Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 July 1885 — Page 2

on Tins 4|Oad. Blip, slap! Clappity clap 1 Great goodness! What is this rattletrap? Roar, rip! v ■,< Hit him a clip! *Tis the livery horse at .the Boston dipl Ding, dang! . Give, him a bang! Dear 10, dear! What a horrible whang I Smack, whack I My I What a hack! Break his heart and smash his back I Lor’, lam! Darn,d ! Take a club and give him a jam! Lash, slash! Gosh, what a dash! O, dear 1 That driver is awfully rash I Whoa, whoa! 1 Gracious I Go slow! The railroad! We’ll all be crushed to dough! Crash, smash! One binding flash, And driver and horses are ground to hash I —.Exchange. A RAINY DAY. On a day like this, when the streets are wet, When the skies are gray and the rain is fulling; , HoW can you hinder an old regret For a joy long dead, and a hope long set, From rising out of its grave and calling? Calling to you with a voice so shrill, That it scares the reason and stuns the will. On a day like this, when the sun is Hid, And you and your heart are housed together; If memories caine to-you all unbid. And something suddenly wets your lid, Like a gust of the outdoor weather. Why. who is in fault but the dim old day, Too'dark for labor, too dull for play ? On a day like this, that is blurred and gray, When the rain drips down in a ceaseless fashion ; If a dream that you banished and put away, Comes back to stare in your face and say Mute eloquent words of passion— If the whole vast universe seem amiss— « Why, who can help it —a day like this? —Ella Wheeler Wilcox.

THE KING OF THE PLAINS.

A Glimpse of the Texas Cowboy—His Life on the Drive, in the Camp, and at the Bound Up. “Doi know the cowboys? Young man, I think I do. When you have worked with them, caioped with them, lived with them, and been among them forty years on the drive, on the plains, and on and off duty, you might say you know them.” The speaker was a Texas cattleman, and he was asked to describe the cowboy. “The Texas cowboy,” he continued, “is the most thoroughly misunderstood man outside of the localities where he is known, on the face of the earth. I know him in all his alleged terrors, and as a class there are no nobler-hearted honorable men in the world. Brave to rashness and generous to a fault, if you should be thrown among them you would find them ever ready to share their last crust with you, or lie down at night with you on the same blanket “Why, young man, see here,” and the Texas man twitched his chair around until he could put his feet upon a win-dow-sill. “Say that I have 10,000 cattle which lam about to send overland from Texas into Montana to fatten for the market. Those cattle will be on the drive from the Ist of April until the middle of September. They are divided into three herds, with a dozen or sixteen men with each herd. I entrust these cattle in the hands of a gang of cowboys. For six months I know absolutely nothing of my stock. I trust their honesty to the extent of many thousands of dollars without a contract, without a bond, with no earthly hold upon them, legally or morally, beyond the fact that I am paying them $35 or S4O a month to protect my”interests. And these are the men pictured in the east as outcasts of civilization. I trust absolutely to their judgment in getting these cattle through a wild and unbroken country without loss or injury. I trust as absolutely to their bravery and endurance in the face of danger.” “Danger ?” , “Danger! Yes, indeed. A man to

be a cowboy must be a brave man. For instance, we are on a drive. These slab-sided, long-horned Texas cattle are as wild as deer naturally, and being in an unknown country are as nervous as timid sheep. The slightest noise may startle them into a stampede. We have been on- the drive all day and night is coming on. It is cold and raining. We have reached the point ■where we intended to round up for the night The men commence to ride around the drove, singing, shouting, and whistling, to encourage the animals by the sounds they are familiar with, and to drown any noise of an unusual character which might provoke a stampede. Round and round the cattle they ride until the whole 'drove is traveling in a circle. Slowly the Cowboys close in oh them, still shouting and Binging, until finally the cattle become quiet, and after a time lie down and commence chewing their cuds with ap- { jarent contentment. Still the vigiance of the men cannot be relax ed. At least half of them must continue riding about the resting herd all night. A stampede of cattle is a terrible thing to the cowboys, and 1 may be brought on by the most trivial cause.. The slightest noise of an unusual nature, the barking of a coyote, the snap of a tol, the crackling of a twig will bring some wild-eyed steer to his feet in terror. Another instant and the whole drove are panting and bellowing in the wildest fear. They are ready to follow the lead of any animal that makes a break. Then the coolness arid selfpossession of the cowboys are called into play. They still continue their wild gallop around the frightened drove, endeavoring to reassure them and get them quiet once more. May be they will succeed after an hour or two, and the animals will again be at rest. But the chances are that they cannot be quieted so easily. A break is made in some direction. Here comes the heroism of the cowboy. * Those cattle are wild and unreasonable in their flight as a pair of runaway horses. They know no danger but from behind, and if they did, could not stop for the surging sea of maddened animals in the rear. A rocky gorge or deep cut canyon may cause the loss of half their number. Those in the rear cannot see the danger and the leaders cannot stop for those behind, and are pushed on to their death. A precipice may lie in their way, over which they plunge to destraction. It matters not to the cowboy. If the stampede is made the captain of the drove and his men ride they head it, and then endeavor to turn the animals in al circle once more. A hole in the ground, which catches a horse’s foot, a stumble, ahd the hoofs

