Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 December 1875 — Page 8

A Famous “Financier.”

“ Rasper,in Vanity Fair- thus writes of the famous Dr. Strousbcrg: I remember last year of sitting opposite a stout, ordinary-looking person at dinner and wondering for a long time what could possess him to talk as he did of his estate in Bohemia and his thousand horses. 1 asked who on earth he could be, and Counterfoylc informed me that it was “ the famous Dr. Strousbcrg.” This great man, being a German and a philanthropist, was some few years since moved to take into'octasideration the case of Rouinania. He went flown to Bucharest, talked polity ical economy to the young dragoon whom' Prussia had set up as Prince" there, and offered to develop the resources of the oonntry by making its railways' Prince Charles was delighted with the proposal, and it was agreed that the railwfcys*ni6Ald be made, and that payment should be effected by Roumanian State bonds, of which a niimber representing something like 3.000.000 or 4,000,000 sterling were deposited in a strong-box. The strongbox has three locks and three keys, one of which was handed to Dr. Strousbcrg, while another was placed in charge of the Roumanian agent at Berlin, and the third in the hands of a Berlin banker. The arrangement was that as Dr. Strousbcrg constructed the railways lie should meet with the other two trustees of the box and take out therefrom as mapv bonds as represented the value of the line constructed —a plan which was perfect in that it required the concurrence of the three, representing respectively Dr. Strousbcrg himself, Roumania and the public, to get the bonds out of the box. After some time, however, it was found that the railway works progressed very slowly, and atj last they stopped altogether. Repeated representations producing no effect, the Roumanian Government at last decided that as there seemed no hope of getting the railway Advanced it would resume possession of its bonds. But tot when the famous box came to be examined the bonds had disappeared. There was naturally -a tremendous row made, but at this time it did not suit the German Government to have its troubles increased, and as several high personages were connected with the proceedings ii was intimated to Prince Charles that he must have the matter “squared:” and squared it accordingly was by the payment to the Government of something like £6O(UH)O, while the Roumanian taxpayer was let! saddled with the paymeut of all the bonds then in the possession of innocent holders, and representing of course an indefeasible Roumanian engagement to pay them in lull. Dr. Btrousberg, who had married an English woman at the time he had been a commercial traveler in the United Kingdom, soon sought fresh pastures. He hired the most expensive house in Grosvenor Place at a rent of £3,000 a year, furnished it in the most wonderful way, and under the protection of a great English family which’ provided him with a private secretary, and the chaperonage of a great lady, esteyed English society, and went so far as to oiler £200,000 for an English newspaper as a lever. But he soon came across difticulties. The Lord Chamberlain respectfully declined to entertain the notion of a presentation at court: an ambassador looked coldly on, and spoke warmly-of him. the great lately made defection, and “ the Strcusbergs” went out before they had been well alight. I am distressed, therefore, but above all surprised, to learn that this great man has now become a bankrupt, is accused of fraud, and lias been arrested in Russia. It seems especially ominous just now, for the Fatherland from which he hails and the religion to which he was born hav? given us other eminent financier's lor whom 1 begin to tremble also.

A Highwayman’s Career.

