Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 January 1875 — Page 1

HORACE E. JAMES. A JOSHUA HEALEY, Proprietors.

VOL. VII.

THE HOME HEART. The babe that nestled in my arms coos for me but in dreams, The prattler crowned with golden curls lives but in memory’s gleams ; What marvel then that loving fear blends with the pride and joy That watches on his manhood’s verge the bold and bonny boy? The happy smile of infancy still wreaths his rosy lips The fearless light of childhood’s eyes knows nothing of eclipse; But firmer tread and stronger clasp attest the rolling years, While growing, daring thought and will awake the woman fears. My son, a wiser hand than mine will shape thy onward way, ' . 4 > A greater power soothe thy night and guide thee through the day, So, in a patient impotence, I strive to stand apart, Only praying, for thy father’s sake, oh, keep the frank home heart I Keep the pure, unstinted charity, the trust in all things fair, .... The hope that mid each earthly cloud still feels the sunshine there, The faith in goodness, love and truth that, spite of fault and fall, Looks on the bright world God has made and owns Hlb touch on all. So shall the light foot spring unharmed along the perilous path, So shall the brave hand clasp and keep the one immortal wreath. By the yearning of the lonely life, whose chiefest joy thou art, Oh, darling of our severed lives, keep still the fresh home heart. —Tinsley's Magazine.

SIRIUS, THE DOG-STAR.

“ One star differeth from another star in glory, ’’ and among tho six thousand stars visible to the unassisted eye in the celestial sphere, or the twenty million revealed there by telescopic research, the greatest glory surrounds the peerless orb known under the name of Sirius. It belongs to a little constellation, Canis Major, a cluster of thirty-one stars, possessing otherwise no noticeable feature, situated south and east of Orion, and universally known from the unrivaled luster of its leading brilliant. Sirius is a superb object in the winter sky, coming to the meridian on the 11th of February, and surpassing in size and lustrous light its nearest rivals, Betelguex and Procyon, with which it forms an equilat eral triangle, whose angular points of starry glory sparkle like diamonds of the first water. —— -. For the origin of the name of this glittering brilliant we must go Jiack to the early history of astronomy, among the people who dwelt m Egypt around the river Nile. The rise ana overflow of the famous river was to the ancient inhabitants at first a source of annoyance and distress, on account of the inundation of the land adjacent to its shores. The occurrence was considered as accidental until long observation had shown that it was an annual event, and then its cause was a source of still greater anxiety. The heavens above and the earth below were carefully studied for a solution of the mystery.’ At length patient study was rewarded; the problem was solved. A few days before the rivar began to rise a bright star rose above the morning horizon, just before the sun’s appearance. Every year the mysterious star appeared at the same season and in the same position, of at least so near it that the slight deviation was not recognized by the unpraCticed astronomers of the time. Every year its appearance was followed by the rising of the waters. Therefore those who dwelt near the river left their dwellings and sought temporary homes in more elevated localities, while they watched the overflow with mingled feelings of superstitious fear and bright hopes of agricultural prosperity. Thus the star was like a watch-dog, giving warning of the approach ot the enemy, and for this reason it received the name of Haaut, or Tayaut, signifying dog in their language. As the star was closely associated with the sacred river, it was honored with a second name, Sihor, one of the names of the Nile; or, according to other authority, Siris, the Egyptian word for the rising of the river. This is the derivation for our name for tl;e star, Sirius. To the Egyptians this star was the most important one in the heavens, for it marked the commencement of their agricultural year. The slightest varia tion in its color was carefully observed, and from its greater or lesser brilliancy, indicating in reality the condition of the atmosphere, they eagerly gathered omens of fruitful harvest or desolating famine. They paid to it divine honors on account of its influence in producing fertilizing inundations, and superstitiously believed that the conjunction of sun and star caused the excessive heat of the season. On account of the prevalence of malignant disease at this time they associated with it a malarious influence. This belief prevailed universally in ancient times, and the superstition still survives in the modern dog-days. The star had a peculiar god, called Typhpn, to whom a cruel sacrifice was red-haired victims, usually foreigners, who were annually seized for this purpose. The Greeks adopted the superstition and the Romans followed their lead, sacrificing yearly a brown dog to Sirius to render it propitious to their flocks and herds. The evil agency continued for forty days, twenty days before the heliacal rising of the star and twenty days after the event. These were the “Dies caniculares” of classic times* At that remote period they commenced on the 4th of August and lasted till the 14th of September. But the rising of Sirius varies with the latitude of the place, and in the same latitude is perceptibly changed after a course of years by the precession of the equinoxes. At the present time Sirius rises with the sun about the 12th-of August, and the classical Ag-days extend from the 24th of July to the Ist of September. As modern dog-days extend from the 3d of July to the 11th of August it will readily , that they have no reference to / the rising of Sirius. It was naturally supposed that Sirius, from its superior size, was nearer to us than any of its companions, but modem observation has established |he fact that

