Ligonier Banner., Volume 15, Number 46, Ligonier, Noble County, 3 March 1881 — Page 3

The Ligonicer Banner, LIGO.NI‘E’R. :’ : r: INDif;NA.

: ; BY THE NORTH SEA: Miles, and miles, and miles of desolation! . Leagues on leagues on leagues without a change! . ; ¢ Sign or token of some eldest nation, Here would make the strange land not so . Strange, Time-forgotten: yea since time’s ereation, Seem these borders where the sea-birds . range. : : Slowly, gladly, full of peace and wonder Grows his heart who journeys here alone. Earth and all its thoughts of earth sink under Deep as/deep in water sinks a stone. Hardly knows it if the rollers thunder, Hardly whence the loudly wind ig blown. Tall the plumace of the rush-flower tosses, Sharp and soft in many a curve and line Gleam and glow the sea-colored marsh-mosses, Salt and splendid from the circling brine. Streak on streak of glimmering seashine crosses . All the tand sea-saturate as with wine. Far and far between, in divers orders, Clear gray steepies cleave the low gray sky; Fast and firm 48 time unshaken warders, Hcal;"tslmmle sure by faith, by hope made zn, 5 ‘These alone in all the wild sea-borders Fear no blast of days and nights that die. All the land is like as one man’s face is, Pale and troubled still with change of cares. Doubt and death pervade her clouded spaces; Strcryzrh and length of life and peace are -theirs: ! Theirs alone amid these weary places, Se¢ing not how the wild world frets and : fares. : Firm and fast where all is cloud that changes, Cloud-clogged sunlight, cloud by sunlight thinned. ‘ Stern and sweet, above the sandhill ranges ' . Watch the towers and tombs of men that sinned : : Once, now calm as earth whose only change is Win‘di a(x]ld light, and wind and cloud and wind. ‘ . —From Swinburne’'s Studies in Song.

HOW JUBE WAKED THE ELEPHANT. A Story of a Dreadfully Naughty Little e Black Boy. - Jube’s life, ever since he could remember, had been spent in ‘¢ Ole Isrul's”’ cabin, underneath a spur of the Alleghanies—and a very happy-go-lucky lite it was. After ‘“freedom come,” Israel and Hannah, Jube's nearest of kin, had drifted from the. cotton-tields of the Mississippi back to ¢ Ole Virginny,"” and to their old life of tobacco-raising on the Alleghany Slopes. - They had ‘brought Jube with them, the motherless boy having from babyhood, as Hannah expressed it, ‘“been fotch up by her hand in the way he or’ ter go.” If ever ‘“ fotch up” in the way he should go, the boy, at twelve years of age, had widely departed therefrom, for no more mischievous spirit than naughty little Jube infested the turnpike leading from the cabin to the village beyond. The day ecame, however, when Jube was made to pay off at least a -part of the score being continually added up against him. Yet the boy himself did not imagine that such a day of reckoning had arrived on that sunshiny morng, when he arose early to deck himself for a holiday, which was to be given entirely to the enjoyment of the Great Circus and Menagerie. Twice before, during that week, he had made a pilgl‘image to the village, and had spent ours, each time, inspecting the wonderful display of show-papers glaring everywhere. Such riders, such vaulters, such gymnasts, surely had never been known before, even to Jube’s vivid imagination. Such animals, too! the sacred bull, the ibex, the llama, the rhinoceros, tiercer than the lion, and the Royal Bengal tiger, fiercer than the fiercest of all besides. ; : “Ki, yi, Juba!” saluted Aunt Hannah, as the boy rushed into her cabin that morning, his white eyeballs rolling and his red lips parted in grins of delight. ¢ Isrul, what you s'pose is vp wid this nigger, now?”’ . “ Humph!” gruntéd the cabin’s patriarch, pufling, in the breaks of his sentences, volumes of smoke from his short corn-cob pipe. ‘I ’specs dat boy, Hannah’—puff—¢ have jes’ done’ —puff, puff, puff—*‘gone crazy ober” —puff—*: the surcuss.” ““ What dat you say? The sureuss? Juba, whar dat money you fetch me fur de garden-sass an’ dem eggs? Ef you jes’ done bruk one ob dem dozen eggs wid' yer capers; I'll surcuss you, see ef I don’t.” ; " Jube dodged a blow from the hand that had ‘‘fotch him wup,”” and proceeded without delay to give up every farthing of his evening’s sales. Aunt Hannah deigned to give a grunt of satisfaction as the last penny was counted into her hand.. Then Jube ~sidled into the corner of the hearth where ‘*Ole Isrul” sat enjoying his Eipe. ‘He stood for a moment digging his toes into the cracks of the hearth.

