Saturday Evening Mail, Volume 1, Number 9, Terre Haute, Vigo County, 27 August 1870 — Page 2

ir*

•yt.

Rural.

r~ [For the Saturday Evening Mali.] CARE OF HOUSE PLANTS During the long and dreary months ol' winter, when the earth without is desolate, and bare of fruit, or flowers or vegetation, it affords a pleasure of no ordinary character, to enter a room en livened with the presence of even •single healthy vigorous plant and such almost every house may have without much trouble, or labor. Four elements are essential yes indispensa ble, but fortunately these are at ourdisa posal, and subject to our control among these we place first in order,

SOIL.

But so much has been said in works on Horticulture, and in the general lit .erature of this department of human enterprise, about peat, loam, silver sand Ac., as being indispensable, that many are deterred from making the attempt in keeping house plants, because they do not know what these things are, and if they did, they could not obtain them. Now for all ordinary purposes and for such plants as most amateurs desire to keap in our ordinary dwelling houses, it isonly necessary to cut,where over you can find them sods, place them in a pile with the grassy side down, mix witli them as you pile them up, such soil as you can find by the side of old logs in the forest, usually uilled leaf mould, or well decomposed manure, not less than two years old, or if near a brewery, spent hops well rotcd, will answer. In the immediate neighborhood of Terre-Haute, you have sand enough in the soil without any addition, but if the soil is clay, mix onefifth of sifted sand, such as you can find almost any where at the foot of the bluff east of your city when the sods have decomposed, your soil is ready, before placing in the pots it should be thoroughly pulverized and mixed, you have now a soil sufficient for all practical purpous, it will be rich in tho elements of plant food, it will be sufficiently poroses to admit of a freo circulation of moisture, heat and air, and with the exception of an occasional watering of liquid manure will noed nothing more. If the plants are to bo taken from the open ground, great care should be takon in removing them, if any of the roots are mangled or bruised in tho procoss, cut off tho injured part. From tho top cut back tho growth of this year, leaving but one or two eyes, place the roots carefully in tho pot, pour in your prepared soil, occasionally striking tho bottom or sido of it against the

HO as to settlo tho soil among the s* continuo this until tho pot is M! within a half inch of the top, give ^|Vo£,Kanit'"fccep in the shade until fairly established.

Pots from five to eight inches in diameter will bo found most suitablo, don't use those that have been glazed, or painted on tho outside.

The sooner your plants are taken up and potted the better they will be established, when brought within doors, this will greatly increase tho probability of bloom during tho winter months. The next point to be observed is,

MOISTURE.

This however is dependent on so many conditions, that it is exceedingly difilcult to 1 iy down any specify rule. It is perhaps true, that tho majority of amateurs, especially at first, err upon the extreme, of too much, rather than loo little moisture, this is true of some plants, while there are others that cannot hive an excess of moisture. The ('alia, or Ethiopiana Lilly is one instance. This' requires as one of tho conditions of growth, that tho soil bo not merely kept moist but absolutely wet.

In forming a judgement as to tho amount of moisture required, it must be remembered that the design of supplying water, is not merely to keep tho soil in which it grows soft, so as to allow tln young root to penetrate ami spread, it is also designed to furnish food to the plant. The oxygen and hydrogen, of which water is composed, enter into the organic nature of all plants, and are taken up by tho roots as well as by the leaves, hence to keep the plant in a growing condition we must furnish this food at intervals, and in proper quantities, too much results in surfeit, too little in starvation in a room properly ventilated, and where the temperature is kept below seventy, a slight watering throo times a week will be sulficient. A selection may be made from the following list, that will require the same treatment, and will bo found suitablo for dwelling house culture

Cyclamen. Carnation. Primrose. l'elargonlnu"*. Geraniums. FmritJS. l,antarea. Ao*aleas. Antinhure. Calla. This lasts requires to be kept constantly wet.

