Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 37, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 May 1877 — Page 3

The Rensselaer Union. BKNSBBLAKK, - • INDIANA.

FITZ-CRSBUR HALLSCK. Tn Mlowing poem, by John G. Whittier, vu read at the unveiling, » few day* ago, of ehe statue of Fite-Groena Halleck, in Central Park, New York: Among their graven shape* to whom Thy civic wreaths belong, 0! city of his love, make room For one whose gift waa song; Not his the aoldier's sword to wield, Nor his the helm of state. Nor glory of the stricken field, Nor triumph of debate. , In common waya, with common men, He served his race and time As well aa if his darkly pen Had never danced to rhyme. If, in the thronged and noisy mart, The Muses found their son. Could any aay his tuneful art A duty left undone? He toiled and aang; and year by year Men found their homes more sweet, And through a tenderer atmosphere Looked down the brick-walled street. The Creek’S wild onset Wall street knew, The Red King walked Broadway, And Alnwick Castle’s roses blew From Palisades to Bay. Fair City by the Sea! upraise His veil with reverent hands; And mingle with thy own the praise And pride of other lands. Let Greece his fiery lyric breathe Above her hero-urns; And Scotland, with her holly, wreathe The flower he culled for Burns. O, stately stand thy palace walls, Thy tall ships ride the seas; To-day the poet's name recalls A prouder thought than these. Not less thy pulse of trade shall beat, Nor less thy tall fleets swim, That shaded square and dusty street Are classic ground through him. Alive, he loved, like all who sing, The echoes of his song; Too late the tardy meed we bring, The praise delayed so long. Too late, alas! Of all who knew The living man, to-day, Before his unveiled face, how few Make bare their locks of gray! Our lipa of praise must soon be done, Our grateful eyes be dim; O, brothers of the days to come, . Take tender charge of him! New hands the wires of song may sweep, New voices challenge fame; But let no moss of years o’er-creep The lines of Halleck’s name.

SIEGE OF KARS.

The reported fall of the almost impregnable fortress of Kars recalls vividly the memorable siege that occurred at that place in 1855. The Asiatic campaigns of 1853 and 1854 had been, in the main, unfortunate ones for the Turks. There was nothing but reverses for them after the capture of Fort St. Nicholas, the same point which a few days ago was bombarded by the Russian gunboats. The Turks, in 1854, were defeated at Akhaltzik, reduced to a demoralized condition, and cheated and starved by their officers. The troops returned to Kars more like a military rabble than a disciplined army. The enure army was in a wretched condition. No organization can be said to have existed. It may readily be supposed that an army in such a state of neglect and demoralization was but little skilled in drills of any sort; indeed, from the early part of August to the arrival of the British Commissioner, Col. Williams, at the end of September, the troops had never gone through the most ordinary exercises. CoL Williams was then regarded as a highly distinguished officer, and an able scientific engineer and diplomatist, since esteemed as one of the most meritorious heroes of that war. On the 24th of September, 1854, Col. Williams went from Erzeroum to Kars, which in past times was considered the key to Asia Minor, where he was received with all the honors due to his position; for the corrupt Turkish officials were by no means aware what a rigid military reformer and disciplinarian they had received among diem. Kars was a fortress partly in ruins. It was built by Armurath 111., in the latter part of the sixteenth century, and obtained in Asia a reputation for impregnability on account of the garrison within, it having in 1735 repulsed all the efforts of the famous Nadir Shah at the head of 90,000 Persians, after he had defeated 100,000 Turks in its vicinity. Kars, to-day, is one of the gates between Turkey and Persia, and opens to the invaders a road to the great route to Teheran on the southeast; toward Erzeroum and the Euphrates on the southwest; and, mdst important of all, to Trebizonde on the east—which could not be long defended by land, and which, once invested by the Russians, could render effective assistance to the Czar’s Black Sea squadron. ' Kars, is, in fact, the key to Russian success in Asiatic Turkey. Its fortifications cover an area of ten square miles. The town Is on a plain nearly 7,000 feet above theme, and is surrounded on three sides by rugged hills which form natural bases for defense. A little stream of the same name flows byon the southeast. The .population is about 12,000, chiefly Armenian, who make a scanty living out o the through trade between tlie East and •the West. The climate is so severe that travelers are glad to get on the road again, and the surrounding hills furnish hospitality for so large bands of robbers that armed guards accompany merchants’ stocks to the plains. The city was the capital of an Armenian kingdom, but Turkish conquest, Ottoman administration, and taxation by the Porte have reduced it to a mere half-way house. In the summer of 1855, following the arrival of Gen. Williams at Kars, the Turks began throwing up fortifications about the place, as Gen. Mouravieff, of the Russian Army, was threatening it. Early in June, the Russians made a short march from Gumri and appeared prepared to advance upon Kars in great strength. The position of the Turkish Army could nose be regarded without apprehension. The regular troops amounted to aboutfifteen thousand men, who had been familiarized with defeat and scourged by fever and the scurvy. In addition to this their provisions were insufficient to enable them to sustain a siege of any considerable duration, and their stock of ammuni. tion was very small. On the 9th of June between twenty thousand and forty thousand Russians encamped Within five leagues of Kars. The soldiers in the fortress slept at their poets' and double ‘lines of sentin Is were placed arottnd the works. On the 10th there was a great rising of the inhabitants of the town, who were desir-