‘Daddy!” he drawléd, by and by. “s Daddy!" : No answer. ¢“Ole Isrul” never so much as winked an eyelash, but sat smoking his pipe as unresponsive as a Camanche Indian. - . *“Daddy, say! Mayn’t I go to the *nagerie? My! it's a show what is a show. There's beasts an’ beasts-—but it’s the elerphunt what beats all holler! Whew! Daddy, dat elerphunt’'s a ‘whale, I tell yer!”’ ‘“Juba,” said Aunt Hannah, severely, ‘“ what you sayin’—eh? De elerfhunt am not a whale. How Kkin it be? t's agin natur’.”’ , ' Jube subsided. . : ¢ Daddy,” he whispered, after a few more desperate digs into the seams of the hearth, and under cover of the clatter of Hannah's supper dishes—*¢ Daddy, mayn’t I go?”’ ‘“ Whar to—whar to, Jube?” ¢To de 'nagerie. You is gwine fur ter le’ me go? Aint yer, Dadgdy?” ** Sartain, boy; sartain—ef yer kin find a silver mine 'twixt now an’ showday.”’ : ° Jube looked disheartened for a moment. Then his face brightened. He was not lacking in expedients and it was a great matter to have ¢¢ Daddy’s” consent. He began todo a double shuffle, but brought wup in short order as he caught Aunt Hannah’s eyes turned upon him. ; ~ “You, Jube! You jis’ shuffle out ’er dis, an’ hang dat last load ob tobaccycuttin’s on de scaffold, down by de tree.” Jube obeyed with alacrity, as he felt it would not do to provoke * Mammy’s"’ ire at that critical stage of his plottings. His brain, active as it was, had enough %o do to work out the problem ¢ Duddy”’

had set for it to sol_vezf. How was he to find that silver mine? But suddenly Jube narrowed his range of fancy- to a more promising field. | : 1f he .could find a silver dollar, wouldn’t «“ Daddy”’ think that the next thing to a silver mine? He had heard tell it took acres to make a silver mine —but a silver dollar a smart boy like him might find in a sheep’s track, or thereabouts. A cunning look twinkled in the corners of the boy’s eyes. He gave the tobacco a final shove with his toes, then leaped down and went whistling back to report to Aunt Hannah, and have his share of the mush and milk, for which his afternoon’s work had given him a hearty relish. Next. morning two of Aunt Hannah’s biggest melons were | missing from the patch, and a brace of her fattest capons from the roost: but suspicion was diverted from the real culprit by the tracks of huge shoes freely displayed throughout the patch. . - “¢?Pears to me, Isrul,” said the woebegone Hannah, “d'it thief mus’ have wore shoes made upon his own las’—l nebber saw sich a foot on any ob my acquaintance.”’ | ‘“Dat’s«o, Hanner; dat’s gospel truf. Der aint no sich build of foot sca'cely sence de days ob Goli-er.” : Yet, as Hannah turned oft in perplexed thought, the old sinner slyly thrust forward his own huge shoes, giving a significant poke with the bowl of his pipe at the sand and clay filling the coarse seems. ;

