Rensselaer Republican, Volume 19, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 April 1887 — Page 2

THK SHIP OF DKKAM& When silent l|e« the sleeping town In it* profound rent. There is u ship comes sailing down Upon the river's breast. “ Wide-vsinced as that enchanted swan, She saileth through the night. And purple grows the gloom upon The magic of her flight. The bark she bears no mortal name. No crew of mortal mold, Ulysses' ship of song and flame, Of cedar-wood and gold! ■| She is the ship that Turner knew • On the enchanted seas. She floats fair isles of music through. And isles of memories. . And she is mystically fraught With dreams renrombered long, That drift on all tae tides of thought And on all the seas of spng. She has Ulysses by her helm. As in the olden time; This is a ship of diviner realm, And of a fairer clime. -Lonffman't Maaaxin*.

HER FIRST LOVE.

BY SARA B. ROSE.

Ontravalla, tho well-known country-seat Of Jesse McLane, was enjoying a miniature carnival upon its own spacious grounds. It had its elaborately-built and prepared 'toboggan slide upon the steep oili-side back of the great stone mansion, whose i ball was well-stored with Sionx and Chippewa snowshoes, and all the implements necessary for a snecessful carrying out of 'the plans which Minnie McLane wrote out in fnll to her city consin Ina. The pleasant, girlish letter closed with a pressing invitation to come to Ontravalla immediately, for a number of the nicest of 'the guests hsd already arrived, a gentleman by the name of Leigh Ellis among them. ~ “He is the most fascinating voting mnn of the dozen or more that are expected, and he tarns the heads of all the girls of his acquaintance,” wrote Minnie. Ina kept this part of her letter to herself. It was bntthe postscript which she read to her father. “All the preparations are going on .rapidly; there will be a tiny ica palace built upon the river where the best ak&tinr is; papa thinks it will be an immense success.” “That sounds just like Jess,” langhed Mr. McLane. “Anything that he goes into is sure to be ‘immense.’ Do you remember, Ina, the flaming sword which fell from the skies into that very river a few years ago? It drew hundreds of visitors to the old place, but I know I have seen that old relic of barbarism in the garret there years ago, and I have an idea that it did not fall front any very great elevation. You’ll tind your carnival something of thfl same sort when you get there. And Mr. McLane laughed heartily at his brother’s exaggerated views of his own importance, while Ina exchtyned delightedly: “So I am to go, then?” “Oh, yes, if yon like. Ben can go with yon for escort, for I can't possibly think of going down there to be frozen up for the sake of seeing an ice palace which will have evaporated before I get there.” “Leigh Ellis will not have evaporated,” thought pretty Ina, arching her brows as %he ran to her room to begin her packing, never thinking of plain, good-humored, Ben Boas, who was 10 be her escort. ‘ Why should she? Well, for one reason; he loved her devotedly, and she knew it, but then he was only the confidential clerk in her father’s store —almost her brother—as she told him upon a well-remembered occasion. * Ben Boss was known to be strictly honorable. “His honor bad been the making of him,” Mr. McLane, who would have liked nothing better than that Ina should take a liking to him, often said. —, -i!..Ina knew her father’s wishes, too, and perhaps these expressed wishes were the very reason she did not take the fancy. She knew Ben’s honorable record, too, and was rather inclined to langb at it when her father grew loqnacions upon the point. “Nonsense,” she would exclaim. “Other men are jnst as honorable as Ben Boss. I know plentv of them that are more agreeable.” And Mr. McLane would hang his head Mid stroke his beard and say no more upon the,,to him, agreeable subject. Leigh Ellis occupied a considerable portion Of Ina’s thoughts during her hurried preparation, and when at length she was on hoard the train with Ben by her aide, she could! keep them to herself no longer. “There’s the loveliest fellow at Uncle Jesse’s, so Minnie writes. Leigh Ellis is his name; all the girls think he is just splendid," , - - Ben was used to Minnie’s gushing style, but the words brought their sting with them, and he felt rather bitter as he replied: “And von, I suppose, will be influenced by the rest, nnd soon become one of the nucleus which surrounds this brilliant planet.” - , “@f all the comparisons—as if ladies would stoop to such things as that! Ben Boss, I am ashamed of yon.” “Yon manner of speaking suggested the comparison,” said Ben, meekly. “Worse and worse,” cried Ina, indignantly, “but then 1 can. pity yon. Jealousy has been called an infuriating flame.” “As if I could be jealous of a man I have never seen.” said Ben, his color rising. “Of course I api not so stnpid as not to know that I am considered but a necessary evil."

