himself: "The

ad­

poorest

printer in

the world. No attention whatever paid to orders prices higher than any otner house in the city 17 small business cards for $1,000 in gold other work in propor" tion. How this world is given to lying.''

THERE is a story told of the officers of a British ship dining vrith a Mandarin at Canton. One of the guests wished a second helping of a savory stew, which he thought was some sort of duck. Not knowing a word of Chinese, he held his plate to the host, saying, with smiling approval, Quack, quack, quack." Imagine how his countenance fell when the host, pointing to the dish, responded, "Bow, ow, ow."

SIR WALTER SCOTT, who was a lawyer, once defended a house-breaker at Jedburgh. After the ial the prisoner sent for him, thanked h'm for his exertions, and said he was sorry he could not give him a fee, but he would give him two bits of advice: First, that a yelping terrier inside of a house was a better protection than a big dog outside and, secondly, that no lock so bothered a housebreaker as an old rusty one.

...

IT has been ascertained from the statistics of the General Life Insurance Company of London, that if 100,0G0 intemperate persons be taken, from 15 to 70 years oT age, and an equal number of corresponding ages who are not intemperate, thirtytwo of the former will die as often as ten of the latter. Out of 100,000 of each, 16,907 of the intemperate will be dead belbre 50 years of age, but of those who are not temperate 4 206 only will be dead.

ON Sunday morning last, says the Newton (Mass.) Journal, the steam fire-engine at Newton Corner started off at the full speed of the horses to the fire at Newtonville operated at the fire, and was about to return when i"ie engineer heard a sort of subdued cluck, and, upon investigation, a hen was found perched upon the spring ot the tender attached to the machine, having rode the whole distance to the fire, and remained clinging to her frail foothold during the entire time that the machine was working at the fire. Her cluck appeared to be one of triumph at the feat she had performed, and she seemed to be none the worse for her rather hasty journey. This hen had just before hatched out a brood of chickens, which, in the hurry of departure, she left behind at the engine-

louse. GEORGE WHITEFIKLD was once preaching to a seafaring audience in New York, when, suddenly assuming a nautical air and manner that were irresistible, he broke in with, Well, my boys, we have a clear sky, and are making fine headway over a smooth sea before alight breeze, and we shall soon lose sight of land But what means this sudden lowering of the heavens, and that dark cloud arising frorn beneath the western horison Hark! don you hear distant thunder Don't you see those flashes of lightning? There is a storm gathering! Every man to his duty! How the wave3 rise ana dash against the ship. The air is dark!—the tempest rages!—or? masts are gone!—the ship is on her beam ends! What next?" This appeal instantly brought the sailors to their feet with a shout, "The longboat!—take to the longa

WE read, in a German publication, an extraordinary account of the explosion of only ten drops of nitro-glycerine, which pupil in a labaratory had put into a ema iron saucepan, and heated with a Bansen gas flame. The effect of the explosion was that the for. y-six panes of glass of the windows of

the

laboratory were smashed

to atoms, the saucepan was hurled through a brick wall, the stout i'on stand on wmch the vessel had been placed WM partly split, partly spirally twisted, and t^c tube of the Bunsen burner was split and flattened outward. Fortunately, none of the three persons in the laboratory hurt When nitro-glycerine is caused fall, drop by drop, upon a thoroughly reahotironplite, it burns off as gunpowder would do under the same conditions but if the iron be not red hot, but yet hot enough to cause the nitroglycerine to boil suddenly, an explosion place. —At a school election in Tynemouth, England, the candidates had the electors vote on what sort of liquors they preferred—the majority putting up uiree fingers as a sign for rum.

vmsssssmm.-

NO.

Touths' Department.

LITTLE TEASE.

BY dZOJMB COOPS R.

HIDIKO her grandmamma'* knitting away, Teaching tho kittens the letter*, tn play. Clambering np to the table and shelf. Having a tea party all by herself Quiet mlaute, in mischief, no donbt, Pulling the needle* and thimbles about. Sewing her apron, demure as yon please Any one got such dear little teas* 7

Printing her hands In the soft tempting flour. Tumbles and bumps twenty mes in an honr Tangling the yarn and unraveling the lace. Doing it all wtth the prettieit grace.1 Mother is scolding her very bad girl. Bays that she sets the whole house In a whirl Locks at her uting there, down at her knees Clasps te her heart again d«ar little teaze.

