Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 February 1886 — Page 2

A KISS THROUGH THE TELEPHONE. Tb* Telephone, . In merif tone. i »«"t "Tinkplty-tinkrlty-tink." I put mv ear Close up to hear. And what did I hear, do you think? •Papa, hello) "Tie me, you know,* The voice of my own little Miss, “You wmt away i From home to-aav, ' And you never gave me—a kiss. J “It was a mistake, Iwa not awake, Before you went out of the house I thought that a kiss Would not be amiss H I gave it sly as a mouse. •So here goes, papa. And one from mamma. And another when you cau come home; Just answer me this, Is it nice to kiss When you want through the dear Telefome? •Hello 1M replied. With fatheriy pride, Tse pot them as snng as can be; I’ll give them all back, With many a smack. Whenever I come home to tea”

VANITY OF VANITIES. Bee to the blossom, moth to the flame; Each to his passion. What’s in a name ? Red clover's sweetest, well the bee knows; No bee can suck it; lonely it blowe. Deep lies its honey—out of reach, deep; What use is honey hiddort to keep? Robbed in the autumn, starving for bread, Who stops to pity a honey bee dead ? Star flames are brightest, blazing the skies; Only a band’s breath the moth-wing flies; Fooled with a candle, scorched with a breath. Poor little miller, a tawdry death 1 Idfo is a honey, lifo is a flame; Each to his passion—wnat’s in a name? Swinging and circling face to the sun, Brief little planet, how it doth run; Bee time and moth time, add the amount; White heat anti honey, who keeps the count? Gone some fine evening, a spark out-tost 1 The world no darker for one star lost! Bee to the blossom, moth to the flame; Each to hip passion—what’s in a name?

AN AMUSING SKETCH.

Jud I!rowuiit's Famous Account oi Bubcnstcin's Playing on the Piano. * “Jud, they sAy you have heard Rubinsfcein play when you were in New York?” <3* - \l did, in the cool. ” “Well, tell us all about it.” “What! me ? I might’s well tell you abmit the creation of the world. ” txiome now; no mock modesty. Go ahead.” “Well, sir, he had the biggest, cattyoomerdest pianner you ever laid your eyes on; somethin’ like a distracted billiard table or three legs. The lid washeisted, and mighty well it was. If it hadn’t he’d a tore the intire sides clean out, and scattered them to the four winds of heaven. ” » “Played weH, did he?” < “You bet he did; but don’t interrupt me. When he first sat down he ’peered to keer mighty little ’bout playin’ and wish’t he hadn’t come. He t weedleeedled onthetrible a little, and twoodleoodled some on the bass—justr foolin’ and boxin’ the thing jaws, for being in his way. And I says to the man settin’ next to me, s’ I, ‘What sort of foolplayin’is that ? And he says ‘Hush!’ But presently his hands began chasin’ one ’nother up and down the keys, like a parcel of rats scamperin’ through a garret very swift. Parts of it was sweet, though, and reminded me of a sugar-squirrel turning the wheel of a candy-cage. “ ‘Now,’ I says to ray neighbor, ‘he’s a showing off. He thinks he’s a doin’ of it, but he ain’t got no ido, no plan of nothin’. If he’d play a time of some kind or other, I’d- ’ “But my neighbor says ‘Jleigh,’ very impatient.

“J was just about to git up and go home, bein’ tired of that foolishness, when I heard a little bird waking away off in the woods, and calling sleepy-like to liis mate, and I looked up, and I see that Rubin was beginnin’ to take some interest in his business, and I set down agin. It was the peep of day. The light came faint from the east, the breeze blowed gentle and fresh, some birds waked up in the orchard, then some more in the trees near the house, and all begun singin’ together. People began to stir and the gal opened the shutters. Just then the first beam of the sun fell upon the blossoms a leetle more, and it techt the roses on the bushes, and the next thing it was the broad day; the sun fairly blazed, the birds sang like they’d split their throat; all the leaves were movin’ and flashin’ diamonds of dew, and the whole wide world was bright and happy as a king. Seemed to me like there was a good ' breakfast in every house in the land, and not a sick child or woman anywhere. It was a fine mdmin’. “And I says to my neighbor, ‘That’s music, that is.’ “But he glanced at me like he’d cut my throat. “Presently the wind turned; it began to thicken up and a kind of thick gray mist came over things; I got lowspirited directly. Then a silver rain began'to fall. I could see the drops touch the ground, some flashed up like long pearl ear-rings, and the rest rolled