of 3,000 cattle have trampled the semblance of humanity from him. He knows tips. A gulch or gorge lies in. their path. There is no escaping it. There is no turning to the right or thd left, and in an instant horse and rider are at the bottom, buried under 1,000 But what of it? It is only a cowboy and they come cheap. But history records no instance of more unquestioning performance of duty in the presence of danger than these men undergo on every drive. Should the stampede be stopped there is no rest for the drivers that night, but the utmost vigilance is required to prevent a recurrence of the break from the frightened cattle. This may happen hundreds^!'times on a single drive. “I remember one instance, which, from the friendship in which I held the victim, has made a lasting impression On me. Two brothers were together on the drive. Both men had been educated in an Eastern college, but for some reason had drifted to the cattle plains of Texas and had become cow-boys. The elder was the Captain of the drive. Sitting about the camp-fire one night the younger w r as very down-hearted about something and finally said: ‘Charlie, let’s throw up this drive. I don’t want to go. I feel that one or the other of us will never go back. I am ashamed of this, but I cannot shake it off.’ His brother was impressed by his seriousness, but could only say; ‘George, here are 3,000 cattle in my charge. I could not leave them if I knew that I would be killed to-morrow.’ ‘A stampede!’ cried one of the men. In an instant they were all at animals, saddles were adjusted and away they went The Captain gained the head of the drive and had succeeded in turning them a little when his horse stumbled. In another instant horse and rider could hardly have been distinguished from one another. So you see there is some reoponsibility upon the men. “These wild cattle away from home are as variable as the wind, and when frightened are as irresistible as an avalanche. The slightest thing stampedes them. For instance, we have rounded up the drive and the cattle are lying down. lam one of the men detailed to ride around them. Finding them all quiet, I get off my horse to light my pipe. Relieved of my burden the horse rests himself by a shake. The whole drove are on their feet in an jnstant, listening to discover from what quarter the noise came. No one can foresee which way they will make the break and only the utmost self-possession and good judgment on the part of the men on duty will prevent a general stampede. That is the class of men cowboys are made of, and I never knew of many instances w’here they failed to do their duty.” The enthusiastic Texan had now warmed up to his subject, and when asked “where are the cowboys recruited from?” replied: “From all parts of the world. Some from the plains, where their toys in infancy are the miniature lariat and a shotgun. Some from Mexico, with many of their half-Indian characteristics, and many from the East. I know a dozen college graduates who are cowboys, and have become so infatuated with the life that I suppose they will never leave it until the final grand round-up.

