Rensselaer Republican, Volume 22, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 July 1890 — Page 6

A WIFE’S BRAVE FEAT.

Texas Siftings. • .• :•A group of young officers-were seated around actable In the quarters of one of them, at a frontier post in the West. It was a winter's night; wind, snow and cold were without, but in the log hut a bright fire blazed upon the open hearth, and the bare room was made in a sense homelike by rugs stretched over the plank floor and photographs of fine pictures pinned upon the walls. The regiment was a particularly dull one. Not a young girl in the post, and the wives of the senior officers were women who looked upon life from a serious and practical point of view. Mails came irregularly, the Indians were quiet, dullness reigned. But now a ripple stirred the placid waters. The Colonel’s widowed sister had arrived. She was baVely five-and-twenty, she was childless and rich in this world’s goods. ••What do you think of the Colonel’s sister?” said one of the officers. “What do I think of her? I think that she has the saddest pair of eyes I aver saw,” said another. “Just my thought.” ——oA»d minot” “I made this same remark to the Colonel's wife,” said the first speaker, ‘ ‘and she told me she thought it best to tell me Mrs. Warden’s story, so that we might all be the more careful in keeping away from subjects in her presence, which might bring back to her the sad experience of her past.” Hettie Ransom met, while visiting her brother, an officer named Warden. He was a man of independent means, and on his marriage resigned his commission. But before a year bad passed a longing for the freedom of frontier life was so strong upon him that he easily persuaded his wife to try ranch life; - - - - They found a beautiful tract of laocb rich in soil and with excellent water supplies. To be sure, their Eastern friends cried out that they were “taking their lives in their own hands.” Did they not realize that they were going into a section of the country where Indians were within a day's march of them? “Yes,” Warden said. “I realize this, but the Indians are os harmless as a flock of sheep, and besides the ranch is only twenty miles from Fort .” The Wardens built themselves a comfortable house and were fortunate in securing a burly Dutchman and his plethoric frau for servants. Mrs. Warden was an excellent horsewoman and a good shot, so they enjoyed long rides about the country and seldom came home without a wellfilled game-bag. As 1 have said, their nearest neighbors ware at the Fort—twenty miles beyond—teat is, neighbors of their sort, for here and there between were) lands worked by Swedish and Danish homesteaders. At the close of the first year a child —a lit ole girl—was born. When this child was about three months old 7arden found it nece-eary to attend to some legal matters, and to do this there must be a ride of a hundred aDd twenty miles. Warden felt no fear in leaving his wife, yet when he stood on the doorstep ready to start he said to her; “Hettie, if any trouble should come, have the team put to the big covered wagon and make for the fort Take the north fork trail, and be sure to have your pistols loaded and plenty of reserve shots at hand, and if the red devils should make escape impossible put the muzzle first to baby’s breast and then to your own.” His wife laughed and told him she ‘ had no fears. “Naither,” said he. “have I, but 'or all that remember, sweetheart,” an i then he rode away. J A week passed, and late one afternoon the German, Johann, came into the room where Mrs. Warden was 6ittirg with her baby in her arms. Ilis ruddy face was so blanched that it took no words to tell that something had happened. And this was what he had to tell: A isw minutes before, •Bob,’ a miserable half-breed to whom ooih Mr. and Mrs. Warden had shown many kiudnesscs, had appeared sud denly in the barn, given Johann a 1 message for Mrs. Warden, and then as suddenly departed as he had come, He tcld Johann: “A tra.n of emigrant wagons is on the valley r aa. An attack is planned. It is known that Mr. Warden is Away from home. If the Indians find liquor there is nn tilling what they would do next and Mrs. Warden had better try for the fort as soon as night closes in.” With all speed Mrs. Warden made her prona. itions. obeying her husband's instructions e *cept as regarded the horses.