William Hill, a patient in a private asylum near Glasgow, Scotland, died a few weeks ago. Many years ago there lived in Iredell County, N. C., a respected Presbyterian minister named Curry, the pride of whose life was an only sqn. Nixon by name, in whose training the good man took peculiar delight. The young man won the affections of a young girl attending the same school, and so ardent was their attachment that no rival was suffered to come between them. When the girl reached the age of fifteen her devotion to young Curry became so manifest that her parents, wishing to secure for her what they viewed as a better alliance, forbade further intercourse between the two. As a natural consequence, clandestine' meetings werejxsarted to and continued for three years. r 4t the expiration of that period the hand of the young lady was sought by the son of one of our Southern statesmen, and her parents tried to compel her acceptance, whereat she eloped with young Curry. The couple were overtaken. Then the young man turned and shot his rival, who' led the pursuit, killing him instantly. The young couple then renewed their flight. After a long and heated chase Curry took refuge with his betrothed in the Allegheny Mountains,' near the head-waters of thesCatawba, and there, outlawed from society, he became a highwayman, and speedily achieved a dreaded notoriety by the number and character of his daring exploits. The Governor of North Carolina offered £5.000 for his arrest, and many, lured 1 by the tempting offer, tried to ljunt him down. Suddenly he was missed from North Carolina. It was supposed that he had died or that he had changed his base of operations. One day. at the time of the first settlement of the fertile delta of the St. Francis River, in what is now Arkansas, an immigrant appeared in the district calling himself John Hill. He was a handsome, amiable man, and. though having only moderate means, extended a generous hospitality to all who visited his beautiful little home, rendered doubly attractive by the presence of a lovely wife. In a short time he became the most popular man in the settlement. He was repeatedI ly elected td'tlie Legislature, and there he was distinguished for powerful and impassioned eloquence. He became a leader in the ranks of his party, was a member of the convention that framed the State Constitution, and represented his district in the Senate of Arkansas. Hill’s most intimate acquaintances wcfe the Strongs, four brothers, men of wealth and ambition. A close intimacy sprang up between them, and Hill, ih an unguarded moment, made the eldest Strong conversant with his previous history, telling him that he was the notorious Nixon Curry, of North Carolina. Strong then requested Hill to resign his seat in the Senate, but, Hill refused, and the brothers conspired to ruin him. Sending to North Carolina they procured a requisition for his arrestand a copy of the reward offered for his capture. The four brothers, powerful and determined as they were, well knowing the character o£ the man with whom they had to deal, secured the assistance of a dozen men, and, surrounding his house, attempted to effect his capture. ‘ On approaching the

main entrance and demanding lus surrender one of them was shot dead and three others were dangerously wounded, and the attack was abandoned. * The Governor of Arkansas published an additional reward sot Hill’s arrest, and hastily packing a few articles he set out with life wife and children for Upper Ar k airs as, where' be knew of*the existence o£ a band of desperadoes whose members he had reason to lielieve would protect him. He was overtaken at Conway CourtHouse, and, halting his wagon and admonishing his wife and children to keep their places, he stepped forth in the face op his pursuers, and in a few eloquent words told them why he quit North Carolina, and at the same time assuring his pursuers that he would not be taken alive. The gallantry of the action operated in his favor, and the pursuit was abandoned. Constant pursuit had already made him morose and quarrelsome, and he began to drink heavily and resort to the gamblingtable as a means of support. One day in September, 1845, while seated at breakfast, lie told his wife that he had a premonition of death, and felt that he should be killed that day before sunset. Calling his son William,’a bright boy of fourteen, he made him swear to kill the man who should kiAliis father. The Circuit Court of Pope County being In session, he attended it with a young man named Howard, who was engaged to his eldest daughter. As soon as they reached the village Hill began to drink and exhibited an unusual- disposition to quarrel. He insulted every one he met, and finally threatened to clean the CourtHouse: bedashed into the court-room, to the consternation, of Judge, jury and law - vers. Young Howard tried to restrain him, but, glaring like a tiger, he turned upon the youth and felled him to the floor; at the same" tiuip drawing a pistol lie exclaimed: “ Kill me, or I’il kill,you!” The man, in a moment of extreme anguish, drew a knife and buried it ih the bowels of Hill. He died soon after. Howard quit Arkansas,and'several years later was heard of in San Antonio, Tex., where lie joined the Confederate forces under the command of Col. Long. At the close -of the war he was met by William Ilill, who, remembering the oath he had taken at his father’s instance, shot the former and tied to Europe. He joined the French army and served through the Franco-Prussian war, but was subject to fits of temporary insanity. Finally his case became hopeless, and he was placed by. his friends in an asylum near Glasgow, Scotland, where he recently died.—iV r “ Y. Sun.

About Meteors.

