Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 November 1875 — Page 8

A Little Girl’s Letter From Egypt.

The Jacksonville (Ala.) RepnbUtnn prints the following quaint letter, written . from Cairo by the little daughter of Col. 8. H. Lockett, formerly of that place, who Las recently entered the service of the Khedive; * .. J ”We reached here on the 11th of August, and went to a very large hotel •called the Grand New ffctal. It was very large, and one of the finest hotels I ever saw. ]t belongs to the Khedive. Opposite the hotel is a vety large and beautiful garden. It also belongs to the Khedive. Wei l, in fact the Khedive owns everything here that is pretty. Our trip was ■ quite pleasant. One of the prettiest parts was from Paris to Geneva, We had the Alps on both sides of us nearly ali the way, and you can imagine how splendid that wA Tliat was the hardest thing to realize. I had oftcu seen pictures of the Alps, but never thought tliat I would be near enough to climb them. Geneva was a funny-looking old place. Our trip from Geneva to Alexandria was quite pleasant. We stayed at Naples one night and half the j next day, but all our party did not go ashore. Papa did, however,"ana brought’ us some ice that came from the top of Mount Vesuvius. I- was very sick coming across both the ocean and the sea k We stayed in Alexandria only one day and one night. It was very cool there in the evening—a great deal more so than I expected to find it. 1 do not find it very warm here at Cairo in the’ house, but it is •dreadfully warm out doors. Ido not dare to go out until the sun is down. It gets very cool late in the evening. We only stayed at the hotel six duys, then papa found us a house, for which lie pays S4OO, ■o r £BO, a year,. Papa is higher than any American officer here, except Gen. stone. He has got ten liis uniform. The. coat is white and the pants a dark navy blue. Officers hate to wear a cap called ‘taboosli.’ They are not allowed to goout on the streets without their swords. Mamma does not like Egypt very much. She is considerably homesick. I think lam homesick myself. I sigh all day long and wish I was back in America. The dirty Arabs run me distracted. I can't bear tifem. 1 bate the very name of Arab. Edith is trying to learn" to speak Arabic and French. 1 studied French, all of last year, bul l can't speak one word of it now. I get so frightened that 1 forget v hat I was going to say. lam very much in hopes that by the end of this year I will know how to speak it right well. lam going to study at home this year with Edith and Henry, read hard, so I will not Tk* homesick. It is too lonely for any use. Papa goes away early in the morning and does not come home until in the evening. The only tiling'we have to laugh at is the donkeys. It looks perfectly ridicu* lous to see great big men riding on them with their feet dragging the ground. The Arabs have donkeys to ride instead of street-cars, and you see them running behind them to get their money and their donkey when they stop. Every now and then th o - have to push them to make them go faster. Yesterday evening Mrs. Stone .wrote a note asking mamma to let one of her little girls go out on the desert with her children riding. I went and enjoyed myself very much'. I saw two of the Khedive’s palaces. They-were not pretty, but Miss Ilettie Stone said the}' were magnificent inside. It is aliout breakfast time in Jacksonville now while I write, and it is evening here. We have eaten our lunch anti arc read}- to eat dinner when papa comes. He is just as happy r as can he, and we are so glad. He is in very good health, and so are all of us. This •climate seems to agree with all of us.”

Wedding Anecdotes.

