Saturday Evening Mail, Volume 1, Number 3, Terre Haute, Vigo County, 16 July 1870 — Page 2

»Jk, 1 1/^

Agricultural.

HINTS TO THE MANAGERS OF AGRICULTURAL AND HORTICULTURAL EXHIBITIONS.

As the season will soon boat hand when the boards of managers of the various agricultural and horticultural societies make up their schedules of premiums for the autumn exhibitions, Ave submit a few hints for their consideration.

In the first place, the schedules should be prepared and published at as e&rly a day as possible, so that those •who may De amuitious enough to show something really worthy of^exhib^tjftg may have an opportunjt^pn early in the it. When it ia«,-articles premiums are scaa^gi^On, growers become indifferent, and make no preparation for the event, and the tables set aside for hor ticultural products especially are cov ered with a lot of "catch weights," of which each visitor can say, "I have as good or better than that at home," and the exhibition loses its interest in a great degree. It would be still better were the schedules prepared and issued a year in advance.

Secondly, every society should keep a record from year to year of the size, weight, and appearance of all grains fruits, and vegetables exhibited, the finest of which should have the first premium but afterwards, no first premium should be awarded, unless the article exceeded in quality that of the same sort which had previously obtained a first prize. For instance, if John Doe this year exhibits a bushel of Diehl wheat weighing sixty-five pounds then no first premium should be awarded to any person, in any future year, lor a bushel of the same variety, unless it should weigh sixty-six pounds and that weight being attained, the next first premium should be awarded to a bushel weighing sixty-seven pounds, and so on. Again, if Richard Koe exhibits six Seckel pears weighing twenty-four ounces, that should be accepted as the standard, and no first prize .afterward given unless that weight is surpassed. If celery is exhibited blanched thirty-two inches, and of a certain weight, that should be tho standard, and no first premium afterward awarded unless it is surpassed in both respects and so with all products grown from soil. The object of giving premiums being to excite emulation, and to incite cultivators to improve the qualities of grain, fruit, and vegetables, it is very short-sighted to do away with wholesome rivalry, by giving in one year a premium for wheat weighing sixty-four pounds to the bushel, and the next year giving it for wheat weighing from four to six pounds less—the latter only having tho opportunity to take such a premium, perhaps, because the party who had previously shown it at sixty-four pounds had remained from exhibiting, although this year ho had it of equal weight with that grown last year, thus placingboth on the same level as to skill, excellence, etc.

Thirdly, particular attention should be given'toscetlmt all articles exhibited aro true to name, and if not so, the premiums should bo withheld. Some persons whose notes or bond would be considered gilt-edged aro yet so fraudulently disposed in this respect, that if they obtain a new variety of any thing they will knowingly misname it, in order to prevent others from obtaining it, or to compel others to buy seeds or plants from them. We aro sorry to say that this is too often._du»ft^.^i«Vcn""arimvftliito Tn adcrfng to tho long list of synonyms with which our catalogues are encumbered.

Fourthly, samples of all fruit and vegetables exhibited should be tasted

Lastly,

done

Unless this

or cut open bv the judges. Unless this is done, frauds cannot be prevented, or tho quality of the fruit fairly ascertained. Wo have known every berry in a quart of straAVberries have a goodsized shot inserted in it, by lifting a Yalvx-leaf and pressing it into the ber-

"and this only detected by an outsider "hooking" a Yierrv. and finding the shot, between his teeth. The same thing may be done with other fruits, and Ave have known gooseberries and strawberries to be soaked in water, and vegetables also, in order to add to their

FU'thly, all articles exhibited should be presented and exhibited as though thev had some value, or

Avcro

of some

importance. Unwashed, untrimmed vegetables should be refused, (irain should not stand in sacks or boxes about the floor, as though it

Avasjust

aAvaiting its turn to be ground—it should be placed in some suitable receptable on the tables. Fruits should have good-sized dishes or plates, and not be placed on

bare

tables, with strips

of tape between the rows. If the managers do not attach any value to the articles exhibited, the public certainly will not. Bv some little attention to the "get up" of tho articles, a very mediocre exhibition may be made at least respectable. A special Avord for the poor neglected vegetables: they are generally thrust to one side, or to some obscure corner, as though they woro scarcely worthy of much notice but they can be made, by proper arrangement, to give great "character and interest to the exhibition. Any person who last year attended tho exhibition of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society at Boston must lurve been impressed with this fact.

proper

IK1 made

arrangements should

for

the protection ofthe flowers

and plants exhibited. To place these frail and delicate objects in places Avhere they are exposed to the cold and drying Aviiuls of autumn, or bo covered with the dust from the race-ground or cattle-ground, is stupidity and yet it is

four times out of live at least.

