Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 July 1876 — Page 3

The Rensselaer Union. RENSSELAER, - - INDIANA.

“7 THE LIBERTY BELL. PwnjkDßLraiA, Jolt 4, ITT#. High In tba belfry the Liberty Bell Hung In the duek of a twilight dim: Slumbered the tonee which were soon to Ull Of a »«tion’n birth In a lofty hymn. “ They dare not do it,” the rinser eald— The ancient ringer who waited there— And elghed a« be xhook hU griezlod head— A loyal elgh that was half a prayer. 1 They" In the council-chamber eat. Men of etalnlea* and wide renown. The brotdered lace and the broad-brimmed hat Were aide by aide. From field, from town, Potomac'a River and Boelon'e Bay, Had gathered those who, at need, with life, Would raneom the home of their hearts, and stay Its stanch defenders In peace or strife, Hancock and Adams and all the rest. Their names are bright on the honored scroll. To-day of oar treasures accounted beet, Glory’s Indelible muster-roll. Little they knew, when the brave hands signed The bold defiance, that years to be Should prize them lovers of all mankind. And loved wherever mankind Is free. Below In the street and the open square Swayed an impetuous human tide; One to another, ” Will they dares” Questioned, and timidly lips replied. Till suddenly forth from the Stats-House flung An eager boy, “ Ring I ring!" his shout, i As he clapped his hands; and the lien tongue Of the great bell thundered Its answer dot. O Liberty Brill yon were cast In mold For a noble end, for a nse anbllmel O Liberty Belli now worn and old And silent, your musical echoes chime Still from the hour, a century gone. When a hundred peals to the blithe air gave The hope and the promise of Freedom’s dawn, And nerved men's souls to an issue gravel Through spaces of crystal the hours crept While the ringer stood in the belfry’s shade, And the crowd grew thick, and the grand bell slept Till the Declaration was sternly made. A million bells will be ringing clear Under the ample summer suy When the Nation keeps, in its hundredth year, The day of her birtn in this fair July. But dimpled fingers of boy and girl Will touch with a tender and sacred awe The old cracked bell. Were it set with pearl And ruby, it would not their reverence draw As now, when the tale of its past is told, And round it graven the lines they see Proclaiming, in letters strong and bold, To the land and its people, liberty. —Margaret E. Sangiter , in Harper'» Bazar.

MY AUNT’S LEGACY.

My father is a farmer, in sufficiently easy though not exactly affluent circumstance*; and he, with my mother and brothers, live in the house where all of us, except my mother, first saw the light. At the time when the event here recorded took place I lived with them, but I have been away from home for many a year now. The house is a large, rambling building, constructed of red bricks, and abounding in numerous long, low rooms. We are simple, primitive people, and general-, ly sit and take our meals in a room leading out of the kitchen. But we have two state parlors, which, in our eyes at least, are very grand, and which we use on those rare occasions when we wish to make a show in the eyes of the world; or rather in the eyes of those few and isolatedmembers of it who, at long Intervals, come our way. My name is Sebastian Gregg Felton, and I am one of a family of five, all boys, in which I occupy the generally unenviable position of being in the middle. I say generally unenviable, because, as a rule, the eldest and youngest of a family get the best of it, and the others rather go to the wall. But in my case I had nothing to complain of, as I happened to be my mother’s prime favorite. Several reasons conspired to produce this result. To .begin with, I had been a very delicate child and great doubts had been entertained as to the possibility of rearing me. Children that cause most anxiety are generally liked best, and, as I had rewarded my mother for all the care bestowed upon me by growing into a tall, broad-shouldered fellow, who seemed quite to have forgotten what ill-health was, she naturally felt grateful to me and inclined to think me a very meritorious character. Another thing that disposed her in my favor was that I had been infinitely more troublesome than all her other boys put together, as, whenever my health allowed it, I had been from my earliest . infancy in some mischief or other; though, to do myself justice, I had never been guilty of anything mean or underhanded. There was one ojher circumstance that made me looked upon with favor, not only by my mother, but by the whole family as well, and that was that I was considered to have expectations. In other words, I was thought to have a very good chance of being heir to an aunt of my father’s, who had a very comfortable little fortune of her own. But I will talk of this by and by when I have told the reader a little more about myself. At the time of this story I was one and twenty years old, six feet high, broadly built enough to match my height and —my native modesty recoils from writing thievery good-looking. In disposition I was lighthearted and fond of fun, my former leaning toward mischief having by no means deserted me. Though but one-and-twenty, I had for some years been engaged to Claribel Myer, the daughter of a well-to-do miller who lived not very far from us. She was a pretty, lively little being, with dark hair and eyes, a roguish smile and a sweet figure, and she was a great pet with eveiybody. But to proceed to the more important part of my tale. One evening, as we were all sitting at tea, the postman came to the door—in itself so unusual an event that it caused quite an excitement. There was a general < rush to see what he had got , and L being nearest, was out first and obtained the letter. It was addressed to my mother, and everybody was much interested in the opening and reading of it. It turned out to be from the aunt from whom I was sup- . posed to hare my expectations, and after whom I received my beautiful second name -us Gregg. Here let me stop for a moment to inform the reader that our notion as to my chance was by no tne'ans unfounded. It did not arise from a general feeling of covetousness on our part, or from the idea that seems common in some families that every one is bound to leave them property. Shortly before I was born Miss Gregg wrote to my fattier, saying that, should the expected child prove a boy, she wouid be much complimented if he would give it her name, and concluded with certain dark and somewhat mysterious hints which it seemed to him could bear but one interpretation, f need hardly observe that when I appeared, and turned out to he a boy, I was duly christened according to my aunt’s wishes. She had never set eyes upon me, or, indeed, taken the slightest notice of me from that moment to this; but still the hope of expectations, if K burned rather dimly sometimes, never went out.

