Indianapolis Journal, Indianapolis, Marion County, 20 September 1884 — Page 9

IN THE APENNINES. An Indianapolitan in the Mountains—Recalling Old Scenes and Faces. Correspondence of the Indianapolis Journal. Penta, Province of Salerno, Italy, Aug. 28. Here I am, in a little village on the western slope of the Apennines, as these mountains rise to the eastward of Mount Vesuvius. We reached here in a round-about way from Naples, by railroad forty miles, and by horse-power, over a fine macadam, two miles more. I can’t commend the horse-power. In the country parts of Italy the gentlemen keep their own carriages, Which, with the horses, are of a good kind. But when “poah white folks,” like ourselves, want to breathe mountain air away from the railroads and the stage-coach (they still have them) routes, we must put up with the ramshackle concerns which the peasants buy at Naples and Salerno after the Neapolitan and Salernitan drivers have driven all the strength, screws and springs out of the vehicles. Nevertheless we were glad, when we arrived at mediaeval San Severino, to get into such a rickety carriage, behind a horse equivalent to some of the colored brothers’ Rosinantes that draw the vehicular concerns which collect slops, garbage, etc., in Indianapolis. But once here at Penta we forget any disagreeable getting here, for the delicious fresh air, the panorama of mountain, rising range, on range, the lovely green valleys, the hundreds of picturesque Italian towns, villages and hamlets gleaming on the mountain-sides or nestling in the dales, the fine roads or the winding, shady paths, the vineyards, the fields of wheat, Indian corn, and other grains we wot not of in America; the groves of evergreen oaks, the orchards of fruits peculiar to Italy, the cultivated chestnut trees, the long stretches of walnut trees, laden with their rich nuts, which we call “English walnuts;” the population entirely rural—all these and many more things that I might mention, not forgetting the cheapness of living—more than repay one for coming hither, even on a hot day. Hero I cannot forget Indianapolis. I brought hither the Herald, and, among other good things, I read that very interesting article, quoted from the Indianapolis Journal, on Alaska. I was glad to see that article for two things: first, because it was well written by someone who knows what he is about, and conveyed in a single column more about Alaska than I ever got before from volumes on the subject; second, it showed that the editor of the Herald had good feeling toward his daily contemporary, and manifested the proper courtesy in giving full credit for the article to the Journal. Such courtesy is not always kept up now a days. But if I had Indiana before me by the presence'of this newspaper, I only had to lift my eyes, look out of my window and see another scene entirely different from anything in my native State. From a half dozen villages I could see, peering above the tops of the trees, the towers of old churches and convents. From those said towers I could hear the musical bells peal forth the quarters of an hour, followed every time by a repetition of the previous hour. But these convents have no longer their monkish and nunnish dwellers. Italy wants no more the great burden of dead capital in big buildings and wide lands owned by religious corporations of really ignorant men and women, which are worse than dead capital. Hence United Italy said to all the young monks and nuns, “Go ye forth into the world and earn your living by industry; as to the old and infirm of your brotherhoods and sisterhqods, they are the result of a bad, idle system of retiring from the world instead of being active in it; the government will give >you a pension as long as you live, but no more young people must enter monastical life with the expectation that the government will support them.” And so the convents and their lands have been secularized—that is, have (with exceptions of the large buildings) been sold, and the money has been appropriated to the purposes of education, save that portion which is applied to the pensions of the old and decrepit monks and nuns. The large conventional buildingsin the cities, towns and villages, have very appropriately been turned into colleges, highschools, common schools, libraries, and, sometimes, have municipal buildings. Italy, though a Roman Catholic country, in 'this respect has followed the example of Spain, Portugal, France and Belgium. Italv, before her full unity was attained, by Rome becoming the capital, in 1870, was the most ignorant country ’n Europe, except Spain and Portugal. On the morning of Jan. 1, 1872, there were found (by the first census of United Italy, that finished the night before) no less than 73 per cent, of illiterate people in her population, the greater portion of whom were in the States of the Pope, the old “Kingdom of the Two Sicilies,” and in the island of Sardinia. But there has been a small improvement in ten years, for, on Jan. 1, 1882, the census showed the total population of Italy to be 28,459,000, and the illiteracy had been reduced by six per cent.; in other words, there were 67 per cent who could neither read nor write. However, even if you count out babes in arms and children up to four years of age, and all the weak-minded and insane, this ignorance is appalling. Jnst think of it—19,149,000 of people out of 28.459,000 who cannot road and write—who have not the rudiments of an elementary education! Within a few years they have passed a law rendering common school education obligatory, and they do not find that it works well, for, in the rural districts of the old States of the Pope, and of the old “Kingdom of the Two Sicilies," which form nearly one-half the kingdom, the poor peasant depends very much upon the labor of his children, even the little ones uot more than five or six years of age, who can tend the goats, lead a pig to eat the acorns of the cork tree and other jvergreen oaks, or scare away the birds from the grain fields—all are called to help support the family. The fact is, in this large part of Italy much of the land is held by something very like the old feudal tenure, and one solution of the educational question is to have a uniform land iaw, which will look, in central and southern Italy, to the breaking up of these vast estates, and in small proprietors of the peasants, as in France. Then, too, Americans who take an interest in education abroad must remember that a whole generation of illiterate middle-aged and old people must pass away before this great percentage of ignorance can be reduced. But “the schoolmaster is abroad,” although it will be a long time before Italy can be placed on the level of Indiana. This, however, [ may say: that, in the middle and upper classes, Italy has a larger percentage of university odulated people than any other country m the irorld except Germany. Since writing the above I have just gone to ny window to admire the landscape, which is rery much like that of Vermont, only themountlins are higher and more jagged, and the cultivation in the valleys and on the lower third of he mountains is far beyond anything that we lave in America. Amongst the towns whioh I lee before me is the picturesque, straggling wn of Baronissi —a place of 4,000 inhabitants.