THE RENSSELAER UNION

this is not the case. The stars that we call fixed are, in reality, moving onward through space in obedience to laws that are not yet fully comprehended. The movement, though apparently imperceptible, is, in reality, rapid beyond conception. The Milky-Way, to which our sun belongs, is revolving in a vast orbit around some undiscovered center, and the motion of our sun may be the cause of a portion of the measurable motion of a few of the stellar suns. Now, the stars having the greatest proper motion must be nearest to us, jus# as a man seems to walk faster at a little distance from us than when he is much farther off. In the great majority of stars not the slightest trace of movement can be delected by the most careful observation. As the earth sweeps on in her orbit round the sun she is, at opposite points of it, 188,000,000 miles nearer to some of the surrounding stars, and yet this enormous distance does not change the position of most of the stars a fraction of a hair’s breadth; therefore, the vast orbit of the earth is a mere point as seen from these distant orbs. But nine or ten stars have been found to give evidence of movement —proper motion, as it is called —and thus afford data on which their distances can be calculated. Alpha Centauris, a southern, first-magnitude star, has the most rapid motion, and is considered the nearest to us. But its motion is not quite one sec ond of a degree, and it is separated from us by the enormous distance of 224,000 times the earth’s distance from the sun, this being the unit for starry measurements. Therefore, for 20,000,000,000,000 miles a traveler beyond the boundaries of the “solar system, passing through space with the amazing velocity of light, 184,000 miles a second, would be three years and six months in reaching the nearest of the stars. Finite power utterly fails to comprehend the dimensions of a universe fashioned on so vast a scale! Sirius has also a proper motion, five times as slow as Alpha Centauris. It is 1,375,000 times the earth’s distance from the sun, which is 91,430,000 miles. It takes light twenty-two years to traverse this distance; so that if this star were to-day to be blotted from the sky it would continue to shine there with undiminished luster for twenty-two years. Not only has the distance of Sirius been determined but its size compared with our sun has been approximately puting the dimensions of a star is to measure its light. There are twenty stars of the first magnitude and nineteen are much farther from us than Alpha Centauris, although many of them are nearly as brilliant. Therefore we reason that they must exceed that star in size and mass. Now, Sirius must far surpass this sparkling gem of the southern sky, for it is four times as bright and five times as far away. Since it is five times as far away it should shine with one-twenty-fifth of the light, and, being apparently four times as bright, it is in reality 100 times as bright. As Alpha is three times as bright as the sun would be, removed to the same distance, Sirius must be 300 times as bright as the sun. If we assume that the intrinsic brightness of the star is the same as the intrinsic brightness of the sun, we shall have an immense sun fourteen times the diameter of our sun, with a volume exceeding his more than 2,000 times. This gives Sirius a diameter of more than 12,000,000 miles. Let us imagine a blazing sun stretching from the earth’s center, filling the intervening space between us and the moon, and extending more than 5,500,000 miles beyond, and we have some faint dawning of a conception of the incomprehensible dimensions of this immense globe of fire, the greatest aggregation of solar matter measurable thus far by terrestrial instruments! Great changes have taken place m the color of Sirius since it was first observed. In the early ages of astronomy it was of a fiery red, after which it gradually faded to a pure white, and it has now taken on a bluish or greenish tint. It holds a leading position in the class of white stars, which includes the highest conditions of development in the astral universe. Curious and unaccountable vagaries have always marked the movements of this star. It was found that it did not move in the heavens in a straight line and with the uniform velocity of the fixed stars, but varied its motion in such a way as to indicate powerful disturbing Influences in its vicinity. Here was a knotty problem that astronomers did not fail to attack, but no solution was reached until about half a century since. Bessel, a German observer, was convinced that the disturbance was caused by the attraction of an invisible satellite revolving around the shining orb. Other observers calculated the orbit of the attracting body, independently reaching the same result, and they even went so far as to indicate its position at certain times. At last no doubt remained as to the existence of the disturber, but it continued to elude the search of the best telescopes. In 1862 a telescope, with an object-glass of eighteen and a half inches in diameter, was completed by the famous opticians, Messrs? Alvan Clark & Sons. The new instrument was pointed to Sirius as a test of its power, and the long-looked-for companion came immediately into view, at the distance of ten seconds from the primary. The glad tidings went quickly round our little globe, and all the great telescopes were pointed to the bright star. When the exact position was known, the companion was easily detected by skillful observers. It took nearly four years to settle the question whether the observed satellite was really the disturbing body. It was. found that fits observed position and motion corresponded so nearly witlTthose predicted from theory that no doubt of the identity between the theoretical and visible satellite remained. Another modern discovery concerning Sirius relates to what is technically called star-drift. Certain stars appear to be drifting from us, others to be drifting toward us. On account of the brightness of Sirius Dr. Huggins selected it for a beautiful and delicate experiment to determine whether sUrs

