Rensselaer Republican, Volume 15, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 April 1883 — Page 3

EBB AND FLOW. Life throbs with tides that ebb and flow. With .things that come, and things that go. The mists that rise when morn is fair. That rise and float, then melt in air, Are not more transient in their stay Than are the hoars that sped away, For often life seems like a dream— So quickly flash with glances and gleam, A thousand things that come and go, , And cause the tides to ebb and flow. A sad sweet strain that’s borne along By breath of wind; a bit of snow, A few fond words when dear friends meet; The music of laugh that’s sweet; The sympathy that prompts a sign; A winsome face that passes by; Brief joys, that stay their little while, A kindly glance, a loving smile, These ever come, and ever go, And like the tides they ebb and flow. A lovely landscape, fair and bright, One moment seen, then lost to sight, Ths gorgeous clouds at set of sun That crown the day when it is done, The frosty pictures on the pane That fade, and come, and fade again; The curling, emoke that floats away; A snow wreath on a winter’s day; All these like waves that ebb and flow. With ceaseless throb still come and go. —New York Tribune.

DEATH IN THE PIT.

Amy Glover was the prettiest lass in the village, and lovedl her,but,as for that all the young chaps in the village were of the same mind, but she never looked at one more than another. One day there was no work in the pit for my gang, and eo I made up my mind that I would go and have it out with Amy. I set out with a brave enough heart, but just as I reached the cottage, who should come out but Amy herself, looking prettier than ever; but appearing so suddenly she dashed my spirit, and I hadn’t a word to say to her. “Why, Charley, what is the matter?” she cried, in a frightened sort of way. “Well, it is just this,” I said. And there I came to a full stop. “Is anything wrong with Jack?” she asked, eagerly. “Jack” “Yes; he is down in the pit, and they say it is foul, which makes mother and me uneasy. You’ve not heard anything?” * No,” I answered, steadier now that I could comfort her. “He is all right You musn’tmind what the old women say, or you’ll be looking for a blow-up every day in the year, when there is nothing more than common. I haven’t come about Jack; it is about myself.” z She looked at me; then her cheeks fished, and she turned away. “I Want to tell you how I love you; I can’t say all I want to, but here I am, and I wouldn’t change for a king if you will take me as I am.” “Ah, you don’t know how you pain me,” she answered. “Don’t say that, Amy; but if you have pity in your heart show it to me, and Ell cherish you to the day of my death.”, “It is no use. I can never marry a pit man. I gave the promis to mother and Jack over the graves of my father and three brothers, all killed at one time.” She looked at me through a mist of tears, and I turned and left her without another word. I felt as if the sun would never shine for me any more; I thought I might as well be in my grave as to try and live there. Why shouldn’t Igo to Yorkshire or Derbyshire, or even to the diggings in Australia, for that matter? The notion of it gave me a little spirit It turned Iny thoughts,and I stepped'out more briskly, going straight home. I hadn’t mnch to settle there, only to bid goodbye to the ‘ people I lived with, and I soon came out pack on back, and began my tramp. I was walking on, when suddenly the air rang with a crash which shook the ground. signified; such sounds denote but one result in the Black Country; and, throwing off my pack, I darted off to the pit. It didn't seem a minute before I came to the dust heaps around the pit’s mouth but some were there before me, and people were rushing from the village in a stream. The smell from the pit almost threw me down as I came up, and I had to get my breath a little when three or tour of us crept on to the mouth and looked down. The explosion had destroyed the cage, but it hadn’t injured the signal rope; hence a r eans of communication remained for any one immediately below. As soon as I saw this I proceeded to rig a cross bar, and presently had it ready.