It was here that the celebrated brigand. Fra Diavolo, was captured by the French, in the first decade of this century, and afterwards executed. Many of your readers who have sung “Upon a Rock Reclining,” or have heard the opera of “Fra Diavolo,” have, perhaps, supposed that that brigand was a creature of the poet's and musician’s imagination. So far from that being the fact, he was a real character, whose name was Michele Pezza, and whose career for a number of years was that of a wholesale robber and murderer. But he was honored by the Bourbons of Naples because he left off private robbery and murder, and took to public crime of that kind under pretense of being a patriot andfighting the French. The French generals told the Neapolitan Bourbons that if Fra Diavolo was taken he would not be treated as a prisoner of war, but would be hung as a brigand. In 1806 he landed from Sicily at Sperlonga, on the coast seventy miles north of Naples, was encountered by a French detachment and defeated. He escaped with a small band, dodging about at night, and finally got to Baronissi, where he was caught and hung. But to turn from Fra Diavalo, let me say that last night I dreamed of Indianapolis, and amongst the persons I met with in my dream as distinctly as if I were at home (Indianapolis) men were Judge Martindale and Harry New. I thought it alj over again this morning, and I recalled, in connection witli an English writer, of whom I shall speak of, Judge Martiudale’s proposition to make Indianapolis “a summer reThe idea was not so bad in some respects, but Naples is a cooler place in summer. Recently a common-sense literary Englishman visited Naples—it was this very summer —and he has the courage of his convictions, and dares to write what your correspondent has always insisted on as the truth. This writer, in the London “World,” has written a most interesting letter from the island of Capri, which epistle he haft entitled “The Island of the Sirens," and in which he, in a charming style, combats the usual errors of John Bull in regard to the summer climate of Naples and vicinity. He says that he has “long been meditating the writing of a series of minority reports, the object of which should be to combat Certain vulgar errors, and to re-establish the truth.” All this shows tnat the writer is one of those men who do not believe in following the common herd. Like the late Dr. Wayland, who, when the ultra temperance people attacked him on the score that the “majority" were against his views (which were really practically for temperance), replied by a small publication, erammed full of convincingness, entitled the “Limitations of Human Responsibility,” and showed that “majorities were not always right," if so. the crucifixion of our Savior would be fully justified. There may be something in Matthew Arnold’s “Saving remnant” after aIL So our writer in the London World in a masterly manner controverts John Bull’s most popular and favorite errorthat it is too hot to live in Naples and neighborhood in the summer time. You 6ee that some taurie individual forget that three churches for English services (Presbyterian, Episcopalian and Methodist) are open all through the summer, when those of Rome close before the end of May. More than a hundred English and a few American families live in Naples, Sorrento. Castellammare, La Cava, Amalfi, Poggnoli “all the year round. ” The writer I refer to says that since he has enjoyed the cool breezes of Cupri at the same time with fruits of the tropics, it has given him new ideas of the capabilities for a summer resort of this favored region (Naples and vicinity), which was the favorite resort of the old Romans in the summer as well as in the winter. Indeed, modern Naples, as I have often written, has always a larger population in the summer than the winter, from the fact that Italians from the inland cities and from the large towns amidst the cool Apennines flock thither to spend June, July and August in the enjoyments of sea bathing. To quote the writor in the World: “Since I have been in this happy land, where the lemon trees both bloom and bear fruit, I am strongly tempted to begin my series of minor reports by demonstrating that, contrary to widely spread prejudice, the Bay of Naples is a most delightful and healthy summer resort.” Then he continues his descriptions in a very interesting manner, but what I have said is sufficient to indicate the trend of his whole letter. I cannot conclude without telling you how, on my way over here, I was again, in a very roundabout way, reminded of Indianapolis. I was led to recall the arrival and the putting up of the first bell of any size in my native place. It may be thought curious that anything in Italy could make me think of that first bell, but you will own that the connection was very legitimate. On my way hither our train touched at Nola, a city celebrated in ancient times and in the middle ages. Nola is twenty miles from Naples, at the foot of the Appenines. and on the extreme eastern edge of the fertile plain (Campania) out of which rises Vesuvius. Nola was the place where the Emperor Augustus died, A. D. 14. By the way, Augustus was the only Emperor who died a natural death until the year 79, when vigorous old Vespasian succumbed to the grim monster without the help of man. In the fifth century, A. D.. Nola became celebrated as the place where church bells were invented. Polydore, Virgil and other writers say that they were invented by Bishop Pauhnus, of Nola Now, in low Latin the word “campana” is the same as “Campania,” the name of the ancient province or plain where Nola is situated. Hence the earliest Dells were called “campana," which is the general name for bells in Italy to-day. The word crops out in English in campani-form. bell-shaped; campanula, bell flower; campanology. the science of bell-ringing; campanalogians, bell-ringers, and campanile, a belfry. Well, the first bells for churches in the world made me think of the first church bell in Indianapolis. It was either in 1836 or ’37 that the late Stoughton A. Fletcher sr., then a member of the firm of Bradley & Fletcher, whose store was three doors west of Henderson’s Hotel, where is the present Now York Store, purchased for the First Baptist Church a bell weighing somewhere between sixty and seventy pounds. This bell was first hoisted on a sort of scaffolding in the rear of the church, on Maryland street, the old church occupying the southwest corner of Meridian and Maryland streets. The first ringing of that bell was quite an evont in Indianapolis. Henry Bradley, the senior member of the firm, was an ardent