If climlers arc desired Jtstamir.o. English Ivy. Hoya or Wax plant. Mm ran tea Barclayaua. Having made your selection, and got your plants potted, keep them out ot the houno as long as it is safe to do so who# the mercury falls to forty degree* remove them into a room where there Is no fire, and gradually accustom them to the heat in which they are

%to

r«i»»in during the winter mouths. While the plants were in tho yard, or

^(poroh, they had nn abundance of fresh

house, you must see that this is still supplied, otherwise your care thus far will have been in vain.

Two-thirds of the carbon in plaits, is derived from the air, hence if they are placed where this is excluded, or in an atmosphere where the carbonic acid exists in combinations that prevent the leaves from extracting it, they must perish, fresh air is just as necessary for vegetable as for animal life, if possible, then give them fresh air every day, unless in the severest of winter weather.

HEAT.

The temperature of your room should be determined not by your feelings, but by a good thermometer hung near your flowers, endeavor to keep the grade of heat unitorm, not below forty degrees at night, nor above seventy during the day.

With these points guarded with ordinary care, success will reward your efforts.

Young Folks.

Contributions containing Enigmas, Charades, ltiddles, Puzzles, &c., are respectfully solicited for this Department. They must invariably be accompanied by answers.

Answers to Enigmas, &c., in last week's paper: Puzzle No. 3—Love me Little, Love Long.

Puzzle No. 3—Comical Dick.—100.11,1000, 1, 100, 500, 50, 300,1,100,250. A. O. and K. were used by the ancients as 500,11, and 250.

Puzzle No. 4—On (S. T.) is the best (Pol) I see. Honesty is the best Policy. Enigma No. 3-A11 that glitters is not gold.

CHARADE No. 2.

My first is a personal pronoun, the preservation of which is the first law of nature. My second is an exclamation separated in fami iar quotation from the noble red man in indigent circumstances, by a small article.

My third is the name of a river meandering through the fens and fields of bonny Scotland.

My fourth is the name of an ancient English gueen, and my whole is the accepted ecclesiastic dispenser of sweet .sounds.

CHARADE No. 3.

I wish to tell you my whole—a flower Composed of syllables four My first is done to move a boat

Not with paddle but with oar

Mv next is found on the musical scale. 'Tis either Do, Re, Mi, or Fa Beware of going too far in my third

Or a bear may give you his paw.

My fourth is merely part of a word Containing consonants three, With O for a vowel now what—

Can the name of this flower be

DENIO.

ENIGMA No. 4.

1 am composed of thirty-one letters. My 13, 14, 31, 5, 8, is a hand mill for grinding grain. My 21, 2. 22, 28, 1,1(5, is to pickle and dry in smoke. Mv 22, 29, 5, 31, is what Oliver asked for. My 10, 21,25, 27,5, 2!l, 2, 20, is a mode of travel under some circumstances tho pieasantest. My IS, 11,1, is a tropical production. My 23, 19, 1/, 30, 15, 12, 0, 0, 7, is a heinous offence. Mv 3, 31, 12, 20, IS, is a delicacy.

Mv whole is the name and title of one of UieJbjca.Yi-.st and most efficient office

ENIGMATICAL NAMES OF CITIES IN ASIA. 1. Is the name of a young girl and the first letter of the alphabet. 2. Is the name of a kind of fowl. J. My first is fortune, and my second is the present time. J. My first is a horse, and my second is not rich. ..... ». Is the name of a kind of goods. i. Is color.

Is something that children love. 8. My first is to«nove, and the first letter of the alphabet. HATTIE.

RIDDLE.

Old Fidget sat at his writing desk, And looked for his fine gold pen lie looked before, and he looked behind,

And he could not find it then. For neither before, nor yet behind, Nor on one side was it. .^ O didn't old Fidget tear and swcai,

And nearly have a fit! "Thunder and lightning! Riddle-me-ree!

Where can thundering pen of mino be?"'

CHARADE No. t.

My/fr.tf is twice as much as- you, My second—well, 'tis nought, My third, that's found creation through-.