“Just lower me quietly; I may pick up one or two, if there’s any near,” I said to two banksmen. • “Youcan’t go down yet,” said the viewer. “How many are there in the pit?" “Half an hour ago there were fifty; but Pm thankful to say they all came up but ten,” replied the time-keeper. “And they are lost,for there will be another explosion presently,” said the viewer. ‘Til go down, anyhow,” I said doggedly; “and if nobody will lower me I will jump down.” > A geod many were on the heaps, now, and two or three called out, “Good-bye,

God bless you, dear lad.** Th? banksmen lowered me down,and I sank through the the pit's mouth. A’ Davy-lamp was tied round my waist, and I held a rope in my hand, so that I might signal to be i oisted up, if the air became foul. But I had no mte tion of going back until I had searched the pit and seen it there were any alive. One thing, I didn’t care about my life; and another, I would have been ashamed to face the folks above without doing something, so I felt impatient that they lowered me at such a snail’s pace, and I kept looking up and down to measure the distance yet to be traversed. But my progress was noticed by the increasing density of the air which began to affect my breathing; and so as I went on I had to shift my face from side to side to make a little current. At last my feet touched ground. I looked around as I jumped off the straddle, and saw the furnace was out, which put a stop to the'ventilation of the mine, and no air but by the shaft. The stench was overpowering, and from this and the silence I guessed the worst It was evident that the explosion had killed the horses, for no sound came from the stables,which were close to the shaft; and what hope could there be for human beings in a distant part of the pit? I did not stand to make these reflections; I was working forward as they went through my mind. I knew the old pit blindfold, but what with the gloom and my shortness of breath,! was some minutes scrambling to the incline. When I reached the first gallery I pushed open the trap and went on a few steps, but my lamp was 'afire,'* and I knew the atmosphere was So much gunpowder. As I stumbled along it came into my head what Amy had said about Jack being in the pit. I rushed forward like mad; my foot struck something and I bent over what appeared to be a corpse, and the gleam of my lamp fell up on its face. It was Jack. I caught him in my arms,and with the strength of a giant and the speed of a deer—hardly conscious, hardly breathing—l made a dash for the shaft.

It was easier worfc going back, when you were in the main or horse road, and I found that Jack was breathing when I reaehed the shaft. The discovery kept all my senses at work without my seeming to notice it I only felt that there would be another explosion. I placed Jack on the straddle an d tied him hand and foot; then pulled the signal rope,and as the people above hauled the tackle, I hung on by my arms. It wasn’t till wo had reached twenty fee* up ithat I felt {the strain of standing on nothing; but from that moment it became terrible. My hands'seemed ready to snap and my head spun round in an agony. I watched the mouth of the pit until my eyes swam, and I thought I must drop before I reached the top. Then they began to hoist faster; I could see the walls of the shaft; I couldl feel the purer air; I heard voices; and presently strong arms caught me, and I was landed on the bank. They had Jack off the straddle before you could look round,and he was carried away, while they raised my head and poured a little brandy into’my mouth. I called out tor the viewer. “What is it, Charley Batson?”he asked bending over me. “Everybody away from the moth of the pit, sir,” Psaid. “You are right; it will come in a minute or two,” he answered. They got hie to the top of the bank, when I heard a scream, and there was Amy trying to throw herself on her brother, but kept back by the other women. She never glanced at me. I wished then that I had staid in the pit, or let myself drop from the bar as I came up, and so escaped seeing her again. But I made up my mind that I had looked on her for the last time. I told my helpers that I could walk now; and when they let go my arms I turned toward the moor intending to pick up mp pack and drag oh to the next village. But I could no more walk five miles than I could fly. When I came to my pack I sank down by it and felt that I must give up. I was so beat that though the second explosion at the pit shook the ground under me, I didn't lift my head. All I thought of was lying quiet By degrees I recovered a little strength, and my thoughts took me to my old lodging, where I decided tu rest before I set out on my wanderings. The day passed, and the night, and the next day, and I was still in bed, and the good folks of the house attending me like a child. My limbs, which had been racked with pain, now felt easy, and I was ready for a start again. But I thought there would be opposition, so I got up very quiet and was putting on my thing 4, when the door opened, and in came Jack Glover. “Hilloa, Charley, here we are, ’he cried, seizing my hand and giving it a hearty squeeze. “Who would have thought of us two being alive to-day?” “Well, Jack, I am glad for youy but I shouldn’t have oared for myself.” “How’s that?” ’

