Rensselaer Standard, Volume 1, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 June 1879 — Page 4

ODDS AND ENDS

,<Jrecjan ladies coant tMir age from their marriage, not from their birth. More snow fell on Motmt Washington the past winter than for forty yean. Newburyport, Mass., is happy over the improved condition of her silver mines. ? Sir Edward and Lady Thornton delight in riding in a canal boat on the Potomac.’ Ancwb, when it is long in coming, is stronger when it comes and the longer kept It is a well-established fact that the 'teJ plant will grow in many of the Routhern States. Tire acreage of the cotton crop in Western Texas is fifty per cent, greater tins year than last. TheT< Christian Union has been sued for sso,o<>»» damages for violation of business agreement. Twigs always attract attention. From babyhood to maturity they are objects! of observation. There are twenty alligators in the Jardin'jdes Plantes in Paris, the largest being over seven feet long. Phosphorescent paper is reported to be wie of the latest novelties. Writing done upon it can be read in the dark. I ThH Silk Association of America rqporti a' good business for last year. The price of raw silk has constantly detained. A lady in .Paris, named Chevassus Clement, has been frequently prosecuted for wearing a nun’s costume,'but she pers.sts in the offense. Tueorchards in Northern Pennsylvania,- which is the greatest fruit raising reigonof the State, never looked mofe promising than now. The city of Rochester is being sued for $1 ,00b damages for tlte destruction, by order of its Board of Health, of rags supposed to be infected with the smallpox. | The ghost of a woman haunts the track of the Kansas Pacific railway at Smoky Hill, Col., and when they try to ruitheV down she doesn't give them a ghost of a chance. Among the speakers of the next • Yale Commencement will be Chun Lung 3 a Chinese member of the class of. 187$, who will deliver an oration on . ‘‘The Chinese in America.” Mosfr of the wines used in England for the holy communion in Roman Catholic churches comes from the vineyards bf English colleges of Libtson and yiilladolid, and is white. An Aryshire cow belonging to the Sears brothers, Elmwood, Conn., gave 386 pofinds of milk in ten days. Sev-'enty-fhur ounces of butter was made rpm the milk drawn in one day; A gruel exchange, noting that a meteorite weighing several hundred poundi fell near Ottawa, says the people for* miles around thought it was the arrivaj of the daily Canada newspaper. Miss C. L. Wolfe, the wealthies single’ woman in the United States, has arrived at Newport, after a tw years’ {trip to Europe. Her residence is in jNew York. She is worth $lO,-000,-oof. . " Hundreds of cold-blooded wretches are putting themselves forward as candidate# for the office of public executioner? in Paris. The bulk of the wouldj-be-neck-choppers are tors and cdachmen. ' In Sumatra, wheu telegraph messages hre delayed pr fail to~ be transmitted, it is because the wires are down or wota’t work as elsewhere, but it is not attributed to storms. Elephants and timers upset the poles, and monkeys breakithe wires by taking gymnastic exercises on them. Central Pacific freight train, No. 6, was(detained one day lasT week at Staton, Nev., for two hours by crickets. The track was covered with them for a distance of three miles, and the boys bad to have the patience of Job while moving the train over such a slippery mass. 1 Thb United StAtes produced 50,000,000 tobs of coal in 1877 in a coal area of 192,000 square miles. Germany, with a coal area of 1,770 squares miles, produced about the same amount, and Great« Britain, with a coal area of ll,9oolsquare miles, produced in the same tear about 135,000 tons. ThR old chimney of the house in which! Washington was born, on the estate of “Wakefield,” in Westmoreland bounty, Virginia, is still standing—all that is left to mark the spot, the tablet erected by Parke Custis in 1815 having crumbled to pieces. It is suggested that an enduring monument be placed upon the spot. According to statistics just published, tnire were 18,738 young men studying at? the twenty German universities during the Winter semester just passed. Qf these, 2,438 were studying theology 15,106 law, and 3,537 medicine, 7,657 being inscribed in the philosophical faculty. Their ages ranged for the most part from 19 to 22 years. A Man bough t.some of the $lO Government certificates at the Cincinnati office,! and missed one after retiring from the window. He oould find t nowhere. “Give me a dollar and I’ll get it for you,” said a boy. The offer was accepted. The boy yanked another urchin out of the line and choked him until be opened his mouth, from which the hidden certificate dropped OUt. i S: A young man with two wooden legs was recently sent io prison in Paris for forgery. He lost his legs by machinery,

and had a pension of $l6O a year from his former employer, but he was rather a fast youth, notwithstanding his defective means of locomotion, and used often to pawn his legs until bis pension came in. Finally he took to forgery, and was sent wheie he will have little occasion for legs. A Kentucky girl and her lover had vainly tried for four years to elope .together. They were Thomas Owen and Miss Kate Sanford, of Milburn.