When it was discovered from whom the letter t ame the excitement naturally Increased greatly, and, my mother’s spectacles not being forthcotaingquiekly enough to suh the impatience of the company, as I waa considered to hare the -greatest interest in the matter and waa also believed to be the beat scholar in the family, the epistle waa put into my hands With an ex bortation to read it akiud. I did ao, and read as follows t Duab MAOAJt -Tour son, who besrs my asms, must by this dm* be pretty well, U not quite, grown up, uadi huva • fsney to so* vrhst he Is Use. with your permission I shall, therefore come to your boo*# on Wliflext, and. al«o with your per initiation, wUI remain the fight. I ami Sear limiam, your, truly, 6RK(K} ', When I had finished die perusal, silence reigned for some time; everybody was too much astonished to speak. When they recovered themselves they all turned to me. “Well, Sebastian,” said nay father, ** this is a chauce for you; mind you make the best of it.” “ You know, Sebastian,” chimed in one of my brothers, ‘ you have a very pleasant way with old ladies when you choose, and now is the time for showing it.” “Yes, indeed, remarked ipy eldest brother; “it will all depend upon your pleaaipg honor not, whether yon come in for the money.” “Of course Sebastian will please her,” retorted my mother, taking my part against them. Then, not wishing to lose the opportunity of a little advice on her own account, she went on: “But do mind, Sebastian, that you are particularly nice to her, and very attentive and differential, and ” “ Oh, please don’t give me any more directions, mother,” I answered, stopping my ears. “ I shall get so confused I shan’t know what to do at all.” So saying I left the room and wqnt to tell Claribei what was about to happen. This important letter had come on a Wednesday. The day intervening between its arrival and my aunt’s was spent by my mother in thoroughly cleaning our already thoroughly clean rooms, and m preparing all sorts of nice things for the expected guest. In looking back now upon all these preparations and remembering why they were so very carefully attended to, I can’t help thinking that we ware rather of the nature of toadies; but still it happened, and in my character of faithful historian I must tell the truth. At last the time when the important visitor might be looked for had come, and we were all in a flutter of expectation. My mother had put on her best areas, a steelgray silk, and a cap trimmed witii cherrycolored ribbons, that was supposed to suit her better than anything else she had. I had yielded to the advice and entreaties of my surroundings and had dressed myself very carefully in a new suit I had just had made.