¢“Ki,” he inwardly chuckled, ¢ dat boy Jube better not let de ole ’ooman know how close undér her nose he done ’skiver his silver minie. She’ll have her shere of intrus’ off o! him, shore as yer o, o . 7 But Jube was as sly as he was naughty. Aunt Hannah was unsuspecting. ‘“Juba,” said she, tenderly, ‘‘ef I had the money )?ou‘\should go ter de 'nagerie to-morrow.”’ | ' Jube was prompt to| seize his golden opportunity. i “Ef I arned the money, Mammy, mought I go Pt “Ye-es,” drawled ‘¢ Mammy,” cooling a little; ‘“ef Isrul s'poses he kin spar’ yer from the 'baccy gathering, yer mought.”” S -« Ef yer fines the silver mine, Jube, ef yer fines the silver mine, yer kin go,”’ said - Israel, pressing 1n the featﬁery ashes of his pipe with the horny tip of his finger. - ' This time, Jube executed a double shuffle in good earnest, and returned to the tobacco-field niuch' relieved. That afternoon, when he went to the pasture tor the cow, he turned old Brindle's nose homeward, and hglrried off to the village to do a little trading on his. own account. For this, Hannah had a wellseasoned hickory laid up for him when he came back, but Jube knew her weak point, and when he had hauled forth a 'whole quarter of a pound of good tea, ‘“ which,” he said, ¢ a fellar at a store had gin him for runnin' of a arrant,” she was so touched by his thought of her, that thé rod was quietly slipped out of sight, and Jubg, felt quite enough in favor to exhibit the tiny square of cardboard which he had . brought back as the result of his stolen expedition. Hannah's curiosity was at once aroused by the mysterious signs thereon. ““ What's dis, Juba?”’ ““ Why, lor’, Mammy! Dat’'s a ticket of 'mission to de surcuss.”’ ““ Dat is? Sho, now!! An’ what’s dis writin’, Jube? You is ascholard. What do de writin® say?’ | " ¢« It says to le’ me into de ’nagerie an’ big show,” said Jube, who, having enjoyed three months of educational advantages at a free school, felt competent to render a free translation of the hieroglyphics which so puzzled his illiterate relative. ,

¢ Well, land o Canaan!’ ejaculated Aunt Hannah. ¢ But whar did yer git it, Juba?” ; Jube was ready for the questiod and he assured her that ‘‘ one of de surcussmen had gin it to.him fur carryin’ of his nags to water.”®* ! . ~ Hannah did not look convinced, but she had learned discretion in ¢ argufyin’ " with Jube, so contented herself with a word of ¢ warnin’,”’ by saying: ‘* Remember, you Jube, ef you’s a foolin’ me, de truf will out some day!” Jube, however,. was content to risk any calamity, if it should only come after he had enjoyed one day with the circus. And he had his day, for next morning, as wé have said, he was up and dressed betimes, and indeed,| was well on his way to the village before the sun had lifted his head above: the eastern hills. Such a day of rare fun and jollity as that was for Jube! His dusky skin fairly glowed and glistened with the fullness of his delight. |ln all the twelve years of his life he had never been to a circus, so even before he had reached the climax of wonders under the canvas of this one, he had decided like the Queen of Sheba, that he had not been told the half of the glories he was to see. ce The grande entree was of itself a stupendous revelation to him. Was there on earth such another glittering line of men, women, horses and bandwagons? There, too, were cages of wild beasts, poking out here a great foot and there a fergcious head, or the whole terrible animal pacing restlessly. But the elephant was as Jube had told *¢ Ole Isrul,”’ the wonder of all. “ My! Aint he a whale!”’ he said, under his breath, as if fearful his words might reach Aunt Hannah. ; And just here we may chronicle that Jube had an adventure with this gigantic brute before the day was done. Not content with following in the wake of his Indian majesty through the whole morning the boy, in the afternoon, formed part of an admiring retinue accompanying him te and from his bath in the mill-pond, which was the only bath-tub large enpugh for his high mightiness. As this;procession returned through the village Jube, anxious to secure a more elevated point. of observation, rushed ahead of the throng to perch himself upon a projecting ledﬁ‘e of a corner store-house, from which-he might view the breadth and length of the elephant’s mighty back; but, in his haste, .Il)ube had mjt taken note of the fuct that he was just at the point where two streets converged—that, but a moment later, the el%phant must round the sharp a‘.nigle, vith barely room to crowd himself be%een the ,{ed e and the iron lamp-post beyond. I%e was only made conscious of Kle predicament