away like rubies. It was pretty, but melancholy. Then the pearls gathered themselves into long strands and necklaces, and then they melted into thin silver streams running between golden gravels, and then the streams joined each other at the bottom of the hill, and made a brook that flowed silent, except that you could kinder see music, —especially when the business on the bank moved as the music went along down the valley. I oould smell the flowers in the meadow. But the sun didn’t shine, nor the birds sing; it was a foggy day, but not cold. The most -curious thing was the little white angel boV, like you see in pictures, that run ahead of the music book, and led it on and on, away out. of the world, , where no man ever 'was—l never was, certain. I could see the boy just as plain as I see you. Then tiie moonlight came, without any sunset, and shone on the graveyards, over the wall and between the black sharp-top trees splendid marble houses rose up, with fine ladies in the lit-up windows, and men that loved ’em, but never got nigh ’em, and played on guitars under the trees, and made me that miserable l could a-cried, because I wanted to love somebody, (didn't know who, better than the then with guitars did. Then the mm went down, it got dark,

the wind moaned and wept like a lost child for its' dead mother, and I could agot up and there and then preaoheda bettor sermon than any I ever listened to. There wasn’t a thing in the world left to live for, not a single thing, and yet I didn’t want the music to stop one bit. It was happier to be miserable than to be happy without being miserable. I hung my head and pulled out my handkerchief, and blowed my nose to keep from cryin’. Mv eyes is weak anyway; I didn’t want anybody to be gazing at me a-snivellin’, and its none of nobody’s business what I do with my nose. It's mine. But several glared at me as mad as Tucker. Then, all of a sudden, old Rubin Changed, his tune. He rip’d and he rav’d, he tip’d and he tar'd, and he . charged like the grand entry at a circus. ’Reared to me that all the gas in the house was) turned on at once, things got so bright, and I held up my head ready to look a* any man in the face, and not a fear'd oj nothin’. It was a circus, and a liras:) band, and a big ball, all going on at tin) same time. He lit into them keys like a thousand of bricks; he gave ’em no rest, day nor night; he set every livinf joint in me a goin’, and not bein’able to* stand it no longer, I jumpt, sprang into my seat, and jest ho-llcred. ‘“Go it, my Rube!’ “Every man, woman, and child in tod house riz on me, and shouted ‘Put him, out! put him out!’ “Put your great-grandmother’s grizzly gray greenish cat’-into the middle oj next month,’ I says. ‘Tech me if von dare! I paid my money, and you jess come a-nigh me!’ “With that several policeman rau up and I had to simmer down. But I would a fit any fool that laid hands on me, for I was bound to hear Rube out or die.

“He had changed his tune again. He lropt like ladies and tip-toed fine from end to end of the key-board. Ho played soft, and low, and solemn. I heard the church bells over the hills. i The candles in heaven were lit one by one; I saw the stars rise. The great organ" of eternity began to play from the world’s end to the world’s end; and the angels went to prayers. * * * Then the music cjianged to water full of felling that couldn’t be thought, and began to drop —drip,, drop, drip, drop—clear and sweet, like tears of joy failin’ into a lake of glorv. It was as sweet as a sweetheart sweetn’d with white sugar, mixed with powdered silver and seed diamonds. It was too sweet. I tell you the audience cheered. Bubin, he kinder bowed, like he wanted to say, ‘Much obleeged, but I’d rather you wouldn’t interrupt me.’ “He stopped a minute or two to fetch breath. Then he got mad. He runs his fingers through liis hair, lie shoved up his sleeves, he opened up liis coat tails a little further, he drug up liis stbol, he leaned over, and, sir, he just went for that old pianner. He si a] it her face, lie boxed her face, ho pulled her nose, he pinched her ears, and he scratched her cheek till she fairly yelled. He knock’t her down, and he stampt off her shameful. She bellowed like a bull,' she bleated like a calf, rfhe shrieked like a rat, and then he wouldn’klet her up.He ran a quarter stretch down the lowj grounds of the baps, till he got cleaq into the bowels of the earth, and yoq l*ard thunder galloping after thunder, toto’ toe hollows and eaves of perdition; lin'd then he fox-chased his light liantj with his left till he got away out. of tho treble into the clouds, wliar the note* was finer than the points of cambric needles, and you couldn't bear but tliq shudders of ’em. And then he wouldiri let the old pianner go. He for’ard and two’d, lie eross’t over first gentleman, he cross’t over first lady, he balanced

