Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 November 1875 — Page 8

The Effects of Parts Green.

In a recent paper read before the Michigan Stale Board of Health Dr. R. C. Kedzie gives a detailed account of careful experiments made by him during the past year upon the use of Paris green in connection with growing crops, and says lie has satisfied himself of the truth of the following propositions: 1. Pans green, being a deadly poison, should be handled with extreme care. By inhalation of the dust, by contact of the materia] with sores or raw surfaces, and even by contact with a moist or perspiring surface, it may produce dangerous effects. 2. While classed as an insoluble substance. Paris green becomes soluble to a sensible degree by the action of what we may term the natural nocturnal solvents, carbonic acid, and the solvent action of the minute roots of plants seem to lie the most active of these natural solvents. 3. Arscuious acid and arsenites in solution tend to pass into an insoluble condition in the soil in which arsenic is insoluble bv the natural agricultural solvents. 4. White other agents may assist in fixing arsenious acid in the soil the hydrated oxide of iron is probably the most potent factor in producing this insoluble condition ; that enough of this oxide is present in all fertile soils to render inert a much larger amount of arsenic than would accumulate from the use of Paris green as an insect poison. 5. Paris green mixed with soil does not remain in this form; or at least it cannot be dissolved out of such soil by many agents which readily dissolve the salt. 6. Paris green when applied in small quantities does not seem to affect the health of a potato or wheat plant. The arsenic which it contains does not reappear in the tuber or the grain, and that these substances are not injured as human food by the small quantity of “Paris green required to free our fields from a mosl destructive insect foe. 7. The i>ow er of the soil to remove from solution and hold in an insoluble form arsenious acid and arsenites will protect the water supply from deadly contamination by this agent unless the poison is used in excess of any requirements as an insect destroyer.

Hearty Breakfasts.

In a large majority of cases it will be found that the best and healthiest meal of the day slum Id be eaten in the morning. If the closing repast-rof the day has not beeu eaten too late, or has not been excessive in quantity or indigestible in quantity 7 , the stomach will be rested and active in the morning after the individual lias enjoyed a cool bath. The stomach will then respond quickly with the necessary gastric juice for the solution of food, and, if a fair amount of exercise is taken during the day, a large mass of food will be assimilated and converted into blood and tissue. AYith a good, substantial breakfast no great amount of food will be re-* ouired during the remainder of the day. One further meal will be ample, and that might better lie taken at from two to three o’clock in the afternoon than at any period, if business engagements only permitted it. The breakfast may be made from any kind ot wholesome food, and the fewer kinds the better. Tlie dinner should be light and readily digested, if sound sleep is desired and strong appetite and perfect powers of digestion next day. If hunger comes, » bawl of s.vicw mvtk r and well-cooked mush of Indian meal, or Other uni Milted grain, will allay it, and will digest quickly. One 44 square meal” in every tweqty-four hours is all that can be taken care of by many weak stomachs, and more than this is an excess and induces headache, nausea and distress. If dinners were abandoned, especially late and heavy dinners, myriads of dyspeptics would be cured, but under the exigencies of city life a late dinner cannot be well avoided. This need not be the tremendous meal it is customary to make it if the breakfast be substantial and nutritious, and' not a thing of slops and biscuits, as it tpo often is.— Journal of Health.

Buying On Credit.