When the collector of rare and curious specimens of insects and flowers and tn inends finds new objects of interest he sticks a pin in them, or puts them in alcohol, or labels them, and then sits down to count his collections and see what he has actually gathered. In the same way we may stick pins in the various experiences of life, and thus collect a museum of rare specimens. The present collection of wedding anecdotes are specimens of eccentricities at this trying hour that have couie across the writer’s path. We see plenty of curious epitaphs in cemeteries; let us look at .some wedding scenes as strange as any of these. A young clergyman, at the first wedding he ever had, thought it was a very good time to impress upon the couple before him the solemnity of the act. “ I hope. Dennis,” he said to the coachman, with his license in his hand, “you -have well considered this solemn step' in life.’’ ** I hope so, your riverence,” answered Dennis. “ It's a very important step you’re taking, Marj’,’' said the minister. “ Yes, sir, I know it is,” replied Mary whimpering. “ Perhaps we had better wait a while.” ” Perhaps we had, your riverence,” chimed in Dennis. The minister, hardly expecting such a personal application of his exhortation, And seeing the five-dollar note vanishing before his eyes, betook himself to a more •cheerful aspect of the situation, and said: Yes, of course it’s solemn and important, you know, but it’s a very happy time, alter all, when people love each -other. Shall we go on with the service!” “ Yes. your riverence,” they both replied. and they were soon made one in the bonds of matrimony, and that young minister is now very careful how he brings on the solemn view of marriage to timid couples. A party came to a clergyman's house one evening to be married. Everything went on harmoniously until the woman came to,the word “ obey” in the service. Here a ensued. « y Bver—Bcverl~'-she saidr A ‘ I did not know that word'was in the service, and I twill never say it!” “ Oh, dear.” remonstrated her partner, ••‘do not make trouble now. Just say it—it even if you don't metm it. Say it for my sake—for your dear John's sake!” “Never-never!” insisted the high-spir-ited dame. “ I will not say what Ido not mean, and Ido not mean to obey. You must goon,sir,” she added, to the clergyman, “ without that word." - “ That is impossible, madam," replied the minister. “ I cannot marry you untiess you promise‘to love, cherish and •obey* jour husband.” “ Won’t you leave us fora little while foeether?’’* interceded the young man. 4J I think I can manage her after awhile.” So the minister went back into his study and wrote on his sermon for an hour and a half, and finally, at a quarter past ten o'clock there » —came a tapping— As of some one gently rapping, "*• -and the mild-mannered benedict informed ■the parson that at last, after a long wrestling of spirit, his “ dear Jane” had consented to say “obey.” But how that compromise was brought about no one ever knew.

I have often heard this Same clergyman relate how, after a wedding ceremony on one occasion which occurred in bis own parlor, the husliand whispered to the brand-new bride as the} - approached the door: “ Mary, have you got any small change?” Hieold-Swedes’ Church in Philadelphia was the famous mark ing-ground for nearly 200 years to all the neighborhood and the churches in that vichmy. The rec-ord-book of that venerable parish is teeming with marriages. There has to lie an “ extension” made to that department in even- new register. Notes and memoranda adorn the pages of the “wedding-col-umns” explanatory of the different couples. <)ne clergyman kept a list of toreign sailors (with a wife very probably in every large port) and runaway country girls whom he had refused to unite in matrimony because of bis suspicions, or because of the lateness of the hour, or of the absence of witnesses. Colored weddings have always a riclily humorous side. The colored race is a susceptible, imi tativc one, and when they are fine, as at weddings, they are generally superfine. A clergyman was called on upon one occasion to officiate at a colored wedding. “ We assure you; sah,” said the gentlemanly darkey, “ that this ycre wedding, sah. is to la-very ‘apropos’ —quite a la mode, Sah.” “ Very well,” replied the Clergyman, “ 1 will try: to do everything in my power to gratify the wishes of the parties.” So, after the dinner and dancing and supping was over, the groom’s “ best man” called again on the ihinister, and left him a ten-dollar fee. “ I hope everything was as your friends desired it?” said the urbane clergyman. “ Well, sail, to tell the truth, M"r. Johnson was a little disappointed,” answered the groomsman. “Why, I took my robes,” said the minister. “Yes, shli—it wasn't that.” “ I adhered to the rubrics of the church.” “ Yes. sail, that was all right.” “1 was punctual, and shook hands with the couple. What more could I do?” Well, sah, Mr. Johnson, lie kind o’ felt hurt, you see, because you didn't salute the bride!" I remember a friend who in. the early 'days of his ministry was met by a couple as be caiiie out of church, who wanted to lie married. He turned back to oblige the party, and found at the last that they had made up their minds to drive off in their buggy to some other church. “ But may I ask,” lie inquired of the man, “why-you first ask me to marry you and then change your minds in this way?” No answer came from the groom, but the young woman, lifting up the back curtain of thebuggy, called out: “Well, you see, I) hadn’t got a look at the minister afore, and, to tell the truth, you’re so young and innodent-like that I’m kind of feared you won’t marry us right, so I’d rather trust myself to someone who’s done it a good many times, and is sure he knows haw.”— Appletcns' Journal.

His Own Doctor.

