Daily Norwalk gazette and Saturday's Norwalk record, Tuesday, December 30, 1890 · page 2

 

 

Daily Norwalk Gazette

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1890.

 

 

 

 

IMPROVE THE BALLOT LA 17'.

The recent election ‘has clearly shown
the present ballot law to be defective
and inadequate to stand the strain of a
presidential contest. The way in
which the ballots were printed has
caused much confusion, and the way
they should be printed is still a matter
of diversity of opinion. Although Sec-

' retary Walsh had formerly sent out
specimens of ballots, with the word

“for” before each ofiice to guide the

election officials in their printing, the
Republican and Democratic State Com-
mittee well agreed on careful considera-
tion, that the word was unnecessary
and might render the ballots contain-
ing it void. Without following out the
argument in detail, even the short ex-
perience , we have had thus far shows
thatan official ballot complete should
be furnished by the state, which should
not be peddled outside the polling
place, only one of which could be had
by any single voter unless he spoiled
his first one, and then only by surren-
dering the spoiled one, which should
contain the names of all the candidates
nominated, arranged by parties, and
on which the elector should designate
those he wished to vote for by placing
a pencil mark. in the shape of an “X”
after each name ; or in case he wished
'to vote his party ticket, he could do so
by placing the mark after the name of
his party only. This ticket should be
handed to him folded, in the way it
ought to be folded when handed up to
the moderator, and in such a manner
that none of the names or marks could
be seen. . He should be required to
prepare it and mark it in the prepara-
tion booths, and be forbidden to unfold
it or show its contents to anybOdy, and
all persons should be forbidden to look
at it, suitable provision being made for
the illiterate and blind.

It will be seen that this renders the
envelopes unneccessary, and secures
absolute secresy to the electors with-
out them. At the last election the en-
velopes disfranchised thirteen voters in
this district alone, for that number of
envelopes were found unsealed and
therefore as required by law their con-
tents were not counted. An election
device that produces such a result can
be justified only on the ground that
absolute secresy cannot be obtained
without the envelopes, and experience
shows that to be untrue. Massachu-

' setts has a better ballot law than ours,
and one that secures as complete secresy,
without envelopes.

The'oflicial unpeddled ballot, offici-
ally distributed, one and only one to
each elector as he enters his booth, must
come, and theGAZE'r'rE would signalize
its entry upon its career of independ-
ent journalism by recommending both
parties to unite upon this reform. The
disfranchising, and useless envelopes
ought to go, and both parties should
unite on banishing it.

THOSE NAMELESS BALLOT. .

The esteemed Courant is informed
from trustworthy sources that in the
following towns for a certainty (beside
a good many others not yet positively
stated) the democratic ballots were
printed with no name of any candidate
in the judge of probate place. The
towns and their votes are as follows :

 

 

Town. Votes for Morris.
Bedding 128
Weston '7 0
Westport 353
Canaan 98
Sharon ‘ 270

Total in five towns 028

This is worth the immediate attention
of the democrats who are so earnest
now to have the ballot boxes opened
and the illegal ballots‘ everywhere
thrown out.

—_—-————..

 

. Love in London Tower.

"in one of the most grewsome parts of
the London tower,” says an American who
recently Visited that institution, “the fol-
lowing bit of conversation came to my
ears: ‘I say, Jimmie, Whatever will I do
when the bloomin’ bans are called? I
shall feel sucha. silly to know I’m soon»
$01113 to be a married woman.’ ‘Shall you,
110W. Mary J ane?’ he replies. ‘Well, ’ow
do you think I Shall feel? It ain’t no non-
sense getting married, for a man gets to
be a rate payer then, and no mistake, and
’e’s a. ’ouse’older and that.’ Then an in-
terval ensues 0f eloquent silence. The
cheeks of the girl grow pinker and the
man waxes self conscious and awkward,
and I, who listen to this chatter, walk
away from it all and muse on the great
problems of love and life and mummies,
for here are mummies galore, to right and
left, in various degrees of stony, calm con-
tent.”

The “Fire King's” Trick. .

A writer in an English fire paper says
the showman who perform such wonqerful
tricks. and announce themselves as “fire
kings,” and as being fireproof, are chained
to perform their seeming miracles by using
an ointment madeby dissolving two ounces
of camphor in four ounces'of aqua vitzn, and
then adding two ounces of liquid storax
and two ounces of quicksilver. Two ounces
of hematis, beaten into a. powder and mixed
with the above ingredients, completes the
preparation. This mixture when rubbed
onithc hands makes it possible for the oper-
ator to grasp a redhot iron and bend it
double without the least danger; Rubbed
on the bare feet it- enables one to dance on
rcdhot irons without even asmuch as adis~
coloration of the skin.