aid its defense, and applied to Gen. Williams, or Williams Pasha, as he waa then termed, having been raised by the Sultan to the rank of Ferik, or Gen eral. The Russian troops made several sorties upon the City of Kara with the hope of capturing the place, but they were as repeatedly repulsed by the soldiers there, who displayed considerable gallantry. The Russians then turned their attention to destroying all the Turkish supplies they could find, and having a cordon of troops around the entire works were successful in keeping out all the stores which were intended for the place. The time passed tardily on for the defenders of Kars, and many skirmishes took place, in many of which the Russians were successful. On the 15th of July the place was fairly blockaded. The horses, being on short rations, fell sick, and great difficulty was experienced in keeping them alive. To put an end to the great mortality amongst these animals, Gen. Williams resolved to send away the greater portion of the cavalry. Accordingly, on the night of the 8d of September, twelve hundred of the regular cavalry, beside Bashi-Bazouks, were collected on the heights of Tahmsab, and a good feed given to each animal. Their riders then prepared to cut their way through the Russians and escape. Away then went a grim-looking force on their famine-smitten horses. The Russian report of the engagement that followed states that five hundred of the Turks were cut down and a large number captured. The dead bodies lined the road as far as the village of Kizil-Ghiadouk, and in the passes. Gen. Mouravieff learning that great supplies of provisions were collected at the villages of Otti and Peniaka, with intention of being forwarded to Kars, took steps to intercept them and was successful. He also swept off many of the Turkish cattle from before Kars, and thus considerably lessened the food supply of the straitened garrison. On the 29th of September the most severe battle took place under the leadership, on the part of the Turks, of Ismael Pasha (Gen. Kmety, a Hungarian officer, who kept the fortress with Gen. Williams), and the Russian troops. Simultaneous attacks were made on the heights at Tahmsab, Fort Lake and other points. The Russians were utterly routed, and had not starvation destroyed the cavalry of the Turks, the Russians might have been scattered and annihilated as an army. The battle lasted seven hours; the Turkish army lost 862 killed and 681. wounded, and 101 townspeople perished. The Russians carried 7,000 wounded off the ground and a great number of dead; yet notwithstanding this the Turks buried no less than 6,300 Russians left dead on the field. Amongst these were many officers of highest rank. The Russians themselves stated their loss at 6,517 killed and wounded, 252 of this number being officers. Such was the fearful slaughter of the battle of Kars. The fortifications proved to be impregnable. They could not be carried by assault. Then the Russians sat down to the task of starving the fortress out. , . Although severely beaten in this battle, the Russians were not put to flight. The Turkish cavalry had perished, and purAuit was impossible. Under these circumstances the Russians rallied, and were enabled to resume the blockade of the city with as much strictness as before.