“I have something on my mind?’ “Your he said, laughing, and giving me a little push. •‘Here. ift down and have a pipe, and it will all go off like the smoke.” • \ . “I don’t care if I never smoke a pipe again,” I said savagely. “Now, Til tell you what it is; you’ve been having a tiff with our Amy.” “I haven’t.” “Well, you know best about that, but you were seen talking with her, and. she had a crying fit directly after. And when she heard from me that it was you who brought me up from the pit, she fall fainting into my arms.” “Didn’t she know that until you told her?” I asked. “No.” “Then I’ll just tell you all about her and me,” I said. I was a long time telling it, but Jack sat up as if he were listening to a play or a sermon at chapel, i told him of the feeling Amy had raised in my heart; told him how I had watched for her, thought of her, dreamed of her; and, finally, recounted our latest colloquy. Jack never moved a muscle, and not till I stooped for breath did he put in a word. “Don’t you think you have been a little fast, old boy?” he then said. “ How do you mean?" “Why, in giving up so. Suppose when Amy said she couldn’t have you, you had put your arm around her waist and said she must?*” The view had never struck me, and rather took me aback “But there was her promise to you and her mother never to marry a pitman.” “So there was, but did you never hear that promises were made to be broken?” “I can’t say but I have,” I muttered, clapping on my hat. ‘ Where are you going?” “You wait here a minute.” With that I took two strides down the stairs into the road into Mrs. Glover’s cottage. I stood outside a minute, then I opened the door, and the first thing I saw was Amy sitting by her mother looking like a ghost—only ghosts never look pretty. She gave me one look, then started up and sprang into my arms. My heart was so full I couldn’t speak at first but I thought I must do something, so I slipped my arm around her waist as Jack had recommended. Now I felt sure of her, and of all the happiness the world could give, and as my breast swelled proudly I began to bear a little malice. “Ah, Amy, if you had only loved me,” I said.

She tightened her arms around my neck. “How happy we might have been,” I continued. “Then we can be, Charley,” she said. “How? We can never marry, you know.” The little fingprs] unlocked, and I felt Amy falling away, but I remembered Jack’s counsel and held on by her waist. “There’s your promise to your mother and Jack; how are we to get over that?” I continued. “I forgot that,” faltered Amy, as white as a sheet. “And what do you say to ' it, mother?” I cried to the old lady. Mrs. Glover got up and took Amy’s hand and put it in mine. , “That’s what I say to it,” she said heartily, “and Jack is of the same mind.” “And this is what I say to it,” I cried, giving the girl a kiss. You won’t be surprised to hear that we were married the next week. And now I am the viewer of the colliery; and as for Amy she will tell you that, though she has married a pitman, and has her ups and downs like other people, there is no happier woman in the kingdom.

The Mule Knew it Was Loaded.

Taibottom (Ga.) Register. Some time ago Major L. B. Brown bought a very smart looking young mule and proceeded forthwith to “break” it. The animal was accordingly hitched to a wagon, when it began to cut all sorts of capers, and some not down on the usual programme. After kicking, squealing and plunging around awhile, hi| muleship broke the breast chain, and™ in attempting to do a double somersault landed on his back in tne wagon body, heels up and unable to rise. A very tame mule had been hitched with him; this one was securely anchored to the ground by a burly, negro, who didn't seem tofancy the turn things had taken. Especially was he “buckeyed” when the tame mule became terribly alarmed of a sudden and proceeded to do the occasion only as a mule can perform. The negro was thrown from the mule’s back, when the now thoroughly frightened animal ran away with the wagon loaded with the mule, which up to that: had been unable to regain his feet It was quite a funny escapade—the flying wagon drawn by one mule, another mule in the wagon body, his legs punctuating the air with the force of a pile driver. The mule that got the ride came near having his neck broken in the frolic.