two pards, he chassed right ancf left, back to your places, he all hands aroun’, ladies to the right, promenade* all, in and out, here ami there, back! and forth, up and down, perpetual mo-; tion, double, and twisted, and turned, and “tacked, and tangled into forty--’levefi thousand double bow knots. “It was a mystery. And then he wouldn’t let the old pianner go. He; fetcht up his right wing, he fetcht up his left wing, lie fetcht up his center, lie fecht up his reserves. He fired by fiie, he fired by platoons, by company, by regiments, by brigades. . He opened liis cannon, siege gun down tbar, Napoleons here, twelve-pounders yonder, big guns, little guns, middlesize guns, round, shot, shells, shrapnels, grape, canister, mortars, mines, and magazines, every livin’ battery and bomb a-goin’ at the same time. The house trembled, the lights danced, and the walls shuk, the floor came up, the ceilin’ come down, the sky split, the ground rockt—heaven and earth, creation, sweet potatoes, Moses, ninepences, gldrv, tenpenny nails, my Mary Ann, Hallelujah, Samson in a simmon tree, Jerusalem, Tump Thompson in a tumbler cart, roodle - oodle - oodle-oodle

ruddle-uddle-uddle-uddle-raddle- addle-addle-addle-riddle-- iddle-iddle - iddle-rettle-ettle-ettle-ettle-p-r-r-r-r-lang! per king! p-r-r-r-r-r-lang! Bang! “With that bang lie lifted himself bodily into the air, and he came down with his knees, his ten fingers, his ten toes, his elbows aud his nose, striking every single Solitary key on that pianner at the ! same time. The thing busted and went off into seventeen hundred and fifty-seven thousand five hundred and forty-two hemi-demi-semi- . quavers, and I know’d no mo.”

State Pride.

“Judge,” said an Arkansas man, who was arraigned for assault with intent to kill, “Fm no baby. I don’t whine and kick. I went for this Tennessee man) with a club, and that’s a fact. But, your Honor,-, there was provocation, awful provocation.” ; “Then you plead guilty?” “Certainly I do, but hear me. Tine long-legged, ganker-shanked, wilted-up specimen of humanity got right up on the head of a bar! in front of Simmon’s grocery and crowed like a rooster, and yelled out that Tennessee had two murders to our one! That ’ere statement touched my State pride, vour Honor, and I sailed in to defend old Arkansaw agin the world.” , ' The fury found a .verdict of “noil guilty, ” without leaving their seats. Let every man take care how he speaks and writes of honest people, and not set down at a venture the first thing that comes uppermost,— Cervantee.

BULBS FOR ENGINEERS AND FIREMEN.

For the Management and Care Of Steam' Boilers. ■' 'j.f 1. Condition of Water —The first duty of an engineer, when he enters liis boiler-room in the morning, is to ascertain how many gauges of water there are in his boilers. Never unbank or replenish the fires until this is done. Accidents have occurred, and many boilers have been entirely ruined from neglect of this precaution. 2. Low Water —ln case of low water, immediately cover the fires with ashes, or, if no ashes are at hatfclTnse fresh coal. ■ Don’t turret-on ({he feed under any circumstances, hqr_tamper with or open the safety valve. Let the steam outlets remain as they are. 3. In Cases of ‘ Foaming —Close throttle, and keep closed long enough to show true level of water. If that level is sufficiently high, feeding and blowing will usually suffice to correct the evil. In cases of violent foaming, caused by dirty water, or change from salt' to fresh, or vice versa, in addition to-' the action above stated, check 'draught and cover fires with fresh coal. 4. Leaks - -When leaks are discovered they should be repaired as soon as possible. 5. Blowing Off —Blow down,# under a pressure not exceeding twenty pounds, at.least once in two weeks.; every Saturday night would be better. In case the feed becomes muddy, blow out six or eight inches every day. Where surface blow-cocks are used, they should be often opened for a few moments at a time.

