Rensselaer Republican, Volume 16, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 November 1883 — Page 3

The Republican. i RENSSELAER, INDIANA. 0. E. MARSHALL, - - Pubusheb.

During the past season Boston erected 831 buildings; Npw York, 1,905; Philadelphia, 3,334; and St. Paul, 4,000. The cost is not given in all cases. Up to the Ist of September the building expenditures of Mew York aggegated $33,804,214, against $44,793,186 in 1882 and $43,391,300 in 1881. One-eighteenth part of Dakota has been set apart for educational purposes. These lands cannot be sold for less than $lO per acre, and large tracta, it is thought, will bring more. They aggregate 5,500,000 acres, and are valued at $82,500,000. There will be no excuse for ignorance in the gTeat wheat land of the future. A Presidential campaign is a little more lively and exciting in the United States of Colombia than in the United States of America. The political—con-" dition of Colombia resembles that of Mexico a few years ago. It is a constant and bitter warfare between stubborn factions. There are now three aspirants for the pext Presidency—Nenez, Wilches and Otalora—and the partisans of each are hot with anger at the pretensions of the others. A revolution is threatened.

Mr. Edward Payson Weston, “the father of long-distance pedestrianism," is about to undertake a remarkable feat in connection with the work of the Church of England Temperance Society, with which he is prominently connected. He proposes to travel over the highways of England and Wales, on foot and in ordinary costume, fifty miles daily for 100 consecutive days, Sundays excepted. He will travel only during the day time, and will lecture each evening on “Tea versus Beer.” He will be accompanied by two friends and a represenative of the press in a carriage. '

Governor Sheldon reports a population of 150,000 in New Mexico, against 118,430 in 1880. Of the 150,000 inhabitants three-fourths, or 112,000, speak the Spanish language, and cling to the old customs of the country. Of the remainder, the majority are of the enterprising and venturesome pioneer class who are interested in developing the resources of the country. Modifications in the Jaws, suggested by Governor Sheldon, would have the effect to stimulate immigration, and when the American element is in the majority the real progressive movement in the Territory will begin.

In his recent address to the Agricultural Society of New England Hon. George B. Loring said that the farmers of that section were getting wealthy. He said: “The decline of eertain branches of farming, especially of those staples that can he more cheaply produced elsewhere, is attended by an increase of all those products that enter into immediate home consumption; and honce it is that the number of farms has increased, the production of butter has been enlarged, the sale of milk has become an important branch of the dairy, and the aggregate value of the annual products of the soil is greatly enhanced.” An English clergyman in Berkshire recently rebuked Sabbath-breaking in a way that some people might resent. The peaceful village was startled in the midst of its Sunday afternoon quiet by the loud, and rapid tolling of the, church bell for twenty minutes. The town turned itself inside out trying to find out what was the matter. It was finally announced that the rector, while engaged in a pastoral visitation, had been scandalized by the sight of a lawn tennis party in the grounds of one of the principal houses in the parish, and he had taken this means to remind the erring members of his flock of the injunction of the Fourth commandment.

The little village of Annsville on the Hudson has derived its existence for nearly half a century from the Annsville wire mills,which employed upwards of 400 men at good wages. Recently the wire mills were destroyed by fire, and threw out of employment nearly all the working population of the village. The proprietors of the wire mills decided not to rebuild, and last week leased Sharp’s rifle works, at Bridgeport for ten years, where they will in future carry on their business. As a result the storekeeper* of Annsville pave been forced to close up, and the village is rapidly becoming depopulated. A more desolate looking place can hardly be imagined:* According to the New Orleans TimesDemocrat, Southern progress during the last four years has been of a most ■olid and satisfactory character. The assessed valuation of the eight Southern and Southwestern States increased between 1879 and 1883 from $1,215,662,128 to $1,710,498,798. In the same States the railroads have increased from 11,604 miles to -17,891. The value of raw pro-

ducts raided in those states increased from $398,000,000 to $567,000,000. The trade of New Orleans f in domestic products increased from $159,000,000 in 1881-82 to $200,000,000 in 1882-83. As this increase has taken place without any inflation in prices, it shows that the South entered upon a promising career of material prosperity.