A detail of the horrors suffered by the wretched soldiers and inhabitants of Kars from this period until, when exhausted by starvation, they surrendered to a foe whom they had so gloriously defeated, is appalling and hideous. The tortures of disease were added to the pangs of hunger. The cholera appeared with great virulence. The hospitals were crowded with sick and wounded troops—but that which they most needed, nourishment, could not be given them. No animal food, not even horseflesh, was cow served out to the troops; the rations of the soldiers consisted of nothing but a small supply of coarse bread, and a something called soup, but made of flour and water only. Some unhappy soldiers, overcome by sickness and starvation, and abandoned by hope, crept into deserted houses, and there died in hideous solitude. A terrible change was coming over the men; they were visibly emaciated; they tottered in their walk; their faces were gloomy and haggard, and their eyes bloodshot and wolfish. Some poor wretches were tempted by the high price of the bread in the city to sell their miserable rations; but those who did this sank and died at their posts. Grass was torn up in every open space where it could be found, and the roots greedily devoured. Outside the city swarms of vultures were to be seen preying on the mangled corpses which the hungry dogs had scratched out of their shallow graves. All this was borne in the hope that the Russians might be compelled to retire, or that the garrison at Kars might be relieved by Selim Pasha, who had landed at Trebizond with a considerable army, or by Omar Pasha, whom they supposed to be advancing to their assistance. These hopes were not to be fulfilled. The desperate wretchedness of the soldiers and townspeople was getting still more hideous. Cats were sold for a hundred piastres each, for the sake of food. The few horses that were left had their throats cut to prevent them from dying of starvation, ana the flesh of these emaciated brutes was regarded as a luxury. Soldiers were sent to the hospitals in large numbers, in a state of exhaustion from starvation. Frequentlv a hundred men perished in the hospitals during the day and night, while others went mad or became idiotic from the sufferings they had undergone. Still in the garrison the work of starvation went on with increasing grimness and horror. Children dropped and died in the streets, and every morning skele-ton-like corpses were found in various parts of the camp. The soldiers deserted In large numbers, and discipline was almoet at in end. At one time the poor fellows, who had almost worshiped Gen. Williams, now refused to salute him, and turned their eyes away when they saw him approach. 'Some of the towns people crowded around him as he rode out of his quarters, and entreated him to seek some means of putting an end to their misery. Wretched women forced themselves into his very room, and, laying their pallid, famine-smitten children at his feet, implored him rather to kill them than to let them perish from want. At length all hope of relief from either Selim Pasha or Omar Pasha had expired. Gen. Williams received a note in cipher from the English Consul at Erzeroum saying, “ I fear you have no hope but in yourselves; you can depend on no help in this quarter.” It vas useless to contend any longer against what was inevitaole. On the 25th of November Gen. Williams proceeded under a flag of truce to the Russian camp. He was received With great courtesyby the Russian General/Mouravieff. The English hero consented to surrender on certain condi-t-oha,. judging, vou do not grant these, every gun shall be burst, every standard burnt, and every trophy destroyed ; and you may then work your will upon the famished crowd.” A ca-

pitulation was' arranged that was satisfactory. The articles of surrender were drawn up and executed. On the 27th the capitulation took place. On the 28th the Russians took possession of the town. The. victorious army gained 180 cannon and a great stock of arms, besides 7,000 or 8,000 soldiers aa prisoners It waa remarked that the fall of Kan was a disgrace and a scandal to all who might have contributed to prevent it. It was a disgrace to Belim Pasha, with his 10,000 men at Erzeroum. It was a disgrace to Omar Pasha, who was passing away his time at Suchum-Kaleh, and it was a disgrace to the allies, who certainly ought to have relieved.it Thus ended the second siege of Kara. The first siege occurred in 1828, when the Russians obtained possession of the town by placing guns on one of the over looking hills which had been left unprotected, and they held it for two years, when, by treaty, it was restored to the Turks.— Chicago Timet.

Fishing Extraordinary.