6. Filling Up the Boiler —After blowing down allow the boiler to becom,e cool before filling again. Cold watbr pumped into liot boilers is very injurious from sudden contraction. 7. Exterior of Boiler —Care should be taken —that no water comes in contact with the exterior of the boiler; J either from leaky joints or other causes. 8. Removing-Beposit and Sediment —ln tubular boilers, the handhole slionld be often opened, and all collections removed from over the fire. Also, when boilers are fed in front and blown off through the same pipe, the collection of mud and sediment in the rear end should be often removed. 9. Safety Valves —Raise the safety valves catitiously and frequently, as they are liable to become fast in tlieir seats, and useless for the purpose intended. 10. Safety Valve and Pressure Gauge —Should the gauge at any time indicate the limit of pressure allowed, see that the safety valves are blowing off. 11. Gauge Cocks, Glass Gauge — Keep gauge cocks clear, and in constant use. Glass gauges should not be relied on altogether. 12. Blisters —When a blister appears, there must be no delay in having it carefully examined, and trimmed or patched as the case may require. 13. Clean Sheets —Particular care should be taken to keep sheets and parts of boilers exposed to toe fire perfbetv clean, also all tubes, flues and commotions well swept. This is particularly necessary where w*pod|<jr s<Jsfc coal is used for fuel. 14. General Care of goiters and Connections^- Undfer all ifircumstances keep the gauges, cocks, etc., clean and in good order, and things generally in and about the engine and boiler-room in a neat condition. — Hartford SteamBoiler Inspection and Insurance Company.

Experts in Wine.

are no professional wine tasters in this country. Here every dealer is his own taster. In Franee there are wine- tasters, called brokers, who regularly test the wiues in the cellars there and classify them according to their qualities. The dictumtj§ these gentlemen is the law of the trade. But although there is no class here who have such an occupation, or even 'an occupation allied to that of the gentlemen who sit around tables down town and look at and smell of tea in little . cups, there are good expert judges of wine among the dealers. To beeome an expert, a man must add years of experience to a rfaturally fine sense of smell and taste. He must also be able to see well. There is a certain routine through which experts, pass in tasting wines, but a knowledge of the routine will not make a man an expert by any means. * When a list of wines is to be submitted to a dealer he will usually select thin glass goblets to hold the samples. It is asserted by some that the taste of the wine varies with the thickness of the glass. The glass should be perfectly pure, and the lines of the goblet parallel. In a goblet it is impossible for the color of the stand upon which f the "goblet is placed to affect the color if the wine. The French rise a silver saucer in testing the color of wiue. j In using the goblet we hold it before a candle in a dark room to determine the brightness of the wine. Good wine of the’ proper age is called candle bright. If the wine is cloudy or it is out of condition, but may be clarified. Then the goblet of yine is held between the eye and the window in daylight to determine the degree of color, whether it is faint or deep, and also the quality, of the color. Thus, pure port wine, when held up to the light, shows a bronze-red color. If it be pink it indicates bad grapes or fuscine or adulterants of some kind. If claret show a blue color, or the color of blackberry juice, objection is made to it. There is one kind of grapes, the Lenoir, that makes a very excellent claret except for tins bluish color.