NG DN " . R "When the beast was close upon him. On came the mountain of flesh to crush him to powder! Jube sickened with horror, and turned ashy with fright. He could feel the heated steam arising from the creature’s moist sides—those monstrous flanks which would sweep him fromwhere he clung,like a fly from a wall. The great ears flapped at and fanned him—the small, twinkling eyes were turned upon him. A shout or ery of warning and horror went up from the crowd. It was answered by a careless grunt from the elephant, and in an in‘stant his proboscis was thrown into the air. Jube gave himself up for lost. He found himself enfolded as by the coils of a serpent, and immediately there followed a sensation as of flying. Another shout ascended from the crowd, but this time it was a shout of derisive laughter at })oor Jube's expense, for the beast had lifted him quickly down from ‘his perch, and dropped him, not too gently, into the middle of the dusty strect. His majesty and retinue swept on, leaving poor Jube to whimper and rub his shins, as he crept into an alleyway close by. He was not much hurt, he found, after an examination of his joints and bones, but he did have a regular ague-chill from the fright, and so felt revengeful 'enough as he crouched in the shelter of a garden wall to recover his strength and spirits. ““The ole tough-hided, ole stumpfooted ole critter! - I'll be even wi’ ’im yit; ef I don’t I wish er may die,” he muttered, nursing his wrath. Nevertheless, he was quite ready to enjoy the night-exhibition under the canvas, and when the performance was over he took his last look at the actors, horses, wild beasts and elephant, regretting heartily that such days could not last forever. ¢ Only,” he thought, sidling past the modern mammoth reposing in state upon his bed of straw, ‘¢ I should like to git a twist at one o' them tails of his'n—llike I twists ole Brindle’s, sometimes, when he wont git outen the paster quick. 1 wonder, now, ef I'd jist stick a pin into dat foremos’ one, an’ run fer it, ef he’d think ’t would pay 'im to chase me.”’

Fortunately, however, .discretion or cowardice decided Jube not to encounter the risk,so he started -home in safety from the village with a party of men and boys going in his direction. Reaching the cabin about midnight, he crept up the outside ladder to his bed in the loft,,and was soon rivaling Hannah and Israel in their duet of snores below. From the overeating or over-excite-ment of the day, his sleep was not of long duration. He was aroused, an hour or two before dawn, by the sound of wheels passing along the turnpike. In an instant he was wide awake and on the alert. *‘Goodness!” he 'exclaimed, in a quiver of excitement. ‘¢ Ef ’taint de surcuss and ’nagerie on its travels! Wish-er-may-die, if I don’t get one more blink at the elerphunt.”’ In a trice he had slipped from his bed, and was at the hole in the gableend which did service for him as door and window. The moonlight was flooding the pike, and, as far as he could see along it, there was passing a ghostly procession of men, horses, vehicles, etc. It was the circus on its move to_ the neighboring town. Without more ado, Jube, in his airy costume, slipped down the rickety ladder to the oround. He found, near the tumblez(:iown gate, an excellent covert and outlook. Crouching in the clump of Aunt Hannah’s privet and lilac bushes, he watched with the utmost zest until every wagon ot the lumbering train had rolled past and disappeared, in shadowy outline, far up the road. - “Then his heart sank, heavy as lead. He had not seen the elephant. It must have gone by, ahead of the train. He waited five minutes longer to see if there were anything more to come. Excepting that a whip-poor-will, dreaming in the big oak-tree upholding Israel’s drying tobacco crop, now and then sounded its plaintive cry, not a sound disturbed the moon-flooded stillness of his watch. Heaving a profund sigh of disappointment, he took one more look up and down the turnpike, and was in the act of turning about to go back into the cabin, when an object some distance down the road caught his attention. He crouched again and waited. Whatever the object was, it drew slowly nearer, momentarily increasing in proportions, until 1t leomed up a ponderous mass, clearly defined within the range of his enchanted vision. : 1t was the elephant, moving drowsily along. = His keeper, riding alongside, seemed half asleep, too, as also did the pony he rode. It was evidently a somnambulistic trio, jogging leisurely along in the wake of the show. But Jube was wide awake and there was a spirit of mischief awake within him, besides.

‘““lsed I'd be even wi' the toughhided, stump-footed ole ;thing,”” he chuckled, squaring himself' for action. ‘“He skeered me to-day, but I’ll gin him sich a skeer, now, as never was.” On came the somnolent three. Directly, they were abreast of the gate behind which ' crouched the waiting Jube. Suddenly this gate flung wide on its hinges and the boy leaped into the road with a screech and a yell, flinging his arms about and flapping his very scanty -drapery, almost in the face of the beast. You may believe his Indian majesty napped no longer! In an instant his proboscis was waved frantically in the air, sounding his trump of alarm the prolonged screaming whistle fairly deafening its hearers. Poor Jube had by no means calculated upon this dire result of his attempt at revenge. His eye-balls rolled wild and big with terror, as he watched for a second the cloud of dust veiling the wrestling of the fettered beast, and his angry guardian. But the struggle was a brief one, as might have been expected from the odds in favor of the elephant. Freed from his keeper he rushed in pursuit of Jube, pressing him so hotly that he had no time to- mount his ladder to the cabin loft. At almost every step, too, the infuriated beast sounded his trump. A roaring blast he gave, as, in his mad haste, }%e struck against a corner of the cabin, jostling Hannah and Israel from their deep sleep. Terrified out of their wits the old couple tumbled out upon the floor and fell upon their knees, thinking it was the horn of Gabriel summoning them from death to judgment. What but destruction and judgment could mean those yells and

