Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 November 1874 — Page 8

Rare and Curious Fossils Found in Kansas.

Thk general attention attracted to Western geological matters by the Hayden expedition lends interest to the less extensive work of other scientific laborers in the same line. Among these minor explorers no one is doing more valuable and interesting work, I apprehend, than Prof. B. F. Mudge, who is in the employ of Yale College, engaged in collecting the rare and curious tossils of Kansas. Prof. Mudge has been in the field about six months, in which time he has forwarded over a ton of choice vertebrate specimens to the college, including’ several new species of fish, and one saurian and one pterodactyl new to science. He is aiming to collect principally from that portion of the cretaceous formation called by Meek and Hayden tbe“nebrioric limestone,” confining himself to vertebrates, the most of which are fishes, birds, reptiles, of the largest classes, and pterodactyls. ' 7 Of fishes, a great number and variety have been found, mainly of the lower types. Some are only a few inches in length, yet every scale is perfect and in its proper place. The largest are from fifteen to twenty-five feet long. Of these larger ones, the* bones, fins and a few scales only are preserved, and these are not usually found in a natural position;~Thei heavy, with long, sharp teeth, denoting a strong, carnivorous nature. Generally, some of the bones are missing, showing that after death the animal must have been torn apart and scattered by waves or by other fish; but in a few instances the outlines of entire bodies six feet long, with large plate-scales and coarse spinal fins, have been di-covcred. Sometimes the scales, three inches or more in length, are perfect, exhibiting a beautiful structure. The plates about the head are fre quently from six to twelve inches in diameter, and when first found in good preservation, but more fragile than glass, crumbling into fragments at almost the first touch. The most singular fish yet discovered is a genus whiclL_is_anned with a strong weapon on the extremity of the nose, somewhat like a sword-fish, but round and pointed, and composed of long fibers. The jaws are provided with three kinds of teeth: first (on the outer edge) a row of large, flat, cutting teeth, partly resembling those of a shark; next, some small, blunt teeth, placed irregularly; and, finally, a third set of small, sharp teeth, needle-like in shape, forming a pavement. The jaws arc also like the snout ■ The reptiles are more interesting, geologically, ami much more valuable, than the fishes. They embrace the various kinds of saurians of all sizes, from three to seventy feet in length, the most common being from twenty to thirty feet. Only the bones, and occasionally a few plates of these, have been found—scarcely ever an entire skeleton. Those portions usually discovered are vertebra*, ribs, leg or paddle bones, and teeth. Occasionally as many as seventy of the small bones of the paddle or feet belonging to one individual have been found. The teeth usually consist of a double row, Strong and large, but hollow and easily broken. The hollow portion is frequently filled with clear carbonate of lime, presenting a very pretty, semi-transparent appearance. The largest specimen which Prof. Mudge has yet procured in the saurian line is an ichthyosaurus between sixty and seventy feet in length. It was uncovered in a good state of preservation. This animal was about three times as long as our largest alligator, and must have been a formidable monster to the lesser animals of its day. All the saurians so far discovered by Prof. Mudge have a general resemblance to the alligators of the present period, hut are more slender and snake-like. The professor thinks they must have lived on the islands of the old cretaceous ocean, spending much of their time in search of their prey. Their teeth show that they were highly carnivorous. If this needed confirmation, it is found in their coprolites,which contained fragments of liones, scales and other indigestible portions of fish.

Next in interest among Prof. Mudge’s fossils are the pterodactyls. Of these he has found the bones of two specimens, both large, and one new to science. The larger one. when living (according to Prof. Marsh, of Yale, who has examined, it), measured twenty feet in width of wing. The largest found in Europe are only half that size. Some rare bones of birds have also been discovered, one species of which has the biconcave vertebra; of the fish, with a jaw containing regular reptilian teeth. Another species, much larger—standing apparently four or five feet high—has a femur measuring twelve and a half inches in length. Both of these species are aquatic. The tertiary formation of the pliocene age is found overlying the cretaceous in the extreme western part of the State. The fossils of this formation consist principally of the bones of large mammalia, wfth some huge turtles. The most common are jaws and teeth of two or three species of extinct horses. The vertebra? and teeth of a large animal resembling the rhinoceros have also been found, and in several instances the bones and portions of a tusk of a mastodon. The ivory in these remains of the mastodon was fossilized in one case in a new and singular manner. It had been changed to nearly pure silica, and in the change had become infused with fine, sprig-like ' crystals of black oxide of manganese, similar to the so-called moss agate. When cut and polished it might pass for that gem. Prdf. Mudge is still pursuing his investigations, and the collections he is making promise tc be among the most interesting and valuable in the country. — Topeka (Kan.) Cor. N. Y. World.