Having found the color all, right, the expert next smells of the wine. It is impossible to describe the peculiar aromas of different wines, but by many comparisons the nose becomes so well educated that some experts oan tell very nearly the age of the wine submitted to them, the kind of grapes from whioh it was made, and whether it is a pnre sample of one kind of wine or one wine blended with another. • '» t Last of all thepxpert takes a sip of wine,, retains it a moment in his month ho get the first taste, and then ejects it and holds his mouth open a moment to get the after-taste, or what is technically ■.V . ■ '' ■ ’

called the “farewell.” The farewell taste’s the orurial test. Wine may be bright, it may have the right quantity of color, it may have the smell desired, it may even have a rich, luscious taste when,taken in the mouth, and yet the farewell be unpleasant. Wines may be doctored until the ordinary purchaser may think he has an ancient brand of the purest but they have never yet been blended or drugged so nicely that the expert cannot tell that they are not pure, nor does an inferior wipe exist that cannot be properly classified by an expert. —Wine and Fruit Grower.

Tricks in Playing Cards.

“Do you want to biiv a pack of transparent playing cards?” said a man on Broadway, to a reporter who was passing down. The card-seller was a short, heavy-set man, with a black mustache. He wfis well-dressed, and strolled along as if he were a gentleman of leisure. “Let me see them.” “I will. Come with me. Remember mum’s the word.” He turned into Twenty-fifth street, and from the'-Tight reflected ■ from a drug store window exhibited a pack of transparent cards. “What is your price ?” “I ask only $2 for this pack. I have them as high as $5.” “Do you sell many packs ?>” “Some days I do. I have to be very careful. lam alwavs afraid some one will squeal on me, I can read human nature pretty well. Tim minute I saw you' I felt that you would not squeal on me. ” .. “Suppose Anthony Comstock should find you out ?” “Oh, I know him by sight. I went to school with liis boys. He wants bigger •game than me. He is too high up to notice my little racket.” “Have you any marked playing cards?” “to—- “ Get out, you don’t mean it? Well, I can get them for you from $1.50 to $lO a pack. But it’s queer and ticklish work. You can’t play poker —you don’t want them?” “I invented jack-pot poker and taught ex-Minister Sehenck how to play. I want more pointers, ” was the Munchausen answer. “Well, there are thirty-five different marked-back playing cards manufactured. I know how to read with ease twenty-six of them. The marks are on the riglit-liand corner and are read by the eye, and not by feeling, as greenhorns suppose. If the cards have flowers pictured on their backs, then the marks are flowers. They are so cunningly placed that an old professional, Tinless he knows that--style of card is marked, will never suspect anything. Of course these cards are not manu-

factored by legitimate houses. Certain crooked concerns torn them out. This city" is the only place where they are manufactured extensively. A clique of gamblers frequently get a monopoly of certain brands of marked cards and make a small fortune by selling them to saloon-keepers- in the small towns. It takes a man with a good memory to tell at a lightning glance what a card is by its back. The gambling places lip town here never use them. They are afraid to—it ruinfe customers. If a man is cheated once at a place he drops on the house, and not only stops away himself, but blows it to a great many. We work the marked-card racket down town in certain ‘skin’ saloons. Those who lose, as a rule, are professional men, who don’t know until too late that they are playing in a ‘skin’ establishment. Hungry Joe's fate-hasn’t checked the swindling games going on in this city.” “What other methods are adopted to cheat at card playing?” —“The great ‘skin’ poker game now is playing with a ‘sliding’ deck of cards. We also call that kind of a deck ‘strippers.’ It is simply done~by cutting the ,'deok Arkansavr fashion, that is a quick shuffle. The saloon-keeper has a‘sliding’ deck which he hands out to us. After a deal or two I wait until my Opponent is dealing. When I cut I shuffle the deck. The ‘sliding’ cards are somewhat wider, and when I shuffle I pull them out and put them on top. I' know that I have put a good hand on top which will come to me in the deal. My opponent gets a good hand too, and the game is to break him the first bet. I remember not long ago that I played a game called ‘Twenty-one.’ I knew the cards by their backs. I had a pair of tens. Mv opponent had twenty also. ' I saw an ace on top, and on the strength *of it won $l5O on that hand by drawing it. The city is filled with crooks. One crook don’t mind cheating another. It’s business. When I get busted I take a few packs of transparent cards and sell them on the streets. I haven't been arrested for it yet. I hope von won’t squeal on me. ” —Neic York Telegraph.

Donald G. Mitchell.