There are extraordinary ways of fishing practiced by people of uncivilized countries, which are not the result of ignorance, but of that ingenuity which is always rendered fruitful by dire necessity and the instincts of self-support. A method employed by the Chinese is generally practiced at night, and depends upon a peculiar power which a white screen, stretched under the water, seems to possess over the fishes, decoying them to it and making them leap. A man, sitting at the stem of a long, narrow boat, steers her with a paddle to the middle ot a river, and there stops. Along the righthand side of his boat a narrow sheet of white canvas is stretched; when he leans to that side, it dips under the surface, and, if it be a moonlight night, gleams through the water. Along the other side of the boat a net is fastened, so as to form a barrier two or three feet high. The boatman keeps’perfectiy still. I? another boat passes by, he will not speak; he is only impatient at the slight breaking of the silence. While he keeps thus without a sound or stir, the fish, attracted by the white canvas, approach and leap, and would go over the narrow boat and be free in their native waters on the other side, but for the screen |of netting, which stops them, and throws them down before the man’s feet. Everyone must have heard of the fishing cormorant, which is actually trained in China to catch fish. A man takes out ten or twelve of these web-footed birds in a boat, and, as soon as the boat stops, at his word they plunge into the water and begin at once searching for and diving after fish. They are most diligent workers, for, if one of them is seen swimming about idly, the Chinaman in the boat strikes the water near the bird with the end of a long bamboo, and, not touched, but recalled to a sense of duty, the cormorant at once turns to business again. As soon as a fish is caught, a word from the man brings the bird swimming toward him. He draws it into the boat, and it drops its prey from its bill. There is always a straw or string tied around the neck, to prevent the fish from being swallowed, and this string requires the nicest ment, lest it may choke the bird—a result which would certainly follow if it slipped lower down on the neck. The sagacity and workman-like method of the birds are shown when they get into difficulties. If the fish caught is too large for one beak to secure, another cormorant comes up to the struggle, and the two with united efforts bring their prize to the boat. On the rivers and canals near Ningpo, Shanghae and Foo-chow-foo, the employment of these birds is by no means an uncommon sight; but they are never to be seen fishing in the summer months, their work being in the winter, beginning always about October and ending in May. The birds have, of course, to be subjected to a system of training, which is carried on in the cormorant-breeding and fishing establishments, one of which is at a distance of thirty or forty miles from Shanghae. A still more singular practice is to be found amongst the Chonos Indians, who train dogs to help them on their fishing expeditions in much the same way as the shepherd’s dog helps the shepherd. The net is held by two men standing in the water, and the dogs, swimming out far and diving after the fish, drive them back toward it. They enjoy their work just as a good horse, though bard pressed, seems to enjoy the hunt; and every time they raise their heads from the water they tell their pleasure by clamorous barking. The Fuegians, one of the most miserable and degraded races on the earth, train their dogs in a similar manner to assist them in catching birds and sea otters. In times of famine, they kill the old women of their tribe rather than sacrafice their dogs, alleging, as Peschel says, that dogs catch otters, and women do not. They have a wonderful contrivance for killing the sharks which abound off their coasts. A log of wood, shaped so as to appear something like a canoe, is set afloat, with a rope and large noose hanging from one end of it. Before long a shark attacks the supposed canoe, swimming after it, and is caught in the noose, hanging from the stem. It closes on him so that he cannot extricate himself, and the weight of the log keeps him swimming slowly without being able to sink. Then the Fuegians in their canoes, generally steered by women, approach at their leisure and finish the shark with their spears.

All these contrivances of savage nations, or of the strangely civilized Chinese, are meant to kill or seize the fish by natural means. It is much nearer home that we have to look to find the element of superstition prevailing, and useless customs invested with the importance of charms. An instance may be found in the case of the Sicilian fishermen, who, when in search of swordfish, chant a jargon of woidsthe meaning of which even they themselves do not know. The song is supposed to be some old Greek verses, which, by time and use among those ignorant of their meaning, have become so altered as to be almost unrecognizable. The fishermen regard the medley as a sure means of attracting the swordfish, which they harpoon from the boat, when the charm, as they suppose, has brought them within reach. Far away in northern regions there is a novel method of fishing under ice, which shows more ingenuity than the simple lowering ard fastening of a net A small square hole is cut in the Ice, and in this is placed an upright stick, supported by a cross pin run through it and resting at each side on the ice: the end of the stick below this cross pin is short, and to it the line is fastened with the bait and book attached, while at the top of the stick is a Eiece of colored rag. Now, though we ave called the stick, upright, it is meant to fall from that position and lie along the ice, until a fish seizing the bait pulls its lower end, when with a jerk it rises. The contrivance is called a tip-up, from the movement which is certain to follow the seizure of the bait. The fluttering of