shouts and bellowings, turning the 1 calm, moon-lit night into pandemonium? Clinging together and quaking, they managed to reach the door and to open a crack wide enough to peep through. ¢ Laws, Isrul!” cried Hannah, falling upon her knees again, all in a tremble. ¢ Isrul, it am the judgment-day, as I is a sinner! An’ there goes de debbil now arter Jube!. Didn't I allus say he’d git dat boy, shore? He wouldn’t say his pra’rs, nerso much ez min’ me, what fotch him up by han’. Come in, Isrul an’ latch the do’, for he’ll be arter you nex’. O, laws, ef he’ll only be satistied wi’ you and Juba, Isrul! You is wickeder 'an me—wickeder sinners, you know yer is, ole man—you know yer is.”’ ' Her ¢“ole man’’ attempted no self-de-fense. With a dexterity quite unusual with him, he had managed to latch and chain the door, but now he was leaning up against the lintel, speechless and knock-kneed with terror. ‘ L All at once there was a quick, heavy rap upon the door. Hamﬂah howled and sunk lower on her knees. *‘lt’s de debbil!”’ she whispered, in a sepulchral tone. *‘He’s done come fer yer, Isrul! Speak up, ole man—speak perlite, - sorter, an’ maybe he’ll be easy on yer. Answer him, Isrul' ; ~ “Who-o—who dar?'’chattered Israel, ‘with a dismal whine. " ““Open the door!” shouted an angry voice without. ‘I thought everybody was dead inside there. - It's nobody but me—the keeper of the elephant, that's broke loose and will tramp down all your things here, to say nothing of your rascally goy, who ought to be well whipped. The beast will kill him if I can’'t get a pitchfork, or something. Haven’t you a pitchfork somewhere? Hurry—your boy’s in a lot of danger! ‘ Stir about—will you? Let's have a pitchfork!”’ ¢ Ki, yvi, Hannah!”’ exulted Israel, beginning to straighten his bent knees. “Yer debbil'snothin’ but an elerphunt, arter all. Hi—jes’ yer run an’- fetch the pitchfork fer de gemman.” “Yer go an’ git it yerself, Isrul; I is engaged,” was the wife’s prompt response. | ¢ Hurry up there!” shouted the voice outside. ‘‘Fetch me the fork or the beast will kill your boy, for certain.”