A few nights ago Miss Kate bravely jumped out of a window. She broke one of the small bones near the ankle, but Tom got away with her, and she was held on her feet while the marriage ceremony was performed by a sympathizing clergyman. Mr. Augustus L. Whiting, member of the New York Coaching Club, was driving in a one-horse carriage at Newport bn Monday, accompanied by his wife abd another lady r when both reins broke and the horse started on a run, dashing down Bellevue avenue at a frightful pace. Mr. Whiting, with remarkable presence of mind, reached over the dashboard, unhitched the traces, and allowed the animal to get clear of the shafts. A new form of disease has become apparent in the heart of a very crowded portion of London. It is a new form of Cyprus fever, and a diagnosis of a recent malignant case shows the patient to be suffering from hallucinations and lowered vitality. The faculty ascribe the disease to impure water,and have given it the name of detephobia, and though it is seldom fatal, the sufferer remains but a shadow of his former self.

NEWS NOTES.

AjCYCLOne in Nebraska, last week, 'killed eleven persons. The latest reports from the West predict a fine crop of wheat. On the 27th of July next, the Bank of England will be 185'years old. Gen. Goby has deposed the President of Paraguy and seized the government. A shower of live minnows fell in the streets of Des Moins, lowa, the other day. A storm at Elkhart Ind., last Saturday,destroyed a SIO,OOO school house, and other buildings. Fishermen at Michigan City have recently been hauling in two thousand pounds of fish per day. The bonded indebtedness of LaFayette is $1,915,500. The expenses last year were $709,409.07. The nomination of Senator Conover for Collector of Internal Revenue in Florida, has been withdrawn. The prospects are that the cotton crop of 1879, in the Southern States will be the largest and best ever raised Owing to divisions in the Liberal ranks, the Clericals gained advantages in recent municipal elections in Italy. Twenty lepers were recently discovered by the Health officers in the Chinese slums of San Francisco, and sent back to China. Two men were killed, and two others badly injured, at Terre Haute, last Saturday, by the caving in of a sewer which they were constructing. It is stated that the large organ of the Brooklyn Tabernacle was mortgaged for $2,500 to pay the expenses of Dr’ Talmadge’s trip to Europe. Another jury has decided that Guetig, the Indianapolis murderer, is guilty as charged in the indictment, and must sutler death as the just penalty of his crime. Several ships’with yellow fever on board have arrived a£ New York, and the health officers are apprehensive that the dread disease may find a lodgment in the city.

Emperor William’s golden wedding concluded with a.grand dinner, laid for 750 guests, and a soiree attended by 9,000. He granted 700 pardons, and more are expected. Congress lias passed a joint resolution appropriating funds for a monument to mark the birth-place of Washington. The old house in which he was born has completely disoppeared. The prospect now is that the contest for the-Governorship of Massachusetts next fall will lie between Governor Talbot, the present Republican incumbent, and General Butler, as the Democratic nominee. The jury in the case of Mrs. Vredenburg vs. Members of the Crescent City Rifle Club, of New Orleans, gave a verdict of $15,000 for the plaintiff, whose husband was killed by a pet bear kept on the club grounds. It is said that the Empress snubbed Bismarck at her golden wedding reception. That is nothing, dear gossips! It is more than probable that the pepper and vinegar old lady has snubbed the great Emperor himself, scores of times. A Colorado inventor skips across the deep, - wide and rapid Missouri river, with ease and speed on hid' patent water-shoes. The shoes, when attached together, become a buoy or life preserver, upon which the wearer can sit or he with ease and safety, t It may here be stated that General Shields breathed his last in a hospital attached to a Catholic convent, presided over by a female relative of his, in the beautiful- little city of Ottumwa. The immediate cause of his death was the bursting of the old by him at the battle of Cerro Gordo. The other: “From the State of South Carolina to Gen. Shields, in testimony of her admiration of his gallantry in the- Mexican war, and as a tribute of gratitude for his parental attention to the Palmetto regiment.” The hilt is studded with diamonds, rubies and emeralds, and on the scabbard is a palmetto tree, with dates of the several battles in which the old hero fought in -ae Mexican war. South Carolina invested the handsome sum of SB,OOO in this gift.