The great November shower of “ falling stars,” or meteors, cannot be expected this year. It comes once in about thirtythree or thirty-four years, and appears about the 12tli, 13th,or 14tli of November for three years in succession, the shower of the first year being much more brilliant than the others. Humboldt and Bomplaiul, being on the coast of South America, observed a wonderfully brilliant display Nov. 13, 171)9, and fainter showers could be seen about that time in each of the two following years, The next of flic great November meteoric showers came Nov. 12, 1833, and was generally observed. Tfie next great display was observed Nov. 14,1807. Of course, the next of these November displays cannot be 'expected until about the year 1900 orlOOl. The November showers always appear to come from a point in the constellation of Leo. The explanation of these “falling stars” given by most intelligent astronomers is that the meteors come from a cosmical “ cloud,” or body, that revolves around the Sun'and'Comes in'conflict with our atmosphere once in about thirty three or thirty-four years, ami occupies three years in passing across the earth’s orbit, This “ cosmical cloud” is really a comet, which, according to the astronomers to whom we have referred, came into our solar, system in January, 126 A. I)., and passed so near the planet Uranus as to be brought by its attraction into an elliptic orbit rouh'd the sun. Since 126 A. I). this “ cosmical cloud,” or comet, has made fifty-two revolutions round the sun, the actual time of each revolution being thirty-three years and a few months. Its elliptical orbit extends from a point in the orbit of Uranus, on one side of thesun, to the earth’s orbit on* the opposite side, touching that part of the earth’s orbit where the earth is about the 13tli of every November. It is only during the last 1,749 years that this cosmical or cometary “ cloud” has been a fixed portion of the solar system. There is another “cosmical cloud” or cometary body which has become a coni: piste ring of meteoric matter,’’and in this form revolves round the sun. This ePsmical 1 or cometary ring touches that part of the earth’s orbit which the earth reaches about the 10th of every August. This explains the “ falling stars” that can be seen every year about that time. These August meteors appear to come from a point in the constellation of Perseus. They are not equal to the November showers in abundance or brilliancy. They can be seen every year, because the cosmical cloud ring from which they-eeme is continuous.This ring has been observed as a comet, but is described as “the remains of the comet out of which the meteoric ring of the 10th.of August has been formed in the course of time.” The nucleus, or what remains of it, was visible in August, 1862; it becomes visible only once in every 120 years, this appearing to be the time of its revolution around the sun. The meteoric shower of , August lasts only about six hours, this being the time occupied by the earth in going through and away from the meteoric ring. Much smaller meteoric clouds and even solitary meteoric substances. it is said, revolve round the sun. and at irregular times encounter the earth, or so feel its attraction that they, or portions of them. are brought into our atmosphere to shine and be evaporated as meteors, or to fall to the earth as' “meteoric stones.’’ Most of these meteors are very small; but, occasionally, vervjheavv meteoric stones have fallen.’ The're is an account of bne weighing 800 pounds tliat fell in Hungary, and four or five much heavier have been lound in New Mexico, the weight of the heaviest of these being estimated at “ five tons.” Another of the New Mexican meteoric stones weighs about “four thousand pounds.” The great five-ton meteorite mentioned above is said to be composed of “95 per cent, of iron and 5 per cent, of nickel, including a little cobalt. ’’ — Worcester (Mass.) Spy. ■ ■ —A Southbridge (Mass.) man. a little inebriated, came in contact with a tree. As quick as thought he raised his hat. begged pardon and passed on. Three other trees having met him in this unceremonious manner, he doffed his chapeau, and, placing, it under his arm, backed up against the fence in apparent meditation. A friend passing at the time, inquiring what he was doing, he replied: “I am waiting-for the procession to pass.”

Man as an Automaton.

A t,ttti.e more than a year ago Prof! Huxley startled the world with hiafamoiu paper on “Animals as Automata.” In that paper the lucid writer and bold thinket used the word automaton in much the same sense os we use the adjective automatic, namely, to describe something which acts involuntarily, and not, as Webster defines it, “ a self-moving machine, or one which has its driving power within itself.” Prot. Huxley meant to say that the movements of animals were directly caused by external impressions, independently of any exercise of willpower; in other words they were machines upon which certain causes produced certain effects. We are not yet ready to acknowledge ourselves as automata or machines (and really the two words mean the same thing), even if so great a philosopher as Huxley should tell us we were. The differences between a man and a machine are numerous. In the variety of work performed man surpasses any engine that he has yet ‘ devised, although many of his machines surpass in perfection their builder. Where great accuracy, great delicacy or great strength are requisite, the machine outstrips the man; and yet so simple a motion as that of walking has been but poorly imitated by machinery. The superiority" of a man to a machine is shown by his ability to devise and construct machines; it is, in fact, the superiority of mind to matter. But between the machine which can- do nothing but what it was expressly built for and the intelligent thinker and inventor wlioplanned the machine there areall the intermediate stages represented by different members of the human family 7. There are men of little brains and much muscle, men of big brains and less muscle; men who plod along, year after year, in the paths which their fathers trod, and men who put all their heavy work on muscles of steel and of leather. The proportion of wide-awake, thinking men to dull,routine plodders in different countries or sections of country is easily determined by" the relative number of patents taken out in that country; and measured by this standard . the United States contains the least proportion olautomata. i

