Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 August 1876 — Page 3

The Rensselaer Union. RENSSELAER, - - INDIANA.

TWO LETTERS. ' " - •*« If you were dead and in wme silent Talley, A red wild reee were blooming on your grave, In some lone fen where idle breezea dally And eomberly green willow-branches wave; 'With willing feet I oft would stand above you, And with aad eyes your moss-grown name spell out, Thinking that once each said to each “I love you,” In those far duys before we dared to doubt. But no, you are not dead; the world adores you, Kneels at your feet and calls your face divine; Praises your beauty, worships till it bores you. Knows not and cares not that you once were mine. Edith. I care not that your blood is flowing In splendid radiant cheek or dainty wrist; That on your supple throat there still is glowing A queenly coll of pearl and amethyst; Our love is dead, so you are dead thrice over. Though on your face have dropped no mourner's tears; And you and I, who once were maid and lover, Are fur.her sundered thau the furtherest spheres. But stars and spheres— Oh! what a silly letter A plain and prosy man will sometimes write. I’m sentimental, and you can't do better Than laugh at me, once more, with all your might. The fact, you see, la this: I can't forget you; In all our quarrel I alone was wrong; And I’ve been blue enough since last I met you, A month ago; it seems ten times as long. Oh! Edith, could I only go and see you, And tell you all the things 1 want to say! I cannot give you up: I will not free you; I love you, Edith. May I come to-day! BIBS. Why, Tom, dear Tom, of course you may— Yon see I call you Tom again; So please come over right away. You oddest, truest, best of men. To tell the truth, I’ve pitied you. And you’ve, most likely, pitied me; But then, you know, it woulon’t do To let the wor Id my pity see. You men, of course, are very wise, And think you know a woman’s heart; But bats and owls have brighter eyes Than you to understand her art. You were just hateful, though, that night; But I'm afraid I made yoq so; Tom, drop our quarrel out of sight— Forgive, forget, and let it go. Well. Tom, I’ll not write any more. Although, indeed, I’ve much to say; My music master's at the door, So au revoir, and come to-day. P. S.—You frighten me to death With ’•willow,” ’•valley.” ‘‘grave” and “fen.” Dear me! I almost lost my breath! Tom, don't you dare do so again! —Chat. Z. Richardson.

DEACON H.

The greatest of these is charity.” The morning meal was completed; and as Deacon H. took iiis Bible for the usual devjtions, he cast a satisfied glance around the room, and on the faces of the rosycheeked little group that surrounded the table. The chapter chosen was the thirteenth of First Corinthians. “ Faith, hope, charity,” read the Deacon at its close, “ but the greatest of these is charity.” Then followed a long prayer, in which the Deacon, after giving the Lord various bits of information concerning matters of which it was quite essential lie should be cognizant, earnestly invoked the graces of the Spirit, and solicited help for the duties of the day. “ Stop a moment, husband,” said Mrs. H., as the Deacon, at the close of the exercise, was preparing to leave the room. “ I forgot to mention that Mrs. Conner called here yesterday. She wants to know if you can find a place in your store for her eldest boy. Poor woman! she is in great distress. I inferred from what she said that her husband is drinking again; and her boy has for weeks been vainly seeking for work. I gave her some sewing, for which she seemed very grateful, though she looks too feeble to do much.” The complacent smile that had been playing on the Deacon’s face suddenly changed to a gloomy frown. “Take that drunkard’s boy into my store, Mary? I wonder at the woman’s presumption. * Like father, like son,’ is a true saying; I’ll have no vagabonds around me.” “But James is a bright, active boy, husband, and if surrounded by the right influences I doubt not he will do well. Surely the family should not suffer for the father’s faults. Could you have seen the anxiety of the poor mother, you would try in some way to aid her. It made my heart £che to look at her sad, worn face. Do, husband, consider the matter. I cannot bear to tell her you will not try her son.” “ Then do not go near her,” was the harsh reply. “It is no place for such as you; if they are suffering the town will look out for them. I have enough to do to attend to my own affairs. If you have work‘for her, give it to her and pay her for it These drunkards are perfect pests; it is useless trying to reform them. Now, I presume Conner has signed the pledge half a dozen times, but what good does it do?”