Amelia A. Young has made application for the appointment of a receiver, and for an injunction to restrain the executors, of the estate of Brigham Young from the further performance of duty, claiming that they have improperly made away with over $1,000,000 of the estate. The executors are George W. Cannon, Albert Carrington and Brigham Young, jr.

Some uneasiness is beginning to be felt tn Chicago regarding the eight hour labor demonstration, which is to taka place in that city on the Fourth of July. While the proclaimed intention is to have a peaceful and orderly parade and mass’meeting, it is feared that some of the Socialist leaders have a more serious programme in preparation. George A. Reynolds, of Salt Lake City, has been convicted on the charge of bigamy and sentenced to two years imprisonment and SSOO fine. He is the first Mormon convicted of polygamy since the passage of the act of Congress in 1862, making polygamy a crime. He is to serve his term of imprisonment in the Detroit penitentiary. Hon. John Gilbert Shanklin, Secretary of State, and Miss Gertrude Avery, of Louisville, Ky., were united in marriage last Saturday at Wyoming, New York. Miss Avery has been one of the belles of Kentucky, being beautiful, highly accomplished and very wealthy. Mr. Shanklin is well known as one of the most polished and genial gentleman in the Hoosier State, h ’ . Judge Davidson, of the Fountain Circuit Court, has decided that the railroad whistling act is in violation of the section of the constitution of the State which provides, in substance, that no man’s property shall be taken without just compensation. He holds that the term “taken” as used in the constitution is not limited to actual seizure of property, that it may be construed to be synonimous with injury. The whistling is injurious and destructive to property, therefore, the act requiring it is unconstitutional and void.

Managers of many of the railroads have issued the following sensible order: To Engineers: “While complying with’ the whistling law, if you see that teams are frightened and likely to become unmanageable, you will at once stop whistling. Human life and property must not be placed in .jeopardy if it is possible to avoid it. Further, we do not wish to make any more noise than is actually necessary. At best it is a very serious annoyance to our passengers and to the people on the line of our road.”

Rev. Thoms Cooper, pastor of the Congregational Church at Peru, has commenced suit against A. N. Dukes, Charles Kumler, George Rettig, John T. Stevens and others of his congregation for SIO,OOO damages, alleging that the said persons have conspirited together to eject him from the church edifice, deprive him of his pastorate and injure his reputation. The congregation is divided on the question of retaining Mr. Cooper as pastor, and the fight between the factions is red hot. A cannibal has been discovered near Otis, Mass. His name is Smith, and he got his education as a maneater in the South Sea Islands, where he entered into all the savage rites, and acquired an appetite for human flesh. He stands accused of eating a man in New Jersey, but denies the charge. He admits,however,that he offered to work six months for a Blanchford farmer in exchange for his daughter, and that he made the proposition with intent to feast on the girl. As he can’t get his man flesh he eats raw toads, snakes, and fish. >

According to the estimates of the Railway World, 400,000 persons are employed on the railroads in this country, and five times that many depend upon the roads for support. It is also estimated that between $200,000,000 and $400,000,000 are annually paid to employes and to persons who furnish the companies with supplies of various kinds. Fifty years ago there was not a public railroad in the United States, and the enormous business indicated in these figures is the outgrowth of less than half a century in the country’s existence. At- the funeral of General James Shields, the two swords presented to him by the Stages of Illinois and South Carolina were crossed over the casket containing his body, and with the floral decorations, helped to mak/ np a rich and pleasing picture. In tile procession they were borne, respectively, by Col. P. G. Ballingal, of Ottumwa, lowa, and, Mr\l. M. Wilcoxson, a banker of Carrolton. The inscriptions on the testimon ial^are: On the first— ‘ ‘Presented by the Slate of Illinois to Gen. James Shields, for gallant service at Vera Cruz, Cero Gordo, Contreas, Cherubusco, Chepultepec and the Garetta o Belin, City of Mexico.” On one side of this blade is a view of the City of Mexico; on the reverse, scenes from the several battlefields named. The cost was $2,000.

STATE ITEMS.