They should have a separate enclosed apartment, with a liberal supply of light especially from the roof, and every facility for watering them and syringing them at night, after the audience leave. A moist, close atmosphere at night has a Avonderful effect in refreshing them, and preserving their beautv from day to day.

We cannot refrain from saying a word as to the judges. For alt such classes of articles as

come

under the head of

domestic articles, or for home adornment, it Avould bo both right and politic to place ladies with gentlemen on the committees of judges. 1 hey are certainly letter able to judge of the merits of household articles, as their duties eoc^s it-a to ft knowledge of their comparative excellence and in matters

taste, both aesthetic and ges-

at or A* AVO would vastly sooner trust to their"judgment than Ave would to that of the sSpiiro, the deacon, ort for that matter, even the dominie himself. Jlrtirfh and Ifome.

WHITKWASH THAT Wn.r. NOT RUB OFF.—We find the following recommended Mix up a half a- pailftil of lime and water tako half a pint of flour and make a starch of it, and pour it into the whitewash while hot. Stir it well, and make it ready*for use.

TH cro

in Colorada and

»j prospects in Colorada ico are greatly improved

NCAV Mex

THREE HORSES ABRKAST.—E. Diboll, Kingsville, O., writes: "Make a trtwhiftletree, somewhat longer double whifflefcree. If you

than a

wish tho

third horse to do a third of the put the staple or hammer-hole one-third of its length from one end. To the short arm, attach witji a clevis and pin, the whifiletrees for two horses, ranged just as for a span worked alone. To the long end, attach tho for tho third horse. Adjust the length of the traces s© that tho three

sawsst riars

care,

as Burns^ „road.' The common iVo-ftorselinesaro re-set. Let the outer reins go to tho outside of the outer hor ses, and the inner reins fasten to the middle horse. With a couple of straps fasten the horses together Dy the bits, Some fasten the strajps backs to the harness of the middle horse, instead of fastening to its bits. This will make such a team as Apollo never drove This method has the advantage of arranging them so that each shall bo compelled to do its parts, and they all bo under the control of one driver."

COLOR OK HORSES.—Tho Arabs illustrate their estimate of the ditt'erent colors of a horse by the following story:

A chief of the tribe was once pursued by enemies. He said to his son: "My son, drop to the rear and tell me the color of the horses of our foe, and may Allah burn his grandfather!" "White," was the answer. "Then wo will go south," said the chief, "for in tho vast plains of the desert the wind of the white horse cannot stand in a protracted chase."

Again the chief said, "My son, what colored horses pursue us?" al "Black, O my father!" "Then AVC Avill go among the stones and rocky ground^for the feet of black horses are not strong."

A third time the young Arab Avas sent to the rear, and reported chestnut horses. "Then'" said the chief, "Ave are lost. Who but Allah can deliver us from the chestnut!"

Dun or cream colored horses the Arabs consider Avorthless.

THE Rural New-Yorker, through a correspondent, S. O. Johnson, thus endorsed tho "Saving of Wasted Fertilizers" movement

We hail Avith gladness the use of earth-closets. They Avill certainly save many lives. The sickenning odors Avhich arise from so many of the cabinets in the city houses are deadly as the far-famed Upas-tree. If the earth-clos-ets can be introduced into tenement houses, and properly attended to, they Avill Avorlc a mucn-to-be-desired reformation. The Chinese make great use of night-soil, and, by the aid of these arrangements, the market gardens around NOAV York could be provided Avith the best of stimulants, and a prolific source of disease would thus be made to furnish most succulent food."

LEIPZIG.