“ Charity suffereth long and is kind,” repeated Mrs. H., softly. “ I believe you read that this morning and this verse also: ‘ The greatest of these is charity? Do these passages mean anything?” ' “ Mean anything? of course they do,” angrily replied her husband; “ but they don’t mean that I should support every anmkard’s family. You women take everything literally, and I really believe you’d give away your last penny; but my money is my own, and I shall use it as I pleaseand shutting the door in a very ’ undeaconlike manner, the angry man hastily left the house “ The silver and gold are mine; I shall require mine with usury,” sadly murmured the wife. Deacon H. and his wife were specimens of that strange dissimilarity of character that is so often seen in married life. He, although an officer in the church, and active, so far as talking and praying were concerned, was extremely penurious, giving to benevolentobjects just as little as was possible for one in his position. With the poor and unfortunate he had sympathy ; he had been successful, why could not they be ? How such a man ever became an officer in the church one might well ask. But the fact only proves that the wisest and the best are not always selected for offices so important. His wife, as before Intimated, was just the opposite. Many a dollar found its way from her purse into the channels of benevolence. The heart of many a sad, weary Child of poverty was lightened by her sympathy and aid. “ Sheisdoingher own duty, and her husband’s also,” was

often the remark of those who witnessed her quiet, unobtrusive deeds of charity. In a very different dwelling from the commodious one cf Deacon 11., a dwelling so poor and dilapidated that the winds of heaven gained easy admission, there sat a pale, care-worn woman, busily sewing; while over a few dying embers shivenngly hovered two little scantily-clothed girls. The room was bare of almoat every comfort; and a casuaf glance was sufficient to show that gaunt poverty had taken up his abode there. “ Oh, mother, can’t we have a little more tire?” pleaded Susy, the youngest, .whoselhill Jfttle_face wore such a wistful, hungry look, that it added a new pang to the mother’s heart. “Itis so cold here,” and the tears began rapidly to course down the faded cheeks. “ Hush, hush, dear, mother is sorry for her little girl ; come here and wrap my dress around you; perhaps it will give a little warmth. Janies will soon be here; 1 wouldn’t wonder if he had some good news for us; and the poor mother sought to smile into the wan, tear-stained face, as she drew her dress closely around the little one. At that moment the door opened, and a boy entered, drew a chair to the hearth, and strove to impart a little warmth to his chilled hands.

“Well, my son, what news?” and though the smile on her face was sad and forced, the poor mother endeavored to speak cheerfully. “1 he same old story, mother; nobody wants a boy—at least nobody wants me—so we must all starve, I suppose. Oh. if father would only be different! What shall we do ?” and the boy, leaning his head on his clasped hands, sobbed in agony, “My son, my son,” wailed the poor woman as she laid aside her work and drew the boy’s head on her lap. “Don’t Jimmy, don’t! there must surely be help for us. God will not utterly forsake us.” 1 “Then why don’t He send us help? I went into Deacon H’s store, and though one of the clerks said they needed a boy, the Deacon wouldn’t take me because father drinks. He said he wanted a respectable boy in his store. The hardhearted old miser! If. he’s got religion, I don’t want any of it.” “It isn’t religion that causes him to be so unkind, my son ; it is the want of it, rather. Look at his wife, if you wish to know what religion can do. You are not to blame for your father’s acts; and no good man will ever think the less of you torthem. But cheer up; you know you are mother’s principal stay and hope; she cannot bear to see her boy so sad. Here .is Mrs. H. now; who knows but she has found a place for you?” “Good afternoon, Mrs. Conner,” said that lady, entering the room; I have good news for you; but have you no wood ? tliis must not be; you will perish in this bitter weather. I will send some this very afternoon. Poor little girls,” glancing pitifully at the shivering children, “ how cold you look, come here and wrap these furs around you. Well, James, I have found you a place at last. Farmer B. says you are just the boy for him; and, Mrs. Conner, I have seen some of the reform boys, who have promised to do all they can for your husband. They say he wouldn’t have broken his pledge, had it not been for the solicitations of that miserable man at the corner. But the boys will watch him more closely for the future ; and I am convinced better days are in store for you.” “ God bless you, God bless you,” sobbed the poor woman, grasping the lady’s hand, while the tears coursed silently down her cheeks. “God will reward you; we never can.” “ The greatest of these is charity.” Oh, that charity, that world-wide, all embracing charity. That love to God a?d love to man. Would to God there were more of it.— Morning Star.