Donald Grant Mitchell was bom at Norwich, Connecticut, in April, 1822. His father was pastor of the Congregational Church at Norwich. He graduated at Yale College in 1841, then spent several years on a farm, went to Europe where he traveled extensively, arid returning began the study of law in New York in 1846. In i 847 he published his first book, which was sketches of his foreign travel, entitled “Fresh Gleanings, ” under the pseudonym of Ik Marvel. In 1848 lie visited Paris and spent several months there, and gave an account of ‘diis experiences at that eventful time and place in “The BattleSummer," published in New York ih 1849. In 1850 he published a satiricalwork .in two volumes, entitled “The Lorgnette.” In the same year appeared his most popular work, “The Reveries of a Bachelor," and in 1851, “Dream Life” was published. In 1853-55 he was United States Consul at Venice. On his return he settled on his farm near New Haven. His works since published have been “Fudge Doings,” a satire on American fashionable life, 1845; “Mv Farm at Edgewood, ”in 1863; "Wet Days at Edgewood,” 1864;. “Seven Stories,” 1865; “Dr. Johns,” 1867, and “Rural Studies," in 1870. He has won some repute as a lecturer on various social topics. -winter Ocean.

THKvoke a man creates for himself by wrong-doing will brood hafe in tb*. kindliest nature. — George IRtot. .f (J •* *• i. . • j : W { •

THE PRESIDENCY.

llow We Got Along for Several Years Without a President, When the revolutionary war ended, in 1783, Washington retired to his country residence at Mount Vernon, and took no part officially in public affairs until he was chosen bv his native State (Virginia) as a delegate to the convention' that formulated and proposed for adoption the Constitution of the United States, which asseriiblpd in Philadelphia in 1787, when Washington was elected presiding officer of the convention. That Constitution Was opposed by some of the ablest men in the Nation, but it was finally adopted. It provided for the election of a President and Vice President, and defined tlieir duties. In-the convention the commit; tee had reported that the President should be called “His Excellency,” but that did not suit the plain notions of plain old Ben Franklin, and he squelched it iu a bit of sarcasm by. immediately proposing as an amendment: “And the Vice President shall lie styled ‘His- Most Superfluous Highness.’” And so it was decided that the President should have no other title than ’•A*The President.” The Constitution did not; provide for the election of the Electoral College—“presidential electors”as now called—-by by a direct vote of the people* it left the various Legislatures of the States to provide a method of electing them; and the Legislature proceeded to elect them by a vote in toe Legislature, without any popular election. There were no political conventions or nominations made. The theory of the Electoral College was modeled after the republics of Venice, in the middle ages, that were governed by an oligarchy, tho best and foremost citizens selecting the ruler. So, as many of the foremost citizens of the American Republic as there Were Congressmen and Senators were chosen by the various State Legislatures as members of the Electoral College, who, in tlieir wisdom and without being instructed by political conventions, voted for a candiclate for President of the United States; but did not vote for a Vice President—the one having the largest vote, if a majority, was to be the President, and the one having the next largest was to be the Vice President. Everyone knows that “George Washington, Esq.,” was chosen President, and almost everyone supposes by the unanimous vote of the people; but the people did not vote at all, and his support was not by any means unanimous in the Electoral College, there being no less than twelve distinguished gentlemen with “Esq.” attached to their names who received one or more electoral votes for toe Honorable office of President of the United States. The first Congress under the Constitution assembled in New York City, Wednesday, March 4, 1189, and, there being no quorum present, adjourned from day to dav. until Monday. April 6. 1789. when the Senate elected John Langdon president, “for the sole pilrptise of opening and counting the vote for President of the United States.” "In joint session on the same day the vote was announced as follows: —-... ••