The practice of buying on credit the necessary articles of the household is fatal to good economy. The housekeeper has always to pay dearer when she does not pay cash. The tradesman must have in* ter'est for his money, for a man will never, in a business community’, be willing, and is seldom aide if he were willing, to forgo it. To the ordinary cash prices of the article he therefore adds the interest which may accrue during tilt time that credit is allowed. This, however, is not all- There must be a premium exacted by the dealer for the risk he runs in trusting his goods to that class of more or less dangerous customer? who never pav ready money. Even the most honestly-disposed of these are often unsate tSShtofs, for they are generally such as are imprudent enough to anticipate their incomes and to overrun them in expenditures. The credit system, moreover, is a temptation to unnecessary purchases. There is a sort of cheek iii the sight and touch of the hard-won money to the disposition to dispose of it lightly. Ob the other hand there is something in the facility of credit, removiug. as it (toes, the disagreeable necessity of payment to a vague future, very seductive t«> the-buyers who can gratify his love of possession with a momentary sense, at any rate, that its gratification costshiin nothing. There is no such cheap aud cautious purchaser as cash. — tzcJuingei When Hoffman was Governor of New York a bill was passed regulating tbe site of apple barrels. It was of so trival a character that he vetoed it. In the following summer a good old farmer front the Mohawk Valley came into the executive chamber and, handing him a letter of introduction, said: “ Governor, I’ve come to ask vou to pardon my son out of state Prison; ire’s been ttieiv goin' m two year, and his time’ll be up in about two months. Harvest is cornin' on in two or three weeks. Governor, and I kind ’o thought I should like to have lum up to the farm; he’d be quite handy. Don't you think you could do it?” “ There was "something about him,” said the Governor, “that imfressed me he was a good old fellow’, and told him that I would pardon his boy.’’ On rising to depart, he said: “ I thank you," Governor, for pardonin’ him now, because hands are scarce; and on behalf of my neighbors I thank you for yetoin’ the Apple-Barrel bill." — Harper's for November. The Golden Buie, published by Adiron dack Murray, says the best remedy for tbe epizootic is to feed the horse with soft food, blanket warmly, bandage liis legs loosely, give him two or three tablespoonfuls of common ginger in his feed, morning aud night, and keep the horse-doctor of the neighborhood at least half a mile off. __ A man in Duluth, Minn., has succeeded in producing an essential oil from ordi nary cedar trees.

An Erratic Duchess.

A lady who occupied a prominent po■ltion in Parisian society, the Duchess de Riario Sforza, sister of the late M. Ber. ryer, has just died at the Chateau d’Angerville. She was the widow of one of the richest notaries in Paris, whose entire fortune she inherited, when she met at the house of the Marquise de Boissv, net ter known as the Countess Guiccioli, an old, shabbily-dressed Italian officer, whe was attached to the household of Joseph Bonaparte and Murat and had served as a Colonel in a cavalry regiment under the Empire. He was of the type of thos* Imperialist officers ho frequented the Case Pov half a century ago. The notary’s widow asked who he was and was surprised to hear that he was Duke of Riario bforza and brother of the Cardinal-Arch-bishop of Naples In the course of conversation she learned that he was a bachelor and looking out for a rich wife willing to barter a fortune for a ducal coronet. “I’m the woman,” she said. “ I am ambitious. I detest my present name, which is insupportably common, and my fortune is big enough to regild the Duke’s battered strawberry-leaves. Introduce him to me, first telling himjwhy I want to know him.” The v ,Duke was introduced. He, the lady and a friend retired to ■ boudoir, where the marriage articles were talked over in a thoroughly matter-of-fact way, the Duke stipulating for complete independence, in fact for a separate establishment, with a large fortune to keep it up. All his conditions were complied with and the wedding took place some weeks later. During his lifetime he contrived to bridle the fantastic tastes of the Duchess. But when he died she indulged in them to the full. She was phenomenally thin. It was impossible for 'anyone Suddenly seeing her not to be startled and shocked at her cadaverous appearance. Born in an humble rank ot life, she might have amassed a fortune by exhibiting herself as a femme squelette. She was at a festive meeting the death’s head of an Egyptian feast. Though so painfully disqualified bylierextraordinary emaciation from going into society, tlic Duchess of Riario Sforza was one of the most social women in Paris almost to the time of her death, which happened in her eightieth year. Her passion for dres9 was excessive and she invariably chose garments suited to a young married woman. Her faith in the power of the mantua-maker, and of those artists setting up to'fix the bloom of youth or restore it when vanished, was unbounded. Contrary to French custom, she overdressed as much at her own balls as at those of her acquaintances. The only badge of widowhood she wore —and she and it were inseparable—was a kind of enameled hatchment, suspended from a diamond necklace or gold chain, as a medailion might have been, with the heraldic quarterings and coronet of the late Duke of Riario Sforza. As she gave sumptuous dinners and had, on marrying,, retained the power to dispose of nearly £IO,OOO sterling a year, people took care not to laugh at her absurd vanity and whims. She was a very buspicious old lady, and, to keep a vigilant watch on the looks and gestures of her guests, had the mirror in her drawing-room so arranged that she. could see, from her fauteuil, everything that took place behind her back. No son ant or tradesman was ever known to please her a week. She had her palatial mansion at Passy pulled down and rebuilt ■ three times in the course of fourteen years and, just before her death, she was thinking of demolishing it again. The torment of the Parisian architects and house-deco-rators, she was a kind of providence for the masons, to stimulate whom to activity she often allowed double wages. Fortunetellers, chiromantists, and dealers of other weird, occult and supernatural causes will miss the erratic Duchess, who patronized them during both her widowhoods. A notorious tireur de carte* predicted that she would take for her third husband a royal Prince, dark-eyed, fair-liaired. rich as C’ru'sus, and a devoted lover. The trouble she was at to fulfill the propliecyundoubtedly helped to kill her. Wherever the Prince whom she thought was to become her spouse went she followed him. When she heard he was going to the theater she at once had herself taken. On Chantilly day she drove to the Northern Railway and stationed herself in the line of private carriages before tin; terminus, to bow to him as he passed. She crossed his path on the Bois de Boulogne on Longchamps days and, when at death’s door, was at point of attending the soirees to which she knew he was invited. The intant grandchild of the late M. Berryer will, it is believed, succeed to her property. — Paris Cor. London Daily Fews.