An Avalanche on the Matterhorn.

Sitting there gazing at the 7,000 or 8,000 feet of the Matterhorn's height and breadth that were still higher than my resting-place, and drinking in the influence of the vast silent scene around and beneath, I perceived a movement upon the left-hand outline and a large surface of the adjacent front of the mountain. The upper fourth part apparently of the mountain’s height from the left-hand edge to about the middle of the front was already bare and black like solid rock. The movement of the mass, at the outset very deliberate, was first perceptible from the widening distance of the dark surface between its upper edge and a crest of bare rock that stood out upon the profile above. Then it was plain that the entire weight of snow for a thousand or two feet below on that side of the mountain and nearly to the midst of its front, as I viewed it, was moving; and I felt the strange, false sense of being lifted with the whole steep, mossy’ bank on which I sat facing the avalanche. Swiftly it gathered momentum and its immenrfty became more comprehensible when its greater part, fifty to a hundred

feet thick, shot out over a crag that had not been visible under this great thick nese of snow, and "down through the clear air in one vast sheet, striking upon a less inclined surface 2,000 feet below, where it was dashed into a mill- , ion fragments, and there flashed up a vast cloud of fine, dusty snow. Rapidly massing itself, it again- surged forth from the fleecy bosom of the snow- 1 cloud over a precipice of nearly vertical wall for a mile or more into its final j depths, leaving a large area upon the ; mountain black and barren, and tossing Upward throughout the broad abyss another and more widely spreading snowcloud, while its sudden displacement of air produced a rushing wind which reached to where I sat. As you first see the distant hrtilTcryV rushing smoke, and hear the roar, so liere arose, far beneath and a mile or two away, a rolling, white, misty cloud, and then the astounding thunder of the concussion. The interruption of this avalanche in its progress doubled its sublimity. -Had it rushed all the way down one incline, with no intervening crash between the i loosening of the mass and its plunge into the depths, or if it had shot oil clear into the air and struck into the very bottom in a solid .mass, it could not have carried with it such majestic movement of awful deliberation, nor produced such prolonged and terrific roar.— Cor. Detroit Tnbo ~

Sixteen Thousand Feet Above the Earth.