We all hovered about near the door, trying to look unconcerned, but failing signally. After a time the sound of approaching wheels told us that the person for whom we were looking was near at hand. Another moment ana the omnibus which plied in the neighborhood drew up before our garden gate, and a lady, that I rightly supposed was my aunt, alighted. She was a small, spare woman, with a somewhat severe expression of face, and a sharp, piercing eye, that seemed at once to take stock of eveiythlng within a mile of her, and that had the effect of any thing in the world rather than that of setting you at your ease. It was with an inward trembling—by no means concealed from one another, if hidden from her eyes—that we went forward to receive our new-ly-arrived relative; but we managed it pretty well, and before long she was safely installed in the smaller parlor. Then after the interval of a few moments, my mother suggested that she might like to go to her room and remove her traveling dress, and as she at once took this suggestion the rest of us were left with a little breathing time. As far as I was concerned, however, this respite was a very short one. In drawing up a plan of the course of action to be pursued, which had been done in family conclave with the utmost amount of care and deliberation, it bad been arranged that as my aunt might like a private interview with me ; I should he, apparently by accident, in the best parlor when she name down stairs again, and that my mother should adroitly withdraw, of course also by accident, and leave us there together. | Accordingly, not long after the two ladies had gone up stairs, I went to the appointed spot ana assumed what seethed to me the position of a spider in a web looking for flies. The position was by no means a pleasant one to me, but T consoled myself with the reflectioa that on this occasion at least the fly was,by no means an unwary one. I had uot been waiting many minutes before the ladies came down aga|n. I went to the door of the room as gracefully as I could, and my mother, upon seeing me, remarked, witn an air of iinprohiptu that really did her credit: “Oh, here is Sebastian; will you excuse me for a few minutes if I leave you to him?” My aunt, little suspecting that this was part of a deep-laid plot, bowed witti-old-fashioned politeness, by no means want- , Inw Sn aiaiaUuaai Awes) jitvpitnrlnrtol ltsteaaAl# lug in BinicnziCoß) turn ouiiuiuucu iiubcix to my care. There was something in the solemnity of tho whole proceeding, coupled Jrith the knowledge of what designing bumbugs we all were, that made keeping .properly grave very difficult tome. But with an effort T managed to represithe smile that tried so hard to rise to my lips, and went forward to take possession of my aunt. On each side of the fire-place, which was filled at this moment with gailylcolored paper—for the time of the year prae summer—stood an armchair, very oldfashioned, like the rest of our fura%re, with thin, spindley legs and wide mats covered with chintz. As these were-the moat dignified looking objects in the room, I thought the best thing would! be to offer one of them to the lady to whom I was‘doing the honore. Accordingly Med her up to one of them, turned away #Hh the most courtly bow I could maa|ge t and going to the one oppoeite to down. But, oh horror! in the course of the rummage that had taken place in Jhls room to prepare it for the expected gpest the seats of these two chairs had beenktaken out, and, little as We suspected? It, mismatched. No sooner did my weight come upon it than the treacherous ftfindation on which I had hoped secure!# t 6 rej ose, gave w*7. the seat tilted up, imd in an Instint I found myself siting through the framework, my knees amfimy nose almost in contact, and utterly uolble to extricate myself. % It had happened so suddenly and fbnexpectedly that at first “I was too natch astonished to think of anything but |ny. self; but in an instant I rememberedjmy aunt and looked across at her. My pelings may be imagined when I distorted, that she was in exactly the same pospon as myself, as utterly unable to helpier-