—HUl* Corporal.

SIGHT.

Little children, can you tell mc what shape night is "Night! Bless us, no! We did not know it had any shape."

Oh, but it has though listen, and I will tell you all about it. First, however, what is night, think you

Darkness." Very true, so far, but what makes the darkness? Stand up, now, with your back to the bright fire, and tell me what makes that darkness, like the picture of a black giant's baby on the opposite wall

Your shadow, certainly. Well, then, cannot you guess what the darkness of night is? Do you suppose your plump little person can cast that terrible-looking shadow, and the great, round earth, so thich and so solid, cast none at all, but let the sunlight through it, like a bit of glass or a drop of rain-water No, indeed. The earth casts a mighty shadow of its own, for little children to lie down and sleep in, when they are tired of work and play. It always has its fire—which is the sun —on one side, aid its shadow, stretching far, far away, beyond the mountain-tops, and yeyond the clouds, and beyond the moon on the other.

If the earth stood quite still before the fire—I mean the sun—it would have day on the same side and night on the same side all the time, so that, after you had eaten your supper, if you wanted to sleep under the cool and quiet curtains of the sight, you would have to travel ever so many miles to go to bed, and when you had had your sleep out, all the way back again into the bright borders of the busy day. That would be-very inconvenient indeed, but by no means the worst paitof it, for nothing could grow on one half the earth if the sun never shone there, because it would not only be dark—and plants cannot live without light—but also colder than the coldest winter night. Other terrible things, too, would come to pass, more thar you or I have any idea of. "The dear o'd motherly earth knows better how to lake care of her children, and spins constantly round and round like a huge top, so very, very fast that in twenty-four hours she has turned quite round, and has given us the whole of one day, and the wnole of one night, full of warm sunshine and sweet, quiet sleep, without our even hating to go out of our own homes in search of either. "If I were to le'l you. in figures, just how big the worid is, and just how fast it turns round, I am afraid you would not be much the wiser, because you arc not used to think of such large numbers, and would not understand at all how great they really are. Perhaps, however, it will give you some idea of the size of the earth if I tell you that the deepest seas and highest mountains upon it are le«s in pro portion to its whole bulk than the little roughnesses on the skin of an orange are to the size of the fruit.

Oceans and rivers are like the scratch3 mountains that pierce the clouds like the uneven places in your foot-ball. "You can well imagine that such a monstrous top as that must spin pretty fast to turn all the way round iu a few hours. If it does not spin faster than your tops and tetotums, our nights would last so many years that long before one of them was over we should die of cold and starvation.

Think, too, what a great, long shadow a ball so large, and at such a vast distance from the sun, must cast! Dear mc! If you thought of it a'l the days of your life, you could never think of auything half so long as the sbadow of the earth.

Now that you know what night is, that it is really only a shadow, you will not be so surprised to lea^n that it has a distinct form, for I am sine you never in your life saw or heard of a shadow that had no shape at all. "You will wonder, perhaps,how people know so much about the size and form of it when no one has ever been where the whole of it could be seen at once, even if it were possible to see it in that way, which, for reasons that I will explain to you some dav. it. is Tiot 'hc,c always a good many wise men the world who spend the' whole lives in reading and wr iting, and looking at the stars through teleccopes, and ciphering and thinking, and putting this and that together, until they find out a great many wrmderful things and all that little folks, like you and me, can do, is to believe what they tell us, and try to understand as much as we can. "Let us believe, then, that-they have discovered exactly how large the sun, and earth, and moon are, and exactly how far they are anart, and that they are all round, like uailr or nearly so, and I think, after we have taken this for granted, we can manage to understand something about the form of the shadow that our earth casts out into space but you must be very attentive, or you may not hear all I have to say, and learn nothing from it, pnd that would be a pity.