A man of high intelligence, well educated, aud of vigorous understanding in most things was nevertheless given to the practice of self-tormenting in regard to the state of his health. lie was fairly robust, atc'knd drank well, slept easily, walked with remarkable energy, was capable of severe and long-sustained mental labor and of much physical exertion. Unluckily for himself lie began to study domestic medicine, and straightway a too active imagination led him to simulate in his own case the symptoms of almost every disease he happened to read of. He was apoplectic; paralytic, rheumatic; he had heart disease, his lungs were affected, the liver was congested; gout threatened liijn; his vision became enfeebled; obscure sensations alarmed him as to the state of his brain; fevers of one kind or another were perpetually hatching in his system. The man’s life became a burden and a misery to him; he half-killed himself with terror and nearly succeeded in getting poisoned by a succession of varied and opposing remedies. At last he was cured. Reading the symptoms of a condition from which it is phv--siologieaily impossible that- men* should suffer, lie found to his horror that each particular symptom was distinctly marked in his own ease. He went over the ground again and again; each renewed examination only served to bring out the symptoms with more alarming distinctness. Then the affair became too ludicrous; a hearty fit ‘of laughter dissipated not only that particular ailment, but all the rest, and the suft'erer was cured. —English Congregatiomilist.

The Colonel’s Letter.

The mail-r|outes west of Omaha were but poorly looked after befoae the days of the Pacific Railroad, but the few postoffices were highly prized by miners and traders, enabling them to hear from civilization at least once or twice per year. We had built up quite a little town about twenty miles from Denver, and it was decided to establish a postoffice in a saloon and hire some one to bring and carry a semi-weekly mail. We made no application to the Government for a postoffice, but were going iuto this arrangement merely for our own accommodation. Our letters coming from the States were addressed to Denver, and those we sent from “Paradise” bore the Denver postmark. We made up a list of those who would pay fifty cents weekly, collected the first installment and hired a half-breed to act as fhail-carrier. Everything worked all right, and “Paradise” would have been happy but for a giant miner galled ” £'ql, —ife-wwß down , "flnr-finy , eemr].ii;r week with the rest of us, and ' when the first mail came in lie called and demanded a letter. “None here foryou, Colonel," answered the man who had assumed the duties of Postmaster. The Colonel went away growling and was on hand next mail-day. Several letters were received and distributed, and when informed that there was no letter for h'ui he exclaimed: “ Didn’t I pay my fifty cents with the rest? Haven’t "I as much right to git a letter as any of ’em?" The Postmaster endeavored to explain to him, but the Colonel kicked an empty whisky barrel across the room and went back to his log shanty on the hill-side. The third mail came in and he was on hand, two revolvers in liis belt and a large bowie-knife run down behind his coat collar. “ Xrv letter for Col. Pick ?” he inquired of the Postmaster. “No, Colonel—nothing for you," answered the man. •, * 65 “\ ou are a wolf and a liar!” ,ri4putcd the Colonel. “I’ve paid mv money and I want a letter!” “But there's none for vou,” replied the man. , “I’d be glad if—l- - ’

“ Don’t talk tome!” roared the Colonel. “ Isn't this a postoffice?” “Yes.” - “ Well, what’s a postofflee flir?” “To receive and distril/ntc mail." “ Yes, and where’s my mail ? What’d I pay fur if I hain’t goin’ to git any letters?” > j. The Postmaster was trying to explain, when the Colonel took the whole mail in his paw and walked off, saying that no crowd of men could humbug him. He wouldn’t give the letters up, but he had some good traits atbout him, and I was sorry when “Paradise” turned out and hung him to a limb to maintain the sanctity of the United States postal rules. We might have shot him through the leg and then argued with and enlightened him.— M. Quad's New Book.

The Fashions in Furs.