Wa-s from my sccond brought.

My whole is twice my third, and yet As large 'tis as my whole And aye together both are met

From boreal pole to pole.

ENIGMA No. 5.

I am composed of 14 letters, v'

My whole is an old saying. L. E. (!.

.1 (7/7 LIVS DUE AM OF A STA It.

I$Y CHARLES DICKENS.

There was once a child, and ho strolled about a good deal, and thought of a number of things. He had a sister, who was! a child too, and his constant companion. These two used to wonder all day long. They wondered at the beauty of flowers they wondered at the height and blueness of tho sky they wondered at tho depth of the bright water they woudered at the goodness and power of God, who made the lovely world.

They used to say to one another sometimes, "supposing all the children on the earth were to die, would tho flowon?. and tho water, and the sky be sorrj*?'' They believed they would be sorry. For, Raid they, the buds are the children of the flowers, and the little playful streams that gambol down the hillsides are the children of waters,and the smallest bright specks playing at hide and seek in the sky all night must surely be the children of the stars and they would all bo grieved to seo their playmates, tho children of men, no more.

There was a star that used to come out on the sky before the rest, near the church spire about tho craves. It was larger and more beauti

Ail, they thought,

than all the others and every night they watched for it, standing hand in hand at the window whoever saw it firstvried out, "I see tho star!" And often they both cried out together, knowing so well when it would rise ana where. So they grew to be such friends with it, that before lying down in their beds, they looked out onee again, to bid it good night: and when they were turning round to sleep they said, "God blww the star!"

But while she was still very young, oh, venr, very young, the sister drooped, and came to be so weak that she could no longer stand in the window at night, and then tho child looked sadly

",v out by himself, and when he saw the

8tar^

®*air, now that they are brought into the face on the bed'"I see the star!" and

turned round to the patient pale

TERRE-HAUTE SATURDAY EVENING MAIL AUGUST 27, 187

then a smile would come upon her and the little weak voice used to sa "God bless my brother and the star!

And so the time came all too soor, when the child looked out alone, an when there was no face on the bed am when there was a little grave amon the icraves, not there before and whe the star made long rays down towar him as he saw it through his tears.

Now, these rays were so bright, anj they seemed to make such abeautifU way from earth to heaven, that whei the child went to his solitary bed, dreamed of the star and dreamed th«£ Ivinir where lie was, he saw a train of people taken up the shining road bj angels.

And the 8

°Penin8'

show"L

him a ereat world of light, where man* more such angels awaited to receive them.

All the

angels who were waiting!

turned their beaming eves upon th» led up into th«

people who were carriea star and some came out from the lonj rows in which they stood, and fell upon the peoples' necks and kissed them ten-, derlv and went away with them down avenues of light, and were so happy their company that, lying in the ,be he wept for joy.

But there were many angels who did not go with them, and among them one he knew that patient face that had lain upon the bed was glorified and radiant, but his heart found out his sister among all the host.

His sister's angel lingered near the entrance of the star, and said to the leader among those who had brought the people thither:

Is my brother come And he said "No." She was turning hopefully away, when the child stretched out his arms, and said, "O, sister, I am here! take me and then she turned her beaming eyes upon him, and then it .was night and the star was shining into his room, making long rays down toward him as he saw them through his tears.

From that moment the child looked out upon the star as one of the homes he was to go to, when the time should come, and he thought he did not belong to earth alone, but to the star too, because of his sister's angel gone before.

There was a baby born to be a brother of the child and while he was yet so little that he had never spoken a word, he stretched his tiny form out upon the bed. and died.

Again the child dreamed of the open star, and the company of angels, and the train of people's faces.

Said his sister's angel to the leader: Has my brother come?" And he said, "Not that one, but another."

As the child beheld his brother's angel in her arms, he cried, "O, sister, I am here take me!" And she turned and smiled upon him, and the star was shining.

He grew to be a young man, and was busy with his books, when an old servant came to him and said "Thy mother is no more. I brinj her blessing on her darljng son."