Let every young man who wants to open a correspomdence with some beautiful girl, “with a view to matrimony,” carefully examine the lining of his new hat. A yoijng woman inja Connecticut bat factory, some months since, was inspired with the happy idea of putting her name and address on a card slipped inside the leather lining of a hat she was finishing. The purchaser of this head covering wrote to the factory girl, and the correspondence resulted in a wedding. All the girls in all the hat factories at once followed the example of their former companion, and now another wedding has taken "place consequence. In the latter case the wearet of the hat came from New Orleans toseek the writer of the card and his fate.

Cart. Webb’s death at Niagara recalls the similar fate of a man in Sicily just 100 years ago. Nicholas, surnamed “the diver,” on account of his many wonderful exploits, undertook in the presence of thousands of spectators to dive to the bottom of the Sicilian gulf, where there is a dangerous whirlpool, and bring up something which had\been thrown in. He made the attempt and succeeded. Again something more precious was thrown in, and again he succeeded. Finding tliat in the second attempt he encountered some submarine difficulties which he had not expected,he declined te make another attempt, but a Sicilian nobleman throwing in a gold cup studded with brilliants as a prize, he dived into the surf and was seen again.

A war of France with China would strke British trade a hard blow, while scarcely affecting French. The total tonnage entering and clearing from Chinese ports in 1882 was 17,388,852 tons. Of this 172,381 tons were French, and 10,814,779 tons English, The German, of other foreign, tonnage is next in amount to the English, being 882,856 tons, while the American is only 167,801 tons, although in 1877 it was 556,126 tons. The Chinese tonnage is nearly 5,000,000, and is the only formidable competitor to the English. It will thus he seen that to France an interr ruption of the Chinese trade by a blockade of the treaty ports would, from the purely commercial point of view, he a comparatively small matter, while to England it would be a subject of almost transcendent importance.

Dress of Laboring People in Japan.

The laborers in Japan have adopted a style of dress and undress that is admirably conducive to the largest attainments of comfort durjng their labors, and especially so is it with the headgear worn by them, which consists of a bamboo or grass saucer-shaped article, that is placed on the top of the head without encircling the brows, being retained in its position by means of strings attached to the hat or head-: cover, both before and behind the ears of the person wearing it, which are tied beneath the chin. Usually there is a ring of cotton or of bamboo about an inch in thickness, and some four or five inches in diameter, placed between the top of the head and the hat, which allows of perfect ventilation over the cranium, and, as they are nearly as largo as an ordinary sun umbrella, they afford ample protection from the rays of the sun to the neck and shoulders. Sunstroke is not one of the ills that the Japanese are subject to. If the farmers who labor under the scorching sun of California during the harvest days of July and August had such protection as the Japanese hats, or, rather, head and shoulder protectors, afford, they would adjudge them a blessing and a boon. The granger’s hat that I have seen w orn by the farmers in the valleys of California, with their wide brims flopping about their faces, and shoved tightly upon their brows, are not to he compared to the Japanese article.— Letter from Japan.

Misunderstood.

An old Scotch story illustrates the well-known fact that a harmless word, when misunderstood, may become a cause of offence: One night Sandy told his sweetheart that he “liket” her “awfu’ wee.” She simply responded “ditto.” Sandy was not very sure what that meant; so the next day, while at work, he said, “Father, can yon tell me what ‘ditto’ is?" “Ou, ay, Sandy,” replied his father. “Dae ye sae that cabbage ?” “Yes.” “And dae ye see that ither ane that it’s jist the same ?” “Yes.” “Weel, that’s ditto.” ‘Goodness!” exclaimed Sandy. “Did she ca’ me a cabbage-head ? I’ll na’ wed hes.”

A South Carolina Prodigy.

Frankfort, S. C., has a colored man who is as much of a prodigy as “Blind Tom.” His name is Zach Taylor, born in Cartaret county, of parents who were slaves, is 33 years of age, never went to school in his life, and yet he can build a mill, repair a watch, tune a piano, or print a newspaper. The most remarkable gift he has, however, is the ability to repeat Scripture, which he can do for hours at a time without making any mistake.

OLD SAYINGS.