Seal remains the fashionable fur for sacques, and is also much used for inexpensive seta, consisting of a muff and boa. Seal sacques differ from those of last season in being more shaped to the figure and in having from two to four inches additional length. A stylish saeque is from twenty-eight to thirty-one inches long. The neck is finished with a full re vers collar. The sleeves are quite large, iud some models are wide enough to allow a Cliff of the fur beneath. Plain seal sacques are still worn, hut those trimmed with otter furs are most fashionable; lienee ladies wlio have short plain sacques left over from previous seasons are having them lengthened by adding a tliree-incli band of some other fur as a trimming. A sealskin boa that is to be worn with a seal saeque should be only a yard and a half long; but if it is to be worn" as part of a set it should be two yards long. Seal muffs are of medium size, like those of last wintgij, and are .trimmed with ribbon bows that are embroidered; others have tassels, and some are perfectly- plain. Among the most desirable wraps are those lined with fur while the outside is very heavy repped black silk or else Sicilienne. The shape mostly worn is the plain circular, froiii forty-six to fifty four inches deep, and forming a perfect "semicircle. They are. made of silk of extra width, manufactured for the purpose. Notwithstanding all changes of fashion, the crown Russian sable remains the choicest fur: it is as high in price as ever and becomes more difficult to obtain each year. Perhaps the most dressy of all the fancy furs introduced lately' is the silverfox—a light, blue-gray fur, . interspersed with those “ silver points” or white tips that are now thought to add so much to the beauty of any fur. Another fashionable gray' fur for sets and also for trimming is the Ari'ca chinchilla.' The sets of fisher-tail fur that were so highly prized last season are very difficult to procure now. Sets of black marten fur,’ sometimes called Alaska sable, remain the prevailing choice in low-priced furs. The demand for mink furs becomes more limited, every season, yet the-fine dark grades are still worn by those who do not care for changes of fashion, and consider instead durability and comfort. Ermine, which was considered the most dressy' fur, looks passee now tliat fox and chinchilla furs are used. Astrakhan, Russian lamb-skin, krimmer and other black furs, though no longer novelties, are still liked, for their soft, rich fur, and may now be obtained at very reasonable prices. Fur trimmings are the most fashionable garniture for sacques, cloaks, and heavy wraps of all cloths, silks and velvet. There is an endless variety of trimming furs, some of which w r e have already quoted, but tlie caprice of the season is for dark furs that have white-tipped hairs; and so popular are these that furriers have resorted to sewing gray or white hairs in the dark furs when; nature has not supplied them. Of the latter is a fancy fur called silver otter, which is a black fur with silver hairs sewed or even pasted in. The new seal hats are no longer turbans, but are shaped precisely like the English walking-hats now worn in straw or felt, except that the crown is round, in Derby shape. A long ostrich feather of sealbrown begins in the front, passes over the crown and drops behind. The hat costs from $lB to $25. — Harper's Bazar.

How to Treat Tender Plants That Hare Become Frozen.

The disastrous effects which tender plants that have become frozen are subject to is generally known to cultivators; but how or why freezing produces the effect it does upon plant life is not so easily ascertained, and all attempts heretofore made by scientific men to solve the question have been, at most, only partially successful. In practical experience it is found that the length of time and the degree of cold to which plants are exposed affect them in proportion to th( duration and intensity of these conditions, which points, therefore, to the speedy restoration of a suitable temperature as the best means of restoring plants that have been unfortunately exposed to frosts. But the thawing out should, in all cases, be moderately gradual, and one of the best things to do when plants Rave become frozen, either in the dwelling, conservatory or in the open air, is to "sprinkle the foliage with cold cistern or well water, as the temperature turns to rise. In the dwelliugor conservatory, however, it will be necessary to start the lire in the stove, furnace or flue the first thing of all, to give the temperature an ascendency, but it should, for several hours,, not be allowed to rise above an ordinary suitable degree. Some advocate shading the plants from the sun and light for some length of time, but the policy of so doing has never been apparent to me; while 1 have frequently had strong proofs to the contrary —that the sun’s rays striking upon the plants witli gradually increasing heat in a great measure aids their recovery. There is a great difference in plants as regards their ability to resist cold, and while some tin slightest frost will injure beyond curt others will bear Various degrees, and even alternate freezing and thawing again and again with impunity. Avoid handling plants in a frozen condition as much as possible, as the injury to them will be heightened should the leaves become bent \ or be roughly brushed over. To restore flowers that* have become frozen, place them in cold water until they have thawed j out.— Home Florist. i —A writer in the Popular-Science Month- ; ly states that poisoning is the mode of sui-! eide oftenest chosen "in the city of New j York—2lß out of (WO persons having died bv fliis means. Arsenic is the poison chiefly resorted to, and in its commonest form—Paris-green. In 1871 fourteen suicides took Paris-green and in 1872 twentytwo out of fifty poisoning cases took the same. Statistics show that insanity causes the largest number 6f suicides, both j of men and "women. After this comes ! drunkenness and then disease. j

Offenbach’s Story.