Baptist, and it was he who commissioned S. A. Fletcher, sr., to order the bell when S. A. F. went East to purchase goods. What has become of that old bell? J. C. Fletcher. A Made-Up Dakota Belle. Milwaukee Sentinel. Lady Ceres, of Dakota, arrived in this city yesterday and was given comfortable quarters in the-office of W. E. Powell, Milwaukee & St. Paul emigrant office. The lady is of Dakota manufacture exclusively, is booked for an extended tour through the States this fall, and will undoubtedly prove a captivating object and draw to herself many ardent admirers before the close of the season. • With the exception of her handsomely painted face and a pair of glass eyes, the lady is made of Dakota products, grains and grasses being used exclusively in her formation. Her long blonde hair, represented by some peculiar variety of silken grass, is an object of special notice. Seeds are used in forming tasteful trimmings for the lady’s dress, which has bean gotten up in the latest fall style. A wreath rests upon her head, while a bouquet is grasped in one hand and a Dakota canary perched upon the other, which is raised and rests gracefully at the waist. This ornamental product exhibit, together with numerous others spoken of in yesterday's Sentinel, will be exhibited by the Milwaukee & St. Paul company at numerous fairs and expositions about tno country this fall, and in December next will be taken to the world's fair at New Orleans. The Mouth of the Cougo. Unlike most other great rivers, the Congo has no delta. It discharges into the sea by a single, unbroken estuary, seven and a half miles across, in which the sounding line of 200 fathoms does not everywhere touch bottom, and a current ruue of five to seven knots an hour. This enormous volume exceeds that of every other knowu stream, except the Amazon. A conservative estimate of the amount of water discharged by it is 2,000,000 cubic feet per second. The Mississippi, when at flood height, carries down no more than 1,500.000 cubic feet, and sinks in the dry season to 228,000. Moreover, the Congo never runs low. It swells and sinks, as the rainy and dry seasons succeed each other, but in a relatively narrow range of oscillation. Poisoned Cheese Cleans out all rats, mice, roaches, water-bugs, bed-bugs, ants, vermin. 15c. Druggists. Brown, ing & Sloan, agents.

THE INDIANAPOLIS JOURNAL, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1884.

ORIGIN OF NIAGARA. A Geologist’s Theory as to How the Cataract and Gorge Were Formed. Buffalo Courier. A reporter of the Courier, who was at Niagara falls yesterday, was more than ever impressed with the grandeur of Niagara’s chasm. He saw long black lines marking off the various formations of the mighty abutments, and could not help wondering at the enormous length of time the watering forces of nature had required to dig out that solid rock, and make the dizzy gorge. The desire to obtain accurate information on the subject directed his steps to the office of Dr. Julius Potlman, in the Lewis Block. Dr. Pohlman is one of the most prominent geologists of these parts. “'With great pleasure, I will tell you anything I know about Niagara,” said he. “In tracing the origin of this river, about whose banks cling such recollections of mystery and tragedy, we must go away back into the pre-glacial times, when the bed of the great lakes was occupied by a river, and Tonawanda valley contained a lake fifty miles in length, and from ten to twenty miles in width, with a possible maximum i sixt y eet - The northern barrier of the lake was of limestone formation. Being about fifty feet lower than the southern one, the overflow of water was toward the Ontario valley. The outlet found its way into the present channel of Niagara river somewhere near the upper rapids of the river, above the falls. “From here the waters met no obstacle, and in their flow predetermined the river gorge between the falls and the whirlpool, and continued in a straight course north, through the side of the whirlpool, and thence through the valley of St. David’s, in Canada, and onward through the Ontario valley. I have made careful searches, and find this track of the river from the whirlpool through Canada. By and by the Tonawanda lake began to subside, and finally was reduced to a river, with a wide, low valley on each side. The course of the river in making its way out of the valley of the ancient lake changed. .It flowed into the channel of the present Niagara where the present Tonawanda river enters now. It curved around the southern margin of Grand island, which formed a shallow part of the northern margin of the lake, and had risen as a peninsula in the course of time, and then flowed north into the original channel of the outlet, thus determining the two branches of the present river. The branch of the Niagara river which separates the island from the main land is of quite modern origin, as testified to by soundings. Well, the erosion across the thin bed of Niagara limestone naturally cut one or the other parts of the outlet deeper than the rest, and, confining the smaller channels, gave birth to a number of larger and smaller islands, known at present as Goat, Bath, Luna, the Sisters, and so forth. “The branches of the river joined again into one stream as they approached the heavy Niagara limestone, at about the site of the new suspension, or foot bridge, and rushed north for about three-quarters of a mile, where they fell over a precipice of about, one hundred feet. Goat island extended northerly in a triangular prolongation, with its apex somewhat abreast of the northern end of the present American fall. Below this fall of one hundred feet that I have just spoken of the river descended in rapids over shale until it encountered the Clinton limestone, near the railway suspension bridge, where it took another leap. From here a short rapid carried it to the entrance of the whirlpool, where another fall was caused by quartzose sandstone of the Medina group. Thence there was a rapid current ip Ontario basin. The volume of water then was exceedingly small as compared with the estimated twenty million cubic feet of the present. Nosj, at the time of the glacial period the movement of the ice sheet was in a northeasterly direction. The channel of the great river which I remarked about in the beginning was excavated deeply, and the valley of the great lakes was formed. When the arctic climate again changed into a temperate one, the ice sheet retreated northward and in its melting spread over the land all the ground up material as well as the rocks which had been caught up and carried under, and the valleys