“There is another interesting period in the life of the cowboy, and that is the spring round-up. In the fall the cattle stray away, and in working away from the storms they sometimes get away 100 miles or so. Each cattleowner has his own particular brand on his cattle. - Well, the ranchmen in some natural division of the country will organize a grand round-up in the spring. The cowboys will drive the cattle all in together in one big drove. Then the captain of the round-up will direct,the owner of ranch A to ‘cutout his cattle. One of A’s most experienced men will then ride into the drive until he sights an animal with his brand on. Deftly he will drive the animal to the outer edge of the herd, and then with a quick dash runs the beast out away from the drove, and it is taken in charge by others of A’s ranchmen, while the cutter goes back after another. After some fifteen or twenty minutes, A’s cutter will be taken off and B’s given a chance. This will be continued until each ranch has its’cattle cut out. If any cattle are found without a brand they are t killed lor the use of the men on the round-up. This ‘cutting’ is a work requiring great skill and experience and frequently requires the use of the lariat. Often cattle with a strange brand is found. If any one recognizes the brand, a ranchman living nearest the owner takes charge of it and notifies the owner. If no one recognizes the brand the captain of the round-up advertises it, and if no owner is found, it is sold at auction for the benefit of the Cattlemen’s Association. “These things will go to show the responsibility resting upon these men. They have to be men of integrity and reliability, and their labors are such that you can readily see they cannot be very dissipated. I will tell you how they get the reputation for recklessness;’ We will suppose these men have been on a drive for six months and have finished and been paid off. Then they are just like any other body of men, they go in for some fun, andon their lark” ride yelling through the streets of some little town, shoot a few street lamps out, and get into a saloon row. It is no more than a band of college boys at Harvard, or Cornell, or Princeton might do, and frequently do, but some imaginative correspondent immediately sends it to some Eastern paper, where it comes out .headed, “Another Cowboy Outrage,” and giving a wholly factitious account of the battle -between the outlaws and. the citizens. Now, I know hundreds es cowboys who never carry a revolver, and if you should go among them today your life and your pocketbook would be as safe as it is in the city. They have strict ideas 6f honor, and they stand upon their honor. You Won’t find any of them who would be safe, to impose upon, nor will you find any of them who will attempt to impose on you. They are off duty a lot. of big-hearted, rough boys, but they are not outlaws or outcasts. They are' not the class &f men who rob trains, or hold up people crossing the plains, and I believe that, taken for all m all,

the American cowboy will compare favorably in morals and manliness with any similar number of citizens taken as a class.” —Pittsburg Dispatch. . '

Maria Ward and John Randolph.

One of the saddest and most romantic love affairs in the social annals of Virginia was that of Maria Ward and John Randolph, of Roanoke. Beginning in his early boyhood, it became the one enthralling passion of his manhood, filling his whole being, until, as he himself said, “he loved her better than his own soul or Him that “created it?’ There is a picture of John Randolph in the room of the Virginia Historical Society, taken at the time when he was the accepted lover of Maria Ward. It represents a singularly handsome youth of 25, ? his eyes dark and: full of intellect, his mouth beautifully; formed, and over his proud and lofty forehead fell a profusion of dark hkir. The breaking off of the affair is wrapped in mystery; all we know is that one summer morning he rode up to the: house, and after a long interview in the parlor, the lady left the room in tears, while he rushed from the house, mounted his horse, an 1 rode furiously' away. Honever saw her again; but one day he approached a house where she was staying while she was singing in the parlor. Fascinated by the sound of her voice he [lingered on the porch, and sent in from time to time a request for her to sing one after another the tender little ballads which were associated with their loves. Maria Ward sang, unconcious of her lover’s presence, while he rushed frantically up and down the porch in an agony of grief, waving his arms, and crying in the anguish of his heart: “Macbeth hath murdered sleep; Macbeth shall sleep no more!” Maria Ward married Peyton Randolph, son of Edmund Randolph, who was Govenor of Virginia, the first At-torney-General of the United States, and Secretary of State under Washington. This lady was distinguished for the exquisite grace and fascination of her manners and her bright wit. Her portrait represents a lovely girl of sixteen, with wondrous blue eyes, exquisitely delicate complexion, a profusion of sunny brown curls, and in the quaint costume of the last century. Maria Ward died in 1826, aged 42 years. All contemporary accounts unite in describing her as possessing a singular facination of manners, a charming sweetness and amiability of disposition, an enchanting, gayety and esprit, and a peculiar, irresistible, personal lovliness. At the time of her death she was still as fresh as the summer rose, as captivating in mind and manners as when she enthralled the passionate heart of John Randolph, of Roanoke.—E. L. Didier, in Harper's Magazine.

Color-Blindness.