Expensive ’TE'co'nomy.

Sim—Iou-maidiflfor agpairof gloves! 1.
couldthavcgonesuptownand' got the same f
» Boswell.

thinggorrGSIcents. .
BchE'.don!tz:doubt.it. But you would
honiboughtlyourselffsomethingifor ten- or

imcnglollors‘to-go~with-Ithem.—Munsey’s

o
.—.4~~- .

 

 

TRANSFUSINGBLOOD

REMARKABLEOPER'A’II'ION OF CHANG:-
ING A‘ COM‘PLEXION.

 

A White Man IsSucccssively Turned

Into an Englishman, a. Negro and a.

Chinaman—A Physician’s Bold Experi-
ments with the Transfusion of Blood.

“Did I ever tell you, my dear Boswell,
how, shortly after taking the degree of
doctor of medicine, I lost several years of
my life in one brief night?” the benevolent
old panacea inquired of his comparatively
youthful acquaintance in the Pain :r house
one evening. “No? Well, the event of
which I speak took place in my office. Yes,
the same I occupy at present.

“Among my servants was one whom I
supposed to be a pure blooded Caucasian.
He was intelligent in face and polite in-
manner and the gentleman for whom he
had formerly worked had recommended
him to me in the highest terms, and,
though he had taken occasion to dwell on
several characteristics in detail, he had
made no mention, not even giving a hint,
about the man having any mixed blood in
his veins. Nor would I have suspected it

office hours and told me himself. Hebe
gan, after receiving my permission, to use
a short space of my time as he saw fit by
asking me if I believed in the efficacy of
the transfusion of blood. Upon my reply-
ing in the affirmative he wanted to know
if I thought a man’s complexion might
not be changed by transfusion of the blood
of a different complexioned man.

“The question was a startler. I had
never heard it before and I had never
thought of such a thing. Still it did not
seem illogical. I asked Henry what
prompted his question. He hesitated a
moment, hung his head and replied, after
pledging me to secrecy, that he had African
blood in his veins. A very small quantity,
but still enough to enable an expert to de-
tect just back of his finger nailsthe telltale
mark. He was, it seemed, engaged to a
white girl. She had not known of the im-
purity of his blood until he, feeling it to be
his duty, had told her. She immediately
broke the engagement, declaring that while
she would marry none other she would not
marry him. When Henry had come to
work for us as my office man he had taken
to reading my medical works, and had read
enough about transfusion to obtain a. pret-
ty fair idea of it. And he had hit upon the
thought that it might be employed to
charge his veins with such puree-Caucasian
as to dilute the African blood into an un-
discoverable quality.

TURNED INTO A NEGRO.

“Before I could recover from my surprise,
Boswell, he asked if I would perform the
operation of transfusion. Being young,
impetuous and not overgiven to fully
weighing consequences I consented. He
had, counting on my acquiescence, made a.
bargain with the brawny English janitor
of the building for a limited quantity of
the blood, and it was not long before the
operation was well under way. By this
time I had gained my senses and was en-
joying the thing more as a joke than any-
thing serious until the Englishman let fall
something about having a hereditary taint
in his system. In a jiffy the operation
stopped so far as he was concerned, and I
began to busy myself with letting out- of
Henry’s veins as much blood as it was safe
to spare, in hopes of ridding them of all the
Englishman’s disease tainted fluid.

“In _my excitement I let out too much.
Henry fainted, and terror stricken lest he
should die I ordered the Englishman to
fetch the first strong, able bodied man he
could persuade to part with some blood to
save another’s life. In a few moments he
was back with his negro assistant. He was
not the color I- wanted, but a life was at
stake, and in the shortest time on record I
had his blood flowing into the veins of
Henry. In a little while Henry revived.
He opened his eyes and upon seeing that
the blood of a black negro was flowing into
his veins he sprang up, broke the tube, and
with an oath declared that I was trying to
rob him of what white blood he possessed
and to make him a negro.

“Overcome by the strong conflicting emo-
tions, from the fear that I was an uninten-
tional murderer to the joy of seeing Henry
restored to consciousness, Ifainted. “Then
I came to myself the room was dark. . I
lit the gas and saw Henry lying , on the
floor asleep. His face and hands were jet
black. He had become through my crim-
inal carelessness a negro! What could I
do? He Was much larger than I, and if I
awoke him he might upon discovering the
change that had come over him do me
violence. My eye chanced to light upon a
bottle of chloroform, and in an instant I
had saturated my handkerchief and laid it
to his nose. Satisfied that he would 'not
awake inside a half hour I hurried to the
street, determined to find a white man who
would consent to an operation. '

' A TERRIBLE CRISIS.