“Saddle Kitty and Dan,” she said to Johann, and when he grumbled that “Kit-y could never pull with Dan,”, the quiet look on his mistress’ face mane Him go out rather sullenly to do her bid-“*g. j When the last bars of the early ' spring twilight had quite faded out of the sky the per lous journey to the fert began. For an hour or more the wagon dragged its way along the uarrow. steep road, the w .eels sinking d»ep into the mud that the many warm raws had made. „ Suddenly Johann held up the horses, «u.d w.th a m-ian of “Meinn Gott, we -re lest!’’ began to cross himself and mu-ildo rapid prayers while his wife wiung i*- bands and sobbed aloud. Down in .be valley far below them, the •ic-'ii wa- broken by a sudden j. 1 By at; they were too far away jo distinguish sounds, but they knew the work of murder and pillage had fcagen,’knew that mothers’ tears and t l litilj child *en’g cries would only odd seat to the savage revelry. Holding her baby close to her breast Mrs. Wa’c-in triad to shut out fora moment wary passing fear aa she asked lc>

higher guidance, and in that moment the German and his wife—flying to evils that they knew not of—abandoned the wagon and’took to the timber. Left utterly alone, there was but one thing to do. Laying her baby among the straw, Mrs. Warden climbed out of the wagon and unharnessed her little mare Kitty. The graceful creature seemed as conscious of all that was transpiring as though she possessed a human soul. She did not whinny at the sight and touch of her mistress’ hands. She only rubbed her cool nose against Mrs. Warden’s cheek and then very still. When the unharnessing was accomplished Mrs Warden put her arms around Kitty’s neck: ~ “Kitty,” she said, “you are my only hope; Kitty, you must carry baby and me to the fort; we shall have to creep along tbp edge of the timber, (we might be seen on the trail.) Walk with muffled hoofs, Kitty; save baby and me.” All through the long Btarless night the mother, holding her child wrapped closely under her cloak, with no rein but the silken mane of Kitty to guide with, rode for life. She will never forget how quietly the baby slept, how carefully the little mareplCkedTief way' through the underbrush, looking back now and then as much as to say, “Take heart, day and help are both coming.” In the early morning a company of men from the fort,to the rescue bound, came upon Mrs. Warden.—She was numb with weariness, faint with the effort she had made, the strain she had undergone; but her mother love knew no sense of tiredness. “Baby is safe and warm under my cloak,” she said; “she has been so good, and has nestled and slept all the way.” They took the child from her arms nd found that it was dead. Surveillance in Germany. The police methods in Berlin greatly aid in the preparation of ah accurate census. No room can be rented at a hotel or boarding house, and no apartment or house can be legally leased until the landlord has sent to the police the name and purpose of the newcomer, and the length of time for which he will probably make the city his home. The same method is in vogue in other German cities. The experience of one of the professors of the University of Pennsylvania last summer is significant as to the effectiveness of these methods. Wishing to communicate with an American lady who was abroad, and. as he thought, in Leipzic, he wrote to the police of that city. The answer declared that no person of the name was in the Gity. A similar letter was sent to police headquarters at Dresden, and a similar answer was received. When, later, however, the professor wrote to the police of Berlin, the reply announced that Mrs. was living, at No. street, on the floor. A Goliath iu Stone. New York Ledger. Vinalhaven, Me., claims to have produced the largest stone ever brought to light. Bod well Granite Company recently quarried a shaft of granite which Is the largest piece of stone ever quarried anywhere, and, if erected, will be the highest, largest and heaviest single piece of solid stone standing, or that ever stood, so far as any record can be found. In heightj it considerably exceeds any of the Egyptian obelisks. The tallest of these, which was brought from Heliopolis to Alexandria by Emperor Constantine, and afterward taken to Rome, where it is still standing, is 105 feet 7 inches high, while the Vinalhaven shaft is 115 feet long, 10 feet square at the base, and weighs 850 tons. It is understood that the company quarried this immense monolith of their own aeeounfr, not having an order for anything of the kind, and they suggest that it would be a fitting contribution from Maine for the monument to be erected in honor of Gen. Grant. Hoosier Philosophy. ATknnsnw Traveler. It’s a fool hoss that don’t know who’s boss. A colt'll frolick in the mornin’; an old boss at night. ’Tain’t alius the purtiest girl that kin make the best flapjacks. A feller that’s houest with himself 11 be honest with his nabors. You wanter watch the feller that’s alius keen for a hoss trade. A balky hoss an’ a kickin’ cow make lots o’ trouble son the place. The crow is er mighty peart bird, but, for all his fine looks, he sucks eggs, jess the same. Some folks kiD ’tend to other people’s business a blamed sight better’n they kin to their own. ’Tain’t the hardest licks that alius drives a wedge in the furdest; sometimes gentle taps’ll make it stick a heap the best.