The Origin of Some Popular Phrases. Crosspatch.—“ Patch” was at ope time a term of contempt. It did not, as Paris suggests, necessarily mean a fool, but signified what we now mean by a contemptible fellow. Shakspeare, in “Midsummer Night’s Dream,” says: A crew of patches, base mechanicals. “Crosspatch” is the only remnant of the woi;d. It is very expressive of across, ill-tempered, disagreeable person. Mad as a March Hare.—A familiar saying found in Skilton’s “Reply Against Certayne Young Scholars” (1520), and also in Heywood’s “Proverbs” (1546). Burden of a Song.—“Bourdon” is the drone of a bagpipe, hence a running accompaniment or repetition of musical sounds or words is called the “burden.” „ Sadder and a Wiser Man.—This phrase is from the “Ancient Mariner," by Coleridge: A sadder and a wiser man He rose the morrow mom. —Balderdash.—Originally the froth or lather made by barbers in dashing balls of soap backwards and forwards in hot water. Bubbly spume or barbers balderdash. — Xatht, 1599. Malaprop, Mr A -A character in Sheridan’s comedy of “The Rivals,” noted for her blunders in the use of words. The name is obviously derived from the French mal a propos, unapt, illtimed. Every One to His Own Taste.—A literal translation of the French proverb, Cliacun a son gout. It is generally used satirically, as, “Well, I didn’t think he would associate with people of that kind; "but (with a shrug), every one to his own taste."

Whisky.—The stuff itself was originally an Irish manufacture, and was -called usquebaugh (pronounced US-kioe-baw), from uisge —water, and seaf/ia—life. It meant “the water of life.”. The reason the last syllable was omitted may be that its use oftener led to death than to life. It was called usque, and finally spelled whisky. Folded Their Tents .Like the Arabs. —Longfellow, in his poem “The Day is Done;” wrote the verse from which this now very common saying was taken: And the night shall be filled with music, And the cares that Infest the day Shall fold their tents like the Arabs, And as silently steal away. Siesta.—This Spanish term for a nap in the day-time has become completely naturalized in this country. The Spanish nap is usually taken about noon, which, in their reckoning, is the sixth hour (sesta). Hence in Spanish sestear is to take the mid-day nap, and sesteador is the room appropriated for the purpose, usually on the north side of the house. Sambo.—A cant designation of the negro race. The following passage, immortalizing the appellation, is from Harriet Beecher Stowe: “No race lias ever shown such capabilities of adaptation to varying soil and circumstances as the negro. Alike to them the snows of Canada, the hard rock land of New England or the gorgeous profusion of the Southern States, Sambo and Cuffy expand under them all.” Faint Heart Never Won Fair Lady This is a very old proverb. In a “Proper New Ballad in Praise of My Lady Marynes,” printed iii 1639, are these lines: Then have amongst ye once again, Faint harts falre ladies never win. In “Britain’s Ida,” by Spenser, Canto v., Stanza i., the second line reads: ‘ Oh, fool! faint heart fair lady never could win. Cheers But Not Inebriates.—Cowper used this phrase in reference to tea, but it had been previously applied by Bishop Berkley to tar-water. In his work “Siris,” paragraph 217, the Bishop says: “Tar-water is of a nature so mild and benigh, and proportioned to the human constitution, as td warm without heating, to cheer but not inebriate, and to produce a cairn and steady joy, like the effect of good news.” Standing in Another’s Shoes.—ln an article on “Legal Usages Among the Ancient Northmen,” in Bay ley’s graphic illustration (London, 1834), it is said “The right of adoption obtained one form of it consisted in making the adopted put on the shoes of the adopter. It has been asked whether our phrase of ‘standing in his shoes, may not owe its origin to this custom.” ;

The Moonshiner’s Hogs.