Near the Prussian frontier of Saxony there is a small

toAvn

Avhich exercises

a marvelous influence on the rest of tho Avorld. We haAre said that it is a small town—it is not even the largest in Saxony. It is a long Avay from the sea, from Paris, and from London, and yet it is one or uie most vUtt— .f*id towns of the Avorld. First! of all at Leipzig there are held three great fairs every year, at one of Avhich transactions, chiefly in wool, take place to the extent of many millions of dollars. This is not bad for a small toAvn but Leipzig docs not derive its chief importance from these AVOOI fairs. Then it possesses a Conservatory of Music, Avhich is unrivalled in Europe! This is something to boast of certainly and yet Leipzig does not derive its chief importance from its academy of music. Tho pride of Leipzig is that it is tho principal scat of the book-sell-ing and publishing trades in Germany, and, simon# the cities of the world, ranks immediately after London and

Paris. In consequence of certain restrictions imposed upon publishers by the toAvn of Frankfort, some of the chief booksellers in Germany, who had hitherto fixed their headquarters in that citA', removed in 1565 to Leipzig, and laid tho foundation of the greatness of tho little Saxon toAvn. It is stated that in tho year 1807 no less than 130,000 hundred Aveiglit of books was despatched from Leipzig, and that about the same quantity was received. Since then, however, tho amount has constantly increased. In the next year, (1868,) alone, over tAvo thousand Avorks Avere published in Loipzig, Avhilo in all England, during tho same time, only four thousand thrpc hundred Avere given to the Avorld. This comparison maAT give some adequate idea of|the extent of the loipzig publishing trade, which is at present carried on by tAvo hundred and fifty firms. There are

also over fiftv printing establishments, and book-binding, type-founding, and other kindred trades are carried on to a largo extent.

But the industry of Leipzig is not confined to books, for music is published there more extensively than in any other citv in the world the great firms of Breitkopf and Hartel and Koder being AVCII knoAvn throughout Europe Iieipzig is, unfortunately, best knoAvn to the majority of English readers through the pirated editions of English works published by the celebrated

Bernhard Tauchnitz of that city. In this ease, as in many others, the best side is not that Avhieli is the most apparent, and let us say that, in other cases as in this, the pleasure of discoA'cring the hidden good Avill always repay the honest inquirer.

In iustit* to Baron Tauchnitz it must be added that in publishing English lxwks he is breaking no laAV, and that although he profits largely by the brains of English Avriters, for Aviiicn by law he is«not obliged to pay, he is usually most liberal in sending them a pecuniary acknowledgment for the reprint of these works. This fact was pointed out by Mr. Wilkie Collins, in his recent controversy Avith a less liberal Dutch firm, Avho proposed to translate "Man and Wife" without giAing the author any compensation Avhatever.

THE boring-rod is one ofthe most potential tools of foreign scientific eugi noons. Our coal-miners as yet knoAV nothing at all about it. Artesian wells a few years ago, did not exceed a foot in diameter. At Passy, a suburb of Paris, an artesian well, three feet six inches in diameter, was sunk not long ago, and completed with a diameter of two feet four inches. But, according to the Exposition report of Mr. D'Aligney, shafts of-ten. twelve and fourteen feet in diameter are now bored with the same facility, and they have all the ad A'antage "which complete command of Avater can giA*e over the slow, laborious, costly and dangerous man-sunk shafts in common use.

NOTES AND GOSSL

—The Florida militia have a colored brlga-^ Uer-ge»cniU I —An ••Erio" freight car ntw just mode the trip

from

the Hudson to the Pacific.

Tlie

—John P. Hale Is so much changed In personal appearance that many of his old friends in New Hampshire do not recognize him now. —The engineers are noAV surveying General Butler's abandoned canal opposite Vicksburg, with a view to turn the channel of the Mississippi if possible. —Persons who prefer stale bread can have their taste gratified by sending to Pompeii, whore they have loaA'es which were baked OArer eighteen hundred years ago. —A NeAV York paper lately announced that Olive Logan had "married her uncle what the editor wrote was "sprained her ankle." —An exchange^ notes, as the most "harrowing" sight it ever saAV, the spectacle of a gentleman in a dress suit of black liarroAving in afield with a plug hat on. JJ-r\ —One of the latest notions is the birth card, resembling a wedding card, but bearing the name of the new comer, and the date of his adA'ent, with the initials of his parents. —A Texas couple eloped on horseback, accompanied by a clergyman. They were pursued by the bride's father, and the minister performed the marriage ceremony at full gallop. it

Two bloedthirsty duelists at Knoxville, Tenn., explained, through the public prints, that they have mutually agreed to abstain from all acts of personal violence toward each other. jou:

Americanized descendants proudly Inquire^ How is that for High Lo Jack

—A citizen of Georgia having lived eighty years, and seeing no prospect of a natural death, has Avitfi great ingenuity accomplished suicide by hanging himself in acorn crib with a pair of trace chains. —A hint for Mr. Schenck. Swift at one time proposed to put a tax on female beauty, and to leave every lady to rate lier own charms. He said the tax would be cheerfully paid, and would be very productive.