self, and evidently m much astonished as I was. Just as I caught sight of her, however, her self -possession seamed to return, and, in angry accents, rendered somewhat uncertain by the inconvenient poature in which ahe was, she said :r 7 “ So, Mr. Sebastian! this is the way In which ydu treat your relations tWIT I have all my life, been possessed of a very keen sense of the ludicrous. Whether that possession he an advantage or not I have nev<er quite boon able to determine, there is so much to be said on both sides. The position in which wo now were, and which, indeed, was funny enough to have, tickled the gravest of mankind, amused me so irresistibly that, regardless >of the consequences, I burst into a hearty peal of laughter. u ; ‘< 1 • \ Of course the madness of this proceeding became apparent to me at once, and, piaking a desperate effort to check my mirth and to speak gravely , I began s \“ I assure you, Aunt Gregg ——” “ There’s no good in assuring me anything,” interrupted my aunt. “If you were to go ou assuring me from now till the last moment of my life, I should not believe you.” “ But, my dear aunt ” “Don’t dear aunt met Do you think I’m capable of putting two and two together and makiug fourT And When I find you alone in a room, and then find myself in such a position as this, do you suppose that I am going to believe that you didn’t do it on purpose ?” Evidently my aunt had no strong perception of what was funny, or she would never have spoken of what had happened jn this way. Her gravity tickled me even more than the accident itself, and I had to bite my lip nearly through before I could get out: “ But do try to believe ” ‘* I shan’t try to do anything of the kind I Is your behavior likely to make me belieye in your innocence f If you are sorry for what has happened, why dont you come and help me out, instead of stopping there laughing like an idiot!” “ I really can’t move. I would get out if I could,” I answered, struggling faintly. “But lam fixed tight, and can do nothing.” And again I was nearly choked by my e Sorts to swallow my laughter. “ Nonsense!” Miss Gregg returned, in a tone of increased severity; “people of your age are never helpless unless they choose to be so.” And thereupon she relapsed into dignified silence, leaving me to feel more ridiculous than I had ever done in my life before. We were not left many moments In this most unenviable situation before the door of the room opened and my mother came in. With surprise and horror she perceived the plight in which we were placed, and, running to my aunt, helped her up, apologizing to the worthy lady enough, as it seemed to me, to have excused the most dire injury. Miss Gregg once more began to express her opinion that I had done it on purpose, when my mother thought it better to Join with her and abuse me soundly. My assurances that the misfortune was a pure accident convinced her of my innocence, though they had quite failed to convince my aunt, and she came over to my side at once, and tried, with all the eloquence of which she was possessed, to win the irate old lady; but in vain. Miss Gregg was most fully persuaded that I had intention-* ally offered to her dignity the insult it had recently received, and she continued to express her hostile sentiments in the most indignant terms. We proceeded for some time to talk in the most persuasive and convincing manner at our command, but to no purpose. My aunt would not listen to what we had to say in my defense, and declared persistently and in the most emphatic terms that she would go home at once dad never enter our house again. We knew too well what effect such conduct would have upon us, that it would be the end of all otyr hopes; and we were getting more and more * into despair, when suddenly a bright idea came to me. I would go and fetch Clarlbel. I had the utmost belief in her fiower of soothing people.

My mother soon understood from the signs I made her what I thought of doing, and as she evidently approved my idea I left her trying to pacify my auat and persuade her of my innocence, and started off. It did not take me long to get over the ground between our house ana Mr. Myer’s, ■ or to explain what had happened to his daughter; and in a very short time Claribel and I returned together. It turned out just as I expected. Although my aunt was still very angry, and at first Would not even look at the intended mediator, before long she had given in to her pretty, coaxing ways—who, indeed, could help giving in when Claribel set to work to make them ?—and was sitting at the dinner table in our best parlor on my father’s right hand, with my dear girl on the other side of her. Of course, after this there was no good in pretending to keep up her resentful feelings, and my aunt spent the rest of the day and the succeeding night under our roof as she had originally intended. I did my very best during mat time to cancel, by constant attention, the bad impaession that had been made upon her. And I suppose I in great measure succeeded, for, as rite was going away, tod as I was standing at the door of the coach in which she was seated, waiting for It to start, she put her, hand upon mine an(l said: “ I believe that you did not intentionally insult, me, after all, Sebastian.” Another moment and the coach had driven off, and I had seen my aunt for the last time.

It is now some years since this memorable event happened. I have become a fanner on my own account, and am settled not far from the place in which Mr. Myer and my father still live. Claribel has changed from a lively girl into a sweet, contented woman, rad we are surrounded by numerous rosy-cheeked, healthy-looking children. Not very long after her visit to our house,my aunt died rad left me her heir. The property was enough to enable me to purchase the farm I now possess, rad to marry Claribel at once. We are very happy, rad never forget to associate the memory of Mias Gregg with our happiness. But even at this distance of time we can never think without a smile of the accident that so nearly made shipwreck of all our hopes. And of all the stories I tell iriy children as we sit round the fire of a winter’s evening, the one they like best to hear is the history of how I nearly lost my aunt’s legacy.— London Argosy. A Thektoh editor makes the statement for the good of correspondents, that they need not commence their communications, “ I take my pen in hand,” as he don’t case whether they write with their toes or with the pen in their mouth, so they send the news Nkyhb let any man have It to say, “ I have dragged you up.”