I S’ gif ggtg? =|s|: s’ aeJ a* aa,b§> >§ 2 . sj § S 2 If £ Z | SlbS w §Ms « 2 s £. M status. -ri ® I §? | | | =- P ?, g* ~ 5"! S ? 1,5 - ~ 5; 5 ■ h®t; u s ck, 2, ■ 'oo : s; s r s s g • a ■ a s * » ■ - -® - d : -z, • •tej* h : : K: : . » • £ *a|: • • • : • *r New Hampshire.»<s 5 .. > .. ... .. ..." .. Massachusetts.... 10 in , ~ Connecticut 7 5 2 ; New Jersey....... 6- 1.. 5 Pennsylvania..... In 8.. .. 2 .. : 1 Delaware 8.... 3, -.. Maryland. .6 J.. „ ~ „.„!.-. Virginia ...10 5 .. 1 1 „ 8 .. ... .. .. .. South Carolina.... 7 ...... I 1 .... 0 Georgia 5: 2 1 1 i T0ta1'....: 09 31 2 8l 1 C 3 0 V 1 l' 1 “Whereby it appeared that George Washington, Esq., was elected President, and John Adams, Esq., Vice President of the United States of America.” The States of New York, North Carolina, and Rhode Island had not yet given their consent to the adoption of the Constitution of the United States, and had no voice in the first Presidential election.— Freeport (III.) Journal.

Chopin as a Boy.

Chopin, alone of all the musicians, has been immortalized through his pianoforte music. If all the works that have ever been written for- the piano were to be swept away, his compositions would of-tlfemselves inspire one through all the drudgery that is necessary to master the instrument. Frederic Chopin was born on March 1, 1809, at a little village near Warsaw. The child’s genius was apparent in his earliest years; when scarcely more than a baby, he was so sensitive that he wept on hearing music; and hf.began to compose before he was old enough to write out the notes. He was placed under the tuition of Albert Zwyny, who was delighted with his little pupil’s progress, and in his ninth year he gave his first concert. Frederick was generally full of high spirits, and often amused liiniself by playing little practical jokes, sometimes being joined by his sister Emily. This sister gave as rare promise of being great in literature as Frederic in music, but, unfortunately, she died when only a young girl. Chopin had a talent for seizing the ludicrous and placing it on paper; and* liis power of caricaturing on the piano was much like Schumann’s. It is said that once, when his father’s pupils were becoming very boisterous, Chopin entered the room and seated himself at the piano. »He imitated a band of robbers breaking into a house, their escape, and retreat to the woods; as the music grew fainter the pupils became drowsier and drowsier until they were all fast asleep. I —Agatha Tunis, in St Nicholas.

He Wasn’t Cultured.

Mr. Algernon (to Boston young woman)—“Did you have a pleasant time at the literary society lkSt week, Miss Eugenia?", Miss Eugenia—“ Yes, indeed; we had an evening wish Emerson." Ms. Algernon—“ Why, I thought he was dead.”— Tid-ffits. Confidence is a plant of alow growth in aged bosom.— William Pitt

RICH CALIFORNIAS.

ome oi the Late Senator Sharon's I’eanUar* Mackay'.-* Wealth. An old Californian gave ma some ior 1 eresting gossip concerning the rich lenofthat State. He said that Sharon, 'hen he died, left a property in the eighliorhood of twenty millions. He bys that- the current impression upon ae Pacific coast is that the marriage etweeh Sharon and Sarah AltL- 'a, Hill 'as a genuine one, and that she will ecover her widow’s interest in the state. Sharon was never popular in lan Francisco. He so openly defied he laws of society that he was received i but few houses. Sir Thomas Heskit, too married his daughter, was a rough Inglishntan who came to San Francisco o limit for a fortune. He used to heave in the rudest manner to toe peole there, as if he did not regard them s civilized. He once attended a fullress dinner party at a leading San Franisco gentleman’s house in the rough ress of a mining-camp, with his trousrs tucked in his hoots. He was, on ccount of his numerous eccentricities, jopped by San Francisco society. \Tien Sharon’s daughter married this cceutrie Englishman her father was teliglited. He found out from Sir Thomas, his son-in-law, what was the iverv of his family servants at home, le had all of his servants at the Sharon' ountry place don this Hoskitli livery. The majority of the servants struck, ,nd refused to put it on, and were •romptlv discharged. Sharon was ery similar in character to a prominent itizen there who is ' known ah Lucky Baldwin. 1 Baldwin is now worth several nillions, and has done everything that le can to acquire social recognition. A lit his variegated assortment of wives las been too much for the Sun Fremise o people, and in spite of his- money le is never seen in society. His is livug now with his third or fourth wife, he others having been lost either by livorce or death. He has built a heater, a hotel, and has gone into a lumber of enterprises simply to attract niblic attention. His latest project is o go to New York and build a theatei here.