There is not a licensed saloon in Crawford county. There are in Wayne county 13,034 school children and 126 school teachers. The printing and binding of the acts of the last legislature amounted to $2,345 71. A new Orphans’ Home is to be erected at Jeffersonville this summer at a cost of $5,000. A skein of wool seventeen inches long, was sent to the Wabash Plain Dealer, a few days ago. Potato bugs are doing great damage to the growing potato crop in Floyd and Harrison counties. . j; The work of improving the navigation of the lower Wabash has been resumed by the Government. t Forepaugh squealed on a s2l city license at LaPorte, but a writ oi attachment brought him to terms. Ike Crisman, of Porter county, shot a wolf in his door yard, a few davs ago, while it was catchipg e ickens. Forty trains a day furnish the inhabitants of LaPorte with all the Whistling they can possibly endure.

The town of Winchester has passed an ordinance requiring saloon-keepers to pay a corporation license fee of SIOO. There is a case litigating in the Howard Circuit Court over a $1.50 shawl, the costs on which to date aggregate S4OO. Some inhuman wretch cut the tongue out of a cow belonging to Ephraim Fouty, in Shelbyville a few nights since. Somebody cut the entrails out of the only horse owned by Mr. Rodman, a Porter county farmer, the other day, and the horse soon afterwards died. Parties who have sustained injuries by their horses taking fright at the incessant locomotive whistle caused by the new law, are commencing suit against the state. A lamentable state of affairs exists at Walkertown in St. Joe county. The citizens there go armed* and prepared for any emergency. It is thought that the developements brought out by therecent scandal in that village is the cause. H. B. Sleik, who resides near Waterford, a villiage three miles south of Goshen, has a calf only thirteen months old,that is all ready the mother of a young calf. The mother is not yet weaned herself! .■ The newspapers of the State are cautioning Odd Fellows to beware of an imposter who calls himself Daniel Peck, and carries credentials from Sherlock Lodge I. O. O, F. of Madison.

Two married woman of Rushville, occupying high positions in society and members of the Disciple Church engaged in a rough and tumble fight at Rushville on Wednesday evening of last week, which ended with the husbands taking a hand and punishing each other severely. One of the women, the wife of a leading grocer and capitalist, had become jealous of the other for stealing away the affections of her husband, as she thought. A fully developed case of leprosy exists near Salem. Her name is Chriseson, and she lives twelve miles north of that place. Her skull in places has actually decayed away, so that the brains have protruded and been removed. The bones of the leg have gradually decayed until they are only from one-quarter to one-third their natural size. She is, as it were, a walking pestilence. The physicians say. that it is a real case of leprosy. The unfortunate person has been a resident of this county for nearly thirty years. Bethel, Wayne county, has some rather remarkable women. One of them, Hannah Hyde, wove I,s77yards of carpet from Feb. 22, 1878, to Feb.. 22,1879, besides doing her housework. Another, Mrs. Sophia Lawrence, is almost ninety years of age and can read any kind of print withoutglasses, and does the finest of quilting and needle-work. She is intelligent, and has been a member of the church fortythree years and attends church regularly. She can walk a mile about as soon as many young ladies. Richmond Telegram : E. H. Jinkens, father of the Messrs. Jinkens whoJiave been in the jewelry business for a number of years at No. 278 Main street, where he is now employed, has this week completed a very ingenious attachment for clocks, on which he has been working for a number of years. It is a clock calender, recording the day of the week, the month of the year and the day of the month, and will record the same for one hundred years without a single change of the machinery. It is operated by the dock work, to which it is made continuous by one small wheel, and, as before stated, will make accurate record for a century without any attention, if the clock to which it is attached will only hold out to run for that length of time without stopping.

An immense audience assembled at Fort Wayne the other evening to witness a class of twenty graduates from the High School receive their diplomas. The exercises were interrupted at the stage by a scene of great excitement, which for a time threatened serious results. When Master Wilson, who was second on the programme, finished his speech, an elegant bouquet was handed to him, in violation of an order of the Schodl Board, who had expressly prohibited any floral offerings. The young man took the bouquet and refused to give it to the Chairman of the School Board, Hon. A. P. Edgerton. The scene which ensued baffles description. The vast audience rose up, standing on chairs, etc., and shouts of “Stick to it!” “Hold on!” “Don’t give up!” were heard on every side. Mr. Edgerton attempted to speak, but hisses drowned him out, whereupon a squad of police went to the stage and Master Wilson gave his bouquet to the officers. He then left the stage, followed by several other members of the class, with shouts, cheers, hisses, etc. After some time a slight degree of order was restored, Mr. Edgerton made a brief explanatory speech, and the exercises were then concluded amid considerable confusion. A couple of convicts in the northern Indiana prison have confessed that they killed a man near Crawfordsville, two years ago for a month’s wages, which he was known to have on his person. They placed the body on a railroad track, and a passing train mingled it and relieved them of suspicion.