WASHINGTON NOTES.

ed at Washington, in excellent health, from their southern trip. No worn and mutilated currency can be redeemed by the treasury department until a new appropriation is made. Indictments have been returned by the Washington Grand Jury against Kellogg and Brady, for star route manipulations C har ges again st naval officers of w holesale smuggling are again indulged in in the Treasury Department and other circles. The assertion is openly made that the government has lost more money through the smuggling of naval officers than through all sources combined, whereat naval officers are highly indignant. The secretary of the agricultural department of California, in a private telegram says: From the latest and best information received, the State will produce a futy average crop of wheat this year, or 30,000,000 bushels. Reports received from thirty counties of Wisconsin report the winter wheat in excellent condition. Of the 260,000 Indians in the United States, about 160,000 in the West, Northwest and Southwest require more or less military surveillance. One-fourth of them —or 60,000 in round numbers—are adults capable of bearing arms, but there are seldom more than from 100 to 1,000 Indians on the war-path. Yet we have on the border a force of 17,500 men for purposes of repression and suppression. Congressman Guenther, of Wisconsin, who was active in his efforts to ''secure a reduction of the tariff on glass bottles, says that even now, before the new tariff has gone into operation, toe price on small bottles has been increased about one dollar per gross, and it is expected that when the new tariff goes into effect the price will be still more increased. tMe ofd rate was 85 per cent ad valorem, and the new tariff, owing to the extraordinary action of the Conference Committee, fixes the rate at one per cent per pound, an increase of over one hundred per cent

It is reported to the Treasury Department that smuggling is being extensively practised on the Rio Grande river, and that a difference of opinion exists between the district attorney for the Southern District of Texas and the collector of customs at Brownsville as to the authority of the officers of the latter to arrest persons detected in the act of smuggling. The question has been referred to the solicitor of the Treasury for an opinion. The solicitor says that he has no doubt that the officers have the same legal right to arrest offenders that they have to seize smuggled goods, provided the arrest is not made on Mexican territory. R. H. Milroy, of Yokama Indian Agency, W. T., writes to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs that the recent trouble between the Indians of his agency and the white settlers of the vicinity arose from a quarrel occasioned by the scattering of poisoned meat near the camp of the Indians on the Columbia river by one of the white settlers. The Indians ate complaining that when the grass grew about the meat the horses might eat of it and be poisoned. The agent says the Indians ought to be brought to the reservation, as it is becoming very difficult for them to find subsistence where they are in camp, and as long as they remain there troubles of a greater or less magnitude will be constantly arising. The specifications for the new postal notes, authorized- by Congress its last session, are nearly completed and by the first of th“ month the Post office Department will invite proposals for making th°m from private bank-note companies and the bureau of Engraving and Printing located here. Engravers are now -st work on the latter, preparing designs, and the specifications are alone required to expedite matters. These notes will prove a great accommodation in the transaction of business involving small amounts, ranging from 10 cents upto 82 or S 3, They can be sent for a 8-oent postage stamp, and are made payable to bearer so that the troublesome m .nev order and letter of indentification are thus dispensed with. The postal note, however, will not in any way antagonize the money orders, for a sort of fractional currency. Upon the reception of a postal note all that will be required of the holde” will be to present it at the nearest post office and receive the cash. . “General Grant made a remark the other day which struck me as odd,” said Commissioner Loring. “He said that the place to build Mexican railroads was through the country to the south of the City of Mexico, and added that railroad built through this section would open up a sugar, cotton and agriculture l country the richest in the world.” The attention of American capitalists and railroadbuilders is directed almost entirely to northern Mexico, and to the establishment of rail connection with the United States. The scheme for the drainage 'of the City of Mexico and the reclamation of large tracts of contiguous land, in which Commissioner Loring is interested, is in statu quo. The gentlemen are awaiting