““I say,” answered ¢ Ole Isrul,”’ with his mouth at the latch-hole—¢‘l say, massa, I’se clean crippled, an’ bed-rid with the rheumatiz, an’ the ole 'ooman here, she’s skeered clar into spasims. You'll tind the fork in the shed, so jes’ help yerself, as we’s onable ter, massa.”’ { ) ; With lound mutterings of anger the keeper departed in search of the pitchfork. While he was gone the elephant had regularly treed Jube. Too closely presseﬁ to secure the shelter of his room in the cabin loft Jube instinctively had made for the only other accessible place of refuge. Intothe big oak-tree he had scrambled. by the aid of the dryingscaffold suspended from its boughs. Nor, thoroughly scared as he was, did he stop in the lower branches. Not knowing what might be the stretching capacity of that awful proboscis which had once enfolded him, he clambered, hand over hand, until at a considerable elevation he reached the second forking of the tree. Perched therein he took time to draw his breath and look down at his enemy. Evidently this enemy was determined not to consider himself baffled. He wascharging Jube’s stronghold with the intrepidity of Napoleon’s ¢“0Old Guard” and the concentrated strength of .a battering-ram. But the oak, although its day of kingly glory was past, was stronger than the elephant. Its bare limbs trembled under the shock, yet the mighty roots held firm. The blow, however, dislodged the drying-scaffold, so that, broken from its fatal clinging it fell with a great crash to the ground. In default of other prey the elephant at once charged upon this frame-work of poles, with its burden of half-dried tobacco-cuttings. Hestamped and tore at and pulled. to pieces the structure, tossing the cuttings until his “eyes and mouth and proboscis were well filled with the dust of the dried tobacco. Frenzied by the fumes and the taste of ‘the weed he hated with a deadly hatred, ‘as well as maddened by the agony of its smarting and burning, the animal’s rage seemed to know no bounds. Overjoyed at his reprieve from destruction, Jube ‘began a faint, hysterical laugh as the infuriated beast plunged and charged, snorting and sneezing, about the tree. At last the elephantsounded his trump again frantically, setting off at the top of his speed for the river flowing at the base of the hill. . So, for a time, the coast was left clear but Jube was too thoroughly scared to think of deserting his present place of security; and, in a little while, his majesty, relieved of the tobacco, again advanced to the attack. This time he was better armed, having filled his ‘ trunk at the river with a copious supply of water. Taking fair aim at poor Jube, he let him have the benefit of the ‘whole stream, blowing it into his face with adirectness and force for which the boy was utterly unprepared. Of course his balance was destroyed, and tumbling from his perch, he doubtless would %ave fallen headlong to the ground, but that he had the good fortune to land in the fork below where he was just beyond the reach of the dreaded proboscis. Encouraged by this success, the beast charged again, but the ground was now well strewn with the tobacco, and, as he rushed forward, he ‘was again blinded and strangled by the pungent powder. Once more he made a frenzied rush for the river. This time however, his hind legs became entangled among the grape-vines, linking the poles together, so that after some vigorous but vain kicking and shaking, he was compelled to proceed on his way dragging the scaffold, and much of the tobacco, with him. w | At this juncture, the keeper, armed ‘'with Israel’s long fork, appeared onthe stage of action. Taking advantage of the elephant’s blind condition, he attacked him vehemently, goading him right and left. Yet the beast infuriated would not cry for mercy. But finally, in one of his blinded plunges, he rushed rip’on'Hannah’s empty-root pit, and, the slight covering gave way under the enormous weight, his majesty was pitched headlong in shame and terror ‘to the bottom of the pit. Then his ‘.spirit was conquered by a vigorous asl sault, and he 'bmmﬁe@ogi for mercy. It was not until he was thus subdued

that Jube, notified by. Aunt Hannah, deemed it safe to descend once more to the ground; even then he did not think it necessary to show himself to the twinkling eye¢ of his late adversary. Nor, percfmps, did'he feel safe at all until, with the assistance of returned showmen and some of the neighbors, the elephant had been helped from the pit, and had quietly continued its journey toward the neighboring town. ‘ Now you, Juba, jes' you mark my words,”’ was Israel’'s closing piece of advice when the tumult had finally subsided and Jube, clothed, and in his right mind, was sitting on the’stool of repentance in the cabin, ¢ ef I ever does hear of you a findin’ ob a silver mine anywheres when de surcuss am around, shore’s I is a livin’ man, I'll war out on yer back some oh dat extry shoe-leather what made tracks through the ole ’ooman’s watermillium patch. Youhear dat, Juba? Now, you jes’ clar outer dis, an’ gether up ebery spear ob dat tobacey what you an’ de elerphunt hab done scattered from Dan to,Beershebeh. An’ min’ what I say, dat dis ain’t Hanner what’s foolin’ long with yer, now.” ‘And since that, time Jube has never pined for the cir¢us on his holidays.— Mrs. M. Sheffey Peters, in St. Nicholas.