Says a writer to the New York Mercury: A short time since, as I am informed by a private letter from Paris, a number of literary Bohemians were assembled at JaCques Offenbach’s cosy little sittingroom in the French capital talking sprightly of everything in general and nothing in particular. Gradually the conversation drifted into a sort «f argument to the effect that the. most popular incidents travestied on the comic stage were really based on some actual occurrence in life. This was doubted by some, and one of those introduced the character of Fritz in the “ Grand Duchess” as so ridiculous and absurd, especially his being run through all grades of military promotion lo the highest in five minutes, that anything remotely like it could never have really happened. Offenbach smiled at this assertion and cut the debate short by. saying that the incident was taken from actual life: This was a stunner to the.company. who all asked for the proof, which Offenbach-at once gave by telling the following story: Years ago, he sale, he was examining the treasures in an antiquarian’s storC in London,' when a work attracted his attention bearing a title like the following: “ The Life. Habits and Manners of Peter the Great, Czar of Ail the Russ ins, with Many Truthful Anecdotes Never before Printed.” This book, lie said, was published in London about the middle of the last century and was now very rare. He bought it and in it was told the very incident after which the affair of “Gen.” Fritz in the “Grand Duchess” was patterned. One day, so runs the anecdote, a young recruit was standing guard before the door of the entrance to Peter’s private chambers in tjie palace at St. Petersburg. He had received orders to-adniit nexone. As he was slowly passing up and down before the door Prince Mentcliikoff, the favorite Minister of the Czar, approached, attempting to enter. He was stopped by' the recruit. The Prince, who had the fullest liberty' ! ’of calling upon his master at any time, sought to push the guard aside and pass him, yet the young man wtiuhl not move, but ordered His Highness to stand back. “ You fool!” shouted the .Prince, “don’t you know me?” The recruit smiled and said: Very well, your Highness, but my orders are peremptory to let nobody pass.” The Prince, exasperated at the low fellow's impudence, struck him a blow in tl> face with his riding-whip. “ Strike away, your Highness.” said.the soldier, “ but I cannot let yon go in.” Peter, in his room, IranTr)g the 'noise outside, opened the door and inquired what it meant, and the Prince told him. The Czar was amused, but saidfiiothing at the time. In the evening, however, lie sent for the Prince, and. tlie soldier. As they both appeared Peter gave his own cane to the soldier, saying: “That man struck you in the morning, now you must return the blow to that fellow with my stick.” The Prince was amazed. “ Your Majesty',” liesaid, “this common soldifer is to strike me?” “T* make him a Captain,” said Peter! " “ But I am an officer of your Majesty’s household,” objected the Prince! “ I make him a.Colonel of my Life-Guards and an officer of my household,” said Peter,, again. “My rank, your Majesty knows;is that of General,” again protested Mentcliikoff. “ Then I make him a General, so that the beating you get may come from a man of your rank.” The Prince got a sound thrashing in the presence of the Czar, the recruit was the next day' commissioned a General, with the title of Count Oroniizotf, and was the founder of-a powerful family, whose descendants are high in the imperial service of Russia. “This recruit,” said Offenbach, “is the original of my Gen. Fritz.”

Exploration of Palestine.