New York is regarded as toe Mecca if the California money-makers. They ire fond of California until their money s made, and then they thirst to go to 'sew York for new- victories. C. P-. Huntngton, Mackay, Keene, D. O. Mills, ire some of the leading men who have .ransplanted their homes • from the Pacific coast to New York. The shrewd :apitalists of tlie Pacific, coast believe hat Mr. Mackay would have done letter if be bad remained in*San Fran•isco. Senator Fair, bis old partner, prophesies that Mackay will lose* his iortuno if he does not keep out of East3rn speculative fields. It is understood hat Mr. Mackay had $20,000,000 when le left tlie Pacific coast, pe has abonl leven millions tied up iii his cable •>e-herne, and a million or more in Mexilan railroads. It is estimated' that he las eight or ten millions left clear oienlanglements, but that he will lose these millions if he persists in hacking up hit lelegrapli and railroad schemes. — T. C. Crawford, in New York World.

About Mottoes.

"I doan’ go much on mottoes an sick,” said Brother Gardner as li« opened the meeting on the usual degree and winked to Samuel Shin tc raise the allgy window. “I once knowed a man who sot. out ir life wid de motto: ‘Excelsior.’ He was proud of it, an’ he stuck to it, an’ df las’time I saw him he was in de poo’house. He got so tired of luggin’ dal motto around dat he couldn’t work obei three days in de week. r, I once knowed a man who had d« motto: ‘Time is Money’ hung in eberj room in his house. He invariably rushed in- his co’n ten days too airly, an’ der tried to aiverage up things by plantin his taters twenty days too late. Dc only occashun when he got even wid time was when he jumped his clock hall an hour ahead. De only time when In had a decent crap was when he lay sicl an’ his wife -worked de truck-patch. “I once knowed a man who carried de mofto of “A Penny Saved am i Penny Aimed’ in all his pockets, an’ n< pusson eber found him wid a dollar ii cash to his name. He was all on d< save an’ nuflin on de airn. “Doan’ you* git de ideah inter yei heads dat a motto or a maxim am gwin« ter feed an’ clothe ye an’ whoop up rent /md doctor bills. It’s mo’ in de mai dan jn de maxim. I kin show ye rfafo pussons in my nayburhood who , sot dhp de fences all summer an’ keep deir eyefe on de maxim: ‘lndustry am de Road tc Wealth.’ I kin show ye fo’ty mo’ win hang up de motto of ‘Providence wil Purvide!’ and*sot down fur Providenci to do so. If de wife aims a dollar dat’i Providence. “Stidy work at fair wages, wid i domestic wife to boss de kitchen, an motto. an’ maxim ’nuff fur any of us. I anything furder am wanted let us strivt to be hofiest, truthful, charitable an Virtuous. We needn’t hang out a sigi on de fences dat we am strivin’, but jis git dar widout any Fo’th „of July fire works to attract public attenshun. Le us now purceed. ” —Lime Kiln Club.

The Longest Word.

.In reply to a qestion concerning thi Alleged longest word in the Englisl language the New York Journal o„ Commerce says: “It is not in either Webster or Worcester, but may bi found in the fourth edition of Bailey’i dictionary, and in the work of E. Coles published in 1701. Blount afian earliei dqite (1656) gives both an English and i Latin form, as foUows: “Honorifica bilitudmitv (honrificabilitndinatas) hon orableness. -• Marston refers to it in “The Dutcl Courtezan” (1604), he affirmi that “His discourse is like the wore honorificabilitudinitatibus, a great dea of sound and no sense.” Bu t this is i libel on the word, whioh is used in man; ancient volumes with the meaning as cribed to it in the above definition, i knife-grinder has it painted on his raa chine to announce his trade. Being asked what it meant, he answered the he did not know, but it was the longeer word he could pick out in the diction ary, having twenty-two letters, and hi had looked the book through to find it —AtiOnla Constitution.