"It was a bitterly cold night and a sharp
sleet sweeping down State street drove
most every-body indoors. ' After'tramping
about in vain for nearly half .an hour I
hurried back to the office, my fear of per-
sonal violence by this time having given
way to one that Henry might in his despair
kill himself. As I entered the street door
I spied a. man crouching in the corner. I
bade him stand up, and as he did so I rec-
ognized him as the Chinaman who did my
laundry work. He was a. giant in size and
had a complexion of rich» olive. I had pre-
scribed for him several times and he
thought a. great deal of me, and .he' had
come inside the building it seems to thaw
out a. bit. .

“Well, Boswell, as you may imagine, I
soon roped him into service. To besure, I
wanted a white man, but none was to be
found, and I knew that Henry would (pre-
for an olive complexion to a black skin,
and the Chinaman-being willing to do any-
thing Itold'himl took him to the office.
Henry'was still asleep, and placing the
chloroform» Cap-over his face I ’let.,;_ out .» a
pretty large quantity of ' the negro blood,
his skin becoming lighter all v~the- while,
until it regained itsrnormal hue. I would
have left him so, but as there was not
enough-blood in him to keep him alive I

 

was compelled to tap'the Chinaman and
start the occidentalblood. flowing.

In less than halfan.hour,.sir,.Henry’s
Complexion 'could not be distinguished
from the Chinaman’s, and can-the latter
was beginning'to show. signs of weakness I
stopped the flow, gave him a stiff drink
andsent him forthrto findand'bring torme
the'fimt large-white man .he came-«across;
for I was determined:_that:having,made>the
remarkabledjscoverycof‘the great- powers
0fb1°°d t31‘ausfusion, ‘Henryfishouldaihave
pumpedLinto himgenougthaucasian " blood
tamakehimaslwhi‘telas I.”

“Did the 'Chinaman come back?’ ’ asked

“Heididmot.” thedoctor replied.
d ghenrin'heaveug name what did you
0 .

 

fifllgif-‘l‘l’dfitllfisovflerald-

 

had Henry not come to me one day after

 

 

ORCHARD ‘ AND-.3;

TOPICS , OF INTEREST To show
eaowsns AND GABDENERS.

’ l
, .,
1

 

A Few General'filnts to the Cultivators
of Tomatoes “Under Glass—Heat.»I.ight
and Pure Air Bequisites of" Success.
Varieties That Thrive Under Glass.

Heat, light and pureair in abundance
amrequired forthe-successful culture of
tomatoesunder glass. These are. both .
obtained in a large house. W. M. Mun-
son, of Cornell University, advises one
20 by 50 feet. He oifers the following
hints in American Garden to cultiva-
tors of this fruit.

To make the best use of the house two
crops should be grown during the sea-
son. Plants for-the first crop ought to
be started in August; for the second
crop in November or early December, so
as to have plants ready to take the place
of thefirst lot when the fruit is off in
January. Eighteen inch boxes contain-
ing four plants have proven most satis- ,
factory. These are .madc a feet deep,
with. cracks in bottom for drainage. In
training the plants are tied to 1 small
cords fastened to the corners of the
boxes, and attached above to wires run-
ning lengthwise of the building on the
rafters. All side shoots should be 're-
moved as often as once in two weeks.

- When three or four clusters of fruit
have set, the terminal bud should be '
pinched off. At this time it is Well to
stir the surface of the soil and work in a
quantity of manure. ' ‘

A temperature of 60 dogs. should be
maintained at night. On bright days
the mercury may run up to 80 dogs, or
higher, but in dark weather ventilate-at
‘70 dogs. Do not permit cold draughts to
strike the plants. An abundance ofwa-
ter should begiven; still the soil must
not be kept saturated. A general rule
would be to give eighteen inchboxes a
thorough watering every second-day, or
in dark weather every third day.

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The best time to pollinate (fertilize).is
about noon on bright days. The opera-
tion consists inugiving each plant two or
three sharp taps with a padded stick.
There are several varieties that do well
under glass. . ,

The Lorillard is perhaps the best
forcing tomato. It is uniformly of me-
dimnsize, good quality, handsome color,
and is prolific. Volunteer and Dwarf
Champion are good. The latter istoo
small, but is very handsome, and its
habit is such that-it may betgrown‘much
nearer-the glass than other varieties.
The larger varieties-seem inclined to be
irregular when grown under glass.

Preparing Greenhouse Benches.