Lieut. Condor, of the British Palestine Exploration Expedition, has sent home a report of the progress of the survey under his direction, which presents the following account of the work accomplished during the present year: In February a triangulation of .MO square miles of the desert west of- the Dead Sea was made. In the next three months nearly the whole of Pliilistia was surveyed. In June and July the expedition was at work in Galilee, when they were attacked atSafed, and their labors temporarily broken off. They bad, however, at that time, completed the survey of 180 miles, and worked up twenty of the thirty miles composing the line of levels from the Mediterranean to the Sea of Galilee. Among-the discoveries of especial interesfto the Biblical student are those of the supposed sites of Adullam, SerarMakliedaji and Cana of Galilee. “In Jerusalem,” runs the report, “Lieut. Conder was so fortunate as to find the Asnerie, the crusading inn for pilgrims. It lies close to the Grotto of Jeremiah, and is now partly excavated, showing long lines of mangers. .At Nablus he discovered that nearly the whole of the floor and foundations of the early church built over Jacob’s Well- exist still, hidden by modern vaults. At Shefa Amr, a magnificent sepulcher has been found, with elaborate ornamental work. The present church there proves to be built on foundations older than the Latin occupation. At Khorbet Rumah, a site of great medieval interest. a rude Jewish tomb was found near the mouth of a large cave. This corresponds with the story of an early Jewish traveler, that at. Rumah were to be seen the sepulclaa; «*£Jsenjamin and a cave near i! whence the Messiah was expected to appear.” Intelligence from Lieut. Conder, dated Aug. 12, related that he was still at Mt. Carmei awaiting official investigation into the outrage at Sated. It is believed that six months’ work w ill complete the survey of Western Palestine. The Troy (N. Y.l Whig says: “ A day or two since one of our townsmen was engaged in painting the tin roof of liis dwell-ing-house, A sixteen-foot ladder stood up against the house, the top of which projected about a foot aud a half above the. eaves. While busily engaged at work he was startled by hearing a childish voice say: ’Papa, me up high.’ Looking up, to his horror and astonishment he saw lus little tw'o-year-old l»oy standing on the eaves of the house, with one hand on a rung of the ladder. For a moment he hesitated as to what he should do, hut finally he spoke quietly to the boy, telling him to stay there until papa would come and get him. The boy obeyed, and the anxious father reached him, aud taking him in liis arms descended the ladder. "He did not paint any more that morning. How the child managed to climb the ladder to the ; roof, and then step oil' on the eaves, and turn round and take hold of the ladder, j all without falling, is a mystery.” ' The editor of the Stockton (Cal.) Leader , who is a married lady, comes to the following conclusion.- “It is.time this miserable statute which annihilates the Tindividualitv of a woman who become a w ife was expunged from our law codes, and until then women should resolutely set their will against marriage.”

Parisian Boarding-Houses.

A writes in Lippineott’s ssys: “Tha Parisian boarding-houses are, as a rule, very bad. They are compounded of dirt and starvation. Usually they are (heap enough, from eight to ten francs being demanded for board, including service—everything, in fact, except fire and lights. The company is gcjiferally far from unexceptionable, and the unwary female who may chance, with true American sociability, to make acquaintances among the other lady will be apt to find herself burdened with an intimacy more scandalous than desirable. The supplies of food are carefully adjusted so as to keep the boarders just inside of starvation pitch, eveiytliing, even to the bread, being cut down to the smallest-possible allowance for each person. No butter is given at dinner at all. Breakfast is composed of a very small bit of meat, two eggs, a pat of bulter about the size and thickness of a silver dollar, and just a* little bread as the wfijter by cutting tliin sliced, and keeping the plate Out of she way'can persuade the hoarder to accept. At some of these houses (and well-fre-quented and fashionable ones at that) the worn-out sheets of the establishment are pressed into requisition for "breakfast" tablecloths. There is-a good deal of display at dinner in the way of plated epergnes and artificial flowers, but tlie fare is of the scantiest and the glass and china are of the coarsest and commonest quality. Some of the more’* expensive Parisian hoarding-houses are kept by decayed members of the aristocracy, and these are especially to Tie avoided'as the title of the host or hostess is supposed to cover up a multitude of sins in tlie way of rudeness, extortion and meanness of all kinds. But then it looks well to see it announced in the American papers that ‘ Mrs. and Miss Slarsanstripes have been staying in Paris, tlie guests of the Baroness Bouerseride,’ but tlie paragraphist is careful not to announce that lime, la Baronne keeps a boarding-house, and that Mrs. BtarsanstripeS pays 10() francs a week for tlie privilege of dwelling beneath her lios-' pitable roof. At some of these houses gambling on quite an extensive scale is carried on in the evenings. Generally tlie arrangement of the rooms is very bad, as Parisian houses are not adapted to the requirements of transient guests, and the heights to which tliewisitor is supposed to climb are incalculable, many of these buildings being from six to seven stories high, and with never an elevator to be seen.”

Venetian Artillery.

_ Early guns were of very rude construction. The successive improvements, so far as they can be traced, originated in the north of Italy, and Venice certainly had a large share in bringing them into the practice of war. The brothers Alberghetti, celebrated at first as artists in metal, to whose skill we owe those beautiful fountains in the court of the Ducal Palace which still delight the eye of the traveler, were induced to turn their attention to the easting of guns, and the introduction of boring-machines is attributed to them. Leonardo da Vinci also, whose fame as an engineer is less than as a painter only in so far as his works were of a less popular nature, devised several improvements in the manufacture and management of artillery, which were easily reduced to practice by the Venetian workmen; and although he himself does not seem to have been in the immediate service of the Venetian Government, still, as his plans became known, and liis treatise on gunnerj'—probably the first scientific work on the subject—was published, he was really and effectively in the service 5 of every government whose officers had the brains to understand his teachings, or whose workmen had the hands to execute them; in which category the Venetians were pre-eminently included. Toward the end of the sixteenth cen-» tury they introduced what must be considered as a primitive form of howitzer, for tiring grape. It is described by Graziam as a sort of cask of very thick wood, barely a cubit in length and about the same bore as a mortar. It must thus have been inside about the size of a nine-gallon beer-barrel. This was loaded with leaden balls and stones as large as an egg, and is said to have done good service in the battle of Lepanto; “on board those ships on which this horrible hail fell it made terrible havoc. ’ '—Frazer's Magazine.