CENTENNIALITIES.

—The number of awards to be made is now’ a topic of considerable interest. —The number of visitors from the country continues to increase largely. —The Independent Order of Odd Fellow’s contemplate having a grand procession on the 20th of September. —lt is estimated that the foreign goods in the Main Building are worth $60,000,000, the duties on which amount to $25,000,000. —The models of the cliff dwellings of the Colorado canyons in the Government Building are an interesting and curious exhibit of the prehistoric age of America. —Active preparations are being made for the Centennial encampment of the National Guards. The event promises to be an attractive feature of the Centennial. . —The Board of Finance and the Executive Committee will hold a meeting shortly to consider the propriety of extending the time for the closing of the Centennial. ’ —The agents appointed by the French Government to examine the educational exhibits of the various countries are paying great attention to the American system. At the name of George Washington, fellow citizens,” said a Centennial orator not a hundred miles from Boston, “ tyranny trembles like an Aspinwall leaf.” —ln the parlor of the Colorado Building is exhibited a plain old bureau which was made to order for Abraham Lincoln when he was married and began housekeeping. —Prof. D. E. Bartlett, of Hartford Conn., has charge of 120 Chinese boy who will go to the Centennial this month. Heepee Chinee bloys see bigee show alle same Melican mans. —The desk on which Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence lias been presented to the Philadelphia National Museum by Mr. Joseph Coolidge. It w'ill be placed in the National Museum extension at the Academy of Fine Arts. —The Algerian women who attend the bazar, clad in their national costume, attract much attention. A wide difference of opinion exists among ladies and gentlemen in regard to their beauty. —The Philadelphians have been carefully preparing for some time for the enormous rush of travel to the exhibition, expected and sure to come in August and September. They have succeeded in getting another steam line frem the center of the town to the fair. —The C&stcllani collection of antiques contains the only hpad of Euripides in which the nose is not broken. In this valuable collection can be seen a head of Tiberius found at Naples in 1437; also a head of Alexander the Great having the malformation of the neck in histoiy. —Centennialism has struck even the magistrates of Philadelphia to the opening of their hearts and pockets. One of them married a couple a few days ago, and finding that they were entirely without money, not only did the job for noth-

ing, but purchased a wedding ring from an adjacent dollar store. —The Philadelphia & Reading Railroad Company, controlling hundreds of miles of road, operating hundreds of coal mines and employing tens of thousands qf persons, is doing die handsome tiling by its employes in the way of a Centennial holiday. It gives every man in its employ, whether on the railroad or in the coal mines, and his family a free ride to Philadelphia, pays their admission to the Exhibition, furnishes them dinner and returns them home, all without a cent’s outlay to the employe and his pay uingattheaaineiiine.._Lastyearthecompany had a six months’ strike on its hands.

MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS. —The sweetest bees—babies. —Wages that are not cut down— the wages of sin. —No more massive gold jewelry. It isn’t fashionable. —“ Good times coming,” declare the seers—the financiers. —lt is said that London consumes weekly 100 tons of American beef. —Rain-in-the-Face is not so much given to rain-water as to fire-water. —How many a good fellow gets his first compliment in li is obituary.— Cincinnati Saturday Night. —NeVcr despair. A Jersey boy was restored to life after lying at the bottom of a pond for twenty-six minutes. one hundred and forty-five out cf three hundred idiots were habitual drunkards. —The Emigration Commissioners in New York say that Castle Garden will be rebuilt as a landing place for immigrants. —The Corpus Christi (Tex.) Times has been studying human nature. He says: To owe, ia human; To pay up, divine. There are women about as good-look-ing as the rough side of an horseradishgrater, who read with glasses and eat with porcelain teeth, and yet flirt.— Rochester Union. —A Georgia woman fell off a wagon and was run over, was then kicked by a mule and knocked senseless, and she had only been carried to the house when lightning struck it. —lt is well enough to speak of a wife as the partner of her husband’s joys, but it looks inconsistent to see the husband sitting on the shady side of the barn to eat watermelons alone. —A sensible writer advises those who would enjoy good eating to keep good natured, for, says he, “an angry man cannot tell whether he is eating boiled cabbage or stewed umbrellas.” —The marriage of Lord Mandeville to an American girl, is thought, in England, to have been imprudent. In America it is the marriage of the American girl to Lord Mandeville that is thought imprudent. —An Australian hangman, while on duty, wears a well-fitting black cloth suit, with black silk hat, kid boots, white shirt with studs, white collar, white necktie, white wristbands and white kid gloves. —The vanity of human greatness often becomes apparent, but never more so, probably, than upon the reflection that a single slice of watermelon can tie a future President up into a bow-knot, just as easy. —A Hartford (Conn.) boy who has arrived at the Black Hills writes home that men are making forty dollars per day there, and hoys his family won’t write often, as he has to pay fifty cents f »r every letter he receives —“ If you get choked, drop on all fours and cough” is the advice of a Cornell Professor. They used to say “Get some one to hold you by the heels and strike ths back between the shoulders.” This is probably a constitutional development in favor of enlarged personal liberty.— Boston —Says the wise Louisville Courier-Jour-nal: “ People who talk much expose their teeth to the air; evaporation of the saliva ensues, and tartar collects on every tooth. In a few years the teeth of a talker become defective, and he (more frequently she) goes howling to a dentist. Who says there is not a punishment for eveiy idle word ?” —The constitutional right of the American citizen to “ growl” is in grave danger of being trampled on. A hotel-keeper at Nantucket, emboldened, probably, by the heated term which lias driven more custom than usual to his doors, has posted in every guest chamber of his house the following instruction: “If there is anything that does not suit you don’t go about growling but come to me.” —“My dear,” said Phil. Sheridan to his wife, the other day, “ you’ll have to take care of the boy now. I must go and look after the Indians.” “ Well, if yoQ must go, Philip,” she said, bravely, “I must bear up under it. But remember the advice of the Spartan mother; and if you can’t bring your hair back with you, you’d better stay there. I ain’t going to have any scalped man trotting me and baby round—not if I know it.” — Burlington Hawkeye. —Says the Denison (Tex.) News: “It will be remembered that a man was taken from a train at Colbert Station some time since and hung on a charge of horse-steal-ing. It has since been found out that the victim of the mob was innocent of the crime charged against him, and his relatives in Kentucky have put in an appearance to take the matter up. His body was found about seven miles from Colbert Station and sent to his home in Kentucky. The friends of the victim have taken steps to ferret out and punish the murderers.” —Judge Wilkes, of Toronto, has rendered a decision which will interest the patrons of the race course, if it does not instruct them. Proceedings had been instituted against the .managers of the race meeting at Oshawa for the recovery of a purse claimed to have been won in the two mile dash by Passion. The horses were started by flags, but the Judge rang the bell for a recall. The rider of Passion, notwithstanding the recall, went over the course and claimed the money, maintaining that the starters having dropped the flags the judges had no right to interfere. Judge Wilkes gave his decision in favor of Passion.

—A Brooklyn Assistant Postmaster has compiled a curious table of statistics,showing that from one cause and another, and owing to carelessness or ignorance, there were 115,146 letters, postal cards and papers dropped into the Brooklyn Post Office during the year ending June 80, 1871, which could not be mailed. Among the principal reasons given in the table are an insufficiency of postage, letters without any stamp, letters with revenue stamps on, letters with stamps that had been used once, letters with stamps cut from stamped envelopes, letters with match stamps on, letters addressed to name, county and State, but without Post Office, letters addressed to name, street and number, but without Post Office, letters addressed to places and Post Offices not known, letters without any address ▼hatever, letters illegibly addressed.

A Chapter on Heat—The New Theory.