Again at night he saw the star anc.' that former company. Said his sister's^ angel to the leader:

Is my brother come And he answered, "Thy mother." A mighty cry of joy went forth through all the stars, because the mother was reunited with her two children. And he stretched out his arms and cried, "O, mother, sister, and brother, I

ing. lie grew to be a man whose hair was turning gray, and was sitting' by the fire side heavy with grief, and with his face bedewed with tears, when tho stai opened once again.

Said his sister's angel to the leader, "is my brother come?"

And ho said, "Nay, but his maiden daughter." And the man who had been a child saw his daughter newly lost to him a celestial creature among those three, and said, "My daughter's head is upon my mother's bosom, and her arm is .around her heck, and at her feet is the

My 3, 11,6, 14, is not to hit. My 1. 11, 4, is to fasten. My 7, 12, 8.1, is a wine. My 10, 13, it, Is used in playing billiards. My 5, 3, 7, is a funny devil. Mv 2, 10. 4, is fluid congealed to hardness.

A RAILROAD IN GREECE. The United States Consul at the Piraeus, Greece, is writing to the College Courcint a scries of letters about Athens, Among the passages which sound oddly to the classical student, from the contrast they present between the ancient and modern city, is the description of a trip by rail from Athens to the harbor. The road is only six miles long, and, though nowise extraordinary, it is a soureo of never ceasing wonder to the natives. When it it was first opened, tho Archbishop was present, and consecrated the locomotive and each car by sprinkling them with holy water. Still the average Greek cannot quite rccon" cile himself to it as anything in tho ordinary course of nature, and when he takes passage lie docs not cease to cross himself until the motion has become familiar. Every day largo crowds of countrymen flock to the depot, and gat hereon tho bridge near by, to watch the train arrive and depart. Could some of their ancestors, who hewed the stone with which tho track is laid, revisit their work, or look down upon it from tho Acropolis, with what unutterable amazement would they contemplate the approach of a steaming locomotive, without even the poor protective of holy water! Accustomed as they were to the apparitions of gods, demigods, and monsters, this would be a spectacle for which even their mythology could furnish no parallel, and would dumbfound the wisejas well as the ignorant. Think of Socrates soliloquizing over a steain engine Diogenes, with his tub, dead-heading it to the Piraeus, or hanging about a seven cent ticket or Euripides working np a railroad catastrophe into one of njs polished tragedies or the courtly Xenophon taking topographical notes for his Anabasis from the window of a Pullman sleeping-car! These unsophisticated old Greeks, whom we imagmo we understand fully, lived in an entirely different world, with which we can hue but little sympathy. Shall some futnro generation say the same of us?

The Saturday Evening Mail, is the name of a handsome eight page weekly, published at Terre Haute, Ino.,by O. J. Smith.— We*tport( Ooniu)Adcertiter.

THREE things to tongue and coaduct.

govern—temper,

Sunday Reading.

I SHALL BE SA TISFIED. Not here! not here! not where the spark ling waters

Fade into mocking sands as we draw near Where in the wilderness each footstep fal ters—

I shall be satisfied but oh not here! Not here, where every dream of bliss deceives us,

Where the worn spirit never ga'ns its goal Where haunted ever by the thoughts that grieve us,

Across the floods of bitter memory roll

There is a land where every pulse is thrilling With raptures earth's sojourners may not know, Where Heaven's repose the weary heart is stilling,

And peacefully life's time-tossed currents flow.

Far out of sight while yet the flesh enfolds us, Lies the fair country where our hearts abide And of its bliss is naught more wondrous told us,

Than these few words—" I shall be satis y.fled!"

Satisfied Satisfied! the spirit's yearning For sweet companionship with kindred minds— The silent love which here meets no return ing—

The inspiration which no language finds—

Shall they be satisfied? The soul's vague longingTlie aching void which nothing earthly

Alls!

Oh what desires upon my soul are thron ing As I look upward to the heavenly hills.