“Fox tbe sake of sweet peace let us change the Bubject,” cried Ina. with a little provoking laugh. “Your face is ns long ns the train we are trying to pass, and I do believe the conductor thinks you are insane from the way he is looking at you.” “I agree with you, Ina,” replied Ben, gravely. “What tfhall we talk about, the entertainment at your uncle’s?" Upon their arrival they found that for once Uncle Jesse had not exaggerated. The saowshoes and toboggans were of great interest to Ina and her companion, who were not posted in such matters; the ice palace too, which was in the course of erection, "was beginning to get above the treetops, and when with Minnie they walked ont jo the river side, prominent among the graceful figures which were skating about upon the ice, bringing and laying iu plage the glittering blocks of ice, was Mr. Leigh Ellis. Minnie McLane, who felt in no more awe of Mr. Boss than did her cousin, said to her companions in a low toiler "There is Mr. Ellis. Isn’t he handsome? I think him the finest looking of all the company, ladies and gentlemen included, unless it may be my sweet cousin Ina.” This compliment was accented by a rapturous hug and a kiss, while Ben said - humbly, “He is a fine skaier.” He did not wish to be charged with jealousy again. —■ The introductions to the company were gjven j net before dinner, and. as if to confirm the fears in Ben’s breast. Mr. Ellis offered* his arm to Ins and conducted her ■ • to the dinner table. f v < After this there was a week of rare doings fSHhe great stone house at Ontra▼alla, and in all the merry-makings Ina bore a prominent pari with Leigh Ellis as her constant attendant. Ben bore all this patiently, and comforted himself as well as he was able by bringing to mind numerous flirtations which Ins bod indulged in ere this, and which more than once she had been only too glad to drop, bbt one evening some-