A Terrible Situation.

The Denver (Col.) Tribune tells the following story of the Grand Canon. Chas May and his brother Robert, in the spring of 1870. offered to pass sixty thousand railroad ties down the Arkansas from the mountain source. He says: “Our offer was accepted, when we started into the upper entrance of the canon with a large skiff, provided with six days’ provisions and 2(X)feet of rope, with which, by taking a running turn around some firmly planted object, we could lower our boat a hundred feet at a time. In this way, at the end of three days, having set adrift many

hundried ties, we reached the entrance to the Royal George Hereßwe discovered that an attempt to descend the first waterfall with two in the boat was certain destruction, and to return was impossible. Accordingly, I determined to lower my brother down the fall in the boat, a distance of 200 feet, gave him the rope and let him take the chance of the canon (life seemed more certain in that direction), while I would risk my physical ability to climb the canon wall, which was two thousand feet high. “About ten o’clock in the morning I shook hands with my brother, lowered hi n in the boat safely to the foot of the fall, gave him the rope and Saw him no more. Then, throwing-aside my coat, hat and boots, and stripping the socks from my feet. I commenced my climbing way, often reaching the height of one or two hundred feet, only to be compelled to return to try some other way. At length, about four o’clock in the afternoon, I reached a height upon the smooth canon wall of about a thousand feet. Here my further progress was arrested by a shelving ledge of rock that jutted out from the canon side a foot or more. To advance was without hope; to return, certain death. Reaching upward and outward, I grasped the arm of the ledge with one hand and then with the other, my feet slipped from the smooth side of the canon, and my body hung suspended in the air a thousand feet above the roaring waters of the Arkansas.

At that moment I looked downward to measure the distance I would have to fall when my arms gave out. A stinging sensation crept through my kair as my eye caught the strong root of a cedar bush that projected out over the ledge, a little beyond my reach. My grasp upon the rim of the ledge was fast yielding to the weight of my person. Then I determined to make my beet effort to raise my body and throw it sideways toward the root, so as to bring it within my grasp. At the moment of commencing the effort, I saw my mother’s face as sheP leaned out over the ledge, reached down her hand and caught me by the hair. Stranger, my mother died while yet a young woman, when I and my brother were small boys, but I remember her face. I was successful in making the side leap of my arms, when I drew myself upon the ledge and rested for a short time. From here upwards my climbing way was laborious, but less dangerous. I reached the top of the canon just as the sun was sinking behind the snowy range, and hastened to our camp at the mouth of the canon, where I fouhd my brother all safe. ‘Charley,’ said he, ‘have yoif had your head in a flour sack?’ It was then’that I discovered that my hair was white as you see it new.”

How his Trousers Got Shortened.

A certain gentleman purchased a pair of pants a few days ago, which, upon being tried on at home, he found to be too long. That night he remarked to his wife that he wished her to take off about an inch from each leg, which would make them about the desired length. Being fond of teasing her husband she told him. that she shouldn’t do any thing of the kind, and he retired without having obtained a promise from her that she would attend to the matter. Soon after he had left for his room, however, she, as a matter of course, clipped off the superfluous inch, as she had been asked to do. The family is composed of six female members, and each one of the five, who were in the adjoining rooms, heard the dispute between man and wife, and after the latter had taken off the required inch and retired, the old lady, desiring to “keep peace in the family,” and not knowing what her daughter-in-law had done, cautiously slipped in the room and cut off another inch. In this way did each of the five ladies, unknown to the other, and’ all with the praisworthy object of preventing any misunderstanding between the couple, clip an inch from the gentleman’s trousers. The following morning all unconscius of what had taken place during the night, he rolled up his pants in a piece of paper, and took them to the tailor to be shortened to the desired length. Upon a hasty glance the latter ventured the opinion that they were already short, but the owner insisted that they were fully an inch to long. The tailor had no more to say, and our friend retired. On the following Saturday he called for his pants and took them home, and was supremely disgusted at finding that the legs reached only a trifle below the knee. He straightway accused the tailor, but his wife heard him, and came to the rescue, explaning that she had taken an inch from each of the legs and her acknowledgment was followed by that of each of the five ladies, when it was discovered that altogether the legs had been shortened to the extent of seven inches.—[Allentown Chronicle.