Thither my weak and weary steps are tend ingi Saviour and Lord! with thy frail child abide Guide me toward home, where, all my wanderings ending,

I then shall see Thee, and be satisfied.

THREE things to pray for—faith,peace and purity ot neart.

IF the worlds did of itself follow the commands of God, religion would be unnecessary. If religion is subject to the world, then it is useless.

A REAL Christian loves close, pointed, searching preaching, and seeks not the ministry of those who speak with enticing words of man's wisdom.

THOSE who in the day ot sorrow have owned God's presence in the cloud will find Him also in the pillar ot fire, brightening and cheering the abode as night conies on.

A Christian sailor, when asked why he remained so calm in a fearful storm, said: "Though I sink, I shall only drop into the hollow of my Father's hand for Ho holds all these waters there."

OUR deeds are like children that are born to us they live and act apart from our own will. Nay, children may be strangled, but deeds never they have an indestructible life, both in and out of our consciousness.

Rev. Dr. Ross once said he thought that he had neglected liis duty, if he Ud not speak temperance to his Sabbath school children, "for," says he, "they will visit our graves and bless our memory for leading them into the paths of Temperance and religion."

ts, but bad

wild beasts, but bad thoughts win their way everywhere. The cup that is full will hold no more keep your heart full of good thoughts that bad thoughts may have no room to enter.

^IME AND ETERNITY.—What folly is it, that with such care about tho body which is dying, the world which is perishing before your eyes, time which is

{ittle

erpetually

baby of old time, and I can bear the world, where will be all the cares and parting from her, 'God bo praised.' And the star was shining.

And tho child came to bo an old man, and his once smooth face was wrinkled, and his steps were slow and feeble, and his back was bent. Amd one night as he lay upon his bed, his children standing around him, he cried as he had cried so long ago .* .• -it*

I see the star!" W And they whispered to ono another, "Ho is dying."

And lie said, "I am. My age is falling from me like a garment, and I move toward the star as a child. And O, my Father, now I thank Tlieo that it has so often opened to receive the dear ones who await me."

And tho star was shining and it shines upon his grave.

dfsappearing, we should so

care about that eternal state in which we are to live forever, when this dream is over! When we shall have existed ten thousand years in another

fears and enjoyments of this? In what lijjht shall we then look upon the things which now transport us with joy, or overwhelm us with grief?

THE WORLD OWES EVERY MAN A LIVING.—This, like many other popular sayings, is utterly false. Tho divine arrangement is that every man shall provide first for his own living, and next for that ot those most closely connected with him—as wife, children, parents, tfce. "If any provide not for his own, and (-specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel." "If any man will not work, neither shall lie cat." The world owes a lazy, improvident man nothing but a iwC The sick, tho lame, and tho imbecile should be provided for, as a matter of charity, not of debt.

FIFTEEN GREAT MISTAKES.—It is a great mistake to set up our own standard of right and wrong, and judge people acc ordingly. It is a great mistake to measure tiie enjoyments of others by our own to expect uniformity of opinion in this world to look for'experience and judgment in youth to endeavor to mould all dispositions alike not to j'ield in immaterial trifles to look for perfection in a fallen world not to aim at perfection in our own actions to worry ourselves and others with what cannot be remedied not to allcviato all that needs alleviation, as far as lies in our power: not to make allowances for the infirmities of others to consider everything possible which we cannot perform to believe only what our finite minds can grasp to expect to be able to understand every thing. The greatest mistake of all is to live only for a time, when any moment may launch us into eternity. r-1-1^

THE DEPARTED SOUL.—Heavens! what a moment that must be when the last flutter expires on our lips! What a change! Tell me, ye who are deepest read in nature and in God, to what new world are we borne? Whither hasth.it spark—that unseen incomprehensible intelligence, fled Look upon that cold, livid, ghastly corpse that lies before you. That 'was a shell, a gross, cartlily covering, which held the immortal essence that has now left—left to range, perhaps, through illimitable space—to receive new capacities to delight, new powers of conception, new glories of beatitude. Ten thousand ancies rush upon the mind as it con-

all mystery, solves all doubts—whieli other. Xekhcr

THE EXTINCTION OF WORLDS. The progress of science enables us to trace, with a probability almost amounting to certainty, the career of a star from its birth from the most diffused condition of its parent nebula through the stage of primary agglomeration when it shines as our sun through the process of cooling into a dim and cloudy spheroid, such as Jupiter or our earth until cold reigns supreme, and the once glowing orb rolls on, barren as our moon.