But there is a word to be said jn favor of automata or man-machines. Even now toward the close of this nineteenth cent: ury,' there remain many kinds of labor which cannot be done by machinery. There is alsto a large number of men, and women too (lor the lair sex are not to be excluded in this classification), required to tend the machines, feed them, prepare work for them and fill up the gaps in their work. For some of these positions there are required skill, thoughtful care, presence of mind, nerve and ingenuity. Yet the more nearly all our motions resemble those of a machine the greater is the amount of work we can do in a given time and the less the fatigue. As the movements become automatic and regular, moved apparently from the control of the wiy, they become more rapid andeasier. -• Why has division of labor accomplished so much? Chiefly because a man whbse sole work it is to do one particular thing not only coflies to do it better hut learns to do it with the least expenditure of -time and the least exertion of brain and muscle; in fact he works very rnuch like a machine. The compositor’s hand travels the same road every time as it goes from the case to the stick; the bricklayer always seizes his brick with the same hand and makes no unnecessary motions in conveying to its place, in preparing its mortar-lined couch or tapping it home; the shoemaker whose sole labor is "nailing on heels goes Through theiie'w simple motions automatically, no niore stopping to think which tool is next required or where he is to look for his mails than an old woman when knitting thinks about the stitch or an ordinary person thinks what muscles lie is to call into play when he is walking. Does a rapid penman ever stop to recall the shape of a letter, or do his words and thoughts flow automatically from his finger-ends ? The fingers of an experienced player find the keys.of his piano as a compositor finds his t-ype-hoxes or the hand-knitter her needles aud yarn—automatically. Habit is another term often employed to designate what we do automatically, hut habit applies alike to mind and muscle. A man accustomed to smoke or drink does not do these things without thiuking about them; habit ouly causes and strengthens the desire. On the other hand a man who habitually swears, like a woman who bites her finger-nails, does it unconsciously, and hence"automatically. It is acknowledged to be a good thing to possess good habits, and not merely be free from bad ones; so it is equally desirable for a man employed in any specialty to acquire the simplest and best way of doing his work; this way selected, let him adhere to it petseveringly until it becomes automatic. Let the habit become fixed, and he will find his speed increase and the exertion diminish. To accomplish this desirable end it is, however, absolutely necessary that no superfluous movement be made. In feeding a small hand printing-press, where each card -must be laid on separately, if the cards be piled in such a manner as te involve turning each one over or around, the speed is reduced at least 10 per cent. Every motion, however slight, which must be repeated fifty to 10b tihies a minute is timerobbing. The writer who crosses his t's and dots his i's cannot write so fast as he who does not. The man who spells bought;-through, received, etc,, in their simpler bo’t, tliro’ and rec’d, saves a large percentage of time; and if all the silent and useless letters were omilfed' the most hasty scribblers,' could , find* (firne to write-distinctly. As that System of shorthand which has the fewest strokes consistent with leg:bhity receives the prefer- j ence, so that "language which uses the j fewest and shortest words to express an ■ idea perspicuously deserves to become the universal language of the commercial world. “ Practice makes perfect” is a good old proverb, and a true one; but what is the use of perfection in bad methods ? The man who always carried a stone in one end of the bag to balance his grist may have arrived at perfection in the selection of a suitable stoner but what gain was that ? First use your brains in devising the shortest and quickest methods', then by practice learn to do them automatically, and you have a maximum of speed with a minimum of labor.— Scientific American. The Oakland (Cal.) Transcript is responsible for the following: “A gentleman dropped into the office of one ofour attorneys and asked his judgment on some trifling point of the law. The lawyer replied that he generally got paid for what he knew. The oilier, drawing half-dollar from his pockeY fswL offering ' it. replied; .‘Here, take that, tell me tKf-youkgow and give me the Change.’ It is now pass each other without embrtit/ing or even shaking hands. >

How the Sunlight Came.