How Travelers Are To Be Protected in Russia.

Russia is about to take an important step in advance of the rest of the world iu the control of the steamship and railway interests within the Empire, by making the proprietors strictly responsible for personal damage done, even to their own employes. A law recently prepared by a special commission, and now before the Imperial Privy Council, provides that companies arc in future to be subject to damages for any death or injury caused on tlieir lines to persons either in or out ot their employ, and that such claims cannot be evaded % any previous private agreement for exemption, nor by the plea that all possible precautions have been used. The damages awarded are to be proportioned to the means of the person killed or injured, and are not to be diminished by any supposed impeeuniosity of the company charged. Claims for damages may be" adjudicated on in any Russian civil court of justice under the law, which is to supersede for "all railway cases “the previously-existing rules* as to actions for personal injury. Thus, the presence of the injured person in cases not fatal is not to" be as at is mother similar trials. sincc the Shite itself, through its public prosecutors, henceforth undertakes as a public duty the conduct of all actions afisiug from railway injuries. The extraordinary stringency of this legislation is no doubt a testimony to tbe fact that hitherto the gTeat companies have used the notorious delays and evasions common in Russian justice with so much success that any compensation for injury has been almost unattainable. —Pall Mall Gazette, Prof. tells the following; “ During the after-dinner talk the rough specimen for whom I was surveying remarked that mathematics had always seemed a very wonderful thing to him." Thinking to interest him somewhat, I began to illustrate some of the wonders; among others, tried to show him the way in which Neptune was discovered. After some twenty minutes of elaborate explanation I was"some what taken aback to hear him say: 4 Ye 9, yes: it w very wonderful, very; but (with a sigh) there's another thing that’s al’erS troubled me, and that is,'why yon have to carry one for even- ten; but, if you don’t, ’twon't come out right.’”— Sciibier ftr November. -

An English Journal on “American English.”

Chambers' Journal, in an article on 14 American English,” dilates upon our national tendency to coin new words usd utter quaint and extravagant phraeee. "Newwords,” it says, “are formed every day; when the American has seized upon an expressive word-he works it into half a dozen forms and secures it a currency in two or three parts of speech. From the verbs to walk, to sing, etc., we get walkist, singist, shootlst and half a dozen others formed like pianist and linguist. Not satisfied with this last word American sailors have lengthened it into ‘linguister,’ an interpreter. Then we have such words as * to overture,’ which means to propose; I to donate,’ for to giye a donation; and 4 to eventuate,’ for to happen. To 4 disremember’ is to forget, and to 4 out a candle’ is to extinguish it. The love for abbreviation has produced such forms as 4 to rail,* for to travel by rail; and to ‘cable’ news, meaning to send a ‘cablegram,’ or, as we should say, a message by Atlantic cable. Many words have nothing to recommend them hilt a strange sound, as, for instance, 4 splurge,’ a noisy demonstration, whence the verb‘to splurge,’ meaning to boast and swagger; and then the adjective 4 splurging,’and the adverb ‘splurgingly.’ 4 Merit always makes its way,’ says a transatlantic editor; 4 sometimes quickly, often slowly, but never splurgingly' —a remark in which we most heartily concur.” It informs the reader that a tendency for violent expressions appears in our daily speech. “A man is attacked and completely defeated in the Legislature, and this is reported by saying that he has been 4 catawamptiously chawed up.’ 4 1 don’t want to swear,’ says a conscientious man, 4 ’cos it’s wicked; but if I didn’t see him do it may I be teetotaciously chawed up!’ There aie many expressions like the last, for the American seldom swears outright, but generally has recourse to those half-dis-guised phrases which a famous New York preacher once denounced as ‘one-horse oaths.’ ”

The Lapps.