Tite following is taken from, an account, published 'in the Baltimore American, of a recent balloon ascension with Prof. Donaldson; Now came the most stirrjni? incident of our trip. From the height of 4,000 feet we steadily ascended, the country dwarfing into a panorama of toys below us. 1 had the aneroid barometer in my hand, and so marked our progress upward. At 6,000 feet our breaths became visible, just as they would be on a frosty morning. We already began to feel cold in the body, but the rays of the sun beat in Upon iis with a fierce inTehsify. The dex of the barometer steadily crept around the dial, marking off the thousands until it reached the fourteenth, then flying back again and starting f r om zero, from whence it progressed once more around.the dial until it halted on the verge of the two-thousandth, telling us that we were only about I'X) feet less than 16,000 feeVabove the earth. At this height the world was an obscurity tons, a vapory haze shut it out from our view, and we could detect nothing of it but the silver lines that marked theTgreat bays and rivers. From a contemplation of the indistinct scene I revert to my own feelings. The air was very .cold, and the sun was very warm. The thermometer stood at eighty-two degrees, the sun was intensely hot, as its rays fell upon us, but tbr all that we might as well have been in an Arctic re- - gion. This is one of the most curious phenomena of life above the clouds. The rarefaction of the air hardly accounts for the chilling cold which penetrates you through and through, while the thermometer and the heat of the solar rays are indicating a high summer temperature. At the height of 15,000 feet I was shivering, while my head seemed to be burning up, and all the blood in my body rushing toward it. I felt a very slight difficulty in breathing, but my ears were stopped Up, and I could hardly hear what Mr. Fox was saying to me when he was standing by my side. We did not remain long at this tremendous elevation. We slipped down through the atmosphere to between 11,000 and 12,000 feet above the earth, and it was there we had our grandest view. We had within our range of vision at the same moment Philadelphia, Baltimore and Harrisburg, the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays, and all their upper tributaries, and also Annapolis and most of the smaller towns were included within this extended vision. But the grandest feature of all was when, gazing downwardly, we very plainly per ceived the Atlantic Ocean, There was no mistake about it; the mist had lifted a little and we could plainly see where the waters of tire Delaware Bay mingled with those of the Atlantic. The view at this time was above the possibility of language to picture. The peninsula of land between the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays was but a thread of dark green upon the landscape; the Susquehanna River was hardly perceptible, except soy the dark line which we knew to be the great bridge across it; the country below us was but a checker board of "indistinct green and white squares: Baltimore and Philadelphia were only masses of shade upon the map; but the great ocean was a reality, and tc a view of it we constantly turned our eyes, with a feeling that here was some thing everlasting and enduring. The panorama that came within our scope ot vision was probably not less than 200 square miles, but from our height of KuOOO feet it seemed to be dwarfed to a space you might cover with your handkerchief. It seemed to us as if we were looking through the wrong end of our field-glass. When at this height of 16,000 feet, or over three miles above the earth. Prof. Donaldson told us that the balloon had obtained its equilibrium; that it was poised on exact balance, and that as soon as the gas commenced to condense, even in the slightest degree, we wqhld descend rapidly. And it was precisely in this fashion that we did go down.

A Veteran’s Treasured Musket.

He was a remarkable looking old gentleman. and he sat in the waiting-room of the Central Depot with an old fashioned gun across his knees. To one who passed him by, in a casual way, he seemed to be a hunter on his way’ to some wood.or field where game was to be found. But he who tarried a mpment learned that the old gentleman was one whom the nation had honored for his assistance in its time of need. On the stock of the old gun was a plate bearing the words: By resolve of Congress, Presented to AMCJS SOPER, For his gallantry at the siese of Plattsburg. The inscription told the story. The old man was seventy-six. He say’s that twenty young fellows, only two of whom were over eighteen, formed themselves together and offered their services to the United States General in command at Plattsburg; they were supplied with some old muskets, and on the 11th’of September, 1814, in the simple language of the old man, they “ did the best they could ” His work was done so w ell that on the 11th of September, 1826. the musket, w ith the above inscription,' was ’ given him as a tribute of the nation's esteem .—Rochester Democrat. Get atop of your troubles and they are half-cured. ’ ".

Dog Stories.