A Census as Is a Census. Nebraska Journal. People who think that the census is “inquisitorial” should go to Germany and live for a few months under a really paternal government. The German year-book gives information of the most personal nature, even to the incomes of the people and the rent paid on their houses. The statistics of diseases are very complete. Apparently nothing escapes the vigilance of the census officials, who are aided to a great extent by the police. He Was Knitted Oat. The only liquor saloon that was ever opened in Moore’s Hill. lad., was “knit out” by the temperance women of tne place. “You see, it was this way,” isays a citizen. “When the saloon ' was Btarted the women formed in relays and went and took their knitting to the saloon. Of oourse that knocked business higher than a kite. It was not long before that saloon had to be closed, and since that time no man kas •ver had the nerve to start another.”

RACING ACROSS THE PLAINS.

' Thrilling Memories of the Famous Pony Express * err ice. Kansas City Times. J There is ever a charm about that ! which relates to the West in ante- | helium times. It was not the same | West as now; the sun is just as bright, 'maybe, and the grass and trees as green, and the waters as clear; but j when the iron wheels of progress swept over her sandy plains'and scaled her mountain tops, there was a change. It is indefinable, for all that, but still one likes to read of the stirring times of the border hardships mmita. ments and of the gradual giving away of nature to the hand of man. A man of middle age may look back within his memory and see the heavy, slow \ freighters measuring their squeaky way across the plains; the Santa Fe trail within his memory wound, serpent i like, from the banks of the Missouri at this city to the lonely Spanish settle- j meat in New Mexico. One by one he saw the relics of earlier days slip out j of existence toward the setting sun, \ the railroad and the telegraph pushed their way from the east, and the pioneer glories of the great West, ware, over. One of the last, and, at the same i time, the most prominent of those feat- 1 ures of the West before the railroads ' and the telegraph came, was the pony : express, by the means of which mes-> sages were oarried from the Missouri river to the Pacific coast in less than j ten days. How remarkable it all seems now ! Ten days from the Missouri to . the Golden Gate on pony back. But, ItTs remarkable after all. Now it is ( ten seconds, but for ponies, over; mountains, plains, through storms and sun, the work was wonderful. One of the founders of the pony express system, eves in this city at a ripe but active old age, prominent in business, and as bright as in the days of his j youth. Col. Alexander Majors is 70. For years he was a member of the firm of Russell, Majors & Waddell, of Leavenworth, Kan., perhaps" the most prominent freighting house in the 1 West in the days before the railroads j came. It was in 1858 that Senator Gwynn, of California, known aa * ‘Duke” Gwynn, by reason of some title conferred upon j him in Mexico, conceived the idea of transmitting the mails across the; plains on swiftly running ponies. Senator Gwynn, by the by, was killed in California, before the war, in a duel with the famous Broderick. Gwynn thought the coast deserved a better mail service than that afforded by the stagecoach route through ern Territory by way of Los Angeles, and he went to Washington with his mind full of plans for a pony service directly across the country, over what was known as the central route. He was laughed at by his colleagues, however, and told that an all-the-year round service across the middle Rockey Mountains, through Colorado, Nevada and Utah, would be an utter impossibility. Nothing daunted, Senator Gwynn sought .Col. Russell, who spent a great deal of hietime in Washington, and the two worked out a plan for the service. The fact that Russell, Majors and Waddell were the heaviest freighters in the West suggested that the firm would give a good service in the new venture. Assistance from the Government was secured, and in 1859 the ponies were started. “They ran across the country for nine months,” said Col. Majors, a few days ago, “never missing schedule time at either of the terminal points. The given time from St. Joseph to Sacramento was ten days, and through sunshine and storm, snow, mud, sand and rocks, the hardy racers pushed on to the west, or back to the east, with the speed of a railroad train. If the ponies lost time through bad weather over one part of the route, they picked it ap on another. On a journey of two thousand miles some of the weather was bound to hq good. The most noteworthy piece of work performed by the ponies.” continued Col. Majors, “was in the delivering of ono of President Buchanan’s messages in a few hours over eight days. The message was received in St. Joseph by wire, immediately placed on light manifolding paper and given to the messenger. The pony was off like the wind. Forty of the little fellows were required to do the work, and it was done to the Queen’s taste. But the telegraph came soon,” said Col. Majors, sadly, “and that broke the pony’s back. Later the railroads came, and we had to close up our business.” At Leavenworth, Kan., the rusty old sign bearing the names Russell. Majors & Waddell mas»yet be seen on a building at the corner of Shawnee and Main streets. Col. Majors, who is Vice President of the Kansas City ! Mining Exchange, is the only survivor of the firm. John W. Waddell died a number of years ago, and Wm. H. Russell passed away in St. Louis over a decade since. The pony express employed about 600 of the hardy little animals indigenous to the West. Post houses were maintained every ten miles, at which several of the ponies were always kept. The run for each animal was ten miles without a rest. And it was a run, too. Not a step of the way was walked or trotted. Foß.ten miles the rider urged his carrier, and the horse fairly flew over the familiar ground, whether it was mountain or prairie, plain or desert. Each rider rode three horses without resting and there was one fellow, a loose, easy-going, dare-devil who always rode sixty miles at that breakneck speed without resting. At the post house the man in charge stood 5 in front of the door holding the chunging pony that was to carry the ap- . proaching rider. With a rush the ex. ! pressman came. There was a cloud of dust, a jump, an instantaneous change „ °i lb® Bmall, light saddle bags carried, and in ten seconds from the moment