of St David's, Tonawanda, and others were more or less completely filled up with drift The channel of the o'd Tonawanda river from the whirlpool was also included in the filling process. After long ages the ice disappeared and the bed it had occupied became the seat of the chain of great lakes. At this time Lakes Erie and Ontario formed two large bodies of water and were at the same-level —that is, their surfaces were even with Lewiston heights. The waters in the lakes began to subside and a mud flat appeared between them, extending from Buffalo to Lewiston. An outlet from Lake Erie was formed through this flat, and we have the present Niagara river.” “I have always been taught that Niagara falls were originally at Lewiston, and wore their way back,” said the reporter. “That is the popular theory, but it is erroneous. In that case we must suppose that Lake Ontario was lower primarily than Lake Erie. It was not. I have found traces of the beach which its surface touched up on the mountain side. Both lakes subsided together, and Niagara river wore out its present channel in flowing from one lake to another. Os course, you understand it has required ages, thousands of years, to accomplish this work.” “Why didn’t the river follow the old channel and empty through St. David's valley?" “Because the valley was drift-filled, and there was a shallow valley from the whirlpool to Lewiston. The erosionwas very rapid. It was the line of the least resistance. Hence the bend of the river at right angles at the whirlpool is accounted for. As the excavation of the lower gorge was progressing the falls of the pre-glacial river came again into action. The two lower falls became rapids and the upper fall began to recede in horseshoe form. The retrocession brought itto the apex of Goat island opposite Prospect park, when t'no cataract divided and formed the American and Horseshoe falls. The northern margin of Goat island was quickly undermined and destroyed by the combined action of the waters, and was compelled to recede with the Canadian fall.” “Have the falls retreated recently, and if so, how far?” “We have few measurements, and it is a great pity. By comparing a survey made by Professor Hall, in 1847, with one in 1875, we find that the Horseshoe fall has retreated one hundred feet in thirty-four years. ” ROTATION IN OFFICE. How the New York Herald Force Is Changed About. Letter in Philadelphia Record. Mr. John Haberton who has been connected with the Herald editorial staff for the last five years, has been the victum of a recent “shake up” in the office, and found himself the other day landed in the city department as assistant city editor, under Mr. T. W. White, the late musical editor and Albany correspondent. Os course. Mr. Haberton could not be expected to enjoy this change in his newspaper duties, and I understand has sent in his resignation, but it seems not have taken effect yet. Mr. Haberton is the soul of good nature, but even a worm will turn. Mr. Bennett’s idea in these occasional shake-nps is not as vague and whimsical as some people seem to think. He has a decided plan and knows thoroughly what he means by it. His idea is that any man on the Herald staff should be capable of takipg hold of or going into any department, and he does not believe in being dependent upon any one man in running any one departmeut He thinks that each man should thoroughly understand each branch of the paper, so that if there is any reason for making the police reporter the foreign editor he should be thoroughly prepared for the change. As far as Mr. Bennett and the Herald are concerned the idea is not a bad one, but it is sometimes unpleasant for the man who is changed around in this lively manner. 'Another thing regarding this shaking up is to Mr. Bennett’s credit; the salaries are never touched. If he should tell the leader writers, who gets SIO,OOO a year for his services, to read the exchanges he would pay him the same salary. ’ I am afraid, however, if he made the exchange reader the leader writer that he would strike for a leader writer’s pay. The Hiddenite Gems. New Orlesng Times Democrat. The new precious gems discovered a couple of years ago in a mine about 50 miles distant from Bridgewater, N. 0.. and known as the Hiddenite, is said to be almost equal to the diationd. It is placed next to it, and at present superior to it.on account of its scarcity. This gem uof a clear, beautiful grass-green tint sparkles like a diamond, and is very hard. They vaty when cut from a fraction of a carat to about x or seven carats and the demand for them at $125 to $450

for a carat stone is far greater than the supply, and it comes chiefly from Europe, though many wealthy persons in New York and New Jersey have bought them. W. E. Hidden, a young, enthusiastic student of geologv and mineralogy, of New Jersey, went down to Western North Carolina some few years ago. and in prospecting tours over the mountains found this now celebrated gem, which by a friend was named “Hiddenite.’ The stone seems to have made more impression in Europe than in this country, judging by the demand the interest manifested. They are foud encysted in hard rocks that run in flat veins, thus evincing the stability of the formation and its permanency. The gems are concealed in pockets inside of stones, lining the sides, and have to be crushed out Hundreds of the stones may be crushed before a pocket is found, and the number of gems in each pocket varies. Some times as many as eight gems, varying in size, are found in a pocket—that is, there may be SSO worth of gems or SI,OOO worth in one pocket. PHOTOGRAPHIC NEWS. Experiences of a Reporter for an Illustrated Paper. Gertrude Garrison, in Pittsburg Dispatch. Somehow the people never considered the photographer as dangerous as a reporter. Although they knew him to be employed by a newspaper, as long as he made no use of a lead-pencil they talked freely to him, and told him things they wouldn’t have told a reporter for the world. He immediately carried all contraband information to the office, where it was instantly worked up into exciting reading. In this way many a curious piece of news found its way to the greedy ears of the public, while the unsuspecting souls who first let it escape wondered nine and ninety drys how it “got. out.” It- was through this ungarded channel that Judge Hilton’s famous remark in regard to Stewart's working-woman’s hotel, which was so much commented upon by the press, found its way to the public. The photographer went to take some views of the rooms. Judge Hilton showed him around. One of the first rooms exhibited struck the picture