As KVjpENCE that dogs have reasoning powers “ Irenreus”’ tells the following well-authenticated anecdotes in a recent ; number of the New York Obterver: Rev. Dr. *A.~T. Fullerton, of Erie, , Pa., writes: “ Mrs. J. has for some time 1 past been the owner of a fine Esquimaux dog. A few months ago Mrs. J. became the mother of a beautiful little girl, of ' whom the dog at first was.; very jealous. His better nature, however, soon as- | serted itself, and he became very fond :of the child. A few weeks ago baby ■ was crying loud and long. Doggie cafiie up stairs in evident distress of spirit, whined in answer to the child’s cry, but finally, as if a sudden thought had startled him, trotted quickly down stairs. He presently returned with a bone, well pickyd, of course, in his mouth, which, standing on his hind'legs, he gravely presented to the baby. ‘Tn evidence of the truth of this story I may offer the testimony of Mrs. J., her aunt, Mrs. G., not to mention the baby and the dog himself.” Certainly there were several steps like those of logic in this performance, and simple as is the story it is one of the best we have had. It shows how much. the dog reasoned, and how very feeble his reasoning was. D. Walter Smith, of Englewood, N. J., writes to me of one ot his dogs.—He says: "He was a splendid water dog and very powerful. Being in the store alone with him one evening, and he under the counter, an Irishman came in for something which was in the back part of the store. While I had gone for it he threw himself on the counter and opened tllk money drawer. The dog, hearing him, came quietly between the counters and , caught the man by the arm. I found the dog holding the man. and the drawer closing held his hand. The dog immediately released him, and I told the man to take a seat, which he refused to do, but started for the door. The dog was before him and guarded the door. When my employer came in I went out Tor an officer, and with him went to the office of the Justice, where I gave my testimony and the man was sent to jail, while I went back to the store. Now the intelligence of the dog showed itself. He had, unknown to me, followed us to the office and laid down under the Justice’s table, and instcad-of following me home he aeeompamed theman to the jail, kept his eyes on the man until the jailer had turned the key on him, when he turned and trotted home.” W. M. Stryker, Eldorado, Kan., writes to me this very admirable illustration : “At the village of Chelsea, Butler County, Kan., during this summer (1874) the Granges held a meeting on Saturday evening, at which Jack, a dog, was an attendant. Though he had never been initiated the Grangers permitted him to be present and listen to the discussions. Jack was not much interested in the topics discussed by the Patrons of Husbandry, nor stirred by the eloquence of the speakers, and went to sleep, as some of the Patrons themselves might have done. Jack slept so soundly that the meeting closed, the members retired, and poor Jack was locked in the schoolhouse. Now that same house is used for school-house, town hall, Sabbath-school room and various other purposes. But there was no religious service the next day, and poor Jack spent a lonely Sabbath, fasting. Monday Tnorning arfived and brought no prospect of release to poor Jack, although he had left the traces of vigorous efforts put forth for his own release, but all unavailing. At length he hit on an expedient that proved successful. Just over the door hangs the bell rope, with a loop in the end, by which it is hitched on a nail. Jack sprang and caught the bell rope, full six and a half feet from the floor, and rang the bell! The villagers were startled! What can that mean? There is no school; it is vacation. Presently dong went the bell again, and so he continued to ring until some one took the key and went to see what was the matter. So poor Jack was released and trotted off home, a disTance of about two miles.”

A Kansas City Romance.

The Kansas City’ Times of a recent date tells the following story: It was over forty years ago, in—the State of Indiana, that two lovers ripened into one and started out in life with one resolve. Hand in hand two forms turned to the West to seek a fortune, which seemed to stand upon the mountain tops and beckon them on. It was summer in the shades of the forests upon the slopes and spring time in the valleys, so that the journey was made while nature was tendering an ovation to the earth. For two years these two dwelt together away from kindred and early associates, fortune meanwhile laying its treasures at the door of their household. To add to their comforts and joy’s a beautiful child tripped before them and learned songs from the murmurs of the sea, which she sang beneath the thatch of the house that opulence had built in the valleys. Suddenly there came a change which caused as strange a story’ as has seldom been told. The Wife, still in the bloom of womanhood, abandoned the roof of her husband, taking the child, with her. No reason was left for her action, and the husband went on about his worldly affairs, trusting time to bring a solution of what appeared to him to be the most mysterious, occurrence * in the world. After awhile he beard that she was married anil living in the States. He kept the secret close in his heart and continued to amass a fortune, which today is estimated at SIOO,OOO. Soon he received an appointment as United States Interpreter of the Flathead Indians in Oregon Territory. But in the midst of his cares he forgot not the days when he had loved a fair thing in the East, and the pilgrimage they had made together across the Western main. Twenty-five years ago he came back with the hope that he might find the object he still cherished with the fondness of youth. Inquiry was of no avail, and he returned I to the spot where the only delightful ! period of his life had been passed. Fifj teen years were added to his life, and still the story of the old, old love came ■ back to him.' He was growing infirm, ■ and once more, he reasoned, before the ■ summons would corqe, he would make another effort to find the only bride his life and heart had ever known? He arrived in Kansas City Tuesday .morning, having heard that the object of his search was living with her seeond husband in Water Valley, Clay County, i Mo., four miles distant from this city. ■ Tuesday night he was under her roof, i Forty years of separation! The bride > had grown gray and the innocent child ’ was in the prime of Hfe, married and i living happily with her mother. < The father and husband told the story