!of his arrival the rider was on the ■ rearing little animal that was so anx- ' ious to be off. Away they went with a plunge and a shout, to be lost a .moment later in a cl6ud of flying dust The ponies entered ’ into the spirit of their work quite as fully as the men bestride them. They "never faltered, whether the night was dark or the road uncertain. It was always a plunge ahead as if on a ride where life and death were concerned. In his “Roughing It” Mark Twain ! tells of his first and last sight of the j pony’express from a stage coach window. The humorist pays a high trib- ! ute to the plucky little horses and=4he da ring della wawhorode them, dosing thus: * *So sudden ie it all, and so like a flash of unreal fancy, that but for the 1 flake of white foam left quivering and perishing after a vision had flashed by and disappeared, We might have doubt;ed whether we had seen any actual : man pr horse at all. maybe.” j William Cody, “Buffaloßill, ’’had his : first experience on the plains as a pony j express rider at the age of 18. He rode over a route that lay just along i the eastern slope of the ' Roqkies. He was considered one of the bravest of jail .Ike h i ave Jot. "" The precious stuff carried by these \ messengers was made up of business t communications of the greatest imf portance. No love letters, freighted' i promises and verses ever weighed the , ponies and no bulky newspapers were carried as mail. The ponies were j lightly shod, if they wore any snoes at all. The riders were clothed as . simply as the weather would allow, and [ every message conveyed was written on the thinnest of paper and folded in;to the least possible space. The messages were placed in light saddle bags which were thrown over the small racing saddles used. The hags were the only thing changed, the new pony always having stood, saddled, ready for the expressman to jump on his i back. Li- ■■ The ponies started from Sacramento and St. Joseph daily, so that there was a continuous procession of the little racers extending both ways across ! the great West. Despite the fact that $5 a letter was charged as expressage, the scheme lost money for its managers and Col. Russell died a poor man, I largely as a result of efforts to mainI tain the pony express. The telegraph | came about the time the ponies began 1 paying for themselves, and with it came the ead of one of the mpat remarkable institutions in the always wondrous annals of the great West. No Sunol, Axtell, or Palo Alto ever received better care or more petting than these wild, tough ponies of the plains, and in their rough, bighearted way the miners and pioneers choered the littled fellows as they sped along, and in every camp and within every stockade their virtues and wonderful work were lauded to the skies. The Human Hair, Gook Housekeeping. Hair fropa adult heads, if pure in color, especially pure white, which being the court color throughout Europe, and a mark of distinction in adult life everywhere, is very valuable, and in great demand. If of unusualength—say above four feet—it is all most priceless, and it is related that one Parisian woman, whoso hair had reached the length of six feet, refused an offer of 5,000 francs for it. The present market value of pure white hair, of line texture, in France, l» about 500 francs per ounm, and the price is constantly advancing. Next to the pure white, and even vieing with it, the most valuable shade is that of “virgin gold.” Although, us stated in the preceding number of Good Housekeeping, the craze for dyeing and changing the color of the hair seems at present to have much abated, there is no doubt that pure gold is the favorite color at this tiriie, and where nature bestows the proper shade, and it can be “assisted" by the addition of othei tresses of the same bye to appear in (Quantity, happy is the pos sessor. It is reported tout in the days of her pride, Empress Eugenio, of France, paid 1,000 francs per ounce for a braid of golden hair which exactly matched her own. However, science again comes to the rescue with the assurance that not only is black hair becoming les9 plentiful, but that red is also doomed to follow, and in the course of time—which none of us are likely to see, by the way —all shades have merged into a dark, rich brown, which will become the universal hue of the American hair. Cancer Cared by Klectricfty. A young English physician, attached to the Chelsea Hospital for Women, | has invented and used, it is said with i success, a machine which* in case of cancer, will direct a current of electricity against a dis ased cell strong enough to destroy it, and at the same time will not injure a healthy cell Those that are destroyed are said tc turn into a hard substance, tnnt remains without causing arydneonven ienee. This is a v-'ry important application of electricity, if the account is a true one. and our American physicians should investigate it. We are compelled to express some skeptisLm. Value (ft PdMt inter Train. But few persons who view a passenger train ss it goes thundering pt't have an idea that it represents a cash value of from $75,000 to 41*' 1, 000. but such is the co.se. Ihe oidi.iarv ex ' press t ,- ain represents from SBB,OOO S9O 000. The engine and tender arc valued at SiO,SOG; the baggage car, $1,000; the postal car. $2,0d0; the i smoking car. $5,000; two ord ! nary passenger carß, SIO,OOO end. three palace cars. $x5.000 etoh<—’ctoi V38,000. Many cf the tmies wt-ivn pul: ' up to or out from the 6«ae»* Central Depot are worth 008