But when we have reached this stage we have by no means done with the star. It must continue on its course, and, though in obscurity, it must retain its momentum and attractive force. Our sun will thus one day travel in daikness, attended by a cohort of funeral planets, and perpetual night will reign over the solar system. This result appears to be but a question of time, and we are, therefore, led to the consideration that many systems must in all probability, be already extinct' and wandering unnoticed. But as extinction is a gradual process, there will be multitudes of stars in various stages of dimness, and the brilliancy of any orb, its magnitude in fact, will therefore depend on its age, quite as much as on its size or distance. On this view. Sir W. Herschel's method of "star gauging" can not be relied on for a correct determination of the actual shape of the cluster called the MilkyWay," as, instead or taking the average of brightness only as an indication of the average of distance, we have to superadd the average of age. Now, the smaller the star the more quickly will its light be out, and, therefore, the necessary extent of our galaxy is immensely reduced in other words, it appears that while the space separating us from the nearer stars, for which parallax has been obtained, remains of course unchanged, the computed distances of those hitherto considered to be fartherest off will be much lessened, as there appear? to be no reason for concluding that telescopic stars are necessarily more distant than bright ones for which we cannot obtain parallax, but simply that they are older, or smaller, or both, and therefore dimmer.

It will be readily allowed that, if the light of the stars be fading away, a vast number may have already become extinct, and tliat it is indeed possible that the orbs now visible may be but a small remnant of far greater multitudes which once illumined the heavens. If our cluster then be much reduced in extent, and its constituents be largely increased in number, it would follow that the chances against collision would be much reduced. Let us suppose that collisions are possible, and that their frequency is merely a question of chances. What would be the consequences of such an event? It is possible that they would depend chiefly on the relative movements of the colliding bodies that if one were very much larger than the other, and the velocities high, the temperature would bo raised sufficiently to dissipate the smaller in to gas, while merely heating or, possibly, liquefying the larger. If the bodies were nearly of a size, and their momenta were great, possibly both would bo reduced to a gaseous condition in either case their tendency would be to form ultimately a body equal in weight to the sum of its two constituents. Either tho larger bod would annex the smaller, or, if bot became ncfefilous, tlw feryld _gases (tnCl rOntin^t anew into a System possibly containing a sun and planet's.

Again, supposing that two bodies approach each other in such a manner as to avoid a collision, that is, so that their mutual gravity causes them to leave their paths and revolvo round each other, we should have the explanation of the existence of double, treble, multiple stars we should also understand how it happens that some stars (Sirius, for instance) are accompanied by nonluminous orbs. Also, it would seem that if extinct stars are really far more numerous than is generally*supposed, the theory which regards the revolution of attendant dark bodies as one cause of the variability of certain stars receives fresh support.

Thus, in the course of time, nebula would form suns, Suns would grow cold, or, while yet glowing, would come into contact and combine with other suns,'ill gradually space would be peopled with suns, larger and larger, but less and less thickly strewn. Pursuing tho idea, we arrive at a period when all the stars of each galaxy shall become agglommerated into one mighty globe—nay, when all these vast galactic suns shall come togcthor and form one solitary orb, in which all the matter once scattered through space shall be collcc ed, accomplishing its successive fates as a sun without a,system world witjsout a sun—a cold and naked ball. *,

How OLD IS HE.—It became necessary list week in the Criminal Court at Newport, Ky., in order to render a boy witness competent, to prove that he had reached the age of ten years, and his mother, an ageci Irish woman, was called for that purpose.