the colored rag, aa the stick rises, tells of capture; and a great number of these self-acting fishers and indicators may lie placed near together, each having its own hole in the ice; and each, by the fluttering rag, telling its own tale the moment a fish is caught, p The tip-up not only saves the fisher the trouble of holding his line in position and watching with particular care, but also makes the fish itself strike and announce that it is ready to be pulled out! With bodies blackened by the sun to the color of the sea-Weed, the Japanese fishermen are incommoded by neither the rain nor the winds. Like the fishermen of all lands, their restless eyes were wandering from the sea to the heavens. With no guides but the stars by night and the blue edge of the land by day, there was need for keen eyesight and watchfulness. In all the Eastern seas there is no more adventurous race than these men.

We could see the floats of burnt wood which buoyed the ends of our fisherman’s lines, and to the nearest of these we were sculled. A kind of wood light and buoyant, and with some resemblance to cork, is used for such floats. It grows in the forests thereabouts, and, after being shaped and charred to prevent decay, lasts, without further trouble, for a longer time than bladders or skins. With some impatience the black buoy and the line attached are brought on board. Like an inverted bell-ahaped flower-pot comes the first earthenware jar, hardly the size of a child’s head, attached to the line. Mouth downward, the jar is pulled up from the bottom, and when all the water has been poured out, the fishermen give a look inside. No occupant being found, the jar is once more lowered into the sea bv the attached string, which is overrun till the next jar is filled up, brought on board, and similarly examined. When six or seven are and no occupant is found in any of these, the fishermen show no impatience. But presently from a jar an octopus is jerked upon the floor of the boat, and with some satisfaction the Japanese watch its tentacles wriggle all about the planks and cling round their legs. Changing its hues, the disgusting cephalopod loses its redder blotdies for paler patches, and eventually crawls into a darker corner to coil itself away. Pouring the water more carefully from the inverted pots, the fishermen secure a few more of these animals, which crawl and twine about with snakelike contortions. The long string of pots took time to overhaul, but the spoils were reckoned reward for tiie trouble. When the fishing was completed, and the black floats were'again left to mark the spot, our boat was scullea somewhat further down the land.

We had then time to learn something more of this fishing for tako, as the octopus is named by the Japanese fishermen. Through our friends, we learn that the tako needs no bait to entice it to enter ths earthen jars used by the fishermen to entrap it; but, crawling about on the bottom, or shooting itself through the sea by the expulsion of water, it finds in the dark earthen jar “ a comfortable house,” and so occupies it until the fisherman finds it and captures it The tako is largely eaten in Japan, where all the products of the sea are accounted equally wholesome with those of the land; and beneath an ugly skin the flesh of this speckled monster is thought very good, cooked in several ways, and eaten with or without soy ot vinegar. Nevertheless, as if to vindicate the dread its constantly changing hues excite, the eating of the octopus is not unattended with danger. Through some poisonous taint, either occasionally or always present, but modified by the process of cooking, people sometimes die from eating this animal. And yet the knowledge of this interferes but to a trifling extent with the use of food having such a questionable reputation—indeed, at certain seasons, it is largely used by the Japanese, when the cuttlefish are far more plentiful and also more wholesome. Caught by trolling a small wooden fish barbed with hooks, they make good sport, chiefly to the older fishermen, who are not active enough u) go off to sea.— Chambere' Journal.

Going Down Hill.