If you had a small light behind you— the flame of a lamp, fir instance—and a wall before you, at some distance, your .shadow, cast by the small light on the wall, would be larger than yourself i. there were another wall farther oil, your shadow on that would be larger still, and if you could have one sufficiently far off, you would cast a shadow upon it large enough to cover the wh earth neither would it stop there, but g--» on and on, growing bigger and bigger as it went. 8o,

takes

jou see, when you have a l'ght behind you smaller than yourself, your shadow continues to increase in size the farther it extends. "If, nowever, you bed a very large light behind you-say as large as the side of a house—and a waH before you, your shadow would be smaller than yourself on a wall at a greater distance it would be smaller still,"and so on. until it would at last come to a point and vanish. ow,

come

of our world, for the sun is a great deal larger than the earth, so that, although its shadow is very long indeed, it yet growe gradually smaller all the way, and comes at last to a point. If you think of it for a minute, you will not find it hard to understand that such a shadow, cist by a

round

ball, must be what is called coneshaped—that is. shaped like a sugar loaf, or the extinguisher of a candle, or the paper cornucopia you had last Chrjptmas full of sugar-plums. "It is, then, under this great coneshaped shadow you sleep every night, and while you are dreaming it passes swiftly over your bed, lifting its mighty head up, up farther than your thoughts can follow it, bayond the pathway of the distant moon. ,,

That reminds me to tell you, what 1 dare say you have already guessed, that the moon in its regular travels round us sometimes passes through the earths night-shadow, and becomes wh|t we call

'eclipsed,' or hidden. This happens about twice a year. It ia not often entirely ridden, however, bat more frequently pupes somewhere ACTOM the edge of the great shadow, so that we can see a large part of its round, bright face, and may watch the eclipse passing slowly over one side of it, until, like a shining silver.bub-!-J. dnlntd the light Y$u tbongfi, that tne rbo6n

blr, iVfldatfl out arehctt to ta is really babble, round, solid earth

By no means. It is a as solid as our own,

and probably made of very much the sort ot rock, only it is not nearly so large. It would take fifty moons to make such an earth as this, and we have about fourteen times as much room on the outsBe of our world as the little peop'e In the moon—if there are any there—have upon theirs.

The sun, you know is bright with its own l'ght, as afire is, but the moon, just like our earth, is bright only waiie the sun shines upon it. Therefore, what we are between it and the sun, or, What is saving the same thing in other wbrds, when it comes into our shadow, It is. in the dark, and cannot be seen. That is what we mean when we say that the moon shires by reflected light.

The moon is the earth's little daughter, and, like her mother, receives daylight from the sun, and has a conical1 shadow, or night of her own. Her day lasts for a whole fortnight, and so does her ni£ht. That is a veiy long day ands ^ht for such a little world, is it notf

Sometimes all the bright daylight side is turned toward us, and then we ay the moon is fall sometimes all the dark night side, and then we say there ?B no moon. When a tiny narrow stilp of the bright side begins to peep round againj we cul it the new moon. "What a fine, great moen, fourteen times as large PS ours, this earth most be for the good ioiks there! Only, it happens that I \e same half of the moon is always turned this way, the people on the otner half they want to have a

Took

at us, must take along journey in order to enjoy that pleasure. Somet.mes we appear a fulI mdOBTto them, and sometimes new, as our moon dees to us but instead of rising in the east and setting in the west, we alwa^s seem to stand still, just in the same pa. of the sky. The people who live in the center of that half of the moon which is turned toward us see directly over their heads all the time. "I would tell you a great deal more about the sun, and the moon, and the stars, and the earth, and I will soon, if you like to hear, but not row, for, see! while we have been talking, the great earthshadow has crept silently over us, and is pressing down your- sleepy eyelids.— Children's Hour. How tlie Inventor of a flying Machine Didn't Fly.