At the Charlestown, Mass., State Prison, the convicts were regaled on the Fourth with a banquet and an oration on "Liberty." A11 aged convict remarked that the plum pudding was nice, but the oration rather out of placc. —To a

kinds of seeds and plants a wag sent an order for one package of custard-pie seed and a dozen of mince pie plants. The horticulturist returned twelve hen's eggs and a small dog.

1KRRE-TTAIJTE SATURDAY [EVENING MAIL. JULY 16, 1870.

baptism of a Protestant child has re

cently been permitted in Portugal for tlfo first time, -f —A railway enterprise in Kentucky has boon promoted by "an enthusiastic meeting und squirrel stew." */'J _» We all owe something to our country," said the Briton AVIIO went abroad without having paid his income tax.—Punch. —Experienced husbands can tell when Mielr wives are about to ask for money by tlw way they purse their months. —A Norwegian family, consisting of father, mothet, and tweuty-one children, landed at Sheboygan, Wis., lately. —It is said that Vlnnle Ream is on her last bust, preparatory for leaving for home. We hope she will come out all right and reform. —A. H. Stephen^, the former Vice President of the Confederacy, now Aveighs but seventy-six pounds. —^Cklock of pigeons Avere recently set upon by a swarm of bees at Carlisle, Penn., and many of the birds were stung to death. —The first case in America of the marriage of a Chinese couple by a Christian clergyman, has just occurred in San Francisco.

horticulturist Avho advertised all/

A female suicide in Vicksburg on Juno 26th, left behind her a letter directing that the fact be communicated to her parents in Warren county, Ohio, and that she be "berried in a white dress to be found in her trunk partly cut out." —When Hawthorne Avas in England he was told by Monckton Milnes, from whose lands a portion of the Pilgrim fathers emigrated, that the next voyage of tho MayflOAver, after she had landed the Pilgrims, was with a cargo of slaves from Africa to the West Indies. -On Monday the Hon. J. P. C. Shanks delivered a Fourth of July oration on the Bull Run battle-field, and at the spot where he Abovc the pines the moon was slow came near being taken prisoner and one of

his Congressional associates was captured by the rebels .on the day of the memorable battle. —A correspondent Avrlting from Ireland recounts a visit toan Irish school in the Black Valley. An address was made to the children, and at its conclusion they Avere asked what they expected to do when they became men and women, when, with one inspiration, the forty pupils, responded "Go to America." —A careful Pcnnsylvanian waited till his wife went to the barn for hen's eggs and then tried his new gun with a load of buckshot at the side of the barn as a target. The doctor picked the shot out of her, and the husband will have to wait the slow process of diA-orce before he can marry the woman of his choice. —A New Orleans man with a bottleof mucilage in his coat pocket, enjoyed the society of two lady friends in a street, car unconscious that the bottle was broken. When they desired to leave, all were stuck fast, and only perseA'ering efforts and the sacrifice of silks and doeskin released them —An enterprising phrenologist once wrote a polite note to the late Charles Dickens asking permission to make an examination of his cranium. Mr. Dickens replied "Dear «sir _At this time I require the use of my skull, but as soon as it shall be at leisure I will willingly place it at your disposal." —A gold-headed cane was voted to the "most popular liquor denier" at a church fair in Dubuque, Iowa, last week- In another town out West, about the same time, the "most popular liquor dealer" in the place got a welt over the head with a big stick in the hands of an infuriated wife, whose husband the aforesaid "popular liquor dealer' had repeatedly made drunk,

—A lady says she always feeU well dressed when she ban on Imndnoine-flttlng gloves and shoes, no matter how plain the rest of her dress may b§, —A boy In N country NCDOOI was rending the following Apntunoer "The lighthouse la a landmark by day and a beacon by night" and rendered It tbMs: "The light-house is a landlord by day and a deacon by night." —The Detroit. Tribune says that since the Chinese shoemakers commenced pegging away at North Adams, Mass., the place bos become quite a temperance community. There Isn't a cheery cobbler to bo found in the town. —Three hundred and seventy-five times since Louis Napoleon ascended .the French throne has his empire been startled by health reports from the Tullleries which should "cause serious uneasiness." —George Alfred Townsend writes: "There Is no friend to a Journalist like an enemy. The meaner the attack, the more inscrutably it comes to benefit." William Cobbett once said "Every mean enemy brings me a new thought, two new frieiulu and five new subscribers." —At thotfate Ascot races a French attache,

OA'er-elated

The Mormons of Utah have turned their attention to the production of gloves that rival those of Paris in delicacy and workmanship. The gloves are made from genuine kid, raised in the vicinity of Salt Lake.