Many florists, says H. M. Hales in
Florist’s Exchange, have benches which
they dislike to pull down, and which
they are still doubtful about leaving on
account of danger of the boards break-
ing through. If the posts and supports
are sound such benches can often be
made to lmt another season by removing
the sand or earth from them and cover-
ing with heavy tarred paper, after which
the sand or earth can be replaced. Should
a particularly weak spot be noticed a
piece of thin board can be placed over
the tarred paper to strengthen that par-
ticular spot. Do not: however, use tar
or tarred paper in any situation where
the heating pipes could melt the tar, as
the gas would be injurious to plants. '

 

Nusturtiums as Window Plants.

Nasturtium, as we commonly call the
genus Tropaeolum, are the plants to
climb all around and about the window
frames, particularly in the bay window,
where they can have plenty of light and
room. Their mission is to flower, and
flower they will without regard to time
or season, doing the best in the winter
and spring months. The best-variety is
Tropeeolnm minor, the plants of which
can be grown from cuttings or from
seed; the former I consider preferable.
They require plenty of water ands. light

soil,.and when an application of liquid .

manure is given once a. week success is
assured—American Agriculturist.

Horticultural Exhibit at the World’s Fair.

' The convention ofdelegatesfrom lead-
inghorticultural societiesrwlrich:met at
Chicago and organized under "the-name
ofthe-Columbian Horticulturalassocia-
tion has for president S. M. Emery, Lake
City, Minn, and H.- B. 'Beaty,..0i1aCity,
Pa.,secretary,. The object of thisasso-
ciation is to promote the horticultural
interests-at the World’s fair. The gov-
ernmentaexhibit atsthe World’s fair'is to
:be in charge of the assistant secretary
of agriculture, Edwin Willets.

Horticultural Items. ,

A joint organization of ”Florida. and
California orange growers is in pros-
Pect- _

Under the McKinley bill a duty .is
now:leviedcon:all““plants, trees,.shrubs
and- vines of. allikinds known ass-nursery
stock” imported into the Unitedsstates.
These were=formerly adnfitted'free.‘

The peanut trade is a large one in Vir-
ginia and Tennessee.

“Clematis Stanleyi” is the latest offer-
ingiby florists in-=the way of a rare cle-
matis.

It is claimed thatthis season the best.
crops of apples in-the country have been
grown west of the nineteenth. parallel of
longitude. Nebraska particularly, Kan-
sas and Western Missouri have-produced
bountiful crops of very superior fruit,

 

comprising all the best known varieties. l

BEE HOUSES.

A Colorado Man’s Opinion of the Advan-
tages of These House Apiaries. ,.

The advantages of house apiaries, or
bee houses, was the subject of an address
by a member of the Colorado State Bee-
keepers" convention. By bee houses, he
explained, was meant neither a shed
with outdoor hives put under it nor a
house in which to store honey, but a
house in which the hives are arranged in
tiers around the inside, each hive having
an entrance extending through to the
outside. The walls of his bee houses are
made of inch boards, the hives to set
back two or three inches and connected
by runways. The space between the hives
and wall admits of a passage of air.
which keeps the hives much cooler than
if they Were close to the outside. The
alighting boards are of different colors
and shapes, so that the bees make no
mistake by going in at their neighbors’
doors.

Numbered with arguments presented
in favor of bee heuses by this apiarist,
who has five—the smallest one holding
thirty-eight colonies and the largest
house containing eighty-two colonies—
was the fact that any beekeeper can
handle double the niunber of colonies,
having everything almost within arm’s
length. Then, too, when the honey is
taken off it is not scattered all over an
acre of ground, but is close together in
the. bee house. Another advantage
claimed was that by locking the door
one feels certain that his hives will not
leave before the next regular visit.
And, too, with apiaries one does not
have to bring the hives in [during the
winter and then haul them out again in
the spring. They can be left on the
summer stands. In this beekeeper’s
opinion a bee house is even better than
a chaif hive, both for wintering and
summering, as the atmosphere in the
house, where there are a large number
of colonies, is kept at a more even tem-
perature.

An even temperature, somewhat be-
low the freezing point, is what is want-
ed to cause the bees to relapse into that
semiotorpid condition of successful‘win-
tering. A bee house comes the nearest.
excepting a cellar. to producing this
state.
that the bees could be handled with less

"danger of robbing, as the end of the

house in which we want to work can be
closed and the, opposite end left open for
light and for the bees to escape. It is
also much cooler for the operator.