PERSONAL AND LITERARY.

~Mr»- A. T. Stewart is seventy-two years (if age. New York Commercial Advcr- • liter calls Sergeant Bates an old Roamin’ soldier. . # „ is the name of one of the chieftains of the Osage Nation of Indiaw.. dA' —Maggie Mitchell, It is said, will retire from the stage at the cpd of this year on account of finpaiml health. r-In England they drtn’t say “ Forger Winslow,” as we do. They insist upon calling him “fiie Rev. E. D.” —“ GaW Hamilton” is rather short and dumpy in figure. Her face 1* not handsome; but she Ut , one of tba spiciest and most entertaining ladies in Washington. —George Law, the wealthy New York banker, is nearly sixty years of age and weighs 800 pounds, but » tender-hearted and sheds tears when speaking of his mother. —.Hie mediate cause of Commodore Vanderbilt’s illness is said to be excessive smokihg. It is a pitiful thing to see a young man of eighty years thus broken down by the indulgence of a pernicious habit.— Detroit fret I*reu. —Ax-Handle” Smith, a famous agitator among the workmen of New York, died at Bellevue Hospital a few days ago. He earned his living by making handles for «d2es, mallets and other ship-carpen-ters’ tools; and it was among ship-carpen-ters that his influence was most fe t. He was scrupulously honest, pious, a temperance advocate, a liberal politician, and a small patterned philosopher. It is scarcely necessary to add that he died in abject poverty. His age was seventy-three years. —Mr. John Neal, the Maine author who died recently was not) a friend of classical English. Writing in 1828 he said: “I do not pretend to write English; that is, Ido not pretend towritewhatthe English themselves call Englishr-I do not, and L hopc I* never shall, write wbat is now worshiped under the name of classical English. It is no natural language—it never was—it never will be spoken alive on this earth, and therefore ought never to be written. We have dead languages enough now, but the deadest language that I ever met with or heard of was that in use among the writers of Queen Anne’s day.” —A stickler for correct orthography writes as follows to the Pottsviile (Pa.) Miner: “I red anartickle on spelling lately, and found sum kurius things which mite bear reprinting,, and which mite interest yure readers. There wuz a time when people rrte the word ‘ music* musicke and musick; but kustom has drqped the ‘k’ from, all words but words ov one syllable. Now, Y did our lexicografers not drop the ‘k’ in such words too ? It wood be shorter and easier to write, ‘ Die gave Jac a kic and a noc on the bac with a thic stic.’ And Y do the words convey and inveigh, deceit and receipt, not terminate with more uniformity ? It wuz such words that diskuraged yure correspondent so much that he never learned to spell korrectly, as U may C in this artickle.”

CENTENNIALITIES.

—The Centennial grousds comprise 460 acres. —Philadelphia can accommodate 150,000 visitors. —lt Is said the daily expenses will be reduced to $6,000 in a few days. —A drum used at the battle of Geraa,antown is among the Revolutionary relics. —The State of Nevada-has a quartz mill iu operation in. Machinery Hall. —Visitors from the Northwestern States are becoming numerous on the grounds everyday. —An individual has been found who boasted he had seen the whole exhibition in one day., —The Brazilian exhibit of precious stones reveals the immense mineral wealth of that vast Empire: —Machinery Hall is the hottest building on the grounds. An hour spent there in the middle of the day is a good substitute for a Turkish hath. —There is a press in Machinery Hall that cuts, prints, counts and folds 32,000 copies or the Philadelphia Timet, from stereotyped forms,, in one hour. —The chair in which Washington sat at the council of Trenton is carefully preserved, tod can be seen in Independence Hall, and also the table of William Penn. —Hie Government building contains an exhibit of the products of the Indian tribes of North America from the Atlantic to the Pacific,, and from Mexico to the Arctic Ocean. —Russia’s exhibit in Machinery Hall'is not yet complete, but it is rapidly approaching a point where it will he considered finished. It consists chiefly of army and navy machinery.