—Some of the "posters" advertising an icoolie meetings in New England, are adorned with a figure of a Chinaman with a half dozen rats hung to a stick resting on his shoulder.

with the victory of his country-

man's horse, Sorrette, remarked to the Princess of Wales: That admirable race, madame, revenged us for Waterloo." "True," answered the Princess, "but at Waterloo you ran better still." —A case of feminine daring is related of a Virginia belle, who rode to the edge of a precipice, and defied any man in the party with whom she was riding to follow her. Not a man accepted the cliallege but a tantalizing youth stood on Ills head in his saddle and dared the lady to do that. —A com piny has been organize! in New Orleans for the application of condensed air as a motive power for street railways. The cylinders are to be of paper and placed on top of the cars. A trial has been made with this method, and a car with twenty-eight passengers was driven three miles and a half in seven and a quarter minutes. —A Texas editor has had presented to him, by his admiring lady readers, an embroidered shirt, which presents a pictorial history of the State, including the Mexican war. The editor wears the shirt outside of his coat, and wherever he goes he is followed by crowds of admiring boys studying from the back of it the fine arts and booking themselves in Texas politics. —The Washington Star says that "Shoo Fly" has got into the Senate. Recently, Mr. Hamlin, in the course of his speech on the income tax question, paused to interrogate Mr. Morrill in regard to what he construed to be a vigorous expression of dissent by that gentleman to his proposition that it was necessary to replace the income tax on sugar. Mr. Morrill intimated that it was a mistake he had not dissented. "But," said Mr. Hamlin, "you shook your head." Whereupon Mr. Morrill explained that he had shaken his head to get a fly off, and the matter ended

Avith

a ripple of laughter

among the grave and reverend seignors.

—Some of the young Avomen of Brigliam's flock at Salt Lake City, founded a "Co-oper-ative Retrenchment Association," the other day, and resolved, "that we, the daughters of Zion, realizing the evils resulting from compliance

Avith

4.,.

the vain and foolish fashfeeling V?ni

from this day retrench in our dress and make our apparel plain, neat, and becoming to us as daughters of Zion." —A party of Americans at Zurich, Switzland, having become prejudiced against the country for some reason, determined to wreak a terrible vengeance on the unoffending Swiss. So they organized among themselves a base-ball club, with two nines, and played a match game. The match excited great interest among the natives, and our countrymen retired

OArer

the Alps, their

faces lighted Avith a glimmer of sardonic satisfaction. Their devilish revenge has worked, and

noAV

poor

SAVitzerland

and inundated

is cursed

Avith

a passioh for base-ball.

—Tlie PUtsburg DLyxitch says: "It is hard to think of a more dispiriting announcement, this hot weather, than the one made by the Boston Tramcnvt,that "the country will shortly be startled Avith a gigantic Vuislcal scheme, which

Avill

Tiip

river

cause all other to th-

erings of a similar nature, Avhich lVve preceded it, to pale their ineffectual flrV" What the Tramcript hints at is somethfar difficult to imagine something in the ultit Gilmore, line, Ave suppose. Hundreds thousands of musicians, millions of amateu singers, and a gross or two of coliseums, anc the "Star Spangled Banner" with a chorus of fifteen-inch guns—in short, a noise to which all previous noises shall be as the purlings of a brook to the tliunderings of a wind-lashed ocean 011 a rocky coast. Tympanum insurance companies

Avill

existence

no doubt spring into

simultaneously

Avith

the forthcom

in is pickens in Camp" is the title of these vt\rscs, which Ave find in the Overland Monthly for July

sane beloAV

The dim Sierras, far beyond, uplifting Their minarets of snoAV: The roaring camp-fire, with rude humor, painted

The ruddv tints of health On haggard face and form that drooped an.l fainted

In the fierce race for we litli, Till one arose, and from his pack's scant treasure

less leisure

To hear the tale anew And then, while round them shadows gathered faster, whrre,» tho M„«er

Had writ of "Little Nell. Perhaps 'twas lxyisli fancy—for the reader vLToe vountf3*t of them flll But/as lu^read, from clustering pine and ce-

A silence seemed to fall The fir-trees, gathering closer in the Blindows,

Listened in every spraj,, ..„ While the whole camp, with Nell on £.n

Kiish

meadows

Wandered and lost their way. And so in mountain solitudes-o'ertaken the »*, dies shaken

From out the gusty pine.