HORRORS OF SIBERIA.

A Tate or Suffering Told by Frank Langowxki, of Detroit. In his Larrativo of the “Count of Monte Cristo,” Alexander Dumas endeavors to establish the proposition that those who have suffered most are capable of enjoying most. If that be true. Count Langowski, an employe at Hudson’s clothing store, has an enormous capacity for appreciating the good things of life, though even his present straitened circumstances do not permit an excessive indulgence in them. Count Langowski, as he would he entitled to be called in Poland, though preferring plain Frank Langowski, resides at 605 Fremont street with his wife and two children. He is very short of stature, very thick set, very white-haired, though only 54 years old, and very cheerful in disposition, notwithstanding his sufferings entitle him to be known as a man of many sorrows. He speaks eight languages, in one of which he detailed to a representative of this paper the thrilling story of his life, how for fourteen yoarsj lie was a Russian political prisoner in the wilds of Siberia-—hated, despised, beaten with stripes, starved and frozen. “It was in 1863 that the Poles rebelled against Russia,” said he, in very fair English. ‘T was then twentyseven years old, single and lived with my father, Count Langowski, on a large farm near Warsaw. My father’s estate was large and he was one of the leading noblemen of the State. The rebel general, Taczanowski, billeted 500 of his troops upon us, and although our family had in no wise participated in the revolt, to refuse the levy meant expatriation. Therefore my father acquiesced. Against these 600 troops Russia sent 3,700 men and sixty cannon. The battle was short and decisive, resulting in the killing and capturing of the whole 500. Six horses fryin our-Stables that had been pressed into service were killed and two of our men who were driving. The third man was whipped nearly to death after the capture, and then bayouetted. I was taken prisoner and soon set out with hundreds of others on our way to Think of a journey of over 3,000 on foot, requiring thirteen months, with heavy chains on each ankle and chained by the wrist to another in a gang of 100 ! That is the way we made the trip, most of the time the weather being bitterly cold, with the meanest kind of clothing, and only allowed seven copecks, less than five cents, a day for food. At night we slept in etapes, long, low log or stone sheds, erected every ten miles along the way, more often without fire than with it, always hungry, always cold, and always in pain from the galling chains. At last, after thirteen months of misery we arrived at the end of our journey, to encounter worse misery still. I was set to work in the quicksilver mines. Three months is as long as any* human being can stand it to work in those mines. Many die in the mines and many soon after leaving them. The fumes of the mereury rot the bones, loosen the teeth and leave the man a total wreck. When I had partly regained my health after this experience, I, with others, was set to digging holes in the ground, -/The holes were not designed for any use whatever, tut were dug just to keep us at work, and it was While thus engaged that I received my first whipping. I was too weak to smooth the side of the hole as nicely as the officer wanted it. and simply told him