of his life and his fortune, dnd again askecT the wife of his youth to make another journey with him ,to the land over the mountains. This she refused to do at this time. An arrangement was made, however, which will, if carried out, again bring the twain beneath one roof,, to close the last chapter of life as .they began the t-arlier one—as man and wife. He is to visit Indiana, where he will remain during the winter. On the opening of spring he is to call this way on his return, where he will be joined by the one he has loved and to whom he'has been faithful for forty weary years. This is the story as it came from the lips of. a man in whose face there was a shadow, yesterday, of the sunlight of spring;, upon whose lips there were whimpers of hope, and in whose heart there sprang up anticipations that seEfhed to make age forget his burdens. Who will not wish him another bridal I ourney over the mountains for the sun when the next spring-time shall come?

Ventilation of Bee-Hives.

There has been a great deal written and said about ventilating hives. We all know that the bees will stop every crack they can with propolis, or “ bee-glue,’'and thus secure themselves against drafts of cold air in severe weather. . In summer bees hang more or less outside the hive, and by fanning with their wings at the entrance indicate that plenty of air is acceptable. We find some commendably sensible notions on this subject credited to Mr. S. C. Balch, as read before the National Bee-Keepers’ AssociatioEFS&l recent meeting: I have my hives made as tight as the best mechanics can make them (they are double hives at that), and in the fall allow the bees to glue the top as close as they will (and they will make it nearly air-tight), and am very careful not to remove the covers too late for them to do so. I then close the entrance so as to leave not more than one inch square for the strongest colonies—others in proportion—and if they have sufficient food and enough bees they are there prepared for their winter winter comes. My winter repository is as tight as brick and mortar can make it, with two outside ventilators, each two by four inches, and one at the top four inches ‘square, which I consider “ventilation” enough for 100 colonies; and were it not for my belief that it is always besFtodefr-well-enough alone, I would give none at all. But will not hives and combs become damp and moldy with such treatment? There will be a little dampness and some jvhite mold, but is there not still more with upward ventilation? Cold air, passing through the hives and being warmed by coining in contact with the bees, would of itself create a humid atmosphere, which would condense and collect on unoccupied comb and the walls of the hive. As a result of this weHave our uncapped honey diluted, fermented pollen and moldy combs. Bee-keepers, do you not find this the case with upward ventilation? Ido not without it. Again, the cold air passing in from the bottom of the hive strikes the bees on the outside of the cluster, and like some farmer’s hogs, sleeping in a fence corner, that quarrel and squeal for the middle of the nest, they, too, are constantly trying to get inside the cluster where it is warmer, and the whole colony is kept on the move, the bees on the outside trying to get inside, and those on the inside of the cluster to stay inside. Bees have another peculiarity-instinct if you please—and that is, whenever disturbed they do one of two things—fight or eat They have nothing to fight, so they eat until gorged with honey, and finally void their foeces in the hive. This,in myopinion, accounts for the bees soiling their hives, or, as many term it. dysentery. My bees do not have it. Do yours? You lay' it to bad honey; may' it not also be bad pollen or bee-bread, and are you sure that it is not made so by the way you treat your bees? Now for summer ventilation I give them entrance according to the strength of the colony and the _ amount of work they have to do. I have nine one-inch holes or ventilators to the hive, and if the colony be strong and the weather excessively' warm I open all, ventilating in proportion to strength of colonies and warmth of atmosphere; and rarely' have bees -el ust er ou tsi de the hi ve, and still not have it so cold asTo chill, brood or prevent their making comb or molding wax.— Rural New Yorker.

A Successful Farmer.