thing Occurred which prepared him for the blow which was to be dealt to bis fondest hopes. •! The band of young people were busily at work trimming the house with evergreens, and Ben, who was very clever in arrangement of the various devices which had been prepared by the young' ladies, was sent to banc a five-pointed star in a little alcove in the wide hail. He ran along lightly nnd almost noiselessly and lifted the curtain which bung over the alcove. Leigh Dili* and Ina McLane were standing within it, and Inn’s soft voice was saving, “Leigh, dear Leigh.” A heavy ■wreath which Mr. Ellis was holding shielded Ben from their observation, nnd he was certain he heard the sound of a kiss throagb the evergreen circlet. He dropped the curtain as noiselessly as he had lifted it, and with silent footsteps he walked ont into the darkness of the winter's night. It was hours before he retnrncd, chilled nnd half frozen, for he hnd gone out listless and uncoated, but the chill of the winter's night seemed as nothing to the drendfnl cold'which seemed to bennmb his feelings with its frozen chains. The house was silent, for it was long past midnight,- and With a hitter smile Ben bnng the star to its place nnd retired to his room, where he walked the floor until tho unmistakable sound of the breakfast bell recalled him tp himself. . He made some changes in his toilet and went down to the dining-room, where he fonnd Minnie McLane alone, and greatly elated with a secret which hod been confided to her. She put her arm inside Ben’s as he neared her side nnd exclaimed, gleefully: “Oh, Ben, you never can guess the news. Ina and. Leigh Ellis are engaged. Will they not be a handsome couple? Inn is the most beaut if nl girl here, and Leigh admires bennty more than nnytbing else. He told me he fell in love with* - Inu’s face the first time he saw it.” Ben, who had been expecting Ibis, bowed silently in reply, and Minnie continued: “Ina does not wish to have anything said about her engagement jnst yet. I only told you, Ben, because you are one of the family. ” At this moment others of the guests came trooping into the room, among them Ina McLane and Leigh Ellis. There wns nothing in the bearing of either to indicate the new relations between them, but during the dray it was whispered around among the guests that there wns something between Miss McLane and Mr. Ellis, and before the ball, which look place that evening, was over, there was a fullfledged report that the something was an engagement of marriage, and that there would be a wedding the coming spring. Those who suspected lien’s secret watched him secretly and narrowly, bnt they did not discover any indications of feeiing. It was a wonder even to himself that lie bore it so calmly, yet he knew that his benutribed feelings but preceded the keenest pain. The morning after the ball, Ben was sitting alone in the library, when suddenly the door opened and Ina entered the room and seated herself coqnetlishly upon a stool just nt his feet. “Oh Ben you cannot think how perfectly happy I am. ” “I suppose that I should say that the happiness of the woman I love is the greatest boon I could desire.” “But you do not say it,” replied Ina, smiling mischievonslv up at him. Ben was silent. He was repenting that first unwise speech, but Ina soon broke the silence. !_: !! —------ “Ben, I want you so write to papa this morning nnd tell him.” “Ina!” he exclaimed, in a voice so sharp with pain that the voting girl’s heart was touched with pity. “Oh Ben, you will make me cry,” she said, thickly, with real tears in her eyes. "“You know I always Told you that I loved you only as a brother, and yon must have expected that.sometime I would see some one that I would care for more, and Leigh is so handsome, Ben.” Another long pause during which Ben’s head was bowed upon his hands. “I thought, Ben, you would surely write to papa for me,” she pleaded. “What shall I say to him?” replied Ben, raisiug his sorrowful face and drawing near to the writing desk, " ;. . ~~~ “Nothing very much, Ben. I would like to have him see Leigh first. I think you had better tell him that I have found the man calculated to make me happy, and -that we will bring him home with us a-week from to-day.” “And is that all?" “That is all.” “And shall I not mention Mr. Ellis’ name?” “No, that will keep until I< introduce him.” Ben’s hand flew obediently over the paper. Ina glanced at the finished letter, and then it was sealed and directed and sent away with the day's mail, Ben feeling as the young girl left him as if he had performed the hardest task which could ever be set for him to do. Mr. Ellis did not attempt to make himself agreeable to Mr. Boss, and tho two had very little to say to each other during the days which followed. The afternoon of the last clay >ut one of their intended stay the young people decided to spend tobogganing. The skating and snowshoeing, the: ice pnlace nnd the evening pawvdes, as well as the hall and other indoor sports had justified Uncle Jesse’s favorite expression of “immense.” The storming of the ice palace was reserved for the last evening, and the toboggans were relied upon for this day's sport. The slide, whioh was built upon a rocky hillside, was as slippery as ice conld make it. and for a time the amusement went on merrily. Mr. Ellis, who hnd made several highly - successful trips wi:h his betrothed for a companion, started forth once more in his accustomed jaunty and rather reckless manner.

There was some fnult with the steering, for suddenly the light toboggan veered from its course and struck the icy. side, and, turning completely over, slid with its fair burden beneath it rapidly down the slide. Mr. Ellis was thrown from his place, and was picked np but a trifle the worse for the accident, but when they approached the dismantled toboggan there was atefrorstrieken pause, the frosty slide was st ained with blood for more than half of its length. ~ Ben Boss lifted the blood-stained and seemingly lifeless form of the girl he lowed, and bore it, recardless of comment or lookers-on. to the bouse which had been the scene of such _ j»ay doings, and w hich were ended from that moment. A physician was summoned by Mr. McLane, and then the frightened company gathered in the parlor, and, with pale faces, awaited his verdict. It came, at last, cold and business-like. “Miss McLane is not fatally injured, but she will probably be disfigured for life.” * ' It seemed that her head and face had suffered the most. Her beautiful features were but a shapeless mass. Her eyes were closed and these was a deep ice-cut among her heavy masses of hair. One shoulder, too, was broken, and it seemed impossible th-*t. she could be moved in several weeks. There was a departure from Ontr&valla that evening of most of 'the guests who