so. For that I was taken to the whipping bench, laid on my face and fastened down by three thongs, one of which was passed over the neck, one over the body and one over the logs, so arranged that a man cannot make the least movement I received eighty blows with the knout, and was two months and a half in the hospital before I could leave my bed." • ‘How are these knouts constructed?” he was asked. —“They are stout leather, the points of the lashes heavily loaded with lead, and a blow from them in the hands of a strong man is as bad as a stroke from a policeman’s club. I have seen men killed at the third stroke. After my first whipping I received another of 125 lashes for calling a soldier a dog who had bayonetted a prisoner in cold blood. I was nearly killed and it was nearly a year before I could resume work. The scenes of brutality to be witnessed on all sides were simply frightful. The killing of prisoners by the soldiers was terrible. They were under no restraint whatever, and the poor prisoners were even killed for uttering the slightest word in protest against the most horrible murders. Chit of the 96,000 prisoners 6ent to Siberia by the Russian Government at the end of the rebellion, I don’t believe 5,000 ever got back alive. And not one of them guilty of a crime, but simply prisoners of war. But if the fate of the men was hard, that of the women was infinitely more so. No principle of honor or even common decency was observed with ,them. They were whipped with stout gads instead of the knout—that is the. only difference I was ever able to observe. They were debauched, whippel and poisoned to death in the hospitals by hundreds, and every public indecency, heaped upon them. Even their efforts at suicide were laughed at as a joke.” “How are prisoners fed?” “They are divided into squads of 100 With two soldiers, two cooks and a baker to" each squad. One day’s rations for the whole 100 consist of ten pounds of meat, ten pounds of barley and ten pounds of saur kraut, and two pounds of black bread per man. The meat, barley and saur kraut are all cooked in a mess, and while the soldiers, cooks and baker live well, ail that is left for the 100 is dishwater.” “Do the prisoners always wear i ball and chain?” ••Always.”

Mr. Langowski then exhibited nisi ankles, which show great holes when* the ulcers produced by the chains had eaten to the bone. His back still bears the most frightful scars from his flaggelations. “How long were you sentenced for?”! “Six years as a prisoner in chains,! and fix years a prisoner under surveillance. At the end of six years I was obliged to support myself, but was required to report daily to a certain officer. I supported myself by making* cigarettes, and then after thirteen! years was given a passport back to Fo-. land. A man can not travel half a mile in Russia without a passport. I begged my way from town to town, and when about half way back received some money from my sister. On reaching home I found an order from the Czar requiring me to quit! Poland within twenty-four hours on! pain of death. I bad just time to marryj the girl I was betrothed to, and hurried a way. to Cracow, thence to An-i twerp, where a Polish friend assisted) me to America. I have been here ten years, and, although I am very poor, nothing on earth would induce me to leave American soil."