The sunlight sometimes came into the room, for the sunlight was made for the poor as well as thp rich, and it will pour in through crazy shutters and over the bare floors just as cheerily as jjt filters through lace curtains .and breaks .into golden fragments over velvet carpets. And God’s free air came to the desolate room as well, though when it had crossed the decaying roofs and lingered for a moment on the weather-beaten sills it was no longer pure. Do you know what poverty is? A gaunt, starved woman, with great blackeyes, which hadyw look of hunger and terror, as if the shadow of fate had clutched her throat. A bare room—not bare, because it contained an old stove, a wretched bed, a broken chair, a bench, and—but nothing more. The gaunt, Starved-face woman had bread to eat—bread and nothing else. A bare roombread and Water. That is poverty. That is what brings to the heart that feeling of loneliness and grim despair which is poisoned out of life or quenched, like a flickering light, in the green waters of the river which creeps softly past the city and carries every burden of sorrow and woe?to the bosom of the lake. Why did this woman live? Had life one charm for her? Perhaps she asked herself these questions as she sat with her face in her hands and looked out upon the cold, cheerless day. There were no tears in her great black eyes—only such a look of woe and despair that the world should have been there to see it and to have it painted on their hearts. ■ , „ “ Mother!’’ A little, wasted form on the wretched bed—a bony hand on the ragged quilt—a voice which told of hunger and pain and weary waiting. • She bent ovef him, and for a moment a mother’s love shone in her eyes, and her wrinkled hand rested on his pale face with - shell only a mother has.

“Lift me up and let me see the sunshine.” lie whispered, trying to put his a«ns around her neck. '•There is no sunshine,” she whispered jn reply, a sob in her throat. “ Kiss me, mother, and call me when the sunlight comes again,” he said. She knew that he had been dying for a week—sinking slowly and surely ipl to eternity, but she had no friends to call in—she could only weep over him and pray God that she might soon follow. With a gasp and a sob she pressed her lips to lus forehead, then turned away to struggle with her despair and her great sorrow. The cloudy, cheerless day faded into dusk. She roused herself for a moment .and peered through the gloom to see if her hoy still slept, and then she whispered with her thoughts again. And such thoughts! , When the darkness covered the bare floor as with a mantle, and when 'she could no longer see her own poverty, the boy suddenly cried out: “ Mother! mother! The sunlight has come!” “ Not yet, dear Ned —not yet! It is night now.” “ But I see the sun—it lights all the room—it blazes into my face!” he called’ “ There is no sun—it is cold and dark!’. she sobbed. “And it grows brighter! and I hear such sweet music! and I see little Tommy!” he whispered, while through the darkness she saw his white face grow radiant. “You are dreaming!” she sobbed. “It was such a bright sun! The music was so sweet!” he whispered, clasping her hand. “It is dark—it is night!” she gasped, but he did not hear. The sunlight had truly come, hut it was the sunlight—the golden rays reflected from the gates of heaven, and not the sunlight of earth. The mysterious curtain hiding the valley of death had lifted for liis spirit to pass under, and woe had been left behind. And of her? Ask the shadows of night —ask the river. When they found his little dead body she was not there. They cannot find her. If she is dead God did not judge her harshly.— Detroit Free Dress.

Fox-Hunting in North Carolina.

Fox-hunting as practiced in North Carolina differs materially from similar sports ip the “ old country." We have no cleared fields with fences of uniform (low) size; nor have we imported foxes upon which to rely for chases. We gallop over rude, rocky, uneven hills and sides of mountains, down into and across rjivines (seemingly impassable to any" hut excited mounted huntsmen), and through close undergrowth of pine aud sow-wood; and bogs and quagmires cause but little fear or hesitation to the rider, who goes headlong into almost any sort of place, so eager is he to keep near the hounds as they go baying through the country pursuing a fox-trail. The foxes which inhabit this section of country are not'mean prey—they possess, it is said, even greater powers of endurance than the foxes hunted in England, and they have all the sly, cunniugqualities claimed for those abroad. Our hounds, too, compare favorably with the best of the English fox Jiounds, many of the animals used here being from stock imported from England and trained to a wonderful degree "of perfection. Foxhunting in North Carolina is “no child’s play” nor simple amusement. The successful huuter is a good and generally a reckless rider who does not confine himself to roads or paths and wait for the fox to run that way and come in sight in the course of the Chase. He'dashes into woods or through thickets or plowed fields, over fences, across creeks and ditches, and up and down hills at headlong speed, keeping as nearly up with the dogs as possible, urging them to increase their exertions, or “barking” straggling dogs on to the fresher trail. Besides this, there is lively competition among the hunters to be “in at the, death” and to be first at the placb where the “catch” is made, so as to get the '' brush.”— Cor. N. Y. Graphic. TnE Paris correspondent of the London Daiiy Tdigraph writes to that journal: “ There is rejoicing in the police over the capture of a droll scoundrel who has long given them worhj to do." This fellow hung around the Lyons Railway station about evening time.' On catching sight of a traveler who looked simple he made acquaintance in a lonely spot, and mysteriously offered to sell patent watch-chains' 5 ' of amazing -beauty and incredible strength. ‘ Try it,” said he;, * you’re a fine man, but even you can't break my chain.’ So the chain was twisted round the’"fine man’s wrists and snapped to. While he strug- ' gled with it.the vender would calmly lay him flat, take all his valuables, and make ofl'. For years this ruffian has been playing his ingenious game, going sometimes into the country. One night lately, at the Lyons Railway, he found a victim, chained him uj# plundered him. and ran away But the countryman chanced to lie particularly strong and swift. He broke the handcuffs, aud he caught the thief.”