taker as being rather well furnished, and he volunteered the remark that it was “a mighty fine room for a working girl.” oung man.” said Judge Hilton, rather sternly, “this place is not intended for working girls.” This exceedingly indiscreet speech was the text of hundreds of editorials, and doubtless did its share toward making the Stewart Hotel a failure. It is true that for every idle word we are brought into judgment. At Greystone the photographer saw too much. He went to take interior views of the splendid dwelling-house of the great politician. Mr. Andrew H. Green showed him such rooms as he thought best to have put before the public. “I want a view of Mr. Tilden's study,” said the enterprising journalistic photographer. But this privilege was denied him, He wasn’t even permitted to see it. At length, when left to his own resources for a short time, he strolled down to the other end of the veranda, and. glancing through the open window, saw Mr. Tilden in his study, in an attitude indicative of such physical feebleness that he was surprised and shocked. On telling his experience to the editors of the Graphic, who had been stanchily advocating Tilden’s claims to a nomiuation for the presidency, they at once changed the policy of the paper, and ceased to support him. "Once.” said the custodian of the camera, “the Astor library secured a cast of Jupiter or some of those old duffers” (he was not particularly well-grounded in mythology or history) “that was rare. They wouldn't allow any one to either sketch or photograph it I went there on some pretense and asked to see the bust. One of the attendants piloted me to him, and I whipped out a Docket camera—dry plate process, you know —and while I chatted away with my guide, kept it sheltered by my hat and counted the time till I had him. The next day’ old Jupe was in print, as gay as a paroquet, and the library people never did know how he broke out of his seclusion.” A REAL INDIAN IN NEW YORK. Natives Surprised to t iud tnat He Is Not the Poetical Creature Commonly Pictured. Brooklyn Eagle. The stolidity of the North American Indian is truly awful. I don’t know whether the senate and solemn savage who has just come to New York is really Sitting Bull or not. It is generally conceded that, he is, but showmen are full of guile, and one finds it difficult to believe that the crafty chief who made such a famous fight in the Rocky mountains a few years ago is now on exhibition at fifty cents a ticket Buffalo Bill's Indians and the ordinary run of red men who appear in border dramas at the cheaper theaters have always impressed me more or less; but none of them approach the solemnity of Sitting Bull. Compared to his dignified mien Roscoe Conkline's manner is frivolous, frolicksome and gav. He sits in somber silence, and looks at the unfortunate white man who is attempting to be agreeable with a cold and reserved glance. You may enter the presence of Sitting Bull with a brass band, throw hand springs before him, weep, or have convulsions, and he will sit there and look at you with a cool, beadlike and intelligent, but utterly uninterested eye. Nothing disturbs him; he never smiles, and before he delivers a remark he thinks it over carefully, turns it into a dozen different shapes, then express, s it with the weight of a philosopher, and sinks into silence for another twenty-four hours. The remark is in many instances worth repeating. As witness the only utterance of his which has been recorded since he came to New York. He observed that be saw boys working for money in New York when they should be at play. There are certainly enough round-shouldered, puny and overworked boys in New York to excite the compassiou of even a less emotional man than Sitting Bull, if such a man exists. FromAhe pale and sickly-looking telegraph boys whom one sees at all hours of the night and day, and in weather of every variety, rushing along the streets, to the consumptive-looking youths who do wHht is facetiously termed “light porter’s work” in the big shops and manufactories, there are examples enough and to spare. They certainly do not give promise of a very healthy or robust race of men. Bonner and Maud S. W. A. Crofftit, in New York World, I called on Robert Bonner, yesterday, to see about some perishable yerse I had committed to his tender mercies. As I was withdrawing I asked about Maud S “She is an admirable creature,” he said, “and I am going to see how tast she can trot. By the way, the papers this mording didn’t get the fact that , she made her mile in 2:14} yesterday. I went up to Hartford to see her do it She will be speeded there about twice a week, probably lowering her record each time. She is being well trained and cared for. I like fast trotters, and, while I will never encourage gambling on them, it does not hurt a fast horse to go fast any more than it hurts a slow horse to glow slow. It doesn’t hurt Maml S, to make a quick mile more than it hurts a hitching-post to stand still.” I asked Mr. Bonner how he happened to select Hartford tor training his horses. “I am pretty well acquainted there,” he said. "My first newspaper work was done there—l was an apprentice on the Hartford Courant—now Joe Hawley's paper —in 1829, at $25 a year and my board and clothes. After that when I came here I was the papers New York correspondent for years, until 1844, when I got too busy to attend to it I scarcely thought, when I was office boy in Hartford, that I should ever send a $40,000 horse up there to be trained.” The Rising and Setting of the “Stars.” Pittsburg Chronicle, Innumerable new theatrical companies are about taking the road, chock full to the muzzle with stage struck amateurs. About November, when a commercial man seats himself at an interior town's table, and hears a deep, sepulchral voice at his elbow say: “Beefsteak-mut-ton chops-pork-fried-liver-aad-bacon we-have-no-eggs-tea-oricoffeel” he will know that he is being addressed .by the heavy tragedian. So, also, when the chambermaid makes him a stately bow, and in a voice of subdued intensity states that she will investigate if more blankets cannot be procured for his bed, he will understand where the “star” of the “Great Sorefoot Dramatic Aggregation” is wintering For scrofula, ypnimie disoruers, thin and watery blood, sluggish liver (indicated by poor digestion), weak kidneys (indicated by urinary sediments), diseased mucuous membrane (indicated by both nasal and urinary catarrh, inflamed eyelids, etc.), use Dr. Guysott’s Yellow Dock and-Sarsaparilla. It gradually rebuilds a broken down constitution, and restores robust health and strength to every part.