had borne/their parts so gaily, and at 10 o’clock Minnie whispered to Ben: “Every one has gone except Leigh Ellis.. He is so agitated that he has not said a single word. Hbw he must love her.” “1 hope you may Jbe right,” said Bi n, bluntly. “To me his silence seems like cowardice or indifference,” It was a man, <*6ated, and with a valise in his hand, which an hour later attempted to pass Ben without speaking in the hall. “What, Ellis? Surely you are not going at this hour?" “I fear I must: I have had a telegram from home.'*’ Ben looked nt him fixedly, his form barring the passage from the hall completely. “I—that is,” ’exclaimed Ellis, excitedly. | “it is n disagreeable thing - to say, but I hear that Miss McLane w ill he disfigured for life. I cannot abide a homely person. There was a slight flirtation, I may cull it, between ns. I hope you will expiain it to her. I meant nothing beyond the amusement of the hour." For an answer a sturdy fist made the acquaintance of Mr. Ellis’ perfumed head, and for a second time that day Jesse McLane's household was startled by a sensation which caused a doctor to be summoned. Before his arrival, however, this last time, the patient had arisen from his recumbent position and left Ontravalla never to return. It was a week before the swelling went out of Ina MeLane's bruised face, and tbeu the physician was able to sav confidently that in six months' time there would be no trace of the accident which hod nt one time seemed so threatening to her bennty. Her shoulder, too, was doing finely, and the cut upon her head was nearly healed, nnd for the first tijne, the day after this favorable report, her father, who had been summoned, felt that he might converse with her freely. Her lover, whom Ben had written to him about—where was he? “I am glad that you have escaped ns you have, mv daughter,”he said. “Andnow tell me about this prospective son-in-law, which formed the subject of one of Ben’s letters.” Tho darkly-bruised face flushed a deeper red, but Ben, trom his place behind Mr. MeLane’s chair, anticipated her reply., “It is my unworthy self,” he said. “Mr. McLane sprnng joyously to his feet and grasped the young man’s hand. “It is a most joyous surprise. 1 thought that it must be a stranger who had won my daughter from me.” No further explanation was made, but the night before Inn’s wedding, a few months later, she whispered softly to Ben: “I believe that I loved you all the time. That day that you wrote to pnpa for me, I felt that your misery was my own. and Ben, I have a secret to tell you. I met Leigh Ellis .4 month ago, and he begged me to resume our old relations, bwt I knew that when I thought I loved him I made a mistake. You have my first and only love.”

Where German Pipes Are Made.

Bulila, a mountain village of Thuringia, is the center of the pipe mannfac- ' ture of Germany. Like our own Sheffield, it was famous in the middle ages for its arms and armour, and at a subsequent period for its knives. When the use of tobacco became common in Europe it turned its attention to the fabrication of iron smoking-pipes. Gradually, however, beginning in the seventeenth century, meerschaum and wood were adopted as more suitable materials to work upon. The first. meerschaum pipe was carved in the efirtypart of the tliiity years’ war, and Wallenstein is said to have bought it. The true clay is only to be procured at Eski-Scher, in Asia Minor, where there are large deposits, and whence it is sent direct to the manufactories in Bulila, of which there are at present forty, employing almost the whole population of the district., The number of pipes and other articles dear to smokers turned out is enormous, the yearly average being 540,000 real meerschaums, varying in price from 3 pence to £l2 apiece; 500,000 imitation meerschaums at from 1 shilling to £1 the dozen; 9,600,000 porcelain pipe howls, either plain white or. gayly painted, rising in price from 4 ponce to 10 shillings the dozen; s,ooo,od9Lwooden pipes, of infinite variety in size, form,', ornamentation, and price, the common kinds being extremely cheap, and those -artistically; carved fetching a comparatively high price; 3,000,000 Bowls of clay or lava, plain, jat about 3 pence, of better kinds at 3 shillings the dozen; 15,000,000 pipes composed of separate parts (bowl, stick, cover, etc.), from 5 pence to £25 the dozen. There are five qualities of meerschaum used in the making of .pipes.; the best is known by -its facile absorption of the nicotine j nice of tobacco, which gradually develops into a rich brown blush upon the surface, and when this process is well advanced the pipe becomes almost invulnerable without, being hard. A specimen of this kind sold at Vienna for £SO, although it was not very highly carved. —London Times.