RENSSELAER, JASPER COUNTY, INDIANA, JANUARY 7, 1875.

have a proper motion in the direction of the line of sight from the earth. Astronomers can determine if a star moves up or down, to the right or a certain mean’ position, but they cannot determine if the star moves backward or forward. But Dr. Huggins solved the problem from a spectroscopic application of the laws of light. Light moves in waves. If the wave-length of a particular ray from a star varies in length from the normal wave-length of that ray, then the star is approaching or receding, according as the deviation varies. The spectroscopist has a delicate way of elucidating this law. The rainbow-tinted spectrum of this star is crossed by known dark lines. If one of these lines is changed toward the red end of the spectrum, the observer knows that the star is swiftly receding; if it changes toward the violet end, it is swiftly approaching. After a series of the most careful measurements, it was found that Sinus is receding at the rate of twenty-nine and a half miles a second. We cannot yet tell whether the earth is moving from the star or the star from the earth. Even with this incredible speed, the passage of a million years will make no perceptible difference in the appearance of the king star of our universe, and the lifetime of the present inhabitants of the globe is a period too insignificant to be thought of when dealing with this far-distant star! The question naturally arises: How can it be proved that the star is in reality a sun, made up of constituents like those of our sun, and giving forth heat and light under sjmilar conditions? The revelations of the spectroscope have satisfactorily settled this important-mat ter.Sirius gives a spectrum of great beauty, although its low altitude renders the observation of the finer lines very diflicult. Its spectrum is composed of rays of the seven colors, crossed by four dark and broad lines, ano by numerous fine ones. As its spectrum presents the same general appearance as the solar spectrum, it is proved that the star is incandescent, and that its light comes to us through certain vapors like those forming the sun’s photosphere. The four broad and dark lines indicate the presence of hydrogen, and some of the faint ones are due to sodium, magnesium and iron. Therefore Sirius is a real sun, constituted in the way, and containing elements identical with our sun. Thus we see that this resplendent star was an object of wonder and delight, as well as of superstitious fear, in the earliest ages of astronomical observation, and that the patient research and unwearied perseverance of modern observers have met with a brilliant reward in the marvelous discoveries that have followed their efforts. It exceeds a million times the distance of the sun from the earth, and is a gigantic globe, with a diameter of 12,000,000 miles and a volume more than 2,000 times greater than that of the sun. It gives out heat and light in a proportion to which that given out by our lesser luminary dwindles into nothingness. It is made up of constituents existing in all the bodies of the solar system, and it rules over at least one huge planet of proportions corresponding to its great principal. Tts color, changing from fiery red to blue-tinted white, gives evidence of vast commotion around its huge circumference. It is so far away that light, with its amazing velocity, takes twenty-two years to reach us from its far-distant confines; and yet so near that, while running away from us at the rate of twenty-nine and a half miles a second, we can see its light, feel its heat, measure its circumference, weigh its mass, define its substance and watch the movement of its dark satellite. And yet this glorious leader of the starry host is but one of twenty million visible to telescopic sight, many among the distant glimmerers doubtless its equal, or far exceeding its inconceivable mass. It is not given to finite power to comprehend the dimensions of a universe created on so grand a scale. But mortal imagination may seek to picture the glory of such a sun, the highest type of starry development, and fancy the planetary orbs revolving around the beaming center, manifesting the various and complicated conditions of physical existence .It may also picture some of them at least as fitted for the abode of intelligent beings of an order adapted to a position so exalted in the economy of the universe. We have occasionally, on this planet, glimpses of vastly higher orders of intelligence in the existence of a few individuals gifted far above their peers, whose fame will be borne from generation to generation as long as the world endures. Why should not the inhabitants of the worlds revolving around Sirius be as far above these exceptional-specimens of the human race as a Shakespeare, a Milton, or a Sir Isaac Newton is above the most untutored barbarian?—.®. M. Converse, in Appleton's Journal.

Fifty Years After.

Among the many stories told of the late Arthur McArthur, of Limington, Me., is the following: A few years after his graduation he received a communication, in the usual form, from the President of Bowdoin College, informing him that the Faculty had conferred upon him the degree of A. M., and’that the parchment evidence thereof would be forwarded to him upon. the payment of the customary fee of $lO. Mr. McArthur made no response to the letter at the time, but nearly, if not quite, half a century afterward took it down from the pigeon-hole, where he had carefully deposited it, and addressed a polite note to the President of the college in his official capacity, acknowledging the receipt of his letter of fifty years before in the same terms he would have done had it been a matter of the week previous, thanking the Faculty for iheir honorable remembrance of him, and inclosing the $lO, with a request that his own example of promptness in attending his correspondence might be copied, and the parchment forwarded to his address without delay.— Boston Globe. i, *** —A favorite sewing circle beverage— Extract of gossipium

“As Blind as a Bat.”