On Tuesday we were driving by the residence of William Fleet,, of Eden township, and we spied Mr. F. sitting by the roadside on a fence, under the shade of a large maple tree, smoking his pipe. We said: “ Taking comfort, Mr. Fleet?” “ Yes,” said he, “ I am enjoying the shade of a large tree which, forty years ago, I trimmed with my jack-knife one day while! was at work splitting rails at eleven dollars per month. They were clearing up the ground, and cut down many very handsome little maples, when I selected this tree . and requested, as it stood in the fence-row beside the road, that it be left standing to remember me by. It was then not thicker than my wrist. I was then a poor boy, and worked out for a living.” Mr. Fleet then gave a sketch of his adventures in Indiana and his expelience among the Indi-’ ans, in his jqking Way~- How he entered 1,000 acres of land on the Pottawattomie Reserve, and afterward traded a half interest in it for 100 acres where his residence now stands, and how afterward he wanted to sell it and couldn’t, and then i how he shouldered his ax.add waded into : the forest and felled the timber on twenty acres. The relation of this bit of j personal history was interesting, and i more so since we know that forty-three i years after Mr. Fleet trimmed that little ‘ maple tree, while he was mauling rails ; at the small wages of eleven dollars per • month, he sits comfortably smoking his | pipe under the same free, which is now ■ more than two feet in diameter at the : trunk, and surveys over 1,100 acres of ’ well improved and fertile land, worth I SIOO per acre. He does more: he counts Ins flocks by the thousand and his herds by the hundreds, his bushels by the thousands and his wealth by the hundred thousands. All the result of hard labor, honesty and economy. All in forty years.— Tiffin (Ohio) Star.

Milkers, stop dipping your fingers in the bucket of milk and wetting the cow’s teats: of all dirty habits this is the worst. ~ , A Yew Hampshire woman when dying toade her husband swear on the Bible that he would never marry a woman with a sharp nose. The fashionable color for old agew* Sage green.

Josh Billings.

It iz the little things that wont pay to hit back that makes the most oy us angry. I had rather be abused by a giant than a muskeeter. I don’t suppose thare haz ever bin a human being bilt yet, never mind how’ ugly the pattern waz, but what haz spent more time in front ov a looking-glass than he ever did in front ov the Bible. I don’t think thare iz any wisdum in silence, but thare iz a good deal ov silence in wisdum. We may perhaps all ov us reckolect when we could haw Sed sumthing that would have been an advantage to us, but we certainly never shall forget that we hav often spoken when it would hav bin mutch better to hav held our tungs. Sticking yure noze into things is generally the result ov mere kuripsity, and mere kuriosity never learnt a nlan enny' thing yet that wuz very valuable to him. After a man haz found out how hot a cook stove iz bi setting down on it, and that a snapping turtle haz a good deal ov jaw bi holding hiz finger too near hiz mouth, and a fumore such philosophical experiments az theze hav been gone thru, it iz time to quit being kurious, and studdy things more for the truth than the novelty (hat iz in them. Vanity iz the weakest, and at the same time the most plentiful, mixtur in humanity'. «■ —— -7If I should cum akrost a man without enny’ vanity, I should watch that man dredphull eluss to diskiwer whare hiz weakness did lie. The world iz full ov precepts, menny ov which will do to follow, but xamples worthy- ov imitashun are az skarse az six-toed chickens. Thare iz grate danger in suspecting all things, no doubt, but I don’t kno ov ennything that haz been - the kause ovmore mortifikashun and sorrow than in blindly’ beleaving all things. Good nonsense iz one ov the rarest artikles in the literary bazar, and allwaya. commands admirashun and fetches s good price. Thare probably iz nothing that a man dreads more than to be kalled a koward, and I don’t serpoze thare iz enny thing he iz more guilty ov. Thare aint a man living on the face ov the earth but what iz a koward in sum way’. I never hav bin able to find out which thare iz the most ov laying around loose, lieing-or kowardice; but it iz hard work td#»eparate theze things, for all kowards are liars and all liars are kowards. — N. Y. Weekly.

A Very Notable Performance.