Did you ever observe how much easier it is to go down hill than it is to come up ? To rise requires constant effort; but to go down is as easy as falling asleep after a vigil, and it is astonishing how many you can find who are both ready and willingto help you go down. When a man makes a disastrous failure, socially, pecuniarily or otherwise, everybody is down on him. He is going down hill, and each one of his former triends is anxious to give him a kick as he goes. . They want to help him along! Yes, indeed, by all means! Don’t let him stop on the way! When he gets to the bottom he will begin to understand what has happened to him. He will learn a lesson by it. He had no business to be so unlucky! Why didn’t he keep a better lookout? What did he lose money for? He ought to have been more careful to whom helent his substance. Men who mismanage things, and fail, must not expect to ’be pitied. Why wasn’t he sharper? There was Robinson, now, he failed, and cleared $50,000 by it! Thkt was something like! Robinson is a smart fellow I Gotnis eye-teeth cut! The man that gets the inside track of Robinson must rise early. Yes, sir!” But Jones was always soft-hearted. No wonder he lost everything. He never pressed his creditors for compound interest, and his rents were never half collected. When his tenants came up with the old story of “sickness and so many children,” Jones let them off—the milk-and-water fool! Children, indeed! as if poor folks bad any right to raise children! and as for sickness, that is a luxury which none but the wealthy should indulge in. And, now, Jones is going down hill! Well, he deserves it! Help him along! He ought to have foreseen that the Jimcrack mine would have burst up, and that the Moravian would have been lost at sea, and that the half-dozen friends whose notes he had indorsed would have gone under before the year was over. Pure mismanagement! ' It was mismanagement. Yes, sir! Help him? Of course npt! A person must be crazy to insinuate anything of the kind. Guess you ain’t quite so green as that I no, not quite! Times are hard, and you’ve got all you cando to help yourself. Look out for No. lis your motto! Let No. 2 do the same. Men who neglect things, and let themselves be fooled by poor people who have the audacity to give birth to children as often as rich folks do, ought to go down hill 1 And you’ll help them on their way, and think you are doing a righteous thing.—Kate Thorn, in If. x. IFroHy. —————• Ik the porgie oil factories in Maine, last year, 518,000 barrels of fish produced 1,618,000 gallons of oil and 16,000 tons of scrap, valued at $716,800.

Youths’ Department. FATHER AT PLAY. Huoa fan m we bad one rainy day. When father waa home and helped ua play I Wo made a ehip and hoisted anil, And croaaed the tea in a fearful gal*— But we hadn't eailed into Loudon town. When captain and crew and veaael went down, Down, down, in a jolly wreck. With the captain rolling under the deck. But he broke ont again with a lion’a roar, And we on two lega, he on four. Ran out of the parlor and up the atair. And frightened mamma and the baby there. Bo mamma mid abe’d be p'lioeman now, And tried to 'reet ua. She didn’t know how. Then the lion laughed and forgot to roar Till we chased him out of the nursery door; And then he turned to a pony gay, And carried ua all on hia back away. Whippity, lickity, hiokity, ho! If we hadn't fun, than I don’t know! Till we tumbled off and he centered on. Never stopping to see if hia load waa gone. And I couldn’t tell any more than he Which was Charlie and which was me, Or which waa Towser—for all in a mix You’d think three people had turned to nix. Till Towxer’a tail was caught in the door; He wouldn't hurrah with us any more, And mamma came out the rumpus to quiet, And told us a story to break up a riot, —Youth.'i Companion.

THE MARTIN FAMILY.

Three years ago I improved a small space on my grounds by the erection of a cottage, designed for a peculiar class of tenants, and waited for them to come and take possession, it was a pretty, little, one-story tenement house, with three apartments on the first floor, and doors opening from each apartment upon a verandah, covered by a projecting roof and supported by graceful-turned pillars. It was, and now is, a very neat habitation, painted yellow, with white trimmings, and little pinnacles above the roof, to give it an attractive appearance. I felt sure that it would be in demand; so I put up no notice intimating that it was “To Let,” though there were several houses in the vicinity which had their windows curtained with such placards. I may as well say that my house was erected on the top of a long pole, and the tenants that I was expecting were the early house-martins, which, by their social habits and cheerful dispositions, tend to add to the pleasure of home. My chamber window overlooked the cottage, which 1 did not think would be objected to by the occupants, though cue of my neighbors, in a ridiculous pet, built up a fence as high as his house betwixt his bounds and those of another, because windows stared out of the latter upon his own premises. I watched eagerly for my coming tenants, and about the middle of April I was rewarded by seeing Mr. Martin, with a purplish black coat and a white vest, inspecting the premises. He first stood upon the verandah, and peeped into the different apartments; then he walked in, to inspect the accommodations. After a little time, he came out and perched himself on one of the pinnacles, as if he were contemplating the neighborhood. Then he sat on the limb of a peach tree in the garden, and scanned the outside of the house, seeming to like it very much, as he twittered his approval to himself, and flew away, leaving me very certain that mv house was taken.