The thoughtful provision of this moonshiner for his hogs reminds one! that the hog sometimes is himself a guide for the revenue officers. Your toper is not more fond of the product of the still than is this useful animal of its residuum of slops and refuse. Not long ago a drove of fine porkers were driven to market in a southern city. Their route led past a registered distillery, and with a celerity which rivaled that of their relatives in Bible story who “ran down a steep place into the sea,” they broke column for the succulent slops. A revenue officer standing by asked the driver, “Where did you buy them hogs?” On investigation it was found that the mountaineer in charge of their education had maintained an unregistered distillery in a tranquil spot, which would no doubt have escaped the vigilance of the "revenues,” but for the inconsiderate and ungrateful conduct of the pigs. A deputy marshal carelessly sauntered into the front yard of a citizen who was a suspect, but against whom there was no inculpatory proof. “I found a blockade still down there on a branch,” said the deputy. “What branch? I know nothing about it,” replied the honest yeomanry. “What sort of a looking place is it?” “Nothin’ perticklar,’ said the deputy, drawing a powder-begrimmed Bmith & Wesson, and wiping it on his coat-tail. “There were some mighty fine hogs there, and I shot ’em accordin’ to law. It is a pity that meat don’t belong to nobody.” “Je-rusalem!” bewailed the innocent one. “Yer hain’t shot them ‘shotes,’ hevye?” and with that he made a beeline for the still-house, of whose existence a moment before he had been supremely unconscious. It is perhaps unnecessary to say that his “shotes” were in their usual health, and were

clamorous for their ■ accustomed beverage.—Atinnla Constitution. ) •

A Blushing Indian Bride.

Crowded in the tepee were about twenty-five persons. The blushing bride, in a brilliaiit dress cut en train, stood by the side’of the young warrior who had changed his attire from one oi warfare to that of mourning. Ranged on each side of the tent were the braves, sixteen in number, in full paint and feather, each with a plug hat. Chief Charlie directed the ceremonies. In a few wojfls she announced in Ute that the father and mother of the bride had selected Chavo for a husband, and that Chavo wanted Minnie to darn liis socks, sew on his buttons, and do such other duties incumbent upon the squaw of so mighty a warror. Turning to the bride and groom he asked the usual questions. They replied in Ute, whereupon the chief stepped aside. The high-contracting parties then seated themselves on the straw in the middle of the tent, while around them squatted the braves. Mrs. Sow-no-winch, mother of the interesting pappoose, placed around the bride’s neck an amulet tied with deer sinew, and then the ceremony was complete. At another sign from the chief the brayes began to chant,rising in the vocal key louder and louder, until the dirge grew wild and weird, breaking forth in a harmony of sounds that defied all musical scoring.—From grave to ga* the group had passed with but little ift terim. The assemblage by this tims was metamorphosed so that the scene was wild and beyond description. All at once the commotion ceased so sudden as to startle the guests. Exhausted, the braves sank to the ground and the wai - rior and his newly-made wife passed out from the group, he disappearin’! first through the lodge entrance ana she following.— Western Correspondent.

Mushroom Western Towns.

In describing the growth of a mushroom “railroad” town in the West a New York Sun correspondent says : The first street is always parallel with the railroad track, extending each way from the station. The second street runs off at right angles, and, if the growth of the town continues, it usually becomes in time the more important highway. Oth.Jr streets are laid out, right and left, shanties and brick buildings spring up side by side, and in a few months the real estate agent is prepared to exhibit a city map, platted on a scale that would suit a place of 50,000 inhabitants, and to give you your choice of town lots at from $25 to $2,000 apieee. It is only about a year since the first house was erected in Billings. Now there are nearly five hundred houses, and the population -is well up to twenty-five hundred. It has a brick church, a bank, several schools, three newspapers, three hotels, and a horse railroad. Statistics of population, however, are of trifling value in towns that double their inhabitants in a few weeks or a few months. The social and business development of the town generally follows this order : Saloons, stores in which the necessaries of life are sold, gambling establishments,daily newspapers, school houses, a bank, a church, a wholesale store, a jail. For a time the saloons and the newspaper struggle for numerical supremacy. The appeaaance of the jail marks a distinct epoch in the crystallization of society. The jail at Livingstone, the newest of the cities, was just finished, and had no inmates. It is a one-story structure of brick and stucco, standing next to a log house with red shades in the windows and this sign over the door: “Miss Crickett’s Palace.” The jail at Bozeman, which is comparatively an old place, contained twenty-seven prisoners, seven of whom were held for murder.

A King Playing Horse.