It has not been the duty of the writer to investigate cases of accidents which might have been caused by defects of sight, but he has been assured by officials that a solution will hereafter be found in them for those hitherto insoluble mysteries where men, otherwise credible, have so flatly contradicted themselves ’ and the l of the case. By one prominent officer he was told that, being upon a train at night, delayed by some slight accident, he himself took a red lantern, and going a proper distance back, placed himself on the track in the way of an oncoming train, but, finding his light not observed he was compelled to dash it into the cab to attract the engineer’s attention, and arrest him in his progress to a collision. Upon the examination of another engineer, his superior officer being present and convinced of his marked color-blindness remarked that, but a short time before, the man had run into the rear of a train properly protected by a red light in the hands of a brakeman some distance in the rear, that the most careful investigation had resulted only in the suspension of the brakeman for not having gone far enough back, but that he was now satisfied that the color-blindness of the engineer had been the real cause of the accident. Some slight or minor accidents recently led to the discovery that another engineer had by some oversight not been tested in his division, and this led to his examination and detection there, and to his conviction by the writer as a color-blind. Still another case now presents itself. An engineej some time ago ran over and killed a brakeman, holding a danger signal on the track in front of his engine, and no satisfactory explanation could then be given; but the division examiner predicted that he would probably be found color-blind, and on his examination this proved to be the case. —Dr. William Thomson, in Popular Science Monthly.

Spiritual Manifestations.

A number of scientific men about Boston have associated themselves for the purpose of investigating psychical pheunomia, and naturally their first object of study is that large class of facts, real orlimaginary, known as spiritual manifestations. We trust these gentlemen will go wisely as well as thoroughly about their inquiries; that they' will take nothing for proved until the demonstration is irresistible, and nothing for real that is the product of trick, or credulity; and that, when they finally report, their conclusion may be so fortified that no impartial person will be able to dispute it. ’, The most important £hing~ for them to determine is whether’ these manifestations are genuine or not, that is to say, whether they are caused by an unquestionable force outside of the medium and his assistants, and are the work of intelligent beings not living in the flesh, yet possessed of power to move and influence living men and natural objects; or whether they are in all cases the result of imposture or delusion. This is the prime question of all; and if the Boston savants can shed light upon it, their labors will be entitled to grateful recognition and fas ting applause.— New York Sun. The number,of plants used by man is started to exceed 3,000; Of these about 600 are used as food, 1,140 in medicine,,and about 350 are employed in the prions industries.

Gutter-Chlid Life.

“ihem two isn’t anything to do with ma'No, thanky; I’ve got quite mough of ’em to look after without,” said the 10-year-old mass of rags I was literviewing. And as he glanced towards his sister (who was now comforting the baby in the midst c-f a fit of i-oughing) his young face grew grave md anxious as that of a middle-agpd father of a family. “What do you mean when you say that you have to look after them ?” I isked “You are expected to see that they don’t get into mischief, I suppose?" “Something more’n that,” he replied, with a sober wag of his red head. “I’ve -got to find grub for ’em. There’s another one of ’em—my young brother Bill. He's a sitting by the fire in the landlady’s kitchen, ’cos he can’t walk.” “What is the matter with Bill, then? Is he a crappie?” The old look gave ‘ place to a grin again as he replied, “You wouldn’t say 30 if you was to see him chucking hand-springs and sommersaults a-side of the ’buses. It was the wheel of a cab what jvent over his toes and lamed him.” “But where are your father and mother?” “Father’s down at the docks, or somewhere, I suppose, looking after a job. Mother, she works over on Tooley street, at the tater sack making. They goes out first thing in the morning and come home last thing at night. That’s all we see of ’em.” “But wouldn’t it be better to stay indoors this bad weather?” “Can’t ; they lock the door of our room, fear we might fall out o’ winder, or set the place on fire, or something.” “And you, being the eldest,” I remarked, “are, I suppose, trusted with the money to buy food for your brother and sister all day long ?” He grinned again, and then laughed outright, the joke tickled him so. “Ketch ’em leaving any money along o’ me,” he presently made answer. “The way of it is this, mister. We has some bread and coffee before mother goes out in the morning, and all we gets ’twixt then and 8 or 9 o’clock at night is what I pick up. When mother corned home, we have some of what she brings home for supper, and that’s the lot.” “But your father, don’t he bring home any money ?” A resentful scowl distorted the boy’s mobile face as he replied: “A rare lot ho brings home. More like he’d take away what I get if he’d the chance. He’d do it more, only mother rounds on him about it and sticks up for us. A stunning mother she is too,” continued the grateful young street Arab admiringly. “No matter how he punches her or‘pastes’ her, she won’t give in about that. ‘What he’—that's me, you know —‘ever picks up/ ses she, ‘let him divide it among ’em, and if you take it away from ’em, you’ll have to settle with me for it when I come home.’ ” “But what is it you do pick up, and where?” “Oh, anything—anywhere; I ain’t pertickler,” replied the grubby-faced young Briton, on the instant becoming lighthearted again. “But I can’t get about and do anything while it’s raining. Sometimes I works the omnibuses, like I was doing when the cab Wheel went over young Bill’s tops, and sometimes I play on the tin whistle, or I go hunting for bones and rags, or p’raps I takes my bag and goes down to the river and picks up enough coals to sell for tuppence or thrupence. It’s no use bein’ pertickler, don’t you know, when there’s two or three of ’em looking to’ids you for a Bit of witties.” And there was a look in his eyes as he spoke that any man would have been gratified to see in the eyes of a little son of his own. It was a strange etory. The poor hard-working drudge, the mother, able with her toiling from morning till night to buy only half a loaf in place oi a whole one for her ; lucky progeny; the dissolute, -lazy ■ father, who rather than work would ' rob his child of its vagabond gleanings; the ragged, sturdy, ready-witted ragamuffin, aged tenfwho stood before me, and who, according to his own account, acted the part of father and mother as well to his younger brothers and sisters day after Greenivood, in “Outcast London.” . > l -