"Next day my visitor was attended by another whom I supposed to be Mrs. Martin—though if such was the case, she was clothed in the same dress as her husband—and they examined the house very thoroughly. After a conference on the verandah, wherein I dare say a good deal was said about housekeeping matters, which I regretted that I could not understand, they flew away; but returned almost immediately ana took possession of one of the apartments. I had purposely left some straw in each, which I thought the tenants might employ in some way; and this seemed to suit them exactly, for I could see them placing it just where it was needed, and they moved in and out, the busiest little people that ever began housekeeping. But they were very economical and began quite moderately, for they had' no carpet beyond the straw upon their floor, and as for the furniture which they brought, you could have put it in your pocket. They were truly rigid economists, and began their domestic life with nothing more than they absolutely needed. No danger could there be of having bills thrust in upon them which they were unable to pay; and they seemed just as contented and happy with the little they had as do many of our kind with their fine furniture, pictures and luxurious outfits generally. Indeed, they did not seem to think even of their rent; hut took possession as if it were well understood by them that they were privileged tenants. They seemed very happy, twittering—l know they did—in their tongue their little confidences and encouragements and hopes, and helping each other to make their home respectable and comfortable. And Mr. Martin was a noble fellow. He took hold bravely, and brought sticks and things needed for the nest, and was flying about as busy as a bee all the time. I may say that I have seen him thus engaged when Mrs. M. sat upon the verandah, straightening out her feathersand otherwise primping herself; but not many times, for she, too, was an industrious worker. After getting settled, they would start off in the morning with a great chattering, and made but short visits to their home during the day. They were away, doubtless, getting a living, for they had appetititea which must be satisfied, though they needed but little and indulged in no extravagances. I suspect that ho never had any money in his pocket to buy anything with, and all he required he had to work for. They lived on lively game, and flies and bugs and such things were not safe when the martins were about. As for clothes, I am sure that for the three or four inonthsduring which they occupied my house they never had any new garments. But the old ones looked exceedingly well, though they were of a fashion very, very ancient. At last they became more domestic in their habits, and were seen more about the house, seeming as if they were hatching up some new plot or something; and, sure enough, in a little while we beard a great chattering between the two, as if some remarkable event had happened. Then we heard little chirpings in the house, and knew that some baby martins had come along for the care of my tenants. How'

Important they now seemed, as they flew away to procurb feed for their little ones; and how the little ones chirped sad twittered when they returned, bringing them something as nice to them and far better for them than cream-cakes or candy. By and by we saw two little heads projecting from the door, and soon two little birds toddled out on the verandah, where sometimes I was afraid they would fall over, as the wind shook the pole to and fro; but they did not. One of these we named Tom, the other Polly; but they were so much alike we could not toll them apart. They were objects of great care to their parents; but seemed obedient and kind to each other. They never quarreled; but sat in the beautiful sunshine, waiting until they should be able to holp themselves and relieve their parents of the burden of providing for them. The parents, however, did not think it a burden ; but were happy in doing all they could for their dear little birds. Boon, with a deal of noise, as if it were rejoicing, the young birds joined the old ones in their flight, and were rarely seen in the daytime round their, homo. The summer wasted, the birds flew away, and the house waa vacated, without previous notice.