Notifications Extraordinary.

All the Year Round gives some amusing instanfces of what it calls “ Notifications Extraordinary” .- lit slie time ot Napoleon 111. a notice was placed at the entrance to the Pavilion Henri Quatre, at St.-Germain, setting forth—“ The persons hereunder mentioned are not allowed to enter: 1. Men in work-ing-clothes; 2. Women without bonnets; 3. Servants without their masters or mistresses; 4. Children withouttheirparents; 5. Wives without their husbands; 6. Dogs without their muzzles.” Somebody blundered, but that somebody has the consolation of knowing - officials of the new regime are just as fallible. When the Prefect of Lyons decreed that cases and wine-shops must close their doors at half-past eleven he thought it necessary to warn all persons chancing ft/Tie in such places at that time of night that they must leave without beiqg compelled to do so. His brother of Grenoble capped this by announcing—No burial without religious rites would be permitted except with the expressed wish of the deceased—displaying as much consideration for. the defunct as the officials of the War Department did in ordering that, “ whenever a soldier on half-pay shall die, or whenever a soldier shall be placed upon half-pay,, he shall 'be informed of-it by the War Minister.” Impracticable rules are easily made; it is not so easy to make-a regulation defying evasion, a feat accomplished by the authorities of Denver when they notified all travelers over the townbridge that “no vehicle drawn by more than one animal is allowed to cross this bridge in opposite directions at the same time.” A clerical land-owner, finding his warrens were poaclied while he preached, sought to insure his game a quiet Sunday by warning- offenders in this wise: “ Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy. Beware, my friends; your names are all known. If you trespass on these fields, or touch my rabbits, you will be prosecuted according to the law.” The reverend rabbit-preserver was not inclined to make nice distinctions like the turnip-grower, who politely intimated: “ Ladies and gentlemen are requested not to steal thetufnips; other persons, if detected, will be prosecuted.” And he might have taken a lesson in liberality from a gentleman who put up a board inscribed : “ Ten shillings reward! Any person fiTund trespassing on these lands or damaging these fences, ou conviction, will receive the above reward.” It may be questioned if lie would have been as true to his word as the Aberdeen factor who was woqt to jog the memory of a laggard tenant v\‘ith —