“Come and See Me.”

A writer says: “ Never take ‘ Come and see me’ as a phrase meant in earnest unless it be accompanied with a date. Such afi invitation amounts to nothing at all. If a lady or gentleman desires jour company he or she will appoint a time tor your visit. ‘ Call on me when you can make it convenient,’ ‘ Drop in as you are passing,’ ‘ Make us a visit whenever you have an hour or two to spare,’ are social ambiguities by which men and women of the world understand that they are not expected to do the thing requested. When people wish to be cheaply polite there is nothing like this kind of vagueness. The complimentary small change- of society must always be taken at a large discount. It is nevei worth its face or anything like it. Yet it is a convenient medium of exchange, and heavy debts of gratitude that ought to be requited in better coin are often paid with it.* People who have more polish than principle use Slavishly—plain, blunt, honest men sparingly or not at all. Whoever makes a friendly visit to a fashionable house on the strength of a mere ‘ Come and see' me’ will very often find that the family circle he has dropped into by request is as uugenial as the Arctic circle, and lie will probably leave it with a chilly feeling that will prevent him irom venturing into the same high latitude again. But when a wlio’.e--.soidtd.mtm,..whom...you.kßOw--to~be-.y«mr.. t'figud, grasps you vigorously by the hand and says, ‘ Come, and dine with me to-day —dinner on the table at five o’clock — be sure to come—we shall expect you,’ you can take it as certain that your presence is warmly desired. It is pleasant always to make or receive- a visit from a friend, but a nod on the street is allsufiieient from a fashionable acquaintance.” • - A correspondent in La Grange, Mo., has told the latest and biggest snake story of this year’s crop. He says that on Saturday last three men! near La Grange killed 240 black-snakes on one ledge of rocks. Tlieir bodies would Lave filled a wagon-box, and weighed over 1.200 pounds. The extreme of allowing only five pounds to each snake shows a commendable desire to refrain from exaggeration.—s Chicago Times. Five world’s fairs have been held in Europe. In 1851. at London, open during 141 days, visited by 6.030,185 persons; in 1855, at Paris, 200davs, 3,162.330vi5it0r5: in 1862, at London, *l7l days, 6.211,103 visitors;in 1867. at Paris, 267*days, 8,865, -‘ 960 visitors. Total 33,019,087 ~visitors, fielding $7,940,821.

The Eccentric Duke of Portland.

Few, even of his nearest neighbors, have the slightest idea how he spends his time. He is never seen at court, and fashionable aristocratic circles know him not. So far "as society .is concerned, he is dead to the world, and even the few visitors to Walbeck Abliey seldom set eyes on their host. He surrounds himself with an atthe closest mystery, and no one, peer or commoner, is permitted to penetrate into the secrets of his life. Even his own solicitors, the firm to whom is intrusted the legal management of his enormous estates, are never allowed an interview with him, and in aristocratic circles it is habitually—but, as will be seen hereafter, erroneously—asserted that the only'person who is permitted to see him is'liis confidential valet. His liat is of an unusual height; a long, old-fashioned wig reaches down to his neck; wet or fine he never stirs out without an umbrella; hot or cold .a loose coat is always slung> over his arm’ v and whether the ground he dry or muddy his trousers are invariably tied up below the knee With a piece of common string, in gxactly the same fashion as is adopted by a navvy at liis work., His mind" is as active and his intellect as acute as those of almost any of liis brothers in the peerage. He is now just seventy-five years of " age, having been born on-the 17th of September, 1800. He is of course enormously wealthy. Four or five years ago his annual income was upward of £300,000, and since that time it has very considerably increased. -He is a very large owner of land round about Welbeck Abbey, where he usually resides, and he has besides enormously valuable property in London, chiefly in the district of Marylebone, besides very large estates in Northumberland, in Derbyshire, in Caithness and Ayrshire. His Grace has never beeq, married, nor, to the best of living belief, has lie at any time been smitten by a woman’s charms. His ruling passion is an inveterate love for building. At Welbeck Abbey alone, fox many years, there have been employed upward of 500 masons, and a like number of smiths and joiners, beside the staff necessary,for the ordinary work of the estate. His Grace is his own architect, and all his plans are laid out in tlie most methodical manner. Before he will allow a new building to be commenced lie makes tlie designs, amt causes to be constructed, often at a cost-of some hundreds ol pounds, a large model of the-work, to be put in hand. If the model does not please him lie destroys it, draws new pinna, and has a fresh model made. During the progress of the work lie superintends it in person. His Grace is, by' experience, very clever in building matters. He can detect the most minute fault, even such trifling defects as would escape the eye of tlie practiced and experienced workman. If a fault cannot be remedied by alteration lie causes it to be, without ceremony, razed to the ground, and the work commenced afresh until it is done to his satisfaction.