Stenes Clinging to Under Side of Xce. When the severe cold weather came upon us so suddenly in Novermber last my attention was called to a curious phenomenon in the Susquehanna River here. 'Upon Thanksgiving Day, not far below the dam which crosses the river here, I noticed a large number of stones clinging to the under side of the ice. The river there was two or three feet deep, the ice at that time about three inches thick. The stones were the roundedriver stones and evidently came from the bottam of the river. They were of all sizes, up to those weighing probably two pounds. The phenomeénon is not a new. one, but it was displayed here upon so large a scale, and the conditions accorded so perfectly with those that the scientific explanation demands, that it seems to be worth while to call attention to it. More than two hundred years ago Dr. Plot, of Oxford, England, described similar occurrences in the Thames, and gave at least a partial- account of their true cause. Itis well known that water, like most other substances, contracts under the influence of cold until it is reduced to a temperature of thirty-nine degrees. But if its temperature is lowered still further it expands until reaching thirty-two degrees, when it freezes, by which its bulk is increased much more than by its cooling from thirtynine degrees to thirty-two degrees. Hence it is that water begins to freeze at the surface, since, when near the freezing point, the coldest water, being the lightest, 1s found upon the top, and it is that w,hickqi freezes first. But when the weather is very cold, and the differgnt parts of the stream are thoroughly mixed by rapids or some such mechanical action, the water may bé about the 'same temperature at all depths, and be lowered altogether nearly to the freezing point. In this case the water will begin lo freeze al the bottom, because it is stiller there, and perhaps because the stones and bottom have lost some heat by free radiation and by contact cool the water. Although so much lighter than the water this ice would;not rise as soon as formed for it would be frozen fast to the bottom and the stones lying upon the bottom. But as soon as its size gave the cake of ice buovant power enough it would tear itself loose from the bottom and the larger stones and rise to the surface, carrying with it the smaller stones and gravel. Then it would be frozen in with the surface ice keeping its curious load frozen fast to its under surface. | ' | In November the weather suddenly became very cold, the thermometer sank to three degrees, and the river here was frozen over in one night, a very unusual occurence. Moreover, the place where the phenomenon occurred was just below the dam, where the current was swift and the river rather shallow. All these would tend to mix up thoroughly the whole mass of the water. These circumstances seem to show the above to be the true explanation. | ; In the Thames stones weighing as much as eight pounds have been known to be raised ip from the bottom of the river in thl;s way. Under favorable conditions, and acting through a long time, the ice by carrying these materials down streams must cause geological effects which are notinconsiderable. Lewisburg (Pa.) Cor. Scientific American. ' .

A Diamond Sold for Ten Cents. In 1841 Godfrey Luther and his son were engaged in gold mining on Wilson’s Branch, in what is now Wilson’s district of this county. Their appliances were of the rudest kind, consisting of ‘‘sluice and rifle boxes,”” and the traditional miner’s pan. On one occasion Colonel John II:] Redwine, then a lad of sixteen, was sent by his father to Mr. Luther’'s works to see him about some business matter. « While there the elder Luther and another gentleman walked off some little distance, and he continued in conversation with the young man, who was ‘‘panning out” some earth and showing young Redwine the gold. In'one pan he noticed an exceedingly beautiful pebble, and called Mr. Redwine’s attention to it, and while they were admiring it the other gentlemen returned, and theyalso noticed its beauty. The gentleman, without any idea of its value, remarked to .the boy, “I'll give you a dime for it.”? ¢ All right,” said he, and accepted it gladly. Some time after~ ward the gentleman was in Gainesville and showed the stene to Dr. Daniel. That gentleman believed it to be a diamond, but was not certain, and finally paid the gentleman thirty dollars for it, and took the risk. He sent it to London, there being at that time no dia-mond-cutters in the United States, where experts pronounced it a diamond of the first water, and he received for it $3OO. It was afterward rumgpred that it sold for a much larger sum than this, but nothing is known puositively of its history beyond its sale in London.— GQainsville (Ga.) Eagle. s gl “ ——— O ————————— —Although not one of Vennor’s predictions it'igvery Chili in Peru this wine ter.— Baltimore Every Saturday.