HANK MONK. Anecdotes of the .Host Famous of all Western Stage Drivers. Joaquin Miller. Long before Horace Greeley had made him famous, this man Monk was a hero among the heroes of the Pacific coast He was perhaps the first man to use the short double-barreled shotgun which Wells-Fargo's messengers made famous in their bloody battles with stage-robbers. The fact was. Hank Monk was such a reckless driver that, while everyone was proud of the honor of having once crossed the Sierras with him, no treasure messenger was willing to make a regular thing of it For it was universally conceded that it was only a question of time when Hank Monk and his now famous “Tally Ho” stage, along with his six horses, would be tumbled from the heights into one of the innumerable gorges that lay yawning under his narrow span of road around the mountain peaks. And so the daring driver had to sit on his box alone, save when the member of Congress or judge of his circuit, in order to show his valor and win votes, took possession of the perilous post. It was the ingenuity of Monk that introduced the short double-barreled shot-gun. But he did not carry it under his cloak with cock lifted and finger Qn trigger. Nothing of the sort; his hands were too full of the ten or a dozen reins for that. He simply had the gun pointed down on the side of his leg with the muzzle just peeping through the sole of his heavy boots. And no one was permitted to know of this arm at all. It was known that he carried his bowie-knife down the back of his neck so as to be in easy reach when he pushed back his broad hat to get a good look at his enemy, but the now famous shot-gun no one knew anything about; no. not even after he had twice been attacked and had thrice beaten off the robbers. I am told that the first time he used this weapon he stopped the stage and was slowiy handing down the treasure-box to the leader, when, getting his leg in range, ho emptied a load of buckshot into the robber’s heart. A second shot into the crowd of surprised robbers, and he dashed away witli all his desperate speed down the mountain. And even then no ons knew who tired the shots. The robbers believed it was all the work of the passengers inside the stage. A repetition of this same feat drew some suspicion on Monk, and his life was now in great peril. Once he handed in a bill for anew hat, saying the one he had was so full of bullet-holes that it “wouldn't hold shucks.” The amount of gold that this man carried out of the mines mounted far up into the millions, and never a dollar in all his years of service was lost. Counting the peril, the peculiar opportunities he had to betray his trust and escape suspicion by' collusion with the robbers, and so on, the name of Hank Monk, particularly at this time, ought to rank high. Reckless and hard driving with him was a passion. And yet theie was nothing reckless about it at all; and he was the kindest of masters to his horses. He loved them and they loved him, and knew his every tone and touch of the rein. His team was literally a part of himself. Once some timid passengers complained to Ben Holladay and told oim that as the stage whirled at railroad speed around a precipitous point every' last wheel was for a moment over the ledge. Monk twisted his broad bat about in his two hands ns he stood with uncovered head before the great stage king, and at last said slowly, with a twinkle in his fine eyes: “Governor, they lie; only two of the wheels was over.” There is no doubt however, that he was never quite so happy as when he could hang his stage ful of passengers over some deep precipice, as he dashed down the Sierras, around some curve,' and stretched his six horses out under the cracking of silk at full gallop. And yet. was he really reckless? I think r.ot; for I think I see something of an explanation of it in the swift motion of bicycles through the air. The man merely understood the properties of the air better lhan others, and knew well, from long practice, that so long as he could keep his stage in swift motion it could not upset, even if “all the wheels were over the precipice.” Never but once did he “upset,” and that was on level ground and in his old age, as he slowly turned about in the yard to take in passengers. He handed in his whip after that, and would drive no more except on rare occasions. General Albert Pike, who rode with him in the last year of his life, and who knew him well, speaks of him as a man with a well-balanced head and great good sense. There was one little romance in his life, lam told, which ought to make a drama. A young orphan girl who admired the old hero became his wife, and he settled down, with his worn out “Tally Ho," the first of the famous stages of the Sierras. hnd with his favor ite horses gathered about him. hoping to end his days in peace. Only a partition divided his horses from his own little cabin home, and they often put their heads in and ate bread from his hand as he sat at table with his hostler, a long, lank Dutchman, and his pretty little wife. But trouble came to the happy home all too soon. The old hero of the road was poor, and still had to be away at his work. A handsome gambler, the professed friend of the confiding man, made all the trouble. The temptation to drink was a sort of necessity in his perilous journeys through snow and storm, then the murder of a low gambler hovering about the camp, the accusation of the woman, the assumption of the crime by Hank Monk to save the woman—that was the end, and, ah! well, it is hard to tell here where fact leaves off and romance begins, for the old miners of the Sierras are not without imaginations, and are fond of ascribing great things to this man they all admired, and so I draw the line here. But, looking out on this Atlantic sea, white with ships, the lone, level reaches of land pointing out, like many fingers, far away, the happy homes dotted here and there, the laden orchards, the happy content