“ A good many years ago,” when we lived in an old-fashioned country farmhouse and used tallow candles ana whaleoil lamps, we remember certain intruders upon our peace that always came after dark. During the warm summer evenings, when the windows and doors were open and the rooms were very dimly lighted by one feeble and sputtering candle, these crazy-headed interlopers would suddenly make their appearance. They would fly from corner to corner and from floor to ceiling with 'the greatest rapidity. They fluttered and quivered and darted about in such an Unsystematic and unpremeditated kind of a way that w‘6 never Could place any dependence upon them. Indeed they seemed to be perfectly aimless, though us children stood in considerable fear lest they should unexpectedly aim at our faces and bite us with their terrible teeth _____ , We recollect the time when one was at last taken prisoner in broad daylight, and what a satisfaction we experienced when we were enabled to look at and even to touch the curious and homely little animal. It had previously been a mystery, and even after examination it was somewhat past comprehension. “As blind as a bat,” says many a boy or girl who, perhaps, has never seen the shadow of one or stopped to inquire whether bats are by nature without eyes or having eyes are unable to see through them. Yet bats not only have eyes which they use at certain times, but they possess a peculiar instinct or capability by which they can control their movements'utmost equally as well after their organs of vision have been destroyed. Certainly they have been created in such a wonderful manner that they are worthy of consideration and even admiration in spite of their seeming deformity and ugliness. The ancients were somewhat puzzled over these strange creatures aim were undecided as to whether they should be called birds or quadrupeds. Aristotle calls them “birds with shiny wings.” Pliny says they are “birds which suckle their young.” Another writer thinks they are “ most marvelous beings because they can walk without paws, fly without wings, see when there is no light, and become sightless when Our own first impressions were that they were winged mice. They are similar to birds only iu one respect: They can fly, and they live in the air, mostly, instead of on the ground. They appear very awkward when they attempt to walk, proceeding with an irregular hobble and jump, their limbs not being formed for walking. Their forearms are very much elongated, the finger-bones are still more lengthened, and over these is extended a soft, delicate, leathery membrane which answers the purpose of wings. These curious wings are provided with a short thumb which has a crooked nail and with this hook they climb the sides of caverns or suspend themselves when they wish to rest. Their hind feet are small and weak, each divided into five toes, also armed with nails. Their most usual method of alighting is by attaching the hooks of their posterior extremities to the projections of caves or old buildings, where they hang, with their heads down and their wings folded. The mouths ot these strange animals are very large and provided with three kinds of teeth—sufficient, probably, to place them among “ beasts of prey.” Their eyes are very small and possess the faculty of seeing only in the night. The presence of light blinds them quite effectually. Their ears are as large in proportion as their eyes are small, and in some species their nostrils are developed to such an extentas to render their physiognomy perfectly hideous. But let no one look with contempt upon these disagreeable little animals. They have their own work to perform. Their food consists of various kinds of insects which go abroad in swarms during the hours of darkness; and the unsightly bat may have been created as much for our well-being as many other creatures far more beautiful and attractive. They are surely marvelous in one respect. It has been ascertained that after their eyes have been put out they will continue to go in search of food as usual, avoid all obstacles put in their wav. and even pass between threads suspended in the air without touching them ! with their wings. Their wings are supposed to be so peculiarly sensitive as to perceive the reaction of the air against the surface of any near object. When cold weather approaches bats retire in great numbers to some dark place of security, where they remain in a torpid state till the return of the warm season. A boy once captured a young bat, and, after keeping it at home several hours, he started in the evening to carry it to the museum. Passing near the place where it was caught the mother-bat made its appearance, followed the boy several squares, and finally alighted on his shoulder and entered captivity also rather than forsake her offspring. This shows that bats are capable of affection for their young like other quadrupeds. The idea that these inferior little creatures choose the night for their appearance from desire of concealment is altogether too poetical for belief. They, like all other beings, only live in conformity to the laws of their organization.

A Peculiar Case.

One of the most extraordinary medical cases on record is that of Jerry Lunt, a young man from Fullerton, Whitesides County, now under treatment at the Mercy Hospital. Lunt, who is now twenty-two years of age, says that even in boyhood' he experienced difficulty in swallowing, which gradually increased until a few weeks since; when it became impossible for him to swallow even water or any other Hquid, and it was found also impossible to administer, food through a stomach tube, or to even insert a probe Since then he has subsisted wholly on injections of fluid nutriment. Since his removal to the Mercy Hospital, some days