Seeking Their Level.

“Water,” says natural philosophy, “will always seek its level.” From a fairly extensive acquaintance with this fluid we are inclined to accept this statement as correct, and feel disposed to add that things in general -have the same tendency. The boy who comes to a new school and stands aloof from his companions looking wise ’ and straightening out his fancy trousers’ legs, while the others talk and scuffle, may think he travels on an upper plane for a time, but pretty soon another boy will come along and trip him up, sending him head over heels into the mud. The way he acts for the next five minutes will settle the level he is to occupy in that school. If he squares off for a rough-and-tumble tight and. displays grit and good nature mixed in proper style, he will be counted a fine lad and the ideal of the school, no matter whether he wins or loses. If on the other hand, he whimpers and whines and goes to the teacher with his complaint, no good clothes, nor good looks, nor money, nor jewels can make him solid with those who’ rule. An addition is made to the clerical force in a big store. He is a prime, modest lad from the country, put in by one of the proprietors who knew his father. For a day ©j- two. he stands there behind the counters, dealing out goods as punctual and solemn as a sexton. Soon his companions begin to work in their little jokfes,. and the girls blush and look up side ways-just to see what kind of a fellow' the new man is. He was put there to sell gdods and Work for so much a week, hut under, above and around all thege business transactions influences are at. work that are recording his place jn the wqdd and telling whether he shall continue behind that counter during good behavior or rise to places of more pay and greater trust. All men and all women who live and act in this world are working out their fitness to hold certain positions and seeking their

levels as surely as the chafing streams j that roll to the Atlantic. > When we see dressy young men hanging around the corners and baunjing the offices in the’ citsr, complaining ' of fate and ill-luck, and saying they are going West to grow up in a country , where talent is appreciated, we pity i them and pity the West; for we know ' that the world had no use for them" so long as they hold to such doctrines. Let them strip off tbeir coats and go to work at the first thing they can find to do, and let them work at it until something better offers. Now and here are the place and time for men to show their mettle. Bight here in Boston and Massachusetts and New England, and right now in the year of our Lord 1885, are as good opportunities for work and talent as anywhere. Men w r ho occupy high positions to-day do so because they were wide awake, and gained their proper level by push, and men who want such places must exert themselves to get them. “Soft snaps” and “fat salaries” do not go a-begging to any great extent. They don’t this year, at least, and we have no authority for saying they will next. If a thing is worth having, it is worth working for. Work, young man, work. — Boston Globe.

Behavior of a Rejected Lover.