—Packages of goodsy designed for exhibition, are still unopened in Agricultural Hall, Machinery Hall and the Main Building. Some of the exhibitors are extremely tardy about Coming forward. —The Swiss exhibit 111 the Mata Build-' ing is highly characteristic of the sturdy champions of liberty in Europe. It affords ample facilities for the study of the social and political conditions of the brave little Republic. —Spain’s exhibit Hall is slowly approaching completion. Those having charge of it are determined to have the display in good shape if it takes all summer. It mitt look well if it is ever really completed. —Switzerland displays & watch at the Centennial with a circumference threefourths that of a gold dollar rad jjist equaling that piece in weight. Its price is SBOO, yet it does not contain more than seventy-five cents' worth of material. —The continuous additions made to Horticultural Hall render it increasingly attractive. The growth and development of the trees and plants both inside the building and on the plateau for outdoor plants daily increase and heighten its beauty. —The little building,occupied by fancy goods and a few specimens of the genus homo from Morocco attracts a great many visitors. But the inmates of the institution are not the least hit sociable to visitors who cannot speak Morocco or seme - other kind of leather. —At the Centennial, the Philadelphia ladies cry out, “ Isn’t it cunning?” New York ladies, “How superbly lovely!” Boston ladies, “Ah, how exquawrite!” Louisville ladies, “Be«tiful. fo’ sliuah!" Chicago ladies, “ Oh, my; I wish I owned that!” while the genuine Yankee girls from the rural districts exclaim, “ Geewhtauntay, bat ain’t tliet ’ere a stunner, neow?” ( —The royal striped Ichthyophalmite, on exhibition in the Agricultural building at the Centennial was severely bitten Tty the wild Psittacogidssom of Borneo yesterday,

and in endeavoring to separate them the keeper struck the gray-nosed Aagiomonoepennous on the nett) with tfi iron bar, instantly killing it. The Acantbopteiyglmw has bcemsold, because it is so difficult for the Commissioners to obtain the Hypotrachuliupui which constitute its only rboa. —Burlington Hawk-Eye. —Thq aged party with new sight, second growth ha& and supplemental teeth, has been rather late putting in an appearance this year, but patient waiting is at last rewarded. The party is a woman this time, hails from the neighborhood of Alexandria, Va., and answers, if she can hear, to the name of Barber. Twenty years ago, when she was seventy, Mrs. Barbor became blind, and her hair turned a silvery white. Within the past year her sight has returned so that she wean no glasses. She has a fine new growth of hair and four hitherto unsuspected teeth. In all other respects the story is of the regulation pattern. The lady goes to the Centennial, of course.

INCIDENTS AND ACCIDENTS.

—A negro woman in Atlanta, Ga., a few days since, met with a sudden death from eating a quantity of ice after getting overheated. —An eccentric citizen of Cape May carried a rfope in his pocket) for forty years, his explanation being that he was liable at any time to wish to kill himself, and always meant to have the means handy. A few days ago he hanged himself with the old rope. —‘The Nashville American says: “ Justice Meacham has a mocking-bird that was bequeathed him by his daughter Alice, who died about two years ago. At her death the bird ceased to sing. Saturday evening he determined to take it over to hia daughter’s grave an# there release it. That night the bir^' commenced to sing, and has been singing at intervals ever/since.” —IA man named Kerwin stabbed another named Gray at Georgetown; Cal., recently. Gray was lying at the point of death from loss of blboa by secondary hemorrhage, Kerwin offered to furnish blood for transfusion into the dying man’s system, and accordingly about four ounces of blood drawn from Kerwin’s-arm was injected into Gray’s. The latter, rallied considerably, but aid not reCoven —Don’t meddle with the boys. A Troy (N. Y.) man caught a number bathing in a pond on his premises recently, and seizing the lads’ clothing hid it, and awaited developments. The developments Boon came for the boys apparently took ho notice of the man, but after a little while they managed to surround him, and, getting him away from the clothes, pushed him into the pond, nearly drowning him before he was rescued. —Northampton, Mass., had a fire the other evening which destroyed the First Congregational Church, on Meeting-House hill. The fire caught iu the bs&ement of the church from a leak in the gas-pipe, and the building burned with great rapidity. It was one of the most notable churches in the Connecticut valley, built in 1812, on the same spot as the one where Jonathan Edwards used to preach and the still earlier log church of 1656. —The New Bedford (Mass.) Mercury says: , “ A daughter of Mr. Stephen Rich, of Truro, met with a singular and fatal accident at her father’s house, the other morning. Passing by a stove, the door of which was open, she struck her knee directly on the pan (sometimes called the ‘crazy hone’) with considerable force against a sharp corner of the door. Medical aid was summoned as soon as possible, but she died before it reached her. She was fourteen years of age.” _ —A man purporting to be a peddler stopped at a house in Rochester, N. Y., ana solicited the lady to purchase a superior article of bluing. She took a package, which was tied up in coarse, brown S. On opening the parcel it was to contain not bluing, but a mixture of gunpowder and a brown dust-like substance resembling dynamite. The contents were separated, and a portion of each being poured out in the yawl, were tested by tie application of fire. The flashes in the cases of both substances clearly established their nature. It is fortunate that the occupants of the house discovered the deception before any serious result occurred.