Of the 160,000 inhabitants of Lapland only about 15,000 or 20,000 are Lapps (in their own language, Sabmt or Sam), who form a subdivision of the Finnic race. They were originally inhabitants of Finland, but were gradually pushed by the Finns farther north and west to their present territory. According as they are fishermen or reindeer herdsmen they are distinguished as 41 Sea Lapps” and 44 Mountain Lapps,” and either occupy settled habitations or lead a nomadic life. They are extremely small in stature, and their hair is black and straight, presenting !i great contrast to the tall and blond Norwegians and Swedes. Their skin is yellow, the forehead broad, the head poised on a short and rounded neck, the nose well formed, the cheek-bones protruding, the chin pointed, the cheeks hollow, and the lips straight and thin. They are agile, but quickly exhausted belabor, rather from bodily weakness than laziness. They dress in furs, with trousers and shoes of reindeer-skin. They protect the head by means of a sort of cowl, but the Russian Lapps generally wear fur caps with ear-covers. The dwellings of the mountain Lapps are small tents, consisting of a skeleton of bent sticks, covered with a coarse cloth. Jn.ihß holfi wllich 86TV68 flB ft flue for the fireplace underneath. The sea Lapps have better habitations, generally consisting of wooden huts, with several apartments. They live exclusively qn animal food; bread, which they obtain of Russian tradesmen, is considered a delicacy. Polygamy, though not prohibited by custom, is very rare on account of the high price which has to be paid for women. The daughter of a rich man costs sometimes as much as 100 reindeer, while a poor girl is seldom sold for less than twenty. The price is considered as a repayment of the expenses incurred in bringing up a daughter, and also as a remuneration to the father for losing her services. The Lapps have been converted to Christianity, and belong to the Lutheran Church in Norway and Sweden, and to the Greek Church in Russia. — Appleton's American L'yclopmdia.

Opium-Eating.

A New York correspondent of the Troy Times says: A veiy remarkable scene occurred at the door of a leading drug establishment, the principal feature iu which was a woman shrieking at the top of her voice, and apparently going into hysterics. The crowd might "have supposed her to have been grossly wronged," bitt tlie proprietor explained the matter by the statement that all proceeded from his refusal to give her a dose of morphine. The woman was a confirmed opium-eater, and spent in this way all her money. : She had come to beg the article when she could no longer purchase, and on being refused gave way to her feelings in the manner above described. She punished the dealer bv getting up a " scene;" targe numbers" of nervous ladies in high station use opium to give new life to their effete and exhausted frames; perhaps the largest proportionate consumption is among this class. They prepare for the enjoyments of a party or a ball by the use of this stimulus, and when it has brought the system to the acme they shine with unusual brilliancy. The use of stimulants as a preparation for social enjoyments is prodigious, and in a large party perhaps one-half of the guests are keyed up by opium or bourbon to a proper state of felicity. The reason why opium is becoming more popular is because its devotee need not incur the opprobrium inseparable from the drunkard. He need carry no bottle with him, and his breath will not smell ot liquor. His stock can be put in his vest pocket, and can be used imperceptibly to tbe world. Having these advantages over fire-water we do not wonder at the increase of the former, and tbs only reason why it does not become universal as a substitute for alcoholic drinks is simply because, they are social while opium is not. A group of" young men would not feel so- much inclined to eat opium together as they would to enjoy a social glass. —Some soils will require and bear to .be tamed over to almost any practicable -depth; others will not allow'of this without injury to the ground and succeeding crops; some lands require only a comparatively shallow furrow, while therratum below requires breaking and loosening; that water may settle away, to the less injury of growing plants, and to furnish more and better space for their roots. Consequently only good judgment and experience with the soil to be worked can determine just the treatment adapted thereto. No arbitrary rule can be made applicable in all cases and conditions. Only one rule should prevail in all cases, and that should be to prepare the best possible seed bed wherein to deposit the seed. —N. T. Herald. —New York barbers are coming down fire cents on a shave.