The recent protracted spell of fervid heat has among us sown a fearful harvest of apprehension and death. The learned and unlearned have asked what this unprecedented month of scorching might mean. The sun, whose restless activity our race has witnessed for a few centuries, whose eclipses have lieen eagerly scanned and photographed, does not appear to be the sort of sun we have all along pictured. Up to a very recent date scientists have universally described our central luminary as an immense globe composed of materials similar to those we find in the crust of oilr earth, but in a condition of intense combustion, and that this combustion is supported by incessant showers of meteoric matter, disintegrated planets and the like. This theory of the central solar fire, the warming furnace of wintry space, so to speak, implied a terrific consumption of cosmic fuel. Were our earth suddenly to overcome its centrifugal force and rush in a swift curve prone to the sun, it has been estimated that the fuel thus supplied would not have a more appreciable or enduringeffect on the solar head than a shovelful of coals thrown into an immense engine furnace. Indeed to maintain the sun’s heat a shower of planetary matter thick as hailstones in a furious storm, and large as our most towering mountains, must be falling incessantly on the solar surface. This indicates a terribly prodigal waste of stellar material?: Yet, if. there is any analogy in nature, we know that this supposition of waste is entirely averse to nature’s revealed laws. Bo much is this a fact that we are accustomed to speak of the “ economy of nature.” Hence, a certain advanced school of scientists have recently been led to question this “central furnace theory” of the sun. For they reasonably argue that even presuming there was this terrible consumption of cosmic fuel in every second of time, and granting that the sun is as large a globe as we know it to be, yet at his instance from us—over 91,000,000 of miles—it would be impossible to project through this space to us any appreciable portion of his heat. Take the largest fire that any one has seen in his individual experience. How far distant was its heat felt? Take the Chi-

cago fire, or the Boston fire; how comparatively short a distance had a person to walk to be relieved of the heat that was generated by them! Were all the coal contained in the bowels of the earth built into a gigantic pyramid, and thorough combustion induced, no one can imagine, on reflection, that the heat proceeding from it would scorch a person ten miles distant. The hottest fire we can build in a grate does not appreciably warm the carpet a few feet distant and below it. All the heat we have knowledge or experience bf rises—it does not descend. How, then, ask those modern scientists, can the sun force its heat down to us through a distance of ninety-one millions of miles? Just here, however, the religious mind is filled with horror. This theory of the scientist is regarded as a positive denial of the power of the Deity. Unabashed, the philosopher asks the believer to produce his authority to show that the sun is anywhere declared to be, in the Bible, a burning globe supplying us with heat. The latter turns to the record of creation, in Genesis, and discovers that “ God said let there be light.” The former replies, “ Yes; when the Creator, after having assembled in their respective positions the materials which compose the planetary and stellar worlds, uttered the words, let there be light, he called into existence a power which became the generator of all the physical forces which control and regulate the world. It has hitherto been the custom to declare the sun’s intense heat as the cause of light; now we propose to reverse the order, and directly attribute our terrestrial heat to the sun’s light, believing the sun to be no fiery furnace of* the system it governs.” This is a startling theory, but already there are some remarkable names linked with it. They maintain that light is matter, and that the vast interval between our planet and the sun is filled with a material medium—ether, or whatever it may be called—which, according to Pouillet, has a temperature of minus 142 degrees centigrade, or minus 223.6 degrees Fahren-. heit thermometer. « Light passing* through this with a velocity of 186,000 miles per second everywhere produces enormous friction. Friction produces electricity. It is electricity, and its correlative magnetism which form those Titanic forces of nature and produce those changes and convulsions on our planet that meet us at every turn. The hurricane, the tornado, the thunderbolt, the earthquake, the volcano, the crash of planets, night of meteors, the fiery parabolas of comets—in short, the gigantic throbbings and pulsations of all matter in cosmic space are the direct result of the omnipotent energy of this mysterious agent. The “.heat” that overwhelms us or strikes us dead is but a charge of electricity. Prof. Tyndall recently’ published a work on “ Heat;” and in the chapter on “ Solar Radiation" that eminent scientist shows that he is behind the latter-day school of philosophers. He says: “ Never did I suffer so much from solar heat as when descending from the corridor to the grand plateau of Mount Blanc. While 1 sunk up to the waist m snow, the sun darted its rays upon me with intolerable fierceness. On entering the shade of the Dome du Goute, these impressions instantly changed, for the air was as cold as ice. It was not really much colder than the air traversed by the solar rays, and I suffered not from contact with warm air, but from the stroke of the sun’s rays, which reached me after passing through a medium as cold as ice.”