The editor of The American Bee
Journal when asked, “What would be
the most convenient arrangement for a
house to be used for all the accommoda-
tions of an apiary of seventy-five to one
hundred colonies, to include shop, store-
room for honey, hives, etc?” replied:
“Build it to suit your fancy or require-
ments. We should prefer it to be two
stories high, about 20x30 feet, with two
rooms below and one above. The latter
should have a double floor to keep the
dust from the lower rooms, in one of
which the honey can be stored; the
other would mane a good workshop.
The upper room will be excellent for
storage."

Land fiaster in Compost. ‘

“Will land plaster applied to land in
compost prevent evaporation? W'ill it
prevent it in a fermenting compost heap?
Should it be mixed with the other ingre-
dients or put on top of the heap when it
is finishes ?” To the foregoing queries
of a correspondent Southern Cultivator
answers: ~

'We presume by evaporation you re-
fer to the loss of ammonia. Land plas-
ter will prevent such loss, provided the
mass is kept moist. It may be either
thoroughly mixed or simply spread over
the top. But it hardly pays to buy land
plaster for this purpose, when you con-
sider that all acid phosphates contain
about 50 per cent. of their weight of sul-
photo of lime, which is the chemical
name of land plaster, and will effectu-
ally fix the escaping amm nnia of a com-
post heap.

 

 

'Pruning Peach Orchards.

n pruning peach orchards at the Ala-
bama station the following objects have
been kept in view with satisfactory re-
sults:

Train each tree. to shade its own body
as to prevent sun sealds; to distribute
the growth of limbs unifor".1ly, securing
symmetry, and have the weight of fruit
evenly distributed; to strengthen the
limbs by shortening them back so as to
enable them to sustain a crop; to reduce
the; quantity of fruit by judicious short—

ening of the shoots bearing the fruit

buds, and so direct thegrowth that the
crop can be gathered by a man standing
on the ground.

 

. Things Told About Poultry.

“If I were restricted to one breed of
fowls,” says a New York World corre-
spondent, “I would give the preference
to Plymouth Rocks. They are natu-

rally quiet fowls and not difficult to keep

within bounds. Besides this they are
good mothers and haven. fine, pretty ap-
pearance and grow large enough for
table use. Not quite equal to Leghorns
as layers, perhaps, yet if not overfed I
find them quite Satisfactory in that re-
spect.”

"‘My experience leads me to believe,”
says a Connecticut poultry man, “that
no amount of good food will fatten
geese of amongrel type. The quickest

and best to lay ongood flesh, in my‘

opinion, .are birds produced -,by Embden
geese crossed by the Toulouse. 'Wheat
and barley grain and barley meal, with
brewers’ grains, fatten well. Turnip and
mangold tops are good and greatly rel-
ished.” _
The best hens for hatchers are those

that hre clean legged and nottoo heavy. -
'Very heavy hens are apt to crush-“the

eggs when going on and of the nest, one
of the most annoying and, unprofitable
incidents connected with setting hens.
Feathery legs and toes often entangle
the little chicks and cause their death.
The cure for leg weakness is an avoid-
ance of high feeding. Mix a. little bone
meal with the food and‘put a littlezcop-
paras into the drinking water. Let the

feed be substances that do not tend to'

fat, such as wheat, barley and meat.

Another advantage offered was .

 

.. ' T

spons- ON WATER THAT DISTANCES
A TOBOGGAN SLIDE.

A Thrilling apd.Rcmarkablo Voyage from
the Snow Line of the iSlerras—A Drop
of 250 Yards witha Grade of 1,200 Feet
to the Milk—Shooting Through the Air.

After a slow and wearisome climb, and
as it began to grow'dusk, our team, tired
and dusty, drove into Camp Sequoia. The
flame extends from the high snow line in

distant. It is built of inch and a. quarter
planks, and at the start, where the grade
is steepest, is forty-three inches across the
top. This width is increased, however,
when the decrease inthe grade necessitates
a larger volume .of water to, float the lum-
her, and at the lowercnd reachesan ex-
treme width of sixty-four'iuches. At each

must be-added to the stream.

The first héad of water comes from Lake
Sequoia, and the supply is augmented by
small streams at four different places be
tween the mill and King’s river. To pre-
serve a fairly regular grade in constructing
this flume enormously high trestles were
found necessary to carry the flumes across
canyons, chasms and around sharp spurs
c f mountains. The first twenty-seven miles
built took over 5,000,000 feet of lumber to
construct, ‘and most of this lumber had to
be packed on the shoulders of men. It has
taken about 9,000,000 feet of lumber all told
to complete the flume.

But to return to the head of the flume,
around which our little party of four was
clustered, our spirits dropping as rapidly
as the mercury during a cold snap, and our
hearts seeking the seclusion of our boots.
Coming down a