One genial memory of a person outweighs many unpleasant characteristics that happen to belong to him; and most of us are ready and glad to correct the bad impression of appearances by welcoming & single redeeming faet. So our feelings soften toward a personage in history whom we do not like, or a portrait that repels us, as soon as some tender incident in the life of the original brings him nearer to us. A case in point is narrated by a writer in The Presbyterian: The portrait of William 111., of England, inspires one with awe. There is severity in his, conntenance that makes one stand at a distance, even though he admire*that Prince. These were my feelings for years, until they were changed by my learning of this incident: The King was one day engaged deeply in matters of state. There was a knock at the door. “Who is there?” said the King. “My Lord Buck,” was the reply, puling from a childish voice. “What does he want?” said the King, as he went and opened the door. “The King, for my horse to draw my carriage.” His Secretary, who perhaps had never seen a smile on his royal face, looked up with wonder. But, to his astonishment, the King laid down his pen and parchment, and laid aside the cares of state. A smile spread over his features. He took hold of the string and trotted up and down with the carriage, to the complete satisfaction of my Lord Buck. ' . v , ; ' -y' • Since I read that I have loved William m..as I never did before. Perhaps none but a child could have aroused so completely the sympathies of the King.

Our Joint Daughter.

This is a story of Mrs, Brown, wife of Buchanan’s first Postmaster General: She had been •married before, and so had Postmaster General Brown, and each-had a ,daughter left over from the first marriage. Then they had another daughter. Mrs. Brown used to present them at her reception in this way: “This is Miss Brown, Mr. 'Brown’s daughter by his first wife; this is Miss Sanders; my daughter by my first husband, and this is Miss Brown, our joint daughter/* ... . The Canadian Government offers a bonus of $5 for every able-bodied white man who may settle in British Columbia.

THE BAD BOY.

“Well, how is my little angel without wings, to-day ?” asked the grocery man of the bad boy, as he came in with red paint sticking to his ears, and blue paint around his eyes and nose, which looked M though a feeble attempt had been made to Wash it off, while a rooster ; fearner stuck through his hat, and, a j bead moccasin was on one foot and a | rubber shoe on the other. “Oh, lam all bushoo. Buslioo, that ■ i's Indian. lam on the war-path, and j !am no angel this week. This is my week off. It beats all, don’t it. how different a fellow feels at different times. For the last tab weeks I have been so good that it made me fairly ache, and since that Buffalo Bill show was here, with the Indians, and buffaloes, and cow-boys, and steers, I am all broke up. We have had the worst time over to our house that ever was. You see, all of ris boys in the neighborhood wanted to have a Buffalo Bill show, and pa gave us permission to use the back yard, and |ie said he would come out and help us. You know that Boston girl that was visiting at our house, with the glasses on ? Well, she went home the next day. Bhe says this climate is too wild for her. You see, we boys all fixed as Indians, and we laid for some one to come out of the house, to scalp, the way they do in the show. We heard a rustle of female garments, and we all hid, and, when the Boston girl carue out to pick some pansies in ma’s flower-bed, we captured her. You never see a girl so astonished as she was. We yelled ‘yip-yip’ and I took hold of one of her hands and my chum took hold of the other, and her bangs raised right up, and her glasses fell off and she said ‘Oh, you howwid things.” We took her to our lair in the hen house and tied her to a tin rain water conductor that came down by the corner of the barn, and then we danced a war dance around her, and yelled ‘ki-yi,’ until she perspired. I took my tomahawk and lifted her hair and hgng it on the chicken roost, and then T made a speech to her in Indian. I said, ‘The pale faced maiden from the rising sun is in the hands of the Apaches, and they yearn for gore. Her brothers and fathers and uncles, the Indian agents,have robbed the children 6f the forest of their army blankets and canned lobster, and the red man must be avenged. But we will not harm the pretty white maiden except to burn her to the stake. What has she to say ? Will she give the red men taffy, or will she burn?’ Just then pa came out with a cistern pole, and he rescued the white maiden, and said we musn’t he so rough. Then the girl said she would give us all the taffy we wanted, and she went in and she and ma watched us from the back window. Pa he watched ns rob a coach and he said it was first rate. The man that collects the ashes from the alley, with a horse and wagon, he had just loaded up, and got on the wagon, when two of my Indians took the horse by the bits, and four of us mounted the wagon and robbed the driver of a clay pipe and a pocket comb, and a knife, but he saved his ashes by promising never to reveal the names of the robbers. Pa just laughed, when we gave the ash man back his knife and things, and said he hadn’t had so much fun in a long time. Then we were going to lasso a wild Texas steer, and ride it, the way they did in the show, and pa said that was where he came in handy. He said lie could throw a lasso just like a cowboy. We got my chum’s pa’s cow out of the barn, and drove her up the alley, and pa stood there with a clothes line, with a big noose in the end, and lie headed off the cow and threw the. lasso. Well, you’d a clkle to see pa sweep things out of the alley with his pants. The cow was sort of scared when we drove her up the alley, cause I guess she thought it was time she was milked, and when pa stepped out from behind the barrel and throwed the rope around her neck, I guess she thought it was all day with her, for she turned and galloped, and kicked up and bellered, and pa did not know enough to let go of the rope. First pa followed the cow down the alley sitting down, and about a bushel of ashes got up his trowsers legs, and the tomato cans, and old oyster cans flew around like a cyclone was blowing. Us Injins climbed up on the fence to get out of the way, and that scared the cow more, and she snatched pa aloncr too quick. I | yelled to pa to let go of the rope, and just as the cow drawed him under a wagon lie and the ccnr task fcshSr clothes line home. Pa got up and the ashes out of his trowsers legs and picked up a piece of board and started back. You never saw a tribe of Indians get scared so quick as we did. As I went in the hen coop and got under j a barrel I heard pa say ‘That busts up ! the Buffalo Bill business. . No more ! wild Western steer lassoing for your Uncle-Ike.’ Well, no one was to blame but pa. He thinks he can do everything, and when he tries and gets i tangled, he lays it to me. We went out or. the street with our tomahawks, when pa went in to brush himself, and disbanded, and went on to our reservation, and peace reigns, and the Boston girl has gone home with an idea that we are all heathen out West.