advices from the Mexican govehiment relative to the time of payment of the 89,000,000 promised for tile work and more definite information about the 8200,000 guarantee deposit required by the government from whoever may undertake the job. It is said at the Postoffice Department that the report referred to in a recent dispatch from the City of Mexico in regard to postal arrangements between that country and the United States, urged the necessity of a daily instead of a tri-week-ly mail in Mexico. At present the United States mails for Mexico reach the frontier daily, and are delayed there on account of the slow mail service of that government. A change proposed, in which the Mexican authorities appear to acquiesce* will obriate delay, and the mails will be forwarded, as far as possible, on the day they reach the Mexican border. Judge Thoman said Tuesday that the rules drawn up by the Civil-service Commission differed somewhat, but not materially, from those employed by the former commission. Until they are laid before the President and cabinet he would say nothing further regarding them, except that, in his opinion, they would fairly test the qualifications of those competing for office. On being in - terrogated as to certain statements credit■ eTto him, that the wholesale discharge of government employes on the incoming of a new administration was not forbidden by law, he asserted that what he said was thav.the civil-service law had nothing to do with removing; that the power to dismiss from office was not abridged by the bill, but that all appointments to office must be made from among those found competent, without regard to party. It is said that Postmaster-General Gresham will give the Louisiana case an overhauling at an early date, and make an effort to have matter to and from the offices of that institution excluded from h e mails as required by law. The lottery company keeps several high-priced men of influence in Washington on its pay-rolls, and thus far the attempts to interfere with the transmission of lottery matter through the mails have fallen flat The men who compose the lottery crowd are afraid as death of the new Postmaster-General, and quake in their boots for fear he may by an official ruling kick their fat into the fire. The prompt manner in which he takes up ‘questions and goes at once to the bottom of them is something new in department administration, and fills the parties who makes living expediting or delaying matters of business by arguments, demurrersand other means, with a fear that their occupation will soon be gone.

Facts About the Bible.

A prisoner condemmed to solitary con finement obtained a copy of the Bible, and by three years, careful study, obtained the following facts: The Bible contains 3,389,489 letters, 778,892 words, 81,171 verses, 1,189 chapters, and 86 books. The word and occurs 46,277 times. The word Lord occurs 1,855 times. The word Rev., occurs but once, which is in the Sth verse of the 111th Psalm. The middle verse is the Bth verse of the 118th Psalm. The 21t verse of the 7th chapter of Bzra contains all the letters in the alphabet except the letter J. The finest chapter to read is the 26th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. The 19th chapter of IL Kings and the 87th chapter of Isaiah are alike. The longest verse is the 9th verse of the Bth chapter of Esther. The shortest verse is the 85th verse of the llth chapter of St. John. The Bth, 25th, 21sh, verses of the 107th Psalm end alike. Each verse of the 186th Psalm end alike. There are no words or names of more than six syllables.

Difference iu Corn.

Kansas Fanner, Any party noticing the variety of oom coming to market will often see loads of oom with the kernels not over one-fourth of an inch in length, cob large and heavy. Seventy pounds of such corn in the ear would notrmake over 46 or 50 pounds of shelled corn, while the best variety of deep-grain com will yield from 50 to 60 pounds of shelled corn from 70 pounds in the ear. The lose in a few bushels is but small; but take a crop of 80 acres, averaging 46 bushels to the acre, and a gain of 6 pounds per bushel would make over 80 bushels of the shelled oom in favor of the good seed. Thus if the best seed cost 810 more than the poor seed it would pay to get the best

The Wine State.

California is rapidly coming to Ihe front as the great wine-produring country of America. During the year 1881 the vintage was estimated at 9,000,000 gallons, and for 1882 it was supposed to have been between 10,000,000 and 11,000,000 gallons. Considerably more than two-thirds is used at home, while the rest is exported, chiefly to Eastern cities. The effect of the California vintage is certainly felt in France, as within the last two or three years the falling off in the export of champagne wines to the United States has been marked. It is predicted that within ten years a large part of the wine drunk in the United States will be produced *n California.