Does Gold Grow?

Years ago I wrote and published in a London magazine an ..article in which I undertook to prove that gold grows—grows the same as grain and potatoes or anything else. I reckon I did my work crudely, not knowing anything about chemistry or even the ordinary terms of expression about such matters, and so my earnest and entirely correct sketch was torn all to pieces and laughed to scorn.

Well, I have at last found positive proof of my general statement right here in these mountains by the Pacific Sea. Briefly and simply, I have found a"piece of petrified wood with a little vein or thread of geld in it. How did that gold get into this piece of wood ? Was it placed there by the finger of God on the morning of creation, as men have claimed was the case with the gold fonnd in the veins of the mountains? Nonsense! Gold grows. Certain conditions of the air, or certain combinations of earth and air and waier, and whatever chemicals may be required, and then a rock, a piece of quartz, or petrified tree, for the"gotd"t(fgrow'it;aTsd‘there“isyour gold crop., Of course, gold jjroxys. slowly. Centuries upon centuries, it may be, are required to .make the least sign of growth. But it grows just as I asserted years ago; and here at last I hold in my hand such testimony as no man in this world will be rash enough to question—a portion of a petrified tree with a thread of gold in it—Joaquin Hitler, in Chicago Times. A man dying’ left a thousand pounds to an individual who years Imfore ran away with his wife. He said in his will that he never forgot a favor.

POSTAGE-STAMP SWINDLE.

How a German I)«al«r Has Obtained an Enormous Fortune—One of the Most Gigantic Impositions Ever Perpetrated Upon Mankind. [New York World.] One of the greatest swindles that have fever been ]>erpetrated upon mankind is the work of a German dealer in old postage-stamps. There are in the world about 450,000 persons making collections of postage - stamps—one specimen of each issue of- each country —who may be classed as retail buyers. There are several thousand dealers, big and little, who buy to sell again, and about 1,000 publications devoted exclusively to postage-stamps and their history. Some stamps are very rare and very .high prices arc paid for them. The purchase of stamps in bulk from the non-philatelist is a lottery. No mnn knows when he is going to get a prize in any loose boxful that may be sent to him by some person not a collector. . About ten years ago a dealer in a small German town, whose capital was his brains, conceived the brilliant idea of making all the world collect stamps for him without charge, nnd send him, also without charge,, vast collections to sort out and sell again. Other dealers have to pay for this work and have to charge high prices for their stamps. He would have all but the sorting done for nothing. To-day this dealer had a capital represented by seven figures and a million enthusiastic agents collecting in every section of the civilized globe. His daily mail contains hundreds of thousands of postage-stamps sent to him without cost. He has the largest stock of any dealer and his prices cut under all others in the trade. How has lie done it? This was his brilliant idea: “People who are not willing to give money will give work to help the poor. I will represent the poor, and they shall work for me. I have a brother in Palestine. He shall start a ‘Syrian Orphans’ Home’ on the Mount of Olives or in his imaginationhut we will advertise it as the Mount of Olives. We will send a description of this great charity to all the churches throughout the world, telling them that for 1,000,000 stamps we will board, clothe, and educate an orphan until old enough to support itself. The stamps will come to me. My brother will supply the orphan—in his mind. ” His happy thought found a response wherever a Christian congregation gathered. There is not in any little hamlet in the United States, or England, or India, or Australia, or any civilized country a Christian congregation that has not from one to ten members saving up postage-stamps—beg-ging, borrowing, and even stealing them in order to help make up the million that will go to clothe and educate a Syrian orphan in this mythical “Syrian Orphans! Home.” But there* are many people, not church members, who do not take much interest in Syrian orphans. They require a little stronger meat. The Syrian orphan dodge worked so well that our little blue-eyed German stampdealer five years ago started an imaginary mission in the city of Chang Kiang, China, the holy sisters of which agreed, for every million stamps sent to him, to save from the jaws of the crocodiles of the Yellow Biver at least one Chinese baby. Furthermore, they agreed that after saving it from the jaws of the crocodiles .that they would support, educate, and Christianize it. All the stamps, however, were to be remitted to Munich or Stettin. They were not to be sent to tho asylum at Chang Kiang nor the Orphans’ Home at Jerusalem. If any conservative soul did send them there they would not be .lost. The brother or an agent secured them, sorted them, and sent the prizes to Stettin. ■ New circulars have gone out lately ■promising that for 1,000,000 stamps a home will be found for an old lady or an old gentleman for the remainder of life in one of three homes—one located in London, another in New York, and a third in Cincinnati. For half a million stamps a bed will be endowed in a hospital. For 100,000 stamps a home will be found for some fatherless or motherless child for one year. This is a bolder game than any of the others. No address is given for either of the hDihes, but the names of reputable people are given—clergymen, physicians, well-known philanthropists, society ladies—to whom the stamps are to be sent, to be forwarded. Inquiry shows that in every case those whose, names are given have agreed to forward the stamps to some one else, and that they know nothing about the location of the home or hospital, except that it is in New York or Cincinnati Twenty scattered inquiries revealed agencies in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia to receive these stamps, the “Ultimate destination for all that are Valuable being Stettin. It is estimated that this swindler has collected over 100,000,000 postagestamps in the United States alone, and that he has obtained among them rare stamps worth from $500,000 to $1,500,000.