Palace of the Late Baron Rothschild.

A London correspondent writes: 44 One of the mogt. enjoyable days I have spent in EnglantDWaa a visit to Mentmore, Buckinghamshire, the seat of. the late Raron Rothschild and still the home of his widowj I had known all m.y life of the almost fabulous wealth of the Rothschilds, but bad no such vivid conception of the reality as I brought away with me. The estate comprises 15,000 or 20,000 acres of the finest land of this famons shire. The approach from Cheddington station, from which it is distant about two miles, lies through a magnificent lawn leading to a wooded acclivity, upon the summit of which the mansion stands. From the towers the view is one of the finest in the. Midland counties, embracing on one side the ancient manor and village of Wing, on another the manor of Tring, and on a third the historic site of Ivanhoe. How the course of the world’s history has been changed by the blow which an ancestor of John Hampden struck the Black Prince, the victor of Crecy and Poicters, for which ‘Tring, Wing and Ivanhoe’ were forfeited! In the distance is the Vale of Aylesbury and far away, on the ridge of the Chiithem hills, the monument of the Duke of Bridgewater bounds the range of vision. Tring Park, owned by another of the Rothschild family, is said to be second in the beauty of its gardens only to Mentmore, but this I had no time to see. The sub-tropical gardens, vegetable gardens, the fountain garden and the Italian garden occupied us for hours. The first is second, I suppose, only to the Royal Botanic Gardens, in Kew; the second embraces, with the fruit gardens, about twenty acres, the whole proceeds of which are consumed in the mansion. In one of the numerous graperies, so arranged as to furnish fruit every month in the year, I saw a single cluster of grapes which would weigh six pounds, the berries on which were about the size of good, large plums and the , most luscious I ever tasted. Oranges, figs, pine apples, bananas and other tropical fruits| consumed in the mansion are all grown in the conservatories of Mentmore. When the Baroness is absent, yatching in the channel or at her London house, orders by telegram are sent to Mentmore daily for the "supplies required. The vases in the fountain and Italian gardens cost each £I,OOO. The statuary is all of the most costly kind, executed by the first masters, many of them copies of originals which I saw in the Louvre or in the British Museum. The great hall, which from the entrance seemed to me about twenty by thirty feet, is filled with vases and statuary..lts contents must represent a value of not less than £BOO,OOO. We were not less than three hours passing through the rooms. The finish is exquisite, and the furnishing of each sumptuous. Some idea may be formed of the whole from the furniture of a single bedroom, one of the many guest-chambers, costing £20,000 or £30,000. In the dining-room and baronial half are furnishings exceeding £200,000 each. Costly cabinets of the time- of Louis XIV., of ebony inlaid with ivory or gold; jeweled clocks made of solid gold; diamonds, rubies and all other sorts ot precious stones; walls hung with the costliest tapestry of the time of Louis XIV., or covered with the richest needleembroidered satin, may give some idea of the wealth lavished on this more than princely mansion. The costliest paintings adorn the walls, and the most skillful and expensive workmanship is displayed upon the ceilings. The idea of the Baron seems to have been to build and furnish a mansion such as no other person in England, except perhaps the Duke of Westminster, could hope to rival. The stud is said to contain more high bred horses than any in the world. It embraces thir-ty-five hunters and as many racers, none ot which I heard were less in value than £6OO, while many of them run up into the thousands. Favonius, Maccaroni and Old Tom, the last a patriaren of highbred racers we saw, all winners of famous races. For Favonius £12,000 were refused, and for Maccaroni £7,100 were but recently paid. I was fortunate in getting an introduction to Mentmore through an acquaintance I made in England. The grounds are on rare occasions open to visitors, but ordinarily there is no access to the mansion. I saw, I believe, every room in the house except the strong-room, where the treasures are kept during the absence of the family.”

Looking Into the Eyes.