Lost is that camp,

an||tXu^i

That

SS3. the

Ye have one talc to tell. that camp! hut let it* fraarant story ^lend witTlJ?ePbreaUl thatthrTlls With hop-vines' incense all the pensive

Kentish hills.

And on that grave where English oak, and holly, And laurel wreaths entwine, Deem it not all a too presumptuous folly—

This spray of Western pine!

BROKEN VOWS.

Engagement*, Breathes of Promise and Blighted Affcction*. If a "Nonmp," pretending to be a gentlemnn, gain* temporary poKseWrfon of a girl's heart (which says ltttlc of her powor of discernment, and proves that lovo is blind), the law is of no avail to punish such a one, fbr he cannot pay any damages and the cancelling the contract must be deemed better in uny event, than its fulfilment. It may be fairly said, however, that men of anything like respectability and position tlo not, as a rule, engage themselves without having good intentions at the time of making the contract. That they are generally slow, and wanting in courage to-declare the fact of the change in their feelings as soon as they discover it, is true enough, and also that tho excuses they make.aro generally contemptible but there are circumstances which operate in the mind of a man against a girl, which make him alive to certain peculiarities, or certain Avcaknesses, never before noticed which, in short, make him respect her less, cease to respect her at all, or, perhaps, learn to respect some one else far better. We maintain that, inasmuch as marriage without love and respect is not satisfactory, it is better for the girl to bo told the truth, painful as, it may be, before it is too late, and the" "knot" is tied. Many Avill argue, why should the man not suffer in pocket for his mistake? He should have taken more care to discover her faults before he "declared" himself. This is all Arery well, and Avhat is the operation of this view being strictly enforced? Take an instance. A gentleman sees a young lady, and is struck with her appearance and deportment. Being "smitten" and Avanting a Avife, he embraces every fair opportunity he can obtain to see and learn more about her, and does acquire as great an insight into her prospects, her temper, disposition and character as he is ever likely to get, unless he is allowed that greater amount of freedom and companionship which only an "engagement" affords. We Avill assume he sees no impediment to marriage, and that the young lady is happy to accept his suit the contract is therefore signed, sealed and delivered, in most cases by a kiss, and the engagement, which Ave take to be more than a probationary period of approval on both sides is commenced. From one cause or another let us say, the young lady in question does not come up, and keep up to the required and expected standard—may be she flirts, may be she is lazy, may be sheifl not fond of intellectual pursuits, she may be too cold or too passionate—she may even be indifferent about looking "spiff" and "cutting out" her father-in-laAV. But no matter from Avhat reason, he. realizes slowly, but certainly, that she is not the girl he pictured, and therefore Avrites and tells her so, only that, instead of acting in a straightforAvard and manly manner, he mostly contrives to pick a quarrel upon some trivial pretense, and soon after marries another lie likes better. Then comes the aAvful consequences, in the shape of a threatened "action," "You told me you'd be faithful, and youv'e sold me list to your broken VOAV in other Avords, your let ters shall be read in court, and hundreds shall be extracted from your pocket. If the man who in an unlucky moment pledged his word be very timid and nervously constituted, the chances are he patches up the quarrel, marries the girl, and they are both miserable and unhappy to the end. If he be indifferent to the_wgrltL and A-alues his pocket spectacle of an idiot" wfe/MA^jki^e* a bargain he does not Avish to keep to" puts forward any absurd and' trivial excuse for getting out of it, save the only true and justifiable one, viz., that he has made a mistake, arid he does not love the girl he fancied at one time, and that he noAV loves another much better.

NOAV, no man likes to love a doAverless young lady, whom he knows beforehand he shall not care for as his Avife, or bo mulcted in heavy damages for his mistake therefore the result is, that many men do not engage themselves at all, and remain confirmed bachelors, who would very likely have become married men had they possessed the courage) to propose to tlio young lady on the cnaiice of her realizing all their fancy panted.