“I should think your pa would learn, after a while, that he was too old to fool around as he did when he was a boy,” said the grocery man, as he got away from the bov for fear he would b 4 scalped. “That’s what I told him when he wanted to try my bicycle,” said the boy, as he broke out laughing. “He saw me riding the bicycle, and he said he could do it as well as I could, if he could once get on, but he couldn’t spring upon it quite as spry as he used to, and wanted me and my chum to hold it while he got on. I told him he would get hurt, but he said there couldn’t any boy tell him anything about riding, and so we. got the bicycle up against a shade tree, and he put his feet on the treadles and told us to turn her loose. Well, honest, I shut my eyes ’cause I didn’t want to see pa tied up in a knot. But he did. He pushed with one foot, and the bicycle turned sideways then he pushed with the other foot, and it began to wiggle. Mid then he pushed with both feet, and pulled on the handles, and the front wheel struck an iron fence, and as pa went on top of the fence the himd wheel seemed to

rear up Mid kick him, and pa hung to the fen<* and the bicycle hung to him, and they both went down on the sidewalk, the big' wheel on pa’s stomach, one handle up his trouser’s leg, the other handle down his coat-c6lh»r, and the other wheel rolling arouud back and forth over his fingers, and he yelling to us to take it off. I never saw two peo- ; pie tangled np the way pa and the bicycle [ was, and we had to take it apart, and take pa’s coat off and roll up his pants :to get him out. And when he got up | and shpok himself to see if he was all there, and looked at it as though he didn’t know it was loaded, and looked at me and then at my chum in a sort of a nervous way, and looked around and scringed as thongh he expected the bicyclewas going to sneak up behind him and kick him again, he wanted me to go and get the ax to break the bicycle up with, and when I langhed he was going to take me by the neck and maul the bicycle, but" I reasoned him out of it. I wasn’t to blame for his trying to gallop over an iron picket fence with a bicycle, ’cause I told him he better keep off of it, I think if men would take advice from boy# oftener they wouldn’t be so apt to get their suspenders caught on an iron picket fence and have to be picked up in a basket. But there is no use of us boys telling a grown person anything, and by keeping still and letting them break their bones, we save getting kicked. It would do some men good te be boys all their lives, then they wouldn’t have to imitate. Hello, there goes the police patrol wagon, and I am going to see how it ri<|es on the back step, ” and the boy went out and jumped on the hind end of the wagon, and then picked himself up out of the mud and felt of his head where the policeman’s club dropped on it.— Peck's Sun.