To avoid all proceedings unpleasant, I beg you will pay wUut is due; If you do, you'll oblige me at present; If 3-ou don’t, why, i’ll oblige you. No writer of stories with a purpose ever' succeeded so thoroughly as Foote when he invented' his tale of the Grand Panjandrum for Macklin’s discomfiture, which remains unsurpassed as a piece of pure nonsense; but a Lahore hotel-keep-er’s notice to his customers would serve equally Well as a mnemonic test, for we might safely “ bet our pile” against any of his patrons finding a place in their memory for. such a wondrous example of English composition as this: “Gentlemen who come in hotel not say anything a bout their meals they will be charged for, and if they should say beforehand that’they are going out to “breakfast or dinner, etc., and if they say that they have not anything to eat they will be charged, and if not so, they will he charged, or unless they bring it to the notice of the manager of the place; and should they want to say anything they must order the manager for, and not anyone else, and unless they not bring it to the notice of the manager they will charge for the least things according to the hotel rate, and no fuss will be allowed afterward about it. Should any gentleman takp wall-lamp or candle-light from the public rooms they must.pay for it without any dispute its charges. Monthly gentlemen will have to pay my fixed rate made with them at the time, and should they absent day in the month they will not be allowed to deduct anything out of it because I take from them less rate than my usual rate of monthly charges.” Not long ago the girls of a Maine factory, rather than submit to a reduction of wages, gave the mill-owners a month’s notice, and at the same time issued a notice to the public in general, and the masculine public in particular, in these words: “We are now working out our notice; can turn our hands to most anything; don’t like to be idle, hut determined not to work for nothing when folks can afford pay. Who wants help? We can make bonnets, dresses, puddings, pies; knit, roast; stew and fry; make butter and cheese, milk cows and feed chickens, hoe corn, sweep out the kitchen, put the parlor to rights, make beds, split wood, kindle tires, wash and iron, besides being remarkably fond of babies; in fact, can do most anything the most accomplished housewife is capable of doing, not forgetting the scoldings on Mondays or Saturdays. For specimens of our spirit we’ll refer you to oUr overseers. Speak quick! Black eyes, fair forehead, clustering locks, beautiful as Hebe; can sing like a seraph and smile most bewitehingly. An Elderly geutleman who wants a good liouse-keeper or a nice young man in want of a wife —willing to sustain either character —in fact, we are in the market. Who bids? Going, going, gone! Who's the lucky man?” if these Maine girjls be ordinary samples of the American [factory girls, no wonder Sam Slick’sfritod put a notice over his gates at Lo.we.UjfV No cigars or Irishmen admitted within these walls” —and pleaded in justification that “the one would set a Marne a-going among the cottons, and the other among the gals.” The Yokohama (Japan) Herald relates a remarkable occurrence which shows that some of the Japanese have an extraordinary capacity lor withstanding the effects of fiery potations. An Osaka man offered a prize to anyone who would drink one sho —one quart, one pint and one-halt a gill—of a certain native liquor about as strong as spirits of wine. A coolie performed the feat, but died the same day from the effects of it. They buried him in a shallow grave, and about midnight the next clay the earth absorbed the liquor from his well-soaked body and he woke up from his debauch. Pushing oil the light soil that covered him he rose from his grave in a white shroud, and startled some robbers near by who were counting and dividing their money. They took the strange apparition for a ghost and ran Off in dismay. The coolie picked up the cash and reported to his wife the night, a sadder but richer taan than he was before his spree. Ait aggravated case ot misiiap is reported from Oil City, Pa. A gentleman entering a machine-shop there accidentally fell into a tank half full of mod and water. He sank to his hips in the mud, but had just caught hold of the top of the tank to pull himself out by main strength when a workman, 1 who was near-sighted, came along with a barrow full ot dirt and dumped it on him.

The Prince Imperial's Governor.