that is here, the rest, the long and continuous Sunday, my heart goes out to those old heroes who looked down through many storms and perils to the unpeopled Pacific, and I must beg your pardon for this digression. LEPROSY IN SAN FRANCISCO. The Awful Secret of a Mountain Cabin in California. San Francisco Correspondence N. Y. Tribune. Twice in the history of California leper colonies have existed here, and have been destroyed by immediate action of the authorities, the Chinese and Hawaiians composing them being returned to tOeir own countries. At the present time, however, the Pacific coast is alarmed over the existence of a number of incurable lepers, some of them whites, and a leper hospital with about thirty patients has been established. Thus a leper quarter at last become as much a San Francisco sight as the Chinese quarter. The most dangerous source of contagion is undoubtedly Hawaiian, for in that group of islands the best medical authorities declare that two per cent of the natives are infected. There lies the awful leprosy isle of Molokai, the most horrible, fascinating and Dantesque sight to be witnessed in the world. The true story of the Hawaiian savage life that developed leprosy on these islands can never be told to civilized ears. It is enough to say that centuries of debauchery corrupted the blood of the race, and in its paradise is the sting of the serpent leprosy. The saddest case of leprosy on the Pacific coast came under my observation about ten years ago. Leaving a log cabin school-house in San Louis Obispo county, whore I had taught barefooted mountain girls and sturdy young vaqueros through the summer months, I saddled ray wild brown broncho for a ride northward through the passes of the hills to the old stage road. I was careless and absolutely guileless of woodcraft, so it is little wonder that I lost my way before nightfall. So when, late in the afternoon, I rode into a narrow ravine and found signs of occupancy, great was my rejoicing. There seemed to be a narrow path trodden in the tall, dry wild oats, leading to a spring set low in the bank, and a little further, in an open space, at the head of the gulch, with cliffs behind it, was a rude cabin. Something about it thrilled me with a strange feeling of dread. There was a carious, sickening odor that came from it on the breeze, and startled me into wondering whether anyone lay there dying of fever or disease. I know now what that odor was, but I did not then. A great live-oak tree stood bv the path near the spring, and, as 1 rode past it, I saw a board nailed tq it, and on that board rudely painted in weak and wavering letters was the sentence: “For God's sake, come no nearer!” I did not understand it Ido now. I thought a moment, slowly; I was young and foolish; I rode on past the sentence, ready to turn and gallop off at any sign of danger. On the slope of the canyon a rod of garden lay, brushfenced and watered; quail traps were piled by the door; this hermit had food in abundance. A harsh, cracked voice called out to me from the cabin door, a hand projecting closed it, and then,

speaking through the crevice, I heard, in good English, words like these: “You must go away; it is death to stay here. I am accursed. The air is poison.” I asked the way. “Climb that mountain,”be cried. “Go, go at once.” The words were spoken with intense earnestness, and with an indescribable quality of superhuman agony, if the phrase may be pardoned. For hours after I had left the place I kept finding new meanings in that harsh, painful cry. A mile from the cabin a bit of white fluttered in the grass. I dismounted and examined it. A fragment of a letter it was. most of the words illegible, the handwriting delicate and feminine, the paper of the costliest. Had it belonged to that poor leper, crouching in his loath so me cabin, crying “unclean?” That is one of the secrets for the hereafter to reveal. Fivo years later a local journal mentioned the fact that a cabin had been found in the mountains, at the head waters of the Naciemiento, and in it a man’s skeleton lay. Some refugee from justice, it was thought, had perished at his own hands there, or died of disease. I met one of the cattle-owners of that region, and questioned him concerning it. Yes, they had seen a board by the spring, but the writing was faded. No books, papers, or clothing; all had been burned in the fire-place. They raked the ashes over, and could tell there had been a Bible, a photograph album and packages of letters; but really, it was no consequence, they sa id. He was a sheep herder, or a lunatic, or a stage robber, they believed. But I knew that I had seen and spoken with a self exiled leper, and that his torture had come to an end, because flesh and blood could bear no more. A MISSING LINK FOUND. Scientists Rejoice Over the Discovery of an Egg-Laying Mammal. New York Evening Post. One of the most important discoveries, certainly of this decade, in the annals of biology, was announced by Profossor Moseley at the recent meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. While the section of biology was holding its last session, a dispatch was received from Professor Liversedge, of Sidney, saying that Mr. Catdwell, who had gone to Australia to study its peculiar mammalial fauna, had made the discovery that the Monotremes were oviparous, or eeg layers. The details of this important discovery will be awaited with great interest, and perhaps to many naturalists the announcement did not cause surprise, especially to those who are familiar with the anatomy of the curious animals in quest ou. Scientifically they are known as the Monotremes, and constitute the group Ornithodelphi that comprises a single order, Mouotreihata, the lowest in the great branch of mammals. The Omithorhynohid* and the Echidnid® constitute the two families, and the animats are best known as the duck-bill and the spiny ant-eater. They are peculiar to the Australian