Tennyson’s Early Love.

Those who are familiar with the story of Alfred Tennyson’s life will smile on reading his latest work, “Locksley Hall Sixty Years After, ” over the spirit of self-deception which runs throughout the verses. To the world, “Maud” and “Locksley Hall" are beautiful poems only. A few know that they are something more than poems of the imagination —they are heart records. In the sequel to" “Locksley Hall,” just published, the poet tells his grandson that he could never have loved a worldling like Judith, who has played such sad havoc with the susceptible youth’s feelings, But this is - precisely wbat he did. When Tennyson was a promising young poet, crowned with 'Oxford’s academic lanrels, he wooed his first cousin, the story of which wooing he woye into beautiful verse and gave to the world. Another author, the wealthy heir to the Earldom of Boyne, however, appeared on the scene, and the fair Amy, afterward so liberally adjectived as “false or servile,” became a peeress. Lord Boyne, who is the owner of large estates and valuable coal mines in the County of Durham, the heart of the. Northern coal-fields of England, freely extended his hospitalities to liis bride's

cousin at Brancepeth Castle, a modern but imposing mansion. The poet repaid the kindness by satirizing the good-natnred peer, his brand-new title, and his recently-acquired wealth most mercilessly in his “Maud” and “Locks-/ ley Hall.” Independent of his wife’s very natural indignation, Lord Boyne was not gratified to find his! beautiful home described by a recent guest as a “gewgaw” castle, or at having the world informed in verse, however harmonious, that his wealth had come from the sweat of miners. Neither did lie enjoy the thought that the tongues of the world were wagging over the story of his wealth having bought him a wife who preferred another lover. It is pcfa-~ sible, too, ho failed to see the beauty of those Bembrandt-like touches wherein he is described as a clown and drunken. It might be beautiful poetry, the outraged host urged, but it was not good taste and it was not true. His lordship is certainly one of the most commonplace and uninteresting of peers or of commoners, but he is neither coarse nor drunken, and Brancepeth Castle, with its shivering larches, knew Tennyson no more. —London Cor.

How to Live Without Eating.