- MISCELLANEOUS. —The oldest Postmaster in Maine is Captain Johnson of . North Harpswell, who is eighty-seven years of age. ‘ - —Ears are worth $1,500 apiece in Vermont. At least that is‘the amount recovered by a man whose ear was cut off in a railroad accident. @ . ' —The names of towns and settlements in Arizona possess the merit of originality. Here are some of them: Tombstone, Good Enough, Tough Nut, Contention, Family Fuss and Discipline. ' —Ten years ago the center of population in the United States was near the City of Columbus, O. Itis now just over the Indiana border on a bee line drawn between Cincinnati- and Indianapolis. The movement has, therefore, been a little south as well as v;est. : —Nothing more forcibly illustrates the value of an incessant ‘supervision of every mile of railroad track in time of extreme cold than the report of a track walker on the Chicago & Grand Trunk Railway, who found nine broken rails on his beat. : ; , —Charles Dudley Warner, in a recent lecture upon the character of English people, said: *‘To speak the truth in word and. deed is an "English trait, and can be clearly traced in the character of the people. To lie is unbecoming an Englishman, not to- lie is proverbial of the people.” Tl e —Miss Marianne North, a pretty English artist, 'is making a tour of the world with very: high credentials, for the purpose of paihtiﬂ%’fﬁhe distinctive flowers that grow wild. Sir Joseph Hooker, director of the Botanical Gardens at Kew, vouches for her artistic gowers, her botanical knowledge and er intrepidity as an explorer. . : . —William Lunger died recently at Trumansburg, N. Y. His widow died an the day o% his funeral, his two sisters died a. few days afterwards, and a lady who attended the latter during their illness died also. The victims were attacked by chills, the nature of which is not fully understood. Five other persons of the same family were also attacked, but they have recovered. —Among the rich men in Russia Baron Stieglitz is said to be the first, with a fortune of eighty milliens of roubles. After him comes Prince Yussupoff, whe owns estates in sixteen provinces, yielding a revenue of two and a half millions, and the third on the by no means short list is Count Stroganoff; the owner of nearly one-quarter of the province of Perin, with an annual income of one and a half millions. —Says the Altoona (Pa.) Daily News: When Mr. William G. Waring, of Tyrone, went to Colorado something over a year ago for the purpose of accepting the position of stenographer in the courts of Denver, a daughter of Mr. George Hull accompanied him, who was also skilled in the same vocation. Miss Hull had in her possession $4OO, ~which she invested in a mining claim. Fortune favored her and recently she was offered $25,000 for her investment. —A singular circumstance is reported from a hot, dry valley in New South Wales. Last year the drought was of long duration and the denizens- of the ~apiaries suffered much from it. This year the bees have made provision against a similar emergency. They have filled a large number ot the exter'nal cells in every hive with pure water instead of honey. .Tt is thought that the instinet of the little creatures leads them to anticipate a hot summer. —ln the winter swallows eollect by millions in Louisiana swamps and feed on what the French call swallow trees, “a species of willow. They will settle on the trees in such myriads as to break limbs as thick as a man’s leg, and a heavy load of mustard-seed shot from a double gun will sometimes kill thirty or forty dozen at once. They are dressed and sold in the market for fifteen cents 'a dozen, and are used by French and Creoles in making ‘¢ jumbles,”’ a preparation of rice and meat, fish or game. - —At the Westminster Police Court, in England, the other day, among the applications for assistance was one by an old non-commissioned officer of the Eleventh Hussars, who was one of the immortal ¢ Six Hundred’’ at Balaklava, ~was wounded in the charge in five places and fell into the hands of the -Rpssians. He left the army at the completion of his first term of service, and afterward he sought employment at the Cape and served in the police as Sergeant. Consumption, however, carried off the whole of his family, and he came back to England. He was at present out of work and destitute. = =

—lt is generally imagined that slave trading is now almost a thing of the past, but that- it still is carried on to a considerable extent in the Portuguese | Indian possessions of Timor and the adjoining islands is pretty well established. The regular price of a male slave from twelve to fifteen years of age is fifty rupees. A female slave of the same age fetches from eighty to a - hundred rupees. The natives of 'the Island -of Macassar are the principal dealers in this traffic. | Even someof the authorities have kept slaves. The missionaries have rendered valuable services in suppressing the traffic, but organized force is required to effectually put at end to it. = oy —A party of nine soldiers left Fort Assiniboine last month to look for some 4,000 pounds of game which a fellow named Biggs said he -had collected at Cow Creek, about a hundred miles away. For some unexplained reason Biggs was merely hoaxing them. He accompanied them for a time and then slip&;ed away, leaving them without a guide. The. mercury, meantime, sank to forty »degrees below zero. It took them six days to make the hundred ! miles to Cow Creek, andthen, being short of food, they had to go out hunting amid the extremest cold. While thus engaged one of the party, a young soldier who was a great favorite wit his comrades, became -sepa,rate?,from the rest, and two days later h hfboc}iy was found in the snow, frozen hard. ' His cartridge belt was empty and the. shells scattered -along his trail showed . that he had tried to signal the others. After much suffering and with the aid of two hunters whom they met, the party succeeded in getting back to Assiniboine, bearing the body of their dead comrade. Itisbelieved that a m named Big s‘.willf:*gde..ﬁ.@ﬁ well to shun the region of Essin ssiniboine.