A Bird’s Courtship and Death.

A lady who lives on Olive street relates the following: A few days ago there fell in front of her window from a tree a “chippy,” or ground bird, such as chatter about the parks and streets. She picked it up, carried it in the house, fed it from her own mouth and at night placed it in the cage with her canary. The canary at once bestowed upon the new-comer all of the attention of a mother, and nestled beside the little stranger during the night. In the morning the lady placed the chippy in the window so that it might have the privilege of regaining its freedom. It plumedits tiny wings and went away. The canary mourned during the day as if he had lost his mate. In the evening the chippy came back and perched upon the window. The sash was raised, and it flew in and nestled upon the cage. The canary at once struck up his liveliest notes and seemed gratified. This was repeated two or three days, the chippy going each morning and returning in the evening One day it went away and did not come back. The eanary drooped, and the next day fell dead from his perch in the sunshine that played over the gilded cage in the window. That night the chippy returned, and during the evening it mourned over its dead companion. In the morning it clung to the cage until it was turned out. For a few days the empty cage was hung in the window, and on each succeeding evening the chippy returned and chirped as if it was grief-stricken. One day it brought a worm in its bill, dropped it in the cage, flew away and came back no more.—[St. Louis Times.

Nobody except the people in the front pews last Sunday, and only the few there who listened very intently, could hear the tenor when the choir started out “When I can read my title clear,” singing very distinctly, with his face turned toward the leader at the other end of the organ: “ I’ve lost the place; I’m in a fix, What ever shall I do?” And then the leader, in his profoundest bass, replied in his faultless tone and metre: “ The tune is on page ninety-six, The words on forty-two.”

THEBLACK TRACKERS.

How the British Turn Native Against Native in

The colony of Queensland, though one of the most recently established, possesses one of the largest territories in Australia, over the unsettled portion pf which roam the aborigines of the country. They belong to the Papuan portion of the negro family, and are among the lowest of mankind in mental capacity and physical formation. Very little effort has been made to civilize them, because experience has shown that they are almost incapable bf living a civilized life. - They wander in smalttribes, subsisting on roots and teh lowest forms of animal life. Their weapons are the spear, boomerang and nullah-nullah. The wealthy squatters (the term squatter in Australia is a title of and distinction) moving into the interior of the country, pastures his sheep and cattle upon the land, and now and then some wandering blacks appropriate what they w’ant. lul the northern portions of the colony’ the blacks capture, kill and eat people. Gold mining is carried on there Extensively, and there are thousands of Chinese engaged in the work. These go out in small parties to work or travel to and from alluvial diggings, and are often speared and eaten by the natives, who prefer a Chinaman to a white man. In the more settled districts? blacks frequently commit offenses jof a slight character. In all these Cases it has been found difficult for white men to arrest the natives, who | know thecountry better than they! and could subsist far easier in its trackless wildernesses. {Whites occasionally perpetrate serious offenses, and to avoid* punishment escape to the vast unexplored tracts tlftt lie beyond the- settled districts, in tht> hope of reaching some other colony where they could find security from arrest. To capture offending blacks or escaping whites, the Queensland Government established the native police force, or Black Trackers, ?as they are more generally termed, I They are selected from tribes as far away as nos sible from the locality in which they are designed for work, taken to a police station in some\small towii, taught to ride and handle a revolver. When there is any need for their services they are drafted to the place at Once. They are employed to track white men who have lost their way or Who are attempting to escape from justice. In this service they are valuable aids to the authorities. Like the Indian, they pdssess the power of tracing footsteps w’hich are indiscernable to other men. They follow’ them with the tenacity of the bloodhound, and many a horsethief and murderer has been brought to w the bar of justice by their efforts, while hundreds bf lives have been saved by their persevering search, for “lost in the bush” is an Australian phrase, almost synonomous with a horrible death by thirst and starvation. There is another work performed by the Black Tracker, and one in which he is constantly engaged. Australian journals frequently contain items to the effect that some officer went out with a party of native police and dispersed a mob of blacks. To one who does not understand the peculiarities of the Queensland police this item is unintefligibie; simply means that these black butchers;murdered every man, woman and child they could find. “To disperse” means to massacre. It is not very long ago that some cattle were stolen from a station about 200 miles from Bowen, and about sixty aboriginals —men, women and childern—were all butchered by these black fiends, because they were in the neighborhood. Three Chinese, on their way from Cook town to the Palmer river diggings were speared and eaten by the blacks and several days afterward about twenty natives were slaughtered by the black troopers. “ When a little girl was killed and eaten near Townsville, the natives fell like leaves in autumn. It may be asked if these people do not resort-to firearms. Strange to say, they do Neither do they seem to understand the use of them until it is proven by the death of many of their men. When first brought in contact with the trackers they had no fear of the revolvers and carbines, but?rushed wildly to certain death. On sion, when a number of them had been killed, some of the remainder took refuge in the trees, imagining that the firearms could only send its bullets along the ground, and that they were as safe among the branches as the bird from their own boomerang. They have never adopted the weapons, however, though they could easily do so for the same class who have furnished the Indians with firearms could supply them. There are many small towns into which they are not allowed to go, partly because they dress as nature dressed them, but principly on account of their treacherous character. Driven away from white men in this way, and treated with insult an d’in jury whereever met, it is not very surprising that they occasionally spear and carry off sheep and cattle, or kill And eat men whom they meet. Whenever these outrages occur, word is? sent to the police authorities and the;Black Trackers are turned'loose in charge of a white man to disperse the natives. The black trooper detests his less fortunate brother of the wilderness, and shows no mercy. He pursues them day after day for hundreds of miles and shoots them down one and all, when he gets the chance. It frequently occurs that one party of natives commit the outrage while another party are destroyed for doing it. A party is reported to be in a certain vicinity and the trackers are ordered out. Their aim is to punish the perpetrators of crime, but they combine the powers of Judge, jury and executioner. The white men who lead them are frequently as bloodthirsty as them sei ves, and often excel them In acts of wanton cruelty, as will be seen from the follow-