IIow old is 3'our son John asked the lawver. 'Indade, sir, I dunno, but think he's not tin vit," was the reply,

Did you make no record of his birth The praste did, in tiie ould counthry where he was born."

IIow long after your Triage was that?" "About a year maybe less."

When were you married?" Dade, sir, I dunno."

Did von no' bring a certificate of your marriage with you from the old country "Iley, sir? and what should I nadc wid a eertifiket whin I had the ould ninn himsilf along wid rne?"

No further questions were asked.

OMERRIONS TO WOMEN PHYSICIANS The London

IMUCCI,

THE AT "PICKWICK PAPERS' FIRST A FAIL URE,

We find in a biography of Charles Dickens, published in London, the following account of the first appearanceof the Pickwick Papers":

For the first five months of its existence Mr. Dickens's first serial, the-" Pickwick Papers,' was a signal failure, and notwithstanding the fact that Mr. Charles Tilt, at that time a man of considerable eminence, made extraordinarv exertions, out of friendship for Messrs. Chapman A Hall, to assure its success. He sent out, on what is called sale or return, to all parts of the prov- ,' inces, no fewer than fifteen hundred copies each of the first five numbers. This gave the

Pickwick Papers' a very

extensive publicity, yet Mr. Tilt's only1' result was an average sale of about fifty copies each of the five parts. A cer-C tain number of copies sold, of course,]**' through other channels, but commercially the publication was a decided, failure. Two months before this, Mr.i Seymour, the artist, died suddenly, but leit sketches for two parts more, and the question was then debated by thO|publishers whether they ought not to«, -r discontinue the publication of the serial. But, just while tho matter was under their consideration, Sam Weller, who had been introduced in the previ- ,- ous number, began to attract great attention and to call forth much admiration. The press was all but unanimousin praising

Samivel' as an entirely

original character, whom none but ii Senius could have created and all of a sudden, in consequenco of

4Samivel

s'popularity, the 'Pickwick

Papers rose to an unheard of popularity. The back numbers of the work were ordered to a largo extent, and of course all idea of discontinuing it was abandoned.

No one can read these interesting incidents without being struck witii the fact that tho futnre literary career of Mr. Dickens should have been for a brief season placed in circumstances of so much risk of proving a failure for there can be no doubt that, had tho publication of his serial been discontinued at this particular period, there was little or no probability that other publishers woula have undertaken the risk of any other literary venture of his. And ho might consequently have lived and died, great as nis gifts and* genius wore, without being known in tho world of literature. How truo it is that there is a tide in the affairs of men

By the time the

of recent issue, re

iterates the old objections to women physician*, that have been answered a thousand ti«i'-. I c..n no more see why women should beeonie doctors than children should. Each, it says, have been subject to special diseases therefore if on" should bn doctors, the other should be too. This fallacious reasoning places a woman on an intellectual footing with a child.

Fancy."

it says, "a fastidious young lady, just out of her teens, sent for at midnight to attend a case of childbirth. With

.-..v.™ *q"ai propriety it might have said templates the awful moment between i44 fancy a fastidi otw young man, Just life and death. It is a moment preg- out of his teens, receiving a midnight nant with imagination, hopes and fears summons on Ihc s^aiO t-rr.:nd.' ''no it is the consummation that

clears

up case would be about as nlwurd as the

tn-x

removes all contradictions,and destroys sume the reapoiiKiMc position of pracerror. Great God! What a flood of titioner the

rapture may at oneo brust upon the de- have the requisite age, moral, intellectparted soul! The unclouded bright- u.»lf «uI phys ic-l qualifications, and ness of the celestial region—the solemn we might add, experience, rhe expesecrets of nature may be divulged, the rience must be gained by association immediate unity of the past, forms of. whh others, who are older, and vo imperishable beauty may then sudden- been in practice for years. But people lv disclose themselves, "bursting upon who arc sick will not call fastidious the delighted senses, and bathing theni boys or girls ^ust out of their teens, and in immeasurable bliss. i*o the objection falls to th" ground.