Henry Howard explains in his article on “Fasters and Fasting” in the Cosmopolitan how it is that some people and and animals can get along without food: Auto-suggestion, or a belief that one is nourished when one is not, is a great thing, and accounts for many phenomena otherwise inexplicable. Sedillot relates an incident to prove its existence in the animal kingdom as well: “A tortoise weighing one kilogramme and a half had been captured and permitted during several weeks to wander around the garden, subsisting on flies and other insects. When weighing two kilogrammes the creature, was recaptured and eviscerated from behind, its head, members, and shell being left intact. It was then restored to its liberty weighing fifteen grammes less than at the time of its first capture, and, although entirely hollow and open in its posterior aspect, it roamed about as before, snapping up flies that, after being swallowed, readily escaped from behind. After two weeks the animal was taken and again weighed, when it was found to be five grammes heavier than at the period immediately after its evisceration. The creature was a oroyant —that is, it believed it was taking into its system an abundance of aliment; it was growing fat. What was this mysterious energy that worked an apparent impossibility if not auto-suggestion ?” On the other hand, this sensation of hunger is, at least, in a certain measure, independent of the state of inanition. In other words, in cases of nervous diseases hunger may be felt acutely, with all its distressing effects, in a body sufficiently nourished. In support of this distinction, M. de Parville says: “We are acquainted with a lean lawyer and a fat engineer, both of them neurasthenic. If the lawyer does not take a glass of Madeira and a sand wich at 5 o’clock he becomes livid and lias an attack of vertigo. The engineer is tougher. For about a year he guarded himself against his indiosyncracy by smoking, but toward half past 7, when he came homo and smelled the odor of the dishes, if he was not served on the instant he could not control himself, and went into a veritable fury. He became positively and in spite A)f himself furiously ravenous. And yet he was fat, add had no need to repair the losses of the organism that was already too well nourished. ” So also numerous stories are found in all ancient medical dictionaries relative to those great eaters whose insatiable stomachs engulphed enormous njasscs of solids and liquids. Such*was the case of Tararus, who went so far as to drink the blood of his patients and eat the flesh of his cadavers, and who was suspected of having devoured a 4-year-old child; yet he had a most sweet disposition when he wasn’t hungry;" -- !!!!!!!"

The Whitehead Torpedo.

The torpedo that has been by nearly every naval power of Europe is known as the Whitehead, and belongs to what may be designated as the “projectile class,” that is, having been started on its course toward the enemy, no control of it is retained by the ©iterator. Most of the various types of this class are wholly submerged when operated against an enemy, and are generally arranged to run at a given depth below the surface, varying from 5 to 15 feet. Naturally, one of the main objects of inventors of torpedoes, as well as of those engaged in other fields of invention, is financial profit. The Whitehead is the only torpedo that has yet proved a success in this respect. It is built of thin sheets of steel, is cigarshaped, like those already described, but without the attached float, and is made in three sizes, the largest being 19 feet long by 16 inches diameter, and the smallest 9 feet long by 11 inches diameter. The motive power is compressed air, carried at a pressure of about 70 atmospheres, in a cylindrical reservoir within the torpedo. The speed attained is about 25 miles per hour for a distance of 450 yards. The torpedo divided into three sections “forward,” “middle,” and “rear”—containing, respectively, the charge of 70 to 93 pounds of gun-cotton; the adjusting mechanism, wherein lies the secret of the inventor, and by which the hydrostatic pressure of surrounding water is made to regulate the depth of immersion ; and the air-engines and steering machinery. It is designed to be carried on board a very swift torpedoboat, capable of overtaking the fast iron-clad, and, when within effective range, to bo discharged from the boat with the steering rudder of the torpedo set in such a position as to direct its course toward the enemy. The first motion, or “discharge,” is effected through a guide-tube in the bow of the boat, either above or below the surface of the water, usually by means of a very small charge of powder, after which, upon reaching the water, the torpedo is propelled by its own engines. The explosion may be made to take place either upon impact with the enemy or after the torpedo has run a given distance. Lieut W. S. Hughes, in Scribner's Magazine.

MECHANICAL.