The next spring the martins came again; but this time there were two families, who took possession as before and epent the summer with us, with but one change. A little, venturesome martin sat upon the verandah and saw a yellow cat sunning herself on the shed below. It was a curious object to the bird, which leaned over, lost its balance, and in an instant was in the jaws of the cat. Weheard the terrified scream of the old birds, but we were too late to give any assistance. Cats have no tender feelings, and a young bird was a luxury not to be rejected. Indeed, that cat came around the place for several days, looking up, with greedy eyes, to see if any more birds were likely to fall. After the martins left my bouse, a family of English sparrows came and took possession of its furnished apartments. They were a noisy and disorderly set of tenants, having a great deal of boisterous company. I aid not like this, any more than I ao to see a noisy family intrude themselves into a quiet neighborhood. They kept possession all winter; but at the usual time last April my friends, the martins, returned, and were indignant to find that their rooms had been occupied. .Doubtless, they found the furniture injured and the paper stained, and thought, perhaps. I might have looked after things in their absence. There seemed to be three families this time, and the sparrows actually tried to drive them away; but they were too strong. One morning we heard a loud noise among the sparrows, and there were six sparrows holding an angry talk with the martins from the roof of a neighboring house. But the martins quietly held their ground, and when the sparrows swooped down upon them they resisted them and drove them off. They have not returned since, and I think they will not. The martins at once went to work to repair damages, and at the present time there tea prospect of a pleasant and prosperous summer in the martin families. I hone they saw that yellow eat round, yesterday, looking up at ths house and licking her lips, probably with a memory of that bird last year. About the houses of birds and men there are evil things lurking to harm those who are not guarded against them. The greatest care is needed by all of us to watch for an such, lest, like the poor little bird, we may fall into the jaws of the destroyer.— P. B. ShiUaber, in N. Y. Independent.

Scenes in Cairo.

The traveler who desires to see the Mohammedan at home cannot do better than to seek him in Cairo, and he finds in the narrow, picturesque streets of the old Kof the town scenes of interest which ay seek in vain elsewhere. When he emerges into the modern quarters the change is remarkable. Though all the tyranny of the Turks has not sufficed to alter the indelible characteristics of the place, and though the wide squares, the fountains, the gardens, the arcades, the watered roads, the rows of villas have a balf-French look, the people who crowd every thoroughfare are as unlike anything European as they can be. ’ - Here, a long string of groaning camels, led by a Bedouin in a white capote, carries loads of green clover or long fagots of sugar-cane. There, half-a-dozen bluegowned women squat idly in the middle of the roadway. A brown-skinned boy walks about with no clothing on his long, lean limbs, or A lady smothered in voluminous drapertea rides by on a donkey, her face covered with 6 transparent white veil, and her knees nearly as high as her chin. A bullock cart with small wheels, which creak horribly at every turn, goes past with its cargo of treacle-jars. Hundreds of donkey bt)y» lie hi wait for a fare, myriads of half-clothed children play lazily in the gutters, turbaned Arabs smoke long pipes and converts energetically at the corners, and evesy now and then a pair of running footmen, in white shirts and wide short trousers, shout to clear the way for a carriage in which, behind half-drawn blinds, some fine lady of the viceregal harem takes the air. She is accompanied perhaps by a little boy in European dress, and by a governess or nurse, whose bonnet and French costume contrast strangely with the veiled figure opposite. A still greater contrast is offered by the appearance of the women who stand by as the carriage passes, whose babies are carried astride on the shoulder, or sometimes in the basket so carefully balanced upon the head. The baskets hardlyditfer from those depicted on the walls of the ancient tombs, and probably the baby, entirely naked and its eyes full of black flies, is much like what its ancestors were in the days of the Phoroahs. In the older quarters of the town the scenes are much the same, only that there is not so much room for observing them; for the streets are seldom wider than Paternoster Row, and the traveler who stops to look about him is roughly jostled by Hindbad the porter, with his heavy bale of carpets, or the uncle of Aladdin, with his basket of copper lamps, or the water-carrier, clanking his brazen cups, with an immense skin slung round his stooping shoulders.—London. Saturday Review —He bad come over to see her father, and they had been sitting together for some time alone, and at length she tenderly asked him why be didn’t get married. And be replied, with some agitation, that he bad always feared that if he did some time he might stroll into a saw-mill and be pushed against the saw, and have one of Ills legs taken off, and have to wear a wooden one, and he thought it wouldn’t be fair to his wife. And then he added nervously that he was in a hurry, and thought he wouldn’t wait any longer.— No noth Bulletin. ~