—A little four-year-old son of Mr. Griffith, who lives at Union Point, Ga., was looking over the curb of a well fifty feet deep, when he lost his balance and fell in. A negro girl, who was drawing water at the time, gave the alarm. A crowd soon gathered, and a man descended by the rope. It being dark he coaid not see the boy, and accordingly he called oat to him, believing, however, that the fall had killed him, or he was drowned. To his great surprise the boy answered back cheerily, and, getting down to the water, he found the lad astraddle of a plank, > with one leg broken, a shoulder-blade dislocated, ana a terrible cut across the forehead. In falling he had struck against the bucket, but had discretion enough to grasp and straddle the plank. The physicians are of the opinion that he will recover. —At Minneapolis, a few days since, David Pascal Spafford, one of the oldest and most highly respected residents of that city, stepped into the mill of Todd, Haven & Co., on business, and sat down, without thinking of danger, on the table .of the butting cut-off saw. The saw under or in the table upon which Mr. Bpafford seated himself is worked by an improved lever, which raises half the saw instantaneously, if necessary, above the surface of the table, throws it iato gear, and works it at the rate of 8,000 revolutions a minute. In a few moments after he had seated himself his foot accidentally came in contact with the lever raising the saw until it touched him, and then, springing forward to escape from the sudden and fearful torture, he rested the entire weight of one foot on the lever, throwing the swiftly-revolving saw up, it cutting him so that oas of ni* legs and hips was almost severed from the body. Death resulted instantly from the effect of the wounds.

If is very seldom that a bank reaps any profits from a “run,” but the Dry Dock Savings Bank of Albany seems to be an exception. Frightened by the closing of another bank in the city, the depositors have been withdrawing their funds from the institution first named as rapidly as they could; and as their interest does not accrue until July they forfeit it. The bank will make several thousand dollars by the operation. The New York Tribune, makes out that the number of cabin passengers who have reached this country flrom Europe ftpm January to June 1 was 11,864. Last year 10.455 arrived. Of the number this year, 3,885 were aliens, an(l 7.979 naturalized citizens who were here before. This makes a poor showing for the success of the Exposition, so far as foreigners are concerned.

Ik. W_* P.IW. One of the most frequent habitues of Fifth avenae is an old Foibh Count who has taken his dally stroll there for' bvtir twenty years. His story is as sttfifigo as any that the novelists invent. Twentyeight yeats ago he was cast into prison for taking pan in the Polish bmurreotion. He was betrothed to a young woman, and she visited hhn frequently in prison and cheered him with hopes of speedy re* "is would be necessary, a great deal of it. He possessed considerable wealth, but owing to hia situation could not command ft. She suggested that If it were is her hands ahe could rue it to get him oul of prison. They would then leave the country toEther, marry and be happy. His faith her devotion was strong. The property that was his became here. Her influential friends were at work, she said, and he would be released very soon. One day her usual visit was not made. Another day passed, and Another, and she did not come. A week passed, and the lonely prisoner then learned that he had been deceived. His beautiful ed bride had turned hia property into cash, and eloped with a man whom he had) always regarded as a friend. A year afterward hu prison doors opened and he walked forth to freedom. A few brief inquiries satisfied- him that the woman and her accomplices bad made their way across the ocean. He determined to-follow them, and oame to New York. It was months before he got any trace of them. He then learned that they had'gone westward, and he went to St. Louis in .pursuit. They had gone to'New Orleans ;he followed them. For over a year he continued the chase, visiting in turn almost every city in the United States, hut never overtaking them. At last he returned to New York, and in less than a week he met them face to face in Broadway. He upbraided the woman and fiercely threatened the man. The upshot of all was a proposal from the latter that so shocked the Count that he turned away speechless. Said the scoundrel in substance : “ Tike her now and marry her if ydtt wish to. I don't want her any longer. The Count never saw them again. Two years later he heard of the woman’s death Inr suicide, aad he procured a decent burial tor the body. What became of her companion he neither knew nor cared.— Buffalo Courier.