He has a deeply-rooted disiike to the observation of tiie outside world. He has even sought by various clever expedients to hide the old Abbey of Welbeck, where he constantly resides, from casual passersby, while the approaches to the abbey are entirely subterranean. There are upward of fifteen miles of tunneling round Weibeck Abbey, and no one can approach the house without traversing some of them. This most extraordinary arrangement has taken many years to accomplish, but it is now complete. Some of these subterranean passages are constructed upon the most admirable principles. They are all well ventilated from above, and are lighted by natural or artistic means by day and night. In order to take away the monotonous effect of these underground passages His Grace has built, in some cases parallel with, the passages, other open corridors covered with glass, While at distartces of every few yarns are J to be found statues and other works of art, placed in niches in the wall. He possesses an extensive stable. He has upward of fifty hunters bred from the best stock in the land, and this although he has not for many years followed the hounds himself. A gallery made of iron and glass, and a quarter of a mile in. length, lias been constructed in order that the horses may be exercised in damp weather; his riding-school is a magnificent affair, with a lofty glass dome, and he has besides carriage-houses, huntingstables and carriages of every, description.

His kitchen and culinary offices are construtted on an extensive scale, although there is only His Grace to.cook for, as, when lie (occasionally) gives dinner parties, the food is sent from elsewhere. Vet the Duke is almost simple in. bis diet. He lakes regularly but two meals a. day, and at each lie lias half a chicken, one being killed and prepared for him each morning. He passes much of his time among the workmen, but will seldom go. near a stranger. Many people write to him, but he seldom or never gives a -reply. He is a member of four Loudon clubs—Boodle’s, Brook’s, The Traveler’s and White’s—but he never goes near them. He gives large hunting and shooting parties to different members of the English aristocracy, but never sees or converses with, them.—London Figaro. The Troy (N. Y.) Whig says: “ A day or two since one of our townsmen was engaged in nainting the tin roof of his dwell-ing-house. A sixteen-foot ladder stood upagainst the house, the top of which urojected about a foot and a half above the eaves. While busily engaged at work he was startled by hearing a childish voice say: ‘ me up high.’ Looking up, to liis horror aud astonishment he saw lus little two-year-old boy standing on the eaves of the house, with one hand on a rung of the ladder. For & moment lie lies; lTatetTasto what lie should do, but TJfihHy"" he spoke quietly to the boy, telling him to stay there until papa would, come and get him. The boy obeyed, and the anxious father reached him, and taking him in his arms descended the ladder. He did not paint any more that morning. How the child managed to climb the ladder to the roof, aud then step off' on the eaves, and turn round and take hold of the ladder, all without falling, is a mystery.” Tiik Scranton (Pa.) J'imti says that it has the best authority for the following singular statement: “A lady of our city, having gathered a large quantity of autumn leaves, took the more rapid method of pressing with a hot flat-iron. Very soon after her hands and wrists broke out with an eruption of a scalding humor, such as is witnessed in those cases .--of erysipelas known as St.. Anthony’s fire, and she is likely to be laid up for some time, if no worse results ensue. The leaves were of the maple species, and the theory is that a volatile oil of a poisonous nature was evolved by the application of heat and obtained access to the circulation through some abrasion of the skin. It is safer though a slower process to .press leaves in a book or between flat boards under a weight.” •