It seems strange, say the modem theorists, that it did not occur to so astute a scientist as Tyndall that if his distressing sensations were derived from the sun’s tierce rays he could not have walked waist deep through the snow in such heat without the snow becoming melted. Why did not the same heat which scorched him transform the snow into a torrent of water? But once assume that the sun has no heat and the explanation of this and every other form of solar phenomena is simple. The heat Prof. Tyndall suffered from was evoLedfrom his own body. It was derived from the electrical action of sunlight upon his dark woolen clothes, warmed by the animal heat of his system. His woolen clothes had become by violent exercise positively electrified by the heat of his body. The sunlight by its friction with them 'wasalso positively electrified, increased heat was evolved in and around his person, and his sufferings were intensified. As soon as he left the sunlight his clothes, by induction, became negatively electrified, and the temperature of his body was rapidly reduced. If the sun possessed heat, our theorists say, and could force that heat downward to the earth, which, according to our knowledge of the laws of heat, is impossible, we could have no clouds in our atmosphere, because the clouds would be so expanded and attenuated by the absorbed heat that they could never be formed.

The sun is a great magnet, as undoubtedly are all the planets of his system and the stars and satellites of other systems. There is only sufficient heat g< nerated in the interior of the sun by opposite electricities to canse its rotation on its axis. The sup can not be an incandescent body, Itecause magnetism is destroyed by heat. Such, in brief, is the new revelation of science, and as there does not appear to be any natural phedomena which can not be explained by it, there is every probability of its almost general acceptance. Assuming this new theory, we perceive the identity of action between the thunderstorm and the volcano, or the earthquake, or the “ sun-stroke,” as we term It. We

can see how the planet that once comprehended the asteroids of our system was rent asunder previous to historic times. The mystery of Jupiter’s terrible surface disturbance admits of easy solution, and the mysterious disappearance of Biela’s comet receives an explanation. This last catastrophe was so remarkable that it may not be unprofitable to briefly recall it. Biela’s comet had returned with perfect regularity every six years. Its elements were accurately determined and its orbit definitely ascertained. It was reckoned just as regular in its course as the earth, Venus, Jupiter, br the sun Itself. In 1846 it appeared as usual; but even while the telescopes of astronomers were directed to it, by some sudden convulsion it burst in half, leaving two comets at a considerable distance from each other in the place of one. These two comets preserved their orbits, and in due course disappeared. In 1852 the two comets appeared in the same relative position as they had disappeared six years before In 1857 they again returned, though there was a less favorable opportunity furnished for observing them, owing to their being in that portion of the heavens near to the sun. In 1866 there came no comet; nor in 1873. They had disappeared, burst into fragments, or joinea themselves (as steel filings jump at and cling to a magnet) to some planet or the sun itself. The comet of Biela had run its eourse; it had performed its mission. An overcharge of magnetism had occasioned a sovereign cataclysm, and it was scattered in fragments through space. These stellar ■ catastrophes are not without their analogies in the history of our own planet, and are believed to form a regular process in the “ economy of nature.” One section of humanity expects the millennium. Another looks for a fearful exhibition of power, in which the earthquake and every possible form of Titanic convulsion will be called in action, resulting in the fragments of our globe becoming for a few moments fuel for the sun. But the scientists who uphold the new theory of heat, who see in "the torrid experiences of the past four weeks a great exhibition of electrical force, while recognizing the extreme probability of an impending convulsion, see a natural cause for it as well as a use for it. Sir William Thompson, the famous English scientist, recently suggested the possibility that “ vegetable and animal life had been introduced upon our earth by the downfall qf the fragments of old worlds. ’ ’ And Dr. Sterry’ Hunt has pointed to evidence which shows that “ large meteoric globes have fallen upon our planet in prehistoric ages, containing hydro-carbons, indicating unmistakably that they were clothed with vegetation when they fell.” Taking these two remarkable statements together, the latterday scientistaadvance the theory that the mission of our globe is to cany vegetable and animal life to other planets in space, and that the scriptural promise that the faithful shall “meet their Lord in the air” is no figure of speech. By a crowning electric convulsion, resembling a phenomenal thunder storm magnified ten million times, the earth will burst into a myriad fragments. The internal fire will shoot into space like a molten stream and form a new comet to terrify and astonish the astronomers of other constellations. The solid portions of the crust will dash through space—some like meteors and others like asteroids—and carry the life of our globe to stellar solitudes, which will then receive the new command to “ increase and multiply.” The flood was a type of the coming cataclysm, and even as Noah and his family were the only persons saved, so from the nature of the explosion of our world but few will be fortunate enough to find their lot cast in an fragment as large as Vesta or Juno.— New York Mercury.