ing account of the destruction of naappeared in a late number of the Queensland Patriot, a daily journal published at Brisbane, the cap it of the colony:

One native police officer, no longer m the service, had a mob of blacks driven into a water-hole. His troopers had the water surrounded, and there was no escape for the miserable blacks. One by one the despairing wretches were shot as they rose to the surface of the water to breathe, each marksman knowing that his shot was successful by the dull thud of the bullet as it buried itself in a human brain. The officer stood by, and at last felt that he would like to take a personal share in the work. Stripping to his shirt, and with a tomahawk in his belt, he entered the water, and with demonstrations of peace induced one of the surviving wretches to approach closely. When the black Was near enough, the white savage whipped out his tomahawk and buried it in his Victim’s brain. The water-holes here spoken of are places to which the natives resort to quench their thirst. They are often constucted by the proprietors of large estates, but are more more frequently the work of nature. The Black Trackers know these places well, and they also know that the natives must come to them for water. When out in search of blood they frequently wait about

these waterholes for days, slaughtering unsuspecting natives who come near. They very rarely if ever take prisoners, simply destroy the people like so many wild animals. White men are found ; who boast of the number they'have killed, and a man near Somerset, Cape York, has a fence about his premises, each post of which is surmounted by a human skull, which, he claims, represents a native whom he has shot. The Black Trackers mark their rifles, each mark indicating the death of an aboriginal. On some of them there is no room for any more marks. It is not only in the thinly settled districts that these deeds of blood dccun but also in the vicinity of towns of from 500 to 2,000 people. By law’ the natives areforbidden to enter these towns, nearly all of which are upon the sea coast. They come, however, to gather such offal as they can on the oinskirts of the town. The slightest theft is then sufficient to send the black trooper out, and woe betide the wretches whose safety has not been secured by flight, C Neither age nor sex is regarded. The babe at the breast, the gray-haired crone, the maiden and the man in his prime are all regarded alike, and shot down. The black troopers delight in the work, and never seem to tire of it. They hate and despise blacks of other tribes than their own; and coming, as they do, hundreds of miles from the scene or. their labors, have no affinity, with those of their race about them, and do their work without a thought save of destroying those whom they are ordered to attack. hT These disgraceful proceedings have attracted considerable attention during the past year, and petitions have been > presented to the Queensland Parliament, praying for the disbandment o the native police. One Parliamentary Committee has investigated and reported upon the matter, their report furnishing one of the most sickening details of crimes and that could possibly be imagined.—[San • Francisco Chronicle.