Useless Questions.

A dark cloud hung in the West, the wind roared in the distance and the leaves trembled in that settled stillness which precedes a storm, as a horseman dashed np to the fence surrounding a small cabin in the great pino woods of Arkansaw. “How are you, my friend?” called the rider. “Ain’t ’zackly yo’ friend, ” said the man who sat in the doorway greasing his shoes, “ ’case I never seed yo’ afore; but I’m so so, how is it with yo’self ?” “I am about to be overtaken by a cyclone and I want shelter.” “Cyclone, "repeated the squatter. “I’ve been in this country time on’ I never seed one yit. Cyclone," and he rubbed his red hands over his cow-hide shoes. “B’lieve I did hear of one over in the lick Branch settlement. Feller caught him in a bear trap.” “My kind sir, you misunderstand me—” “Ain’(a kind sir. Daddy-in-law says ’m the wust in the pot.” “I’ve got no time to fool —" “Oli, yes, act natchnl.” “What did you say?” “Said make yo’sef easy,” and dipping up a handful of melted tallow he spread it over his shoes.

“There’s a terrible storm coming up, and I want you to give me shelter ?” “Ain’t nary’un. Had a shelter whar Jake hung his terbacker, but I tuck it down an’ kivered the beans with the boards to keep the frost offen ’em.” “I see there’s no use in fooling with you,” said the stranger, when the rain drops began to fall. “Under your roof I could remain dry, but—” “Bet yo’rd be dry, fur I ain’t had a drap to drink in a week.” “How far is it to the next town?” “In what direction ?” --- “This way,” pointing. “It’s furder den it is the other way.” “Well, how far is it?” “Dinged if I know. In late years this land's got into the habit of streatchin’, so that a man can’t tell half the time whar he is. ” “Come, I'll get wet.” “That’s all right, but I reckon I won’t come.” “Look here, -your fool soul, I don’t want to get wet.” “'Cause you don’t wanter git wet don’t give you a right to something that don’t blong to yo’. I own about a mile sqnar’ here, an’ef yo’don’t like the lay of the lan’, travel. ” “I only ask you to let me stay in your house tiil the rain is over.” “How can you stay in my house when you ain’t in thar ?” thskraensr- fool X-nysEjMB&JL... --<«»■ “Bleeged to you fer the compliment. ” “May I go into your house and stay there until the rain is over ?” “Yes, sirj jes’ git down an’ make y’sef at home. Es yo’ had axed me that question at- fust, yo’ conlder been in thar all the time. Way with yo’ fellers. Ax a thousan’ questions all aronn’ a p’int, an’ never hit the spot. Have a seat, while I scuffle aronn’ an’ git a bite to eat fer you’. Wife’s gone from home, hut I reckon we ken make out. Don’t mind that dog, fer he can’t bite* So. old his teeth’s all out. Don’t git skeered; hell only pinch a little. ” Arkansaw Traveler.

Thackeray and His Insane Wife.

The best years of Thackeray’s life were given to the affectionate care of his insane wife. Her disease was that of a violent type, except at intervals, but she required constant oversight and attendance. To secure this Thackeray bought a house in the country near London, in which the invalid was surrounded with every comfort that love and sympathy could devise. As she still craved his presence, and seemed unhappy when he was out of her sight, Thackeray made frequent visits to her, in retirement. These were the hours which his enemies declared were spent in the midst of all kinds of fellies and excesses. They were devoted, instead, to soothing the invalid repinings and quieting the unreasonable suspicions of a wife dearly beloved, but hopelessly insane. It is not to be wondered at that Thackeray’s views of life were tinged with a* profound melancholy. The cross was never lifted during his lifetime. But his fortitude, his loving kindness Mid his care for his afflicted wife ceased only with his death. ’The young husband of the ancient Baroness Burdett-Coutts owns seventy fishing smacks.