A Paris correspondent writes: The decease of Gen. Frosard, governor of the Prince Imperial, denrives the Bonapartists of one of their sraunchest men. ’The Geperal was appointed to the post, which was then considered to be of paramount importance, in 1867, at the period when half the sovereigns of Europe were the, guests of the Emperor Napoleon, whose power appeared to he so solidly established. The General, in recounting the honor so unexpectedly conferred upon him by the choice of the Emperor, gave the following particulars to an intimate Iriend, from whose journal they are taken: “My nomination,” said the Geperal, “ was a very simple matter. His Majesty sent for me, about ten days ago, and said to me; ‘My dear General, the greatest joy I ever hoped for, .after that of having a son, was to train and educate him. I find that I cannot do this. Business, work, my health, render it impossible. I have therefore turned my eyes to you. Will you undertake the management of Louis ? I have no advice to give you; no programme to propose to you. I say to you, merely, will you do what I should have wished to be able to do myself?’ The Emperor took my hand, and I felt that he could hardly refrain from tears. I made no reply, but nodded my head, by way of accepting. I was moved myself; and, for a moment, 1 lost sight of the sovereign confiding to my care the heir to his throne, and saw only the father who was putting his son into my hands, as a man, on the point of death, intrusts to bis best friend wjiat i# dearest to him in the world lie is leaving. What could have caused me this impression ? I don’t know. But there was an accent in His Majesty’s words that suggested the idea ot one who was reading a passage from a last will and testament. At length I found my voice, and said: ‘Yes.’ The Emperor pressed my hand f amily and, when the first moment of emotion was over, I asked Ilis Majesty to give me some directions respecting the plan to be pursued with liis son, but the Emperor interrupted iue, saying: ‘You will do, my ..dear General, exactly what you think best. I have nothing more to ask of you!’ This was all. But next morning I tried again to obtain from the Emperor some outline of the plan to be adopted iu regard to the Prince. I found the Emperor with the Empress. The Empress gave me some few instructions, such as all mothers would give in regard to a child; butthe Emperor said I then boldly laid down my conditions, and I did so with the utmost precision. I begged their Majesties to inform the father and mother of tjaechild that it was my intention to have them come to his rooms—or, rather, to mine—as seldom as possible. I added that I would fix the hours for the child’s going out, and demanded that no one should come to disturb me at any other hours. And I said that I should adhere, and expect the father anil mother and everyone else to adhere, rigidly to these conditions. After this everything went on smoothly. The child is a charming little fellow. He is not a wonderful genius and l am glad of it. As regards aptitude and intelligence, I should call him good middling. Were he the son of a grocer, going regularly to college, lie would he fifteenth or twentieth in a class of thirty boys. life special tendencies arc not yet very decided. He bites well into literature, and is on pretty well with Latin and Greek; as for mathematics he is nothing particular as yet. His special faculty as yet is drawing. ’Tis very odd, a Bonaparte an artist; if he were left to liimsqji. he would draw the whole day long. On the other hand he i 3 very daring and courageous. But I am not going to imitate the trick of boardingschool masters, who, when they cannot award any other prize to a stupid pupil, give him a prize for gymnastics, by way of flattering the vanity of liis parents. No, no; I shall make him study diligently, and shall keep him steadily at work at all the serious branches. He is a Prince and must learn to discharge well the duties.of that position; but he must also learn to be able to be no longer a Prinbe if such should be liis destiny.” The General, knowing Paris and France as he knew them, seems already to have seen the insecurity of the throne, which then appeared to be at once so brilliant and so strongly-based. His system of education was therefore well adapted to the conditions of the ease; and liis imperial pupil has done honor to the care anil foresight of his goyerner.

Dressing Well.

A writer in the Philadelphia Times says: Well-dressed people, whose colors do not, as the French woman said, swear at one another, are a pleasant sight, but appropriately and picturesquely dressed people are pleasanter—people whose dress is not a duplicate of every other dress one sees.* A dressmaker as yet to fortune and to fame unknown was lately discovered by an observant customer to be studying a picture, notafter Demorest or the Nouvcaux Modes , and arranging the garment in hand with a skillful blending ot modern fashion and artistic'efiect. The woman would have handled the pencil or chisel effectively had not her lot been cast among silks and luces, hut she was just iii the place where she was most needed. No danger of her dresses being overloaded with trimming, or looking on the wearers as if they belonged to some one else. Comparatively few people have the air ot being on easy term's with their attire, and the lady 1 who expressed a wish that human beings could be provided with an unchanging suit of feathers, like the birds, was conscious of the difficulty’ of bccoming familiar with what is never the same. The Saxon women are credited in history with not having changed the fashion of their dreas-Jozihg space of three centuries; but pictures of this fashion do not make one stgit for its return. Tlieir (ymer-chitfn, in particular,' nwatcaling the hair as effectually as the ugly head-tireSs of the “professed” nun, "were ’as different as possible from many of the, lovely hats of the presenkoday, beneath which curls and leathers often blend in picturesque confusion. But why because of this must a woman whom we saw yesterday, whose hair didn’t curl, and upon whom cut is would have been very much out of place, tie Iter locks in a dreadful bunch, and, by some unknown process, persuade each individual hair to stand out in a different direction ? Such a result could scarcely have been attained except through power of electricity or of a terrible fright? But the woman evidently had the idea that she was in the fashion, and went on her way with a sublime disregard ot Greek Statuary or the fitness of things. “Jane Maria Holbrook went to the pasture ‘to call the cattle home’ with a black, lace mask veil strapped tight over her sharp nose. She, too, poor Child, has aspirations!” So writes the clever author of a charming little story, and in writing thus explains the mystery, of much incongruous dressing. It is “aspirations.” Voting is a poll try snow, and the victors bring out the roosters.