since, the injections have consisted of grated oysters, milk, egg nogg and pan creatic emulsion of cod liver oil. Thus far, though his system' is somewhat emaciated, it appears to absorb sufficient nutriment to sustain life, though as yet the treatment is. regarded as experimental, and he suffers comparatively little from hunger or tfiirst. The case is one of the class known as stricture of the gullet or esophagus, at the extremity of the canal leading from the mouth to the stomach; but the cases in which the stricture was such as to absolutely prevent swallowing have been extremely rare, and the result of Lunt’s care is awaited with considerable interest by the medical fraternity. What caused the stricture in this case appears enveloped in mystery. Ths theory is that, by some acrid substance swallowed, the lining of the esophagus was eaten away and a cicatrix, or scar,was formed, which since that time has gradually contracted until the passage into the stomach is entirely closed. Whether he can live in this condition, and whether by a surgical operation it will be possible to relieve him, the medical attendants at the hospital are not now prepared 'to state.— Chicago Inter-Ocean, Dec. 20.

Sociable Jimmy.

[I sent the following home in a private letter, some time ago, from a certain little village. It was in the days when I was a public lecturer. I did it because I wished to preserve the memory of the most artless, sociable, and exhaustless talker I ever came across. He did not tell me a single remarkable thing, or one that was worth remembering; and yet he was himself so interested in his small marvels, and they flowed so naturally and comfortably from his lips, that his talk got the upper-hand of my interest, too, and I listened as one who receives a revelation. I took down what he had to say, just as he said it—without altering a word or adding one:] I had my supper in my room this evening (as usual), and they sent up a bright, simple, guileless little darky boy to wait on me—ten years old—a wide-eyed, observant little chap. I said: “ What is your name, my boy?” “Dey calls me Jimmy, sah, but my right name is James, sah.” _ I said, “ Sit down there, Jimmy—l’ll not wafirybtulttßt yet?*" •"- - He sat down in a big arm-chair, hung both his legs over one of the arms and looked comfortable and conversational. I said: “ Did you have a pleasant Christmas, Jimmy?" “ No, sah, not zackly. I was kind o’ sick den. But de res’ o v de people det had a good time. Mos’ all all of ’em had a good time. Dey all got drunk Dey all gits drunk heah every Christmas, and carries on and has awful good times.” “ So you were sick, and lost it all. But unless you were very sick I should think that if you had asked the doctor he might have let you get—-get—a little drunk —and ” “ Oh, no, sah—l don’ never get drunk —it’s de white folks —dem’s de ones I means. Pa used to git drunk, but dat was befo’ I was big—but he’s done quit. He don’ git drunk no mo’ now. Jis’ takes one nip in de mawnin’, now, cuz his stomach riles up, he sleeps so soun’. Jis’ one nip—over to de s’loon—every mawnib’. He’s powerful sickly—powerful—sometimes he can’t hardly sit aroun’, he can’t. He goes to de doctor every week —over to Ragtown. An’ one time he tuck some stuff, you know, an’ it mighty near fetched him. Ain’t it dish-yer bluevittles dat’s pison?—ain’t dat it?—truck what you pisons cats wid?” “Yes, blue vittles(vitriol) is a very convincing article.with a cat.” “ Well, den, dat was it. De ole man, he tuck de bottle and shuck it, and shuck it—he seed it was blue, and he didn’t know but it was blue mass, which he tuck mos’ always —blue mass pills—but den he ’spected maybe dish-yer truck might be some other kin’ o’ blue stuff, and so he sot the bottle down, and drat if it wa’n’t blue vittles sho’ nuff, when de doctor come. An’ de doctor he say, if he’d a tuck that blue vittles it would a highsted him, sho! People can’t be too particular ’bout sich things. Yes, indeedy! “ We ain’t got no cats heah ’bout dis hotel. Bill, he don’t like ’em. He can’t stan’ a cat no way. Es he was to ketch one he’d slam it outen de winder in a minute. Yes, he would. Bill’s down on cats. So is de gals—waiter gals. When dey ketches a cat bummin’ aroun’ heah dey jis’ scoops him, deed dey do. Dey snake him into de cistern—dey’s been cats drownded in dat water dat’s in yo’ pitcher. I seed a cat in dare yistiddy—all swelled up like a pudd’n. I bet you dem gals done dat. Ma says if dey was to drownd a cat for her ae fust one of ’em she ketched she’d jam her into de cistern’long wid de cat. Ma wouldn’t do dat, I don’t reckon, but, ’deed an’ double, she said she would. I can’t kill a chicken—well, 1 kin wring its neck off cuz- dat don’t make ’em no sufferin’ scasely; but I can’t take and chop dey heads off like some people kin. It makes me feel so-so—well, I kin see dat : chicken nights so’s I can’t sleep. Mr. Dunlap, he’s de richest man in dis town. Some people says dey’s fo’ thousan’ people in dis town—dis city. But Bill, he