The situation of a man who has been “winged” is much better than that of a girl under the same circumstances. At first he takes it very hard. He rails against marriage, sneers at woman in general, and becomes for the time being a second Diogenes. Ere many months have elapsed he emerges from his tub and his sulky fit. He now begins to realize that he is “interesting.” A halo of romance encircles him; others may bear away the palm in literature, science, or art, but there are some kind ..souls by whom the dejected hero is at once placed on a pedestal, owing to the mere fact of his having been badly treated by one of their own sex. “Poor Edwin! so clever, so amusing, and brokenhearted!” says Angelina to herself. She at once sets to work to repair the damage done by the unappreciative rival. It is Mr pleasing task to guide the wounded spirit through the successive stages of pique, cynicism, desire for sympathy, and platonic friendship; until Edwin is gently but firmly led to the alter before he well knows where he is. Sometimes, however, the young man is too wide-awake for this, and while making a' very good thing out of his broken heart, he prefers confiding his sorrows to more than one Angelina, deftly “sheering off” when pity is becoming inconveniently like love. Thus one disappointment may prove a foundation for many flirtations, and Edwin consoles himself, and is consoled, by an ever-varying procession of good Samaritans, till at last he really forgets how it all began, who jilted him, and whom he jilted. He has the proud satisfaction of feeliug that die has amply avenged his wrongs by the number of blighted beings whom he has “winged” in his turn, continues his triumphal progress until it is brought to a close by a well-dowered widow in “the roaring forties,” from whom he fails to escape, and finally settles down to “peace with honor” and a comfortable income.— London Standard.

Must be Enforced.

Abraham Stockton, who, during many years lived in the southern part of Arkansaw, w as, in honor of his great learning and also to the fact that he had once killed a mad dog, elected justice of the peace. The people were very anxious to see a case taken before the old man, lor every man knew that Stockton’s opinion would be one which the Supreme Court could not reverse. The opportunity came. A man named Eckford sued Mr. Chesley. The litigation grew out of a dispute concerning the ownership of a lot of sheep. A jury was empaneled, the evidence was taken and the lawyers made their speeches. The verdict of the jury declared that the sheep should be equally divided. Before discharging the jury, the magistrate said: “Gentlemen, you’ve did your duty, but you ain’t made no' provisions fur the cost in this thing. The constitution of the United States says that when jurymen make sich a oversight, the judge shall take the matter into his Qwn hands. Gentlemen, I’ll charge you $2 a piece. I have heard a heap o’ people talk about the judge’s charge to the jury, an’ I reckon some o’ you will talk about this one, but if you say anything outen the way, I’ll whale the whole kit an’ bilin’ o’ yer.” • __ “Your honor,” said a lawyer, “you can’t make the jury pay—” “Can’t I? Wall, now it’s funny if we don’t. They dojfit git a bite to eat till the thing is settled. Boys, git your pops an’ keep your eyes on the jury. The laws of this State have got to be enforced.” — Arkansaw Traveler.

Spontaneous Combustion.

It is claimed that spontaneous combustion of the human body has taken place in more than one instance, and Charles Dickens is not the only novelist who has introduced it into a story. It has also been referred to in medical wdrks. Levoux’s “Journal de Mcdicin” gives an account of a fat woman 28 years of age, who was found on fire in her chamber, where nothing else was burning. The neighbors heard a noise something like frying, and when the body was removed it left a layer of black grease. The doctor conceived that the combustion began in the internal parts, and the clothes were bqrned secondarily.

The Mother-in-Law Catches It Again.

“Hello, Harry, where you going?” inquired young Smith, as he saw a young doctor hurrying along. “Going over to Charley Sanderson’s; his mother-in-law was up at the rink last night, fell down and fractured her skull ; don’t think she will live,” replied the voung M. D. “You don’t say J Gosh! I wonder if I could prevail on my mother-in-law to try the rollers,” and Smith started off on the double-quick to try the experiment— Brooklyn Times. On the basis of 44 per cent, of the as constituting the agricultural classes, it makes the average wealth of each individual $5,50. This compares wall in the scale with the other classes. .

HISTORICAL.