continent and Now Guinea, and in their general appearance are the most remarkable of all mammals. When the first specimen was received in England, many years ago, it was considered the work of some skilled taxidermist and trickster. The creatures attain a length of about twenty inches. The body is long and flat, in shape something like that of the otter, the lur being thick and fine, and generally of a rich brown hue. with a whitish tint beneath. The head is the most remarkable feature. Instead of a mouth like other mammals, there is a perfect bill like that of a duck, and seemingly composed of the same horny substance, and the edges are provided with transversal plates. Teeth the duck-hill possesses, though of a novel kind, being placed in the bac k part of the mouth, two upon each side, the tops fiat: in fact, the place of teeth seems to be supplied functionally by curious horny structures that form a part of the beak. The tail of the duckbill is flat and obtuse, and the feet show many peculiarities that would seem to connect it with the birds. They are adapted for swimming, the toes being webbed, the hinder set being strongly clawed, while in the fore feet the iuterdigital membrane extends beyond them. In the young females a rudimentary spuri is observed upon the hind legs, that disappears when the adult form is attained; but in the adult male there is always found a flat curved ossicle, articulated principally to the tibia, supporting a sharp perforated horny spur. The spur connects with a gland beneath thp skin upon the thigh, and at first appears to be a defensive organ, but Bennett allowed the spur to lacerate his hand, and no ill effects were noticed, and its functions are still unknown. In the internal organization of the duckbill we find still other characteristics' that call to mind the birds aud reptiles. Thus the sternum is heeled, aud there are ho sternal ossous ribs as in birds. Another point of remblance is that the transverse processes of the cervical vertebr® are of untogenus formation and remain closely connected with the remainder of the vertebr® until the animal attains its full growth. As in the skulls of adult birds the sutures are entirely obliterated, and, more remarkably yet, the openings of the urinary and genital organs and the digestive canal empty into a common cloacla. Finally, it is found by Mr. Caldwell that these animals are oviparous, or lay eggs—a fact that shows them to he closely allied to the reptiles. Yet they are milkgivers. the youngduekbill obtaining its milk supply not from a teat, but from a number of scattered pores on a plane surface that lead to the lacteal ducts. The young probably escape from the eggs soon after they are laid, as Bennett discovered three in a subterranean nest that were about two inches in length. Bismarck’s Fliysician. Philadelphia Press. Prince Bismarck received anew lease of life under the care of Dr. Sch wenninger, of Munich, Bavaria. William. Count Bismarck, the Chancellor's son, was tremendoutly stout, and a terrible sufferer from gout While on a diplomatic mission to Munich he met tbe Doctor, who put him upon a regimen, and in six weeks William, the gouty and obese, was transformed into an athlete, a pedestrian, whose walking feats astonished the peasants living on the Zugspitze, the highest mountain peak near Munich. At the instigation of his son, the elder Bismarck sent for the Doctor, who made him go to bed at 11. rise at 0, take plenty of exercise and, what was particularly insisted on, drink no liquor at meals nor until two hours and a half afterwards, when the process of digestion had been comgleted. Schwenninger drives his carriage in lerlin now, and charges 100 marks for a consultation. He has been appointed an extraordinary professor at the Berlin L T niversity, and is an object of detestation to students and professors, alike indignant at the honors showered upon a South German. Culture and False Tec 111. St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The higher education of women is liable to sustain a severe check from the discovery of several eminent French dentists, who have declared that it is incompatible with beauty, especially with respect to the teeth. This" has been declared with respect to the general physique of women by most physicians, but intellectual pallor and lack of strength can bo borne better than lack of teeth, the contemplation of which no true woman can bear with equanimity. These dentists say that in their experience they have found that girls subjected to severe courses of study lose their teeth at an early age, and they predict that if the present tendency toward university education is persisted in, the women of the future will be toothless, aod culture and false leeth will go hand in hand, so to speak. The sacrifice is too great tor the average woman, when the alternative is placed squarely before h*r A Cuming Great Drought. Richard A. Proctor. Tbo age of the earth is placed by some at 500,000,000 years, and still others of later time, among them the Duke of Argyll, place it at 10,000,000 years. None place it lower than 10,000.000, knowing what processes have oeen gone through. The earth must have become old. Newton surmised, although lie could give no reason for it. that the earth would at one time become perfectly dry. Since then it has been found that Newton was correct As the earth keeps cooling it will become porous, and great cavities will be formed in the interior, whioh will take in the water. It is estimated that this process is now in progress so far that the water diminishes at the rate of the thickness of a sheet of writing paper a year. At this rate in 9,000,000 years the water will have sunk a mile, and in 15,000,000 years every trace of water will have disappeared from the face of the globe. Headaches and biliousness are promptly cured by the use of Ayer's Cathartic sugar coated Pills.

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