How a Man Got Work to Do.

Causeur has a friend, a journalist of distinction, now holdinga very responsible position on one of the best known Srs in the country, who hada per experience once in getting a Sosition on the staff of a New York ally. He applied to the editor-in-chief, who knew him well and was aware of his ability and experience. “I’ve nothing to offer you,” he said, “but perhaps you’d better see the managing editor.” To the managing editor, who also kneW him well, the applicant went. nothing I can give you,” he said, pleasantly; “why don’t you see the editor-in chief?” Themext day he applied to both again, and the next, each time receiving” the same answer Dropbing in on the fourth day he noticed a vacant desk in the reporter’s room, kept for any one who might want to use it. He called the office boy, told him to clean up the desk and bring him writing materials Having ‘ ‘mooved in’?— he sought the city editors assignmentbook, picked out a job that he thought he could do, did it, laid the result on the city editors desk and went home. The n<ext day he did the same thing, and the next, and the next. On the fifth day the editor-in-chief passed through the room while he was at his desk. “So you’vegot to work?” he said pleasantly. “Yes sir,” answered the self-appointed reporter. A day or two later the managing editor came in. Got at it at last?” “Yes, sir” answered the latest addition to the stall, going on with his work. Things went on this way for two Weeks, when one mor nin the chief came in. “How do you like 1 your position?” he asked. “First rate” ; ne answered; “there’s only one trouble; I haven’t had any money yet.” “No money? How’s that? Perhaps the managing editor forgot to put your name on the roll. Never mind, I will, how much did hesay you were to have? “He diden’t say, sir,”’ said the reporter telling the truth very litterally. The chief fixed the pay then and there, dated it back two weeks, and the “hang-er-on” became a full-fledged member of the staff on the spot. And the best o f the joke was that it was not until two. years afterward that either the qdiior-in-chief or the managing editor knew how it came about, each supposing the other had done it Two headscertanily were better than one that time —for the’ applicant. —[Causeur in Boston Transcript.

A Wonderful Lake.

In Colorado is a ten-acre field which is no more nor less than a subterranean lake covered with soil about eighteen inches deep., On the soil is cultivated a field of corn, which produces thirty or forty bushels to the acre. If any one will take the trouble to hole the depth of a spade-handle be will find it to fill with water, and by using a hook and line, fish four or five inches long can be caught. The fish have neither scales nor eyes, and are perchlike in shape. The ground is a black marl in its nature, and in all probability was at one time an open body of water, on which was accumulated vegetable matter, which has been increased from time to time, until now it has a crust sufficiently strong and rich to produce fine corn, though it has to be cultivated by hand, as it is not strong enough to bear the weight of a horse. While harvesting, the field-hands catch great strings of fish by punching a hole, through the earth. A person * rising on his heel and coming down suddenly can see the growing corn shake all around him. Any one having the strength to drive a rail through this crust will find, on releasing it, that it will disappear al together. The whole section of‘country surrounding this field gives evidence of marshiness, and the least rain produces an abundance " of mud. But the question comes up: Has not this body an outlet? Although brackish, the water tastes as if fresh, and is evidently not stagnant. Yet these fish are eyeless and scaleless—similar to those found in caves.

By the Sad Salt Seas.

Pretty little girls wading and paddling in the surf, make an attractive spectacle.* But when a pretty young lady of twenty summers or thereabouts, and wearing a iauuty Gainsborough hat. undertakes the same pastime, the scene is a novel dne. Such a young lady, on a part of Manhatten Beach, which was secluded for the moment, thought it would be nice toi, join the children, and pulling off her shoes and stockings; ventured in. It was evidently a most difficult task to adjust her dress to the rising and lowering tide, for she gave her whole mind to it and succeeded very poorly. Everybody passing that way paused, and the young men took seats, determined to fight it out on that line if it took all summer. In fifteen minutes a crowd of nearly 200 persons, mostly men Jb ad gathered. The smile on the young ladv’s face changed to a tragic fr<T n, and a mother’s sharp cry hastened her withdrawal to the background, where, * screened by a close phalanx of female friends, she restored shoes and stockings to their proper place in the econ-, omy of civilization.—[Coney Island Cor. N. Y. Tribune.

In general, there is no one with . whom life drags so disagreeably as with him who tries to inake it shorter.