Fashion Items.

The favorite fans of the season are Australian or Indian birds on navy-blue silk, mounted on tortoise-shell sticks; European birds, such as the nightingale, linnet, swallow or sparrow,’on ecru silk; fishing sails, painted in the cream shades on pale blue; and chalk landscapes on gray faille. Flowers, landscapes and birds are subjects always fashionable as designs for fans. ■ The fan of fans in Paris at the present time is painted on kid, and has the sticks quite plain on the right side and carved on the left. Figure fans are quite out of date. The newest novelty in the jewelety department is a set? for the ears and throat. Strange ornaments are made of scales and claws, to be worn in velvet diadems and bows. Scarf bandeaux on hats have suddenly come in vogue. A hat with pointed crown, made of coarse straw and called the “ Celadon,” is a popular shape for country wear. • - • ■ An effort is being made to revive the fancy Straws of 1840. Silver ornaments are very fashionable this summer. Silver Byzantine chains of open patterer with a large cross suspended on them, an, much worn. The most serviceable dress for traveling is some kind of dust or brown colored bege of French manufacture; it wears and stands rain best. Tunics, with sleeveless jackets, are worn longer than last year. For dressy occasions fancy grenadines are in great demand. Indian shawls and Persian shawls are cut up to make mantles for seaside wear. For carriage and evening wear in Paris red is much worn, also pale blue, but veiy little white; cream color abounds, and is covered with gay embroidery. Polonaises increase in variety and complications. Simple traveling costumes are made of Scotch gingham; their trimmings consist of either plaitings of the same or Smyrna lace, and the mode is a polonaise worn over a black silk skirt. English mohair makes a serviceable traveling drew. Gold braid is more used for handsome dresses than was expected. Floral fringes for trimming evening dresses have met with success. , Batiste and silk are being mixed in one costume this season. Serge, especially white serge, is very popular.—JrF. Wld.

INCIDENTS AND ACCIDENTS

-The Paducah (Ky.) News tells of a mule in that city that has made several attempts to commit suicide. Twice ft rushed, dray and all, into the river, and was rescued with difficulty. It was then unhitched, and again plunged into the water. —A Mr. Mecklenburg was drowned at Com munipaw a few days ago. The first information his wife had of the accident was furnished by her child, aged seven years, who had been to the beach and returned with his father’s clothes, saying: “Papa was drowned, and I brought his clothes home.** ———^4-4-4—— —A young lady in Reading, Pa., has recently died from sheer fright, produced through a foolish fancy. Having had her photograph taken, she showed a copy to her mother, who discovered the form of a skull on the picture. Another skull having been figured out the young lady grew pale, took to her bed, and died.

—The spectacle of a man with his fifth bride listening to the funeral sermon of his fourth wife was witnessed at Bangor, Me., recently. Number four died of a malignant disease, and there were no funeral services. He immediately got another wife, and invited her to attend the funeral sermon of the dear departed. —The Cuthbert (Ga.) Appeal says Capt. W. F. Davis was bitten on the hand by a large stump-tailed moccasin while fishing with a seine. The snake held on till pulled loose, when Capt. Davis held him till a friend cut off his head. The wound was washed off, sucked, and dressed with tobacco. No further effect was experienced from the biting. —At a saloon in the divide, says the Gold Hill (Nev.) News, there may be seen a pair of venr oddly-matched friends, towit, a big Newfoundland dog and a wild pigeon. The bird’s favorite place of rest is upon the dog’s head, and he will allow no one to Interfere with the arrangement. The pigeon was trapped in the hills only a few months since, but has become very tame and never leaves Its strange fnena.