I suppose, sir or madam, that when, you turn your organs of vision upon those of one whom you love you characterize the proceeding by saying that you looked in the adorned one’s eyes. But you never did look in a person’s eve in the world, unless you have used a Helmholz glass. You can only look into the eye exactly* as it looks out. Here is a poor woman—poor soull how my heart bleeds for her—who is evidently* poor, and the hour she passes at the hospital waiting for her turn must be of the utmost value to her; yet she must come. The pupil of her afflicted eye is darker than the other; you can see absolutely nothing there; to'your unaided vision her eye is as dark as the interior of a cave. How is a surgeon to know what particular disturbance injuries her sight? How is he to examine the optic nerve and retina? He leads her into a black room—painted black, doors and walls; a very coffin—turns on a strong jet of gas and directs upon her ey*e thesimple instrument which has immortalized its discoverer, the German oculist, Helmholz. It is a mirror, with a tiny hole in the center. Bringing your own eye to a proper focus behind the glass, you see one of the greatest marvels made by the hand of God —the interior workings of a human eye. The black pupil is by magic; •.the very bottom of the eye is disclosed; blood-vdssels are seen to cross and recross a strangely-lit surface in a way such as you never dreamed. l’gh-h! I prithee, pdet, drop the expression, 44 1 looked into her eyes.” It may tickle the groundlings when they read it in your rhyme, but verily if makes the eye-initiated shudder. —Olive Logan, in N. Y. Graphic, A Washington correspondent says: 44 Strangers will be surprised in visiting tbe Treasury to notice that the lower corridors are all inclosed by wire-netting screens reaching almost from marble to frescoed ceiling. They have been used as a precautionary* measure ever since the late robbery of" $47,000 in bonds. It seems rather late in the day to be so careful. Previously the halls and doors leading into the counting-rooms were left wide open, and almost any* person had free ingress into portions of the rooms, and the only wonder is that more thefts have not occurred." On a.,voyage from Australia to London a ship lately took fire from the spontaneous combustion of 44 wool in the grease, which was part of her cargo.” In putting away winter fruit it must be as cool as possible without Treezing.

Beauty and the Beast.

You have heard of Mrs. Beast, she that was Mias Beauty. Ah, there was a daughter for you! There are not many Btich dutiful daughters nowadays as she was. It is a,touching story of a wealthy family’s decline from affluence to poverty, of a father’s strange fatality, of a daughter’s filial devotion and her sister’s selfishness and cruelty.ln the absence of any particular social sensation this week we are constrained to tell the story of “ Beauty and the Beast,” although the incidents related took place a great while ago. Beauty was the youngest of three daughters, children of a very richj merchant. .Like all merchants’ daughters' they were reared in luxury, and allowed xo do pretty much as they pleased. They could go into the store and help themselves at the raisin-box whenever they wanted to. As we said before, Beauty’s sisters were jealous of her. Everybody called her Little Beauty, and, knowing how little beauty they had tliemselves, the sisters got mad: They went to parties and balls, and made all sorts of fun of Beauty because she preferred to stay at home and improve her mind by reading dime novels and playing Don Pedro. Of course they had beaus—there are no rich merchants’ daughters too jiomely for that—but they had set their mark high. Nothing less than a Duke or a Centennial Commissioner would answer for them. Beauty had good offers, too, but she always said she had rather stay at home and take care, of her father than assume the risk of lookingout fora husband. But reverses came. The merchant invested his money in a California bank and lost it all. Nothing was left save a small cottage in the country, so much out of repair that he couldn’t rent it. Thither he proposed to repair, though he couldn’t repair the cottage. To this Beauty readilyassented, but her proud sisters said no, they would stay in town and marry one of the rich young men who had so often proposed matrimony to them. But they found that, however inclined these gay young men mighthave been to matrimony when there was money in it, matrimony without money they would not consider. So they had to join their father in that cottage by the sea, he ' having taken that cottage by the sea-son. Beauty had to do all the housework , of course, for her sisters .laid abed until ten o’clock, but she was sm happier than they. We have always noticed, where there is a family of girls, the one who has all the drudgery to do while the others lie around is ajways the happiest. Singular, too. At length the merchant heard that a ship of his, which he had given up for lost, had arrived safely in port, and he started to ascertain if it was true. When lie got there he found that one of his creditors was ahead of him, and kad attached the ship and cargo, besides running up a big bill against the merchant forexpenses. So he started for home very hurriedly. He got lost in a deep forest and, all of a suden, came upon a splendid palace brilliantly illuminated. Everything was magnificent, though not a soul could be found. He determined to stay until morning and w 7 ent to stable his horse; but the stable was so splendid, too, that he hesitated for a minute wdiether he shouldn’t put his horse in the parlor and sleep in one of the stalls himself. But he went to bed sumptuous bedroom, after partaking of a bountiful lunch which he- found -ready spread. After a good sleep he aw-oke, in the morning, astonished to find a new suit of clothes in place of his old ones. (It is no unusual thing for men who get into other people’s houses to find themselves provided with a suit of clothes, but they generally have stripes running around them.) Beauty’s father found a warm breakfast awaiting him, too, and after doing full justice to it he started home. Passing through the garden, he stopped to pluck some roses for Beauty, when a frightful beast came toward him, with a loud roar. The merchant was greatly frightened. His first thought was that he was in the neighborhood of the Cincinnati Zoological Garden, and that another animal had escaped; but the beast proved to be the owner of the place, it being customary for beasts to support magnificent establishments at the period of which we ■write.