It is instanced as perhaps the most striking of the many proofs of the enormous brain-power and capacity of the Great Napoleon that he could dictate upon different,, subjects to several secretaries at the same time, or as fast as each could write, and continue such dictation for an indefinite time. The matter is stated as a fact in several of the lives of Napoleon, and I have never seen it questioned in print; indeed, I believe thaLsomething very similar is narrated of one or two other celebrated characters. The faculty is truly a marvelous one; and the ability to carry on two or more manual operations at once, which are not merely automatic or mechanical, is only less wonderful. But what an astonishing exhibition would it be to see the same person perform simultaneously two mental and two manual operations! The nearest approach to this that occurs to me is the case of the itinerant musician who many of us have seen perform upon two or more instruments together, but it is always the same tune that is played upon both. If a single instance can be given of a performance by the same person at the same time of two entirely different tunes upon two different instruments, steadily' and without lapse or break, I will readily admit that the exhibition would be quite as wonderful as was that which I am about to relate. From the same gentleman who related to me the anecdote of GouverneurTMorris which was published in Hearth and Home, I have the following relating to the same eminent personage. My informant w'as present upon the occasion to which I am about to refer, is still living, and is perfectly’ reliable; so I may claim that the story is sufficiently authenticated: During one of his visits to his vast possessions in the Northern counties of New York several persons were with Mr. Morris in his office one day, when the conversation happened to turn upon the remarkable power of Napoleon to which I have alluded. Some one remarked that the ability to dictate to two or more amanuenses at the same time was an extraordinary one. “Not so much so,” said Morris, “as the ability to write on two different subjects at the same time with a pen in each hand.” « “That is true,” was the rejoinder, “ but I nevtr heard of any one who could do that.” - “1 think I can,” remarked- Morris. “ Let me try.” Turning to his desk he arranged two blank pieces of paper before him and took a pen in each hand. , “ I was about to fill out a description in a deed,” he said, “ and I must also write a letter to the grantee to accompany the deed. Now let-us.see if I can do it all at once.” Audio the amazement and admiration of all present, each of whom we may be sure scrutinized the performance with critical watchfulness, he did it as cleverly and rapidly as though he had been writing either separately, and the task was performed with excellent penmanship, without blots or erasures, and without the least mistake or confusion in expression. Now, more than sixty years after that day, I commit the record of it to print, well knowing that it deserves a place among the minor chronicles of the great. —Janies Franklin Fitts, in Hearth and Home.

The Back and Loins of a Horse.

When a hof'se’s back is short the Joins will be found to be broad and strong — what* is Called good; a circumstance arising from the circularity of the chest and the breadth of the hips—these four formations, viz., shortness of back, circularity of chest, breadth of hips and strength of loins, generally being found in combination. It is a great. matter that a horse should have good loins, and when these are associated with a long back and the requisite length and substance ofshind-quarters we may take it for granted that the animal possesses both speed and endurance. Look at the hares %nd rabbits, greyhounds, deer, and such like animals and note what thickness of loins and length and muscularity of hind limbs they alb exhibit, while their fOYe parts amount to hardly anything in comparative substance. It is impossible that a horse with thin, nar-

row loins chn last; the moment his feet sink in the dirt that moment he will fail. It is the good loin that can—and the only point that can—compensate for hollowness of back. When the loins are good, not length, not even hollowness of back, are to be accounted objectionable points. It is nonsense to pretend to prescribe that the back should be long or short, of this length or that; although we may, in a general way, fall in with the common description of what a back ought to be, and say “ that, to be a good one, it should sink a little below (behind) the withers ’and then run straight.” The back will be too large or too short, or (though, to the observer, of unusual longitude or shortness, still) of the proper length, depending upon the formation and dimensions of other parts with which, in strueture and action, it is associated. A long back would ill accord with short legs, defeated in their operation; a short back would not require long legs, they ■would do too much for it. We have, therefore, long-backed horses and shortbacked horses, and yet with backs of proper length; because the longitude, whatever it may be, is that which is the suitable length for the machine of which it forms a part. A very common, but not less, on that account, reprehensible custom among “Judges of horses,” is to find fault with a point, without any reference whatever to the generaL or particular conformation with which that point is consorted. Abstractedly considered, it may be out of proportion; but considered correlativcly, with ont-of-pro-portioned other parts in the same frame, it may be in the best proportion, or of such proportion as serves to compensate for faulty dimensions in other parts. A part most faultlessly fashioned and proportioned may —placed among certain other ill-formed or out-of-proportioned parts —appear itself to be the faulty piece in the fabric. In an animal body, as an machines made by man’s hands, the great object to be sought for is harmony between the constituent members; at the instant we are not hastily to condemn any apparent disproportion, lest, on critical examination, it should turn out to have been given for the purpose of compensation—to . make amends for some defective structure elsewhere, which may not at first sight have struck our attention. — Prairie Farmer.