Tho opportunities possessed jbyf a young man of forming a correct estimate of the virtues and acconplishments of the girl he thinks he lrves is very limited. It is not until the engagement is arranged that he enjoys tie true felicity of constant correspondcijto and communion. Then it is that thclyounK lady appears in her proper and latural character, and pater ana inatcrflimilias shine in their true colors and itltot unfrequently happens that, in consdjuence, the suitor's feelings undergo considerable of. a change. What really fceins to se required is a kind of interinuengagetoent, to be ratified and confirmed for •ftod at a giA'en time.

Thousands of cngagemonts :frc never mtured, from various reasons but h«,v very few of them appear beforo the pwlic in tho form of actions fbr breach of jrpmise! The opportunity afforded by u© laAV is embraced but by a small sectirt. There is a repulsivencss to mosttiodest and high-minded girls in havimtlieir names aiid IOA aflairs paraded bfore a court of laAV. They very iroperh object to their best affections jeing reduced to a money standard— preferring to suffer in silence.— Young Ladies'1 Jvirnal. v.

WATKRI Rwfs#_A Avriter in an English journal "By the

wa?

touching Avaterprobfs, I

think I can jrivc travelers a valuable hint or two. j?or many years I lnwe worn India nh)V)(.r waterproofs but I Avill buy no more, for I have learned that .Scottish tweed can be made completely impervious to rain, aiid morcoA'er 1 haA'o '.earned how to make it so, and for tho lenefit of my readers I will here give tkr receipt:

In a pail|of soft water put half a pound of sugar l«d and half pound of powdered alui^ stir this ai interA'als until it becomesf clear, then/pour it off into another pt^ll, and put trfc garment therein, and lei it le in twenty-four hours, and then Sting it UJI to dry without

Avnnging Two of man—ha AM in the Avilc without upon the'ej aro really a fortnight] storm of rarely see slipped off were as dr This is, I tl for cloth, if wet, is in we knoAV:

party—af lady and gentlc•orn garments thus treated it storm bf Avind and rain jng AvctJ The rain hangs in globtiles. in short they terproof. Tlie gentleman

Avalked nine miles in a id and rain, such as you the South, and when he overcoat his underclothes

Avhen he put them on. », a secret worth knowing, can 1x3 made to keep out •v way better than what aterproof.

¥,

ALL profeftons have their disagreeables. An afcr in Albany was allowed only seven •mutes to change his dress "from that Sa Puritan father to a forest fiend," ap complains, in a card to the public, tEt a critic excoriated hnn because he "thus unable to dojustice to said f&d as regards dress."

JOSH BILLINGS

The philosophical, scientific nndmpral snggestions that have been running through thp newspapers of this ana other, couirtries under the above name, have an identity and frefehness that makes one long for the acquaintance of tho author. *Mr. Henry C. Shaw has for many years been a hard working man. His Ayritings have the unusual characteristic, that, if given to tfce Avorld in correct orthography,-thev Avould -loso none of their originality'and sparkle. It is the idea that causes explosions of laughter, and- a good humorist will never sacrifice a striking point for an uncommon arrangement of letters.

Mr. Shaw informs 11s that if "any man wants to find out IIOAV much there really is of him, let him sit down deliberately, and undertake to add himself up. He will find that? he afriSttats to a dreadful small sum*."' 1 "I was born April 21, 1818 am fiffcy-j two years old am six feet and .throf inches in depth, and not so wide. I Aval born in BerKshire county, Mass. father was a member of Congress 1820 from this district. I joined I Avorld Avhen I was fifteen years old, emigrating as far West 'as the subur of civilization, and lived for tAventy-fil years more familiar with Indian tral than I Avas Avith the catechism. I al familiar Avitli all the vicissitudes of boi^ der life, and can tell in tho wjldernesa what tree Avill make shingles by lookj hip at it. IlaA'o been a steamboat cap4 tain on the Western waters droA'crj noisy politician, merchant, ftirmtfr*auc-J tioneer, and real estate agent have| taken the chances generally, and in turn, have been taken by the chances. I have never been rich, and neArer expect to be. I am marrieo, and haA O been successfully so for twenty-five years. I ha\Te one Avife, and two daughters. Both daughters

this

haA*e folloAved

example and are married. My first effort in a literary raid began May, 1861. It lasted for one year, and was an innocent failure. Broke out again in May, 1863, Avhen I Avrote my virgin essay, under the norn de plume of 'Josh Billings." Since that time have uttered a good deal of scribbling. I am of a reverential temperament, and liaAro great faith in eArerything, except the human species."