At Vienna pipes are made of. paper designed for conveying gas and water under ground. They are rolled’ from sheets like fireworks cases, charged with asphalt during the rolling and lined with an insoluble enamel. They are only half an inch in thickness, and’ yet will resist an internal pressure Of 2,000 pounds. A Munich manufacturer formulates a compound consisting chiefly of common salt, alum., soluble glass, and tungstate of soda, yhich has been introduced with great success in Austria and Switzerland for the extinction of fires, and is now being used in Germany, where the admiralty have recommended it to their navy yards. An improved automatic steam engine of Erie, Pa., make claims to have obtained the same results with a single valve that it has heretofore required from four to six valves to accomplish.' The admission, compression, and release are constant at any and «U points of cut-off from nothing up to threefourths, and beyond if desired. Alexander E. Tucker, writing to Engineering, says that he has successfully edged grooving tools for chill rolls by dipping the actual cutting portion in mercury. No more of the steel than is actually necessary should l>e dipped, as, while imparting extreme hardness, it naturally makes the body of the tool extremely brittle. A steam engine that runs the electriclight system in the works of the Portland, (Me.) Stoneware Company is built on an entirely new principle. It has no piston rod, and is surprisingly compact, the one at the pottery occupying a space 16x19 inches, eighteen inches inheight, yet it does with ease the ordinary work of a ten-horse power engine of the old pattern. The cost of construction is estimated to bo about one-tliird less than that of an ordinary horizontal or upright engine. Sir Joseph Whitworth wa3 the first to , inaugurate a system of standard screw threads. The form of thread, and tlie number of threads per inch which he recommended, were based partly on the results of numerous experiments and partly on the average obtained by comparing the various forms of screwed bolts then in use. The Whitworth system has been very generally adopted in all parts of the civilized world except the United States. The Seller system introduced here in 1864 has the same number of threads per inch, but the form of the thread is different. There are machines now made which employ emery wheels in place of a tool to face off flatirons and other flush surfaces. Flatirons faced off on one of these machines will be fonnd truer than the majority of slide-valve faces as they come from the manufacturers. This result is better obtained by giving the wheel a right-angle movement to the feed motion as it is advancing. A flatiron five inches long and four inches wide can be finished in forty-five seconds, and it will not be so warm but that i,t can be handled. Now a tool which can give such a result in so short a time is a tool of great value, and in these days of close competition it must be taken advantage of. There are results obtained by an emery wheel which cannot be obtained otherwise at any cost.

Jay Gould’s Blunderbnss.

A German once called at the office of Mr. Morosini and Inquired for Mr. Gould. This man had invented a new method of churning butter. The invention consisted of an immense copper syringe, about two feet long and six inches in circumference. His idea was to supply the great American public with the means of churning their own butter, and thus making every household happy. The cream was to be placed within the syringe and then put into the owner’s pocket. The constant walking during the day was supposed to agitate the cream sufficiently to form butter; failing in this, however, a few rapid movements of the plunger would answer the purpose. This could be done by a gentleman when leaving home for business in the morning, and when he returned at night he would have two pounds of fresh butter that„> would astonish the natives. The idea was certainly economical as well as novel. On entering the office the man met Mr. Morosini, who asked him his business. The German replied that he had perfected a great invention, and desired to show it to Mr. Gould. The gentleman in question was standing close bv, and,on hearing his name mentioned he stepped forward to the pigeon-hole in the office. The outer room at that time was divided by a partition in which was a pigeon-hole, and through this visitors were interviewed. With a wave or his hand Mr. Morosini referred the stranger to Mr. Gould. After looking at the railroad magnate in silence fbr a moment, the man suddenly made a dash with his right hand into his vest pocket and drew forth this Odd butter churn or springe, which he pointed in a confiding manner and with the blandest of smiles toward the two gentlemen. Visions of an assassination crossing their minds, both Mr. Gould and Mr. Morosini simultaneously dropped tremblingly to the floor, beneath the pigeon-hole, and in the most heartrendering tones shrieked: “Please shoot high.” The wounded feelings of the innocent German may be imagined when he discovered that his great invention was mistaken for a blunderbuss. —New York Star.

How to Turn Their Heads.

“Miss Smith, are you going to the ball to-morrow night?” asked Kosciusko Murphy. Miss Smith —“Of course I am." “I supposed as much. Why is it that you are so fond of dancing?" “You see, it’s the easiest way to turn mens heads.” —Texas Siftings. ' Angry Wife (time 2 a. m.) —Is that you, Charles? Jolly Husband—Zash me. Angry Wife—Here have I been standing at the head of the stairs these two hours. Oh, Charles, how can you? Jolly Husband (bracing up)—Shtandin* on your head on t’shtairs? Jenny, Pm ah'prised! How can I ? By Jove,-can’t I Two hours, too! ’Stror’nary woman!