The beast threatened to kill him in a quarter of an hour for stealing bis roses. The merchant fell on his knees and begged for his life. He said he ought not to die for a handful of flowers; why had he Ottar of Roses ? The beast gave a savage growl and warned him not to try that sort of thing on again. He had written some for the comic papers himself. He finally told the merchant he would let him off if he would suffer one of his daughters to come and die in his stead. It was rough, but what father with daughters on his hands that he couldn’t many off would have hesitated? Besides, don’t daughters find themselves helplessly in the power of a beast of a husband frequently? So home he went, promising to return in three months unless one of his daughters would consent to make the sacrifice. - He related his adventure to his children, when Beauty declared at once she would take her father’s place. He held out against the arrangement for a time, but at length gave way, and they started for the beast’s palace together, the merchant feeling,that as liis (laughter was a total stranger to the beast it would be no more than proper for him to go along and give her an introduction. Every* right-think-ing father must feel that the merchant was right. They found the palace, and "a magnificent repast as before, to which they sat down. Beauty was touched by the thoughtfulness of the beast in thus endeavoring to put her in good condition before trying to worry her down. But many a beast is a good provider. While they were eating there was a roar and the beast entered. Beauty trembled, and her father expected to see her devoured right before his eyes. This was more than a father’s nature could endure; he turned away his head and—helped himself to another piece of oyster-pie! But the beast did not appear to be in any hurry to devour Beauty. It was more Beauty than he was able to take all at once, so he expressed a hope that they would rest well and, bidding them goodnight, retired. In the morning Beauty prevailed upon her father to go home and leave her with the beast, believing that no harm would come to her. She remained there for weeks, the beast meanwhile paying her the most delicate attentions. Her table was supplied with all the delicacies of the season, and everything the market afforded was at her disposal. They became very much attached to each other, and he actually attempted to make love to her, the beast! Beauty conquered him completely, and was unquestionably the greatest beast-tamer of her time. In fact, you never saw a beast tamer than Beauty’s beast was. It was a beautiful, sight to see him hitched to a cart drawing Beauty around the walks of a pleasant afternoon. But it is unnecessary to make too long

a story of this. The beast turned out to be a Prince, whom some wicked fairy had condenlned to go about in menagerie attire till a beautiful lady should consent to marry him. As Beauty had declared that she could be happy with no one else the spell was off, and Beauty was enabled to take him as hex husband without first taking out a license for a performing bear.— Fat Contributor, in Cincinnati Saturday Night.

Snake-Charming in India.