h«ve right to an-

healing art,

unless they

Pickwick Papers

had reached their twelfth number, that being half of the numbers of which it was originally intended tho work should consist, Messrs. Chapman «fe Hall were so gratified with tho signal success to which it had now attained, that they sent Mr. Dickens a check for five hundred pounds, as a practical expression of their satisfaction with the sale. The work continued steadily to increase in circulation until its completion, when the sale had all but reached forty thousand copies. In the interval between the twelfth and concluding number, Messrs. Chapman «fe Hall sent M^j, Dickenfc several cnecks amounting in all to three thousand pounds, in addition to the fifteen guineas per number which they had engaged at tho beginning to give him. It was understood at that time that .Messrs. Chap-' man & Hall made a clear profit of nearly twenty thousand pounds by the salo of the

Pickwick Papers,' after paying

Mr. Dickens in round numbers tlireo n.uusaiid nvo hundred pounds." v^'

A NEW TRICIC.

A gentleman stepped into a jeweler's

shop in Berlin, the other day, and, pointing to his ring, said lie wished to choose a stone for it. Ho was fashionably,

dressed, had an air of distinction, and

while speaking German fluently, yob!' gave tho impression that ho was a forcigner. The Berlin M. Ruby, therefore feeling sure that he found a customer who was worth attending to, at oneo freely displayed his troasures. Alter long consideration, tho gentleman at last selected a stono, and, leaving his name—a very high-sounding one—and address, went away. He had scarcely left when the most valuable stone in tlic jeweller's collection was missed Filled' with alarm, that worthy at once sent the" distinguished-looking foreigner's purhasc to his hotel. Alas no such person"' was there known. Too late the jeweller remembered that his customer, protending to be very shortsighted, had kept his lace in close proximity to tho goods dismayed to him, and had at ono moment icen seized by a lit of coughing, when his handkerchief had been brought, into great requisition. It was 'evident, therefore, that the point of iiis noso must have been previously rubbed with some sticky substance, and that missing jewel had been thus abstracted Hail the jeweller been a student ofthe annals of Berlin police-courts, ho would have become suspicions in proportion as his visitor became shortsighted. As it is, he must be content with so much of consolation as he can find in knowledge that his misfortune was a common occurence to his fel-low-townsmen some years ago, and that their tormentors went by the name of -"Stippers."

TYPE-SETTINO MACHINES.—A machine to set type would seem to require absolute intelligence to do the work and yet a number of letters by invntors have been published, all showing that a good type-setting machine is feasible, and each inventor has, of course, hit the nail on the head, the only want being money to perfect the various inventions. Several have been constructed but so far as our information goes, they arc all failures to a cortain extent. "The last one set to work does really set type hut it requires a a good type-setter to keep it going, and, at the greatest speed, is said to accomplish the work of not more than two good compositors. So that destroys its feasibility. It is not by typo-sett ing machines that newspapers will bo cheapened, but probably by somo combination of photography and electricity yet to be discovered. It has been demonstrated that a picture may be sent by telegraph one hundred miles. When this method *f reproduction can. be increased to the rate of fifty or one hundred thousand an hour, then we nave a machine capable of not only superseding typii-setting, but even pressfeeding.

THE PITBMC DEBT.—The Government has besides discharging all current obligations, paid on the public debt the large sum of $17,WU,l£i! Since the incoming of the present administration the debt has been decreased over $150, 000,000, The decrease since last March is over $»!,000,000. During the year LS09 the average monthly reduction was over#7,000 000, while thus farin tbe preseiit year the average monthly decroaso has been over #13,800,000! "Thus the average monthly reduction for the present year is nearly double that of last year which shows a constantly incraisfng efficiency and economy in the revenne collections.

No honeymoon" is the last rnarriago flnnouncem'nt.