Our reporter was yesterday notified that an item of no small constquence would await him at the corner of Fort and Beaubien streets at noon, and appeared there to find a select party of half a dozen gentlemen, who were about to witness a trial of what might have been Fulger's patent wings," but which may never be, owing to circumstances related Airther on. About five years ago, a man named Fulger, employed in a machine shop at Buffalo, conceived the idea that he had solved the question of a human being navigating the air like a bird. He had read and pondered, drafted and experimented, and at length brought out a pair of flyers," which were intended to assist him in soaring to the clouds, but which didn't. The wings were in the shape of fans, composed of whalebone and oiled-silk, and fastened to the shoulders. By means of a large spring, which held the two together, and a sort of handle falling over the head and clasped by the hands, the wings could be worked fast or slow, and with ease. As they would not raise the inventor from the ground, lie suspected that a current of air was lirst necessary, and climbed upon a shed to take his flight. His select audience shouted time," the wings commenced to flop, and Fulger went on his head, getting a bump whicli made him sec stars for an hour. He tried his invention twice afterward, but the result was the swie each time, and then, as his life was not insured, lie concluded to preserve it by walking the earth with the gifts which nature gave him. But his bumps had hardly ceased to ache when Fulger's ideas began to return to the old channel, and he has wasted months of time and a considerable amount of money in pursuing the delusive vision. Six months ago, on coming to Detroit, he was taken sick, aud not being able to do heavy work, and having several hundred dollars by him, he has spent the Inst four months in perfecting another pair of wings, and lliese he had with him yesterday, lie was very enthusiastic, and promised our reporter ho would telegraph him from Grand Rapids before sundown, having no doubt that he would arise on the noon day breeze aW sail the air like a buzzard, it was at first proposed to go up the alley and let him try the experiment by jumping off a barn, but a crowd began to gather, and ids modesty obliged the invited guests to follow him nearly a mile up Ileaubien street to the commons, close on which stands a tumble down story and a hall house. The audience made a halt here, and Fulger carelully unrolled twenty or thirty newspapers and brought out the wings. Each one measured exactly seven feet in length, and the broadest part was three ftet and eight inches, looking in shape like the wings of an eagle. At the butt of the wing was a piece of cork, say six inchcs square from this eight strips of rattan, not quite as large around as a lead pencil, ran the whole length, being bound I.igeiliei AI ueiutlu PLIICCO «YIUI -wro». At the butt each rattan was fasU-nid with the cork with a small screw. The wings were made to fasten directly under the arms, stout cords running up over the shoulders to hold thern. The covering was oil skin, being the same material as that which used to be worn to protect ladies' bonnets from injury. The weight of the two was just two pounds and a half. On the upper side of each wing, just where the hands could handily grasp iheru.astrip of stout rubber was fastened, and the flying was to le done by the man grasping these handles and working the wings up and down, the hands first pushing and then pulling.

At last, after everybody had admired, doubted and congratulated, Mr. I-ulger shook hands all around and announced that be was about to pay a visit to the sun, having changed his mind in regard to going to Grand Rapids. With the wings hanging down behind, he mounted to the roof, a distance of about fourteen feet, and then warned his audience not to jar his nerves by any remarks. Standing on the extreme end of the ridge, just over abed of rank grass and tall weeds, We bird seized the wings firmly, tbrtw out a quid of fine cut and took the leap, r-xactly what took place cannot be described, as every one was laughing so that his eyes refused to see but this much our reporter will swear to, there was a jump, a flop, two or three keel-overs, a mailing of HIK, ana the audience saw Mr. Fulger lying on rus stomach on the ground, the spreading wings making him a figure comic beyond description. He was raised up turned over and soon opened his eyes and wanted to know what had occurrcd, and was soon leaninK against the house and breathing hard. He claimed that he lost his balance at the critical moment, or else he ^oulu have sailed away like a Muscovy duck, but

to a point and vanisn. ^iaw, ,.pcat the experiment again, this is exactly'.he care with the snadow-

tfaat he

didn't feel well. Sympathy

for his failure kept the gentlemen from

laughing all they wanted to, but Mr. uleer

left

them with the assertion that he

should soon have the pleasure of wiling on the same audience to witness him taking a moonlight excursion above their heads —Detroit Free Press.

NEIGHBOR S is a blacksmith he has a little four-year-old." S was at work at his forge the other day making harro wteeth, and had about thirty piled up K-side the anvil, when Bob catne in, and stood watching the job. "H

whals„th*m'

"Those are harrow-teeth, sonny. worked away, not noticing the boy until he h^rd a laugh, when he looked up, ami heard him exclaim to himself, Ho, ho what an awful big mouf!" j,

—We talk about the spice of life, and yet we say, "Thou hast all seasons for thine own, Or I^gathr"^