DAVID AND GOLIATH

The Ancient Tragedy as Described By a Reformed Pugilist. Bi'l Nye in Indianapolis News. Pugilists often reform, especially! after they have been sufficiently pun-, ished and pit to sleep. I knew one once who became the teacher of an infant class in Sabbath school. He wasj a great success, and his class the largest and brightest I ever saw in all my Sabbath school experience. I heard him once tell his little boys, the story of David and Goliath. He said: “You know Goliath had put up 1 the dust a long time in the first Philistine National Bank, and kept the offer, good to knock out anybody or. fight to a finish, any terms, with catch-as-catch-can provisions, for gate receipts; loser to gat nuthin’ but a quiet funeral) and a low grave under the daisies. They fit in them days, boys, and these ornamental hippodrome scraps of our time was no good. A roller settled up, his affairs and staid in the ring till' they rung for the undertaker. “Goliath was a blow, but he was the ichampion—hftßgywftight., and so they, run it into politics, and made it Goliath and his gang ag’in the Israelites., It was a queer case. The papers had> a notice for over a year offering most anything, see? fer a man that’ud clean out Goliath and knock the head off him, but it was no go. The Israelites' did well in trade, but they was peaceable. They could sell goods and kick 1 at a hotel, but they couldn’t fight fer sour apples. “Finally ’long comes little Dave. His father was in the sheep business and Dave had been in the habit of, catching lions by the tails and jerkin” their heads off before breakfast. HeJ also had a fashion of running his hand! down the throat of a royal Bengal ti- ; ger once in awhile and pulling out his !or her choicest alimentary while you, could say scat. ‘Lions killed and) dressed while you wait,’ was his advertisement. ‘So he came out on the grounds and says, ‘Bovs it’s about time to play ball. We’ve stood about enough of this newspaper talk and inexpensivei wind. I am a little feller and I ain’t , ashamed. And now if you will aid' I me by your applause you will see one ; of the best fights yon ever saw.’ | “With that Goliath, .a big, coarse | feller with whiskers like a load of hay, sails out and laughs a long, coarse, Norman laugh that shakes the winders in the Court House and says, *O, I mamma! Look at his kidlots! Shall we spank him, gents, and send him back to the primary school or feed him to the coyotes?’ “Dave says. ‘Goli, I ain’t no match fer you in size, but you are a Universalist and I’m puttin’ my belief agin’ yourn this day. If I put you to sleep, we gather in your oamp and pile up the back charges on your pension roll. If you do me up, you get indorsement from foreign powers and have fun with the Israelites. And now, when you’re ready, say so, you low, coarse thing, fut up your dooks,’ sez he, •and damaged be him that first hollers enough!’ ne sez, coatin’ from Shakespeare, for Daye was a great reader, and could coat from all the poets for hours at a time, whereas Goli was a chump, besides bein’ a free thinker. “Well, time was called. Tbeyi blowed on some sackbuts, and suchl things and in they sailed. Before! . Goli could get his bread hooks on, Dave the thing was over, Dave jerked' a rock at him and it clove his skull, as the Bible goes on to state. Sevorai of his favorite brains oozed out and, left him nothing to think with. See?i “So down wept Goliath to the bottom of the wall, as the poet gets it off, and Dave takes his pelt home to show that he’s the lalla, you bet you, and he got the stake.. Also the tenderloin and a little of the dark meat, and he prospered till the cows come home, and Dave could -have been County Clerk if he’d of just said the wqrd.” Thunder-Storm Lore. Cincinnati Enquirer. If you can count three slowly—fthat is, one copnt to the second —betweea the flash of lightning and the peel of thunder, you may know that destruction has not been wrought in your, locality. The flash and the crash are really simultaneous, only the light of the former travels much more swiftly'’ than the sound of the latter. If it' takes three seconds for the noise of the thunder to reach you, then the storm is 3,270 feet, twh-Lhirda of,a mile 'away. But When the flash and; the peal oome close together, then shake yourself to see if you am hit