Mr Shaiv's literary ventures havo been very successful, Avhatever he may say to the contrary, and few writers for the press receivo so many of the compliments of "copying." During tho greater part of last Avinter I10 suffered severely with catarrhal fever, Avhich interfered greatly A\rith hisAVOrk. Ho, like Mr. Clemens, is a first class companion.

TIIE LAST WESTERN WONDER. A Avonderful discovery has just been made about six miles Avest of Dubuque, loAva, Avhich consists of a caAro of immense dimensions and magnificent gorgeousness and beauty. While mining for lead ore, a Mr. Kico made tho discoArery in opening a narroAV passage, which he folloAv^o^bout seven hundred feet, leading vutt» aHty-ge room, connected by a narrow passage Avith many others, Avhich lite followed a distance of about one tho\isafid feet, where the cavo seemed to terminate. He afterwa*l sunk a shaft of thirty feet deep, intersecting the cave near its termination, and he and his party of five descended and entered another narrow passage of about one hundred feet, where it expands into a large hall of one hundred feet long, forty or fifty feet Avide, and from ten to fifteen feet high, and ornamented Avith stalactites of great lP^il

lustre, and presenting a crys-

lustre ?xtlu^8^te fineness and torohp«?.!-f£

flashes

the light ofthe

great

brilliancy. From

Wlve

branches in two di

rections at an angle of about forty'degrees, which, being traversed for about iu

TJllle theexplorersfound

several

other chambers or,even greater dimensions and greatly exceeding the fir®t in beauty and interest the entire sides and roofs being covered with snowwhite stalactites and froat-like incrustations of carbonate of lime and gypsum. In many pttrts of the cave might also be seen arayonite. and at distances, -varying from ten to fifteen feet are deep recesses in the walls, so large and high in some cases as to enable them to walk about in them. On the floors of these recesses many stalagmites had formed, one resembling a huge polar bear, and other formations resembling clusters of grapes, etc. In another place a hand Avas distinctly traced. Tho water in tho cave is so clear, that in places where it is ten inches deep it does not appear to bo more than tAvo. Tho party romained in the cavo about six hours, and traveled in for about tAvo miles. „r^.

TICK Avriter of the following paragraph in the Pall Mall Gazette is evidontly not happy in his domestic nrrangements: "The 'wisdom tho ancients' sometimes indicates itself 111 unexpected ways. In Aristotle's quaint enumeration of tho differences between man and woman there is one point at least which AVC have always boon inclined to question, but in which, thanks to lady novelists and lady philanthropists, we begin to think the philosopher mav liaA'e been right after all. mail,' he says, 'ia

»'orR

ian', and more'given

nitilul than

tongue

and

tears, and more.,

rone to envy, and moro querulous gainst fate, and sharper Avith her ..

man prone

readier with her hands.

The female also is more easily dispirited and less liopcful than the male, ancb less sensible of shame and less careful., of truth.' He adds an observation in.-: another domain of facts which Miv Frank Buckland may possibly be ablo to verify. 'The male is more ready help anil moro courageous male for even among the 11n»1 j"'***. when the cuttle-fish is st:rnek tb spear the male helps the

trMl',:n

alr

when the male is struck the tc niaK, makes off.'

TIIINOS NO LADY ('ONKKSHKS.-OUI liozbury says: You can never by any accident get a

confess

hat she is as old as she looks that sho has l»een more than five minutes dras-ing-'that she has kept vou Availing that she blushes when a certain person's name is mentioned that she'Over says a thing she dfes not mean that she is fond of scandal that she-of all persons in the world—i» in love that she does not want a new bonnet that she hasn't the disposition of an angel or the temuor of a saint—or else how could she go throMgh one half what sho does? That she is CA*er in tho wrong.

THKKK is in evervtrue woman's heart a spark of heavenly fire, fvhich lies dormant in the broad day^ghtof prosperity but which kindles up and beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity No man knoAA-s what a ministering angel she is, until he has gone with her through the fiery trials of this Avorld.— Irvin£.