The German Empire.

The- German Statistical Office has just published an abstract of the results of the census of 1875. This document shows a large increase of the population, if We compare it to the foregoing census. On the 81st of December, 1875, the total of the population amounted t0'42,757,812 inhabitants. On the Ist of December, 1871, 41,058,792 inhabitants were accounted, including, of course, the troops then stationed ini France. According to these figures, there has been an increase of 1,099,020 inhabitants within four years, or as much as 1.01 per cent, a year. Within the years 1867-71. the population had increased by 951,617, or only 0.58 per cent, (average! a year. In the latter figures Alsace and Lorraine have been included. Within the last ceqsus period, the population therefore increased by 700,000 in* in the foregoing period of four yearn. Only a part of this difference may be ascribed to the war between Germany and France. The principle reasons of the increase lie in a reduction of emigration and in a strong over-balance of births against deaths. If we look at the figures of each separate country we find that the population of Prussia alone increased by 1,062,216 inhabitants, whilst Us average yearly increase has amounted to 1.07 per ent., against 0.69 of the foregoing period of four years. The increase was, however, greatest, in Saxony, where the population of .two millions and a half increased by 200,000 Inhabitants—that Is, 1.92 per cent, a year, against l.V*per cent, in the foregoing census periqg. In Bavaria, Wurtemberg, Hesse# and Aden, the growth of the population has not been as strong as in Prussia and Saxony. Of the other twenty States, only Mecklenburg, Lubeck-Waldeck and Alsace-Lorraine ’have suffered such a reduction in the number of their inhabitants. The reduction is, however, very much less important than it had been iu the foregoing period of four years, and the sole cause was emigration, which in these States took place on a larger scale—in Alsace-Lorraine on. account Qf political reasons, hi the other States on account of the slow state of industrial progress.— London Economist.

Infusorial Earth.

The numerous uses which the siliciona remains of the microscopic animals, known as diatoms or infusoria, have found Is illustrated fay the following list givemby Gruene and Hagcmann, the proprietors of the large German mines at ODerohe aad Hutzel: 1. As pure silica in the finest state of divirion, it is employed in the manafoeure of water glass, water glass soap,, artificial stone, cements, fatty lute ana ultramarine. 2. Because it is a poor conductor of heat, it Is employed forpackingsteate toad hot air apparatus and pipes, where- It excels every other material in lightness, for isolating fire-boxes and catching radiant heat by protecting shields filled wSth the earth, etc., for filling the space around money safes and ice-chasts, for lining and encasing the conduits for melted metals in founderies, and in laboratories as support for heating vessels, teat break 8. Because of its property of absorbing liquids, in which it surpasses that of any other material previously known, it is employed for rapid Miration, making precipitates solid, ranking dynamite aad other explosives, aad making cheap colors, because the infusoria tale colors like cotton. In surgery it la used for absorptive bandages rad supports. The abifiiy es infusorial earth to take up five time* its earn weight of liquid, and to suck it up rapidly without becoming fluid, ewables it to replace the filter press. It is simply necessary to surround the filter with a layer of dry infusoria* in order to obtain itt a very short space of time the same result that is attained by ordinary filtration in days or even weeks. Simple drying restores to the infusorial earth its absorptive power. 4. Owing to its great volume rad slight weight, it is employed for packing veiy fragile objects and glass apparatus, etc., ana mixing with plaster of Paris for making light casts. 5. Owing to its fineness, it is used as a cheap polish for glass and metal, rad Ja an excellent material for cleaning greasy vessels and pieces of machinery. —lt has been left to the Nevada China, man to find a way of utilizing worn-out oil cans. He fills ttiem with earth, and, piling one on top of another, toon has a wall capable of carrying the roof of M* low-studded hut. /