How Bees Bury Their Enemies.

These capable little people have a sort of hospitable vengeance for visitors that come without being invited and stay without being w’anted. They provide them with beds that they never get out of. Mrs. Elizabeth Oakes Smith says, speaking of her own bees: “ At one time we found in the bottom of the hive several oblong pellets lying in a row, resembling little bodies in a winding-sheet, which proved to consist of bugs of noxious odor that the community were unable or unwilling to eject, and had, by a grand, simultaneous effort, incased in a shroud of wax. “A friend of mine informed me that his bees (he having glass hives) were panic-stricken at one time by the advent of a mouse in the hive. The little folks mustered in great force and stung him to death. After having achieved this much, their next difficulty was to get the monster out. A great meeting was called; a committee of inspection appointed, and it was determined to seal him up. Hermetically sealed, no offensive decomposition could takeplace; accordingly, with right good-will, the workers bent to the task, and in an incredibly brief period hid the offensive relic from sight, but in the bottom of the hive appeared what looked like a mountain of wax.”

Temporary Dam for Ice Ponds.

A correspondent wishes to make a temporary pond from which he may cut ice in the winter, and afterward draw off the water, leaving the stream and its banks in their usual condition. This may be done by erecting a temporary dam in the following manner: Select a part of the stream where the largest space may be flooded with the shortest dam. A place where the banks slope rapidly and above which they recede from the stream should be chosen. In a direct line across this place set some strong fence posts not more than eight feet apart; They should set at least four feet deep, and bedded with lime mortar and stone or cement concrete to make them perfectly solid. If the dam is not more than four feet high these precautions are not necessary, but if of a greater height they will be needed to resist the pressure of the water and that of the ice when its surface is acted upon by the wind. The posts should be strongly braced—the braces being set in the same manner as the posts. These posts may remain always in their position ready for use, and will occupy very little room or occasion very little inconvenience at any time. If they can be set up in a fence row so much the better. All that is needed then is to provide sotiie hemlock planks of equal width and sixteen feet long, jointed and tongued and grooved upon their edges. These are fastened to the posts by carriage bolts, the nuts of which are exposed on the outer side of the dam. The middle panel of the dam is made of planks eight feet long, so that when it is desired the bolts may be taken out and the planks removed one by one, and, the pond drained off. gradually. The other planks are made to break joints, the cndsbeing bolted to alternate posts, which will help to strengthen the dam. The lower planks must be made to fit the surface of the ground, and should be sunk three or four inches in it, and the ground well rammed around them. If any leaks occur as the w ater is raised, w hich should be done gradually by putting in one plank of the center panel at a time, they should be stopped bv throwing in sawdust, tan-bark or

leaves, or swamp muck. When the whole i? up, the upper plank of the middle panel should-be hollowed out sufficiently to allow’ the waste water to escape. * If there is any danger of the falling water washing the soil away, a sloping apron of boards should be made to receive it. A pond with a surface of half an acre frozen six inches thick will furnish 300 tons of ice. Where the ground is favorable, a pond of this size may easily be made at an expense of twenty-five dollars, and the fixtures will not need renewing for twenty years. The main point is to be sure that the posts and braces are properly set, and that the planks fit tightly; then there will be no danger of the dam breaking or the water leaking away. If the w ater flows back - into other fields there is no need to remove the fences, even if they are of rails, if they are Well staked and such riders as are likely to be covered with water are wired down to the top rails. — American Agriculturist.