—Aja accident occurred at the National pipe works, at M’Keesport, Pa., the other evening, by which a workman named Loughran lost his life. He was engaged in repairing a gas pipe which passed near one of the pits. Before he knew it the escaping gas suffocated him, and losing the power of exerting himself he fell into the pit head foremost. His head struck pie hard substance at the bottom, splitting open his skull and scattering the brains about the pit. —Last Friday, says the Denver News, when the Floyd Hill and Georgetown coach, with six powerful horses, had stopped at Fall River, the driver got down for some purpose, leaving an invalid on the box to hold the reins. During the absence of the driver the horses started on a runaway expedition, and the man on the box was too weak to hold them. The coach was filled with men, women and children, and the frantic beasts dashed along through the canon with such desperate speed that every cheek was blanched with the fear of destruction that seemed so imminent. In all this danger, however, there came a hero. D. M. McCurdy, of Kansas (Sty, was in the coach, and he clambered out through one of its narrow windows and gained the box and the lines while the now thoroughly terrified horses were fairly flying over the fearful road, bounded with awful declivities and iutting rocks. Seizing theftfihs and bending against them with all the strength of his arm, and forcing an almost superhuman weight upon the brake, he checked the maddened steeds in their wild career just on the edge of a precipice that would have been the end of all the crew of the coach had it gone ora.

An Englishman’s Introduction to Sitting Bull.

Those who have visited Washington have seen Greenough’s sitting statue of Washington in the east park of the Capitol grpunds. Most of those whose eyes have been so fortunate as never to have rested on it know that it is a colossal figure of George, sitting out in the sun and rain, without any hat or umbrella, In a marble chair, on top of a granite block. Of late they have wheeled this great stone image into the rear Immediately in front of the main porch of the Capitol. Standing here, in loose plaid walking coat and looser trousers, was a real John Bull, looking around with an eye-glass, the other morning, when his vision rested full on George. Turning to Maj. Ben Perley Poore, who happened to be near, the Englishman said: “ Aw, beg pardon, sir; but.what is that large marble figure ?’ ’ “That, sir,” replied the Major, with great gravity, “ is Bitting Bull.” “Aw! Really, now! Wonderfill! And you’ve got him up so soon! Aw, what an extraordinary people, to be sure!” With this he left the Major and started down the steps, and the last seen of this astonished Englishman he was walking around the granite base whereon Washington is seated, reading the inscription, which one full walk around is needed to complete: “ First in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of his countiymen.” That inscription must have puzzled J. Bull considerably, and caused him to repeat with emphasis his former ejaculation: “ Aw, what an extraordinary people, to be sure.”— Washington Letter.

—The Cincinnati Commercial of a late date relates the following incident connected with the illness of the late George E. Pugh: “ Engineer Hoon, of the Fire Department who is an old acquaintance of Mr. Pugh, has been frequently attending him during his sickness. About three months before Mr. Pugh fell ill he was conversing with Hoon one day in regard to certain reminiscences of the Mexican war, and was in the act of relating an exciting incident when the conversation was interrupted by the entrance of a friend, and both the listener and the story-teller forgot all about it until last Friday night. It then happened that Mr. Pugh, reviving from a long stupor, beheld Mr. Hoon at his bedside, ana in his delirium immediately continued that story of the Mexican war, taking up the thread of the narrative from the point of interruption. Thus the tale was completed.” —Winslow, the forger, has written a sketch of his financial career for the Boston Herald. He says: “I shall not attempt to Justify any wrong act or course, nor seek excuse for any particular transgression. Wrong is ever wrong, and right isa duty, and must ever be so held in public estimation.” He acknowledges having taken the “ first false step,” but says . he did not realize it until too late, and that this false step was taken to save others, who had made loans to him in what he thought to be a regular but what proved to be an irregular way. -Ole Bull denies emphatically the slanders circulated through the press of this country upon his domestic relations.