says dey ain’t but ’bout thirty-three hund’d. And Bill he knows, cuz he’s livfed heah all his life, do’ dey do say he won’t never set de river on fire. I don’t know how dey fin’ out —I wouldn’t like to count all dem people. Some folks say dis town would be considerable bigger if it wasn’t on accounts of so much lan’ all roun’ it dat ain’t got no houses on it.” (This in perfect seriousness—dense simplicity—no idea of a joke.)- “ I reckon you seed dat church as you come along up street. Dat’s an aw-ful big church—awful high steeple. An’ it’s all solid stone, excep’ jes de top part—de steeple, I mean—dat’s wood. It falls off when de win’ blows pooty hard, an’ one time it struck on a cow’s back an’ busted de cow all to de mischief. It’s gwine to kill someoody yit, dat steeple is. A man—big man, he was—bigger’n Bill is—he tuck it up dare an’ fixed it again—an’ he didn’t

SUBSCRIPTION; S’J.OO a Tear, in Advance.

look no bigger’n a boy, he was so high up. Dat steeple’s awful high. If you look out de winder you kin see it.” (I looked out, and was speechless with awe and admiration—which gratified Jimmy beyond expression The wonderful steeple was some sixty or seventy feet high, and had a clock-face on it.) “You see dat arrer on top o’ dat steeple? Well, sah, dat arrer is pooty nigh as big as dis do’ [door]. I seed it when dey pulled it outen de cow. It mus’ be awful to stan’ in dat steeple when de clock is strikin’— dey say it is. Booms and jars so’s you think the world’s a comm’ to an end. I wouldn’t like to be up dere when de clock’s a strikin’. Dat clock ain’t jest a striker, like dese common clocks. It’s a bell—jist a regular bell—and it’s a buster. You kin hear dat bell all over dis city. You ought to hear it boom, boom, boom, when dey’s a fire. My sakes! Dey ain’t got no bell like dat m Ragtown. I ben to Ragtown, an’ I ben mos’ half way to Dockery (thirty miles). De bell in Ragtown’s got so ole now she don’t make no soun’, scasely.” Enter the landlord—a kindly man, verging toward fifty. My small friend, without changing position, says: “ Bill, didn’t you say dat dey was only thirty-three hund’c people in dis city?” “Yes, about thirty-three hundred is the population now.” “Well, some folks say dey’s fo’ thousand.” “Yes, I know they do; but it isn’t correct.” “ Bill, I don’t think dis gen’lman kin eat a whole prairie chicken, but dey tole me to fetch it all up.” “ Yes, that’s all right—he ordered it.” [Exit “ Bill,’’ leaving me comfortable; for I had been perishing to know who * Bill” was.] “Bill, he’s de oldest. And he’s de bes’, too. Dey’s fo’teen in dis fam’ly — all boys an’ gals. Bill he suppo’ts ’em all—an’ he don’ never complain—he’s real good, Bill is. All dem brothers an’ sisters o’ his’n ain’t no ’count—all ’cept] in’ dat little teeny one dat fetched in dat milk. Dat’s Kit, sah. She ain’t only nine year ole. But she’s de mos ladylike one in de whole bilin’. You don’t never see Kit a-rairin’ an’ a chargin’ aroun’ and kickin’ up her heels like de res’ o’ de gals in dis fam’ly do gen’ally. Dat was Nan dat you hearn a-cuttin’ dem shines on de pi-anah awhile ago. An* sometimes es she don’t rastle dat pi-anah when she gits started! Tab can’t hold a candle to her, but Tab kin sing like the very nation. She’s de only one in dis family dat kin* sing. You don’t never hear a