A gilt nutmeg was formerly a common gift at Christmas. The Romans used movable type to mark their pottery and endorse their books. There was a tunnel under the rivet Euphrates when ancient Babylon was in all its glory, and thp ancient Egyptians had a Suez Canal. The principle of the stereoscope was known to Euclid, described by Galen 1500 years ago, and more fully in 1599 A. D., in the works of Baptist Porta. M. Layard found in Nineveh a magnificent lens of rock-crystal, which Sir David Brewster considered a true optical lens and the origin of the microscope. It is difficult to discover why the glpve was recognized as a sign of defiance. It is suggested that the custom of dropping or sending the glove as the signal of a challenge, may have been derived from the circumstance of its being the cover of the hand, and therefore not for the hand itself. In 1687 an excise duty on tobacco was laid in England, which alarmed the Virginia planters, arid they attempted to retaliate by procuring acts of the Assembly for the encouragement of domestic manufactures, that they might import leaf from the Mother Country. King James disallowed these acts as hostile to English interests. A similar attempt failed in Maryland. The idea which associate’s the dog’s howl with the approach of death is probably derived from a conception of an Aryan mythology, which represents a dog as summoning the departed soul. Throughout all Aryan mythology the souls of the dead are supposed to ride on the night wind with their howling dogs, gathering into their throng the souls of those just dying as they pass by their houses. During the reign of Catherine 11. of Russia, I alatin, a peasant, made a musical repeating watch, about the size of an egg, which had within it a representation of Christ’s tomb, with sentinels on guard. On pressing a spring the stone would be rolled from the tomb, the angels appear, the holy women enter the sepulchre and the same chant which is sung in the Greek Church at Easter eve accurately performed. The vault of the Cloaca Maxima, in Rome, dates from the sixth century B. C. Canal burying was one of the first conditions of existence on the western coast of central Italy, where the dranage of the swamps, the discharge of the mountain lakes, which otherwise overflow from time to time, desolating the lower country, and the regulation of the river courses, alone made possible the settlement of a people and the founding of flourishing cities west of the Appenines. It is therefore not improbable that the great canal discovered by Dennis, which once drained the swampy valley of the Marta, preceded the Cloaca Maxima, and, indeed, antedated the Roman period altogether.

The Tonsorial Art in Persia.

The barber's shops in Persia are entirely open. One of the moss; common sights in the streets of Teheran is a man seated on the pavement against a wall, while a barber shaves the crown of his head. The barber’s trade is one of the most important in Persia. The customs enjoined by the Koran, or religious law, makes it indispensible that barbers should abound in the country. The Koran makes it honorable for a man to wear a beard, but commands the shaving of the, head. There are two great sects among those who ac-, cept the Mohammedan faith—the Sheas and the Sunnees. The latter are all Turks, and they shave the whole crown, excepting a tuft in the center, by which the archangel may draw them out of the grave. But the Persians are Sheas, and they shave the center of the head from the forehead to the neck, leaving a long curl on each side. It is curious to see even little boys with their heads thus The Persians consider it a great disgrace to lose their side curls. As they all wear turbans, or black conical caps of Astrakhan lambskin, no one would suspect the head to be shaved until the cap is taken off. Then, indeed, the appearance of the head is exceedingly grotesque. It is evident that the care of the hair is a very important question in Persia. But this is not all. One rarely sees a gray beard or gray locks in Teheran. Even the most venerable men have dark or red hair. The reason is because all from the highest to the lowest, dye their hair. This is done first with henna, which gives it a reddish tint. Many prefer to leave it thus. But many add to the henna a second stain of indigo, and the combination of the two colors imparts to the hair a dark brown hue. s The tails and manes of the horses are sometimes tinged with henna. Those of the royal stable are dyed a beautiful rose color.— New York Damn.

Robert Collyer’s Boy.

In a lecture entitled Anvil to Pulpit" Rev. RobertCollyeris&ys: “My father had $4.50 a week to keep his family on,and we got on with surprising regularity. I was the eldest of the familyof children,and was always glad of that. At that time provisions were not nearly so cheap as now; there were ho cheap schools, and the schools then were not very common, and such as they were you' had to , pay for them. Yet that good mother made that income stand good enough for aU. We lived on oat meal and milk in plenty, with just a bit of meat when we could get hold of it; , a mug of tea and white bread on Sundays, brown bread the rest of the time. My mother would make soup on Sundays, and would say to us boys, ‘Now, boys, he who drinks the most soup shall have the most meat.’ We would drink as much as we could carry; then she would say, ‘Well, you can’t eat any more; we will save the meat until to-morrow.’ With such a training as this it is no wonder that I hardly know what you mean by indigestion .— Cinchvna ti Co m mere i Al. The official bullet.n of a great victory over self is written in indelible ink on brain and heart.— Barbers’ Gazetie. . . Although every Tom, Dick„ .or Harry can open a beer saloon, it takes a “Jimmy” to open a bank. t ,