A very curious case was lately reported in an American newspaper of a snake charming a boy. I will now give you an account of a snake-charming operation in the East Indies, which came under my own observation, in which case a man charmed the snalfes, the number of snakes affected upon which occasion, as well as the death-dealing powers of the reptiles, making the case a notable one. Some time after a servant of mine had died of the bite of a cobra, being in the neighborhood of Attock, on the banks of the Indus, when visiting some Hindoo temples in the vicinity, I met a worshiper named Mean Raj, who applied frequently to the officiating fakir, or priest, for deliverance from a plague of cobra snakes which infested a plot of ground belonging to him to such a degree that his servants were unwilling to labor upon it, especially as most of them went barefoot. The church failing to help him, his dosts, or friends, recommended him to apply to the charmers. This he did by seeking the services of one Mungul Deen, who avowed his readiness to coax the snakes out of their holes to their death as effectually as St. Patrick is said to have done in Ireland. I may here mention that snake-charm-ers are magicians in the East and a separate caste or class by themselves. The word “caste” throughout India denotes the particular calling to which an individual belongs. Eastern charmers or magicians are found frequently to be of the Brahmiqical or priest caste, which is the highest order, in consequence of its connection with the Hindoo religion and its mysteries. The order of Brahmins wear a string over the shoulder to distinguish them. This string, which is of peculiar construction and difficult of imtation, is conferred and placed on the ‘ body in infancy, with much religious ceremony attending the operation. Huch snake-charmers as belong to this caste wear the sacred string. Eastern charmers are nomadic m their habits, wandering over India in every direction. Like the priests they lead lives of celibacy, or at least pretend to do so. The Indian magicians appear to be a thriving class of men, content if they can only show their fellowmortals their mystical powers and gain a living. On the occasion of which I write, a sort of grand stand, composed ot wooden steps, arranged one above the other, had been erected, from which to view the operation of charming the snakes. Mungul Deen, the charmer, was a fat, middle-aged man, with intellectual countenance and sparkling eye. He wore a mustache, but no beard, which seems to be peculiarly affected by the Mohammedans. Mungul had the light, copper-colored complexion which obtains among the natives of the Upper Punjaub, in strong contrast to the coal-black hue of the natives of Lower Bengal. His dress was freely decorated with all sorts of signs, including snakes of every form and istze,~was of white linen and scrupulously well adjusted, from the becoming turban downward. Everything being pronounced ready by Mungul he first lighted a sniall fire, into which he threw something which flashed up with a blue blaze, and the fire was allowed quickly to die out. He then went fearlessly all over the snake-infested ground, distributing as he walked some sort of powder, the nature of which was known only to himself; after which he seated himself on terra firma, slinging the inevitable “tum-tum” around his neck and holding an instrument in his hand which emitted a sound when played upon very much like that of a bag-pipe. The spectators, who were natives, except myself and two gentlemen, named Harrison and Ball, who were traveling in India for their pleasure, showed their appreciation of the music by occasional howls of delight. Mungul consecrated his instruments, throwing up his arms, and then began his music with a wild, discordant air. Not a snake had been seen afe yet, hut as soon as what I may call the concert had fairly opened snakes swarmed from all sides with heads erect and hoods expanded. After awhile a large concourse of snakes, some hundreds in number, -could be seen twisting and turning on their tails to where Mungul Deen sat tumtumming and piping as unconcerned as if he were receiving visits from the doves of paradise instead of the deadly enemies of mankind. The only change noticeable in him was that he moved his head continually, as if salaaming to the snakes. At last, when a very large company of cobras was gathered round the magician, and many an anxious fear was expressed by the lookers-on lest he should be stung to death, it was apparent that lie very perceptibly changed the strain of his rude „ music from the wild, discordant sound which had marked it to a rather plaintive air, which I thought his instrument incapable of producing, judging from the previous performance. Everyone now noticed that the snakes were, in military phraseology, “ changing front to the rear upon the center” by turning round upon their tails, with heads down, and, on their bellies, winding back, as if intent on reaching their holes as fast as they had come from them. In so doing their mouths came, or seemed to come, in contact with the powder which Mungul Deen had previously scattered, and, as it seemed, on tasting it they immediately gave up the ghost, in whatever part of the field they chanced to be. The snake-charmer continued his piping for some time, afterwhichlie performed a dance that would have done honor to the Dervishes. This dance lasted about fifteen minutes, during which Mungul kept at first slowly moving his body in a circle, ujftil the movement and excitement of the dancer seemed to grow intense. His arms were raised and lowered; his head swayed to and fro as if it would come off, and at last he fell to the ground, apparently in a state of complete exhaustion. This was not so, however, for upon an attendant administering some potion from a cup he stood up and s declared the battle won and himself unscathed. The spectators then descended from their fostrum, and I can testify, as one of the party, that on inspection that ground was found to be well covered with the carcasses of dead cobras, the most deadly of the genus hydra. I learned, some time afterward, that the owner of the land, Mean Raj, was no more troubled by lm former plague; in fact, was so well content that he had rewarded Mungul Deen liberally, while bis servants «no more- refused to till the ground where the Indian snakecharmer had charmed so wisely and so well. —Edwin Wyndham Lawrry, in N. Y. World.