yelp outen Nan. Nan can’t sing for shucks. I’d jes’ lieves hear a tomcat dat got scalded. Dey’s fo’teen in dis fam’ly ’sides de bld man an ole ’ooman—all brothers an’ sisters. But some cf ’em don’t live heah—do’ Bill he suppo’ts em - lends ’em money, an* pays dey debts an’ he’ps ’em along I tell you Bill he’s real good. Dey all gits drunk —all ’cep BUI. De ole man he gits drunk, too, same as de res’ uv ’em. Bob, he don’t git drunk much—jes’ sloshes roun’ de s’loons some an’ takes a dram sometimes. Bob he’s next to Bill—’bout forty year old. Dey’s all married, and de fam’ly’s married—’cep some of de gals. It’s de biggest family in dese parts, dey say. Dare’s Bill—Bill Nubbles—Nubbles is de name; Bill, an’ Griz, an’ Duke, an’ Bob, an’ Nan, an’Tab, an’ Kit, an’ Sol, an’ Si, an’ Phil, an’ Puss, an’ Jake, an’ Sal—Sal she’s married an’ got chil’en as big as I is—an’ Hoss Nubbles, he’s de las’. Hoss is what dey mos’ always call him, but he’s got another name dat I somehow disremember, it’s so kind o’ hard to git the hang of it.” [Then, observing that I had been taking down this extraordinary list of nicknames for adults,-he said:] “But in de mawnin’ I can ask Bill what’s Hoss’ other name, an’ den I’ll come an’ tell you when I fetches yo’ breakfast. An’ may be I done got some o’ dem names mixed up, but Bill, he kin tell me. Dey’s fo’teen." By this time he was starting off with the waiter (and a pecuniary consideration for his sociability), and as he went out he paused a moment ana said: “Dad-fetch it, somehow dat other name don’t come. But, anyways, you jes’.read dem names over an’ see if dey’s fo’teen.” [I read the list from the flyleaf of Longfellow’s “ New England Tragedies.”] “ Dat’s right, sah. Dey’s all down; I’ll fetch up Hoss! other name in de mawnin’, sah. Don’t you be on- «« * easy. [Exit, whistling “ Listen to the Mocking Bird.”] — Mark Twain, in N. Yl Times.

He Had Seen Kings Before.

One of the Chronicle reporters was requested on Saturday last by a friend to join him on a visit to the depot to witness the arrival of the king of the Kanacs. “ No, sir, not much,” growled the reporter. “ Have you ever seen a king in your travels?” inquired the friend/marveling somewhat at his short answer. 44 Yes, sir,” replied the reporter. “ I was once guilty of seeing three kings.” Then, after a moment’s pause, went on to say: And they cost me $l5O, sir. Those were war times, however.” * His friend suggested he must have been in bad company. “Well, I don ? t know,” says the reporter. “ I thought I was in pretty good company at the time. I called to see those three kings in company with three queens, anotner king, and an ace spot, and have never had any desire to see one of the royal family since.” His friend saw the point. Said he passed, and shuffled on.— Washington Chronicle. —The intuition of the Treasury girls serves them well in the counterfeit business; and Gen. Spinner, who has had twelve years’ experience in the work, says they are worth ten times as much as the men for such business. “ A man always has a reason for a counterfeit." says the General; “ forty, maybe, but he is wrong half the time. A woman never has a reason. She says ’tis counterfeit because m counterfeit, and she’s always right—though she couldn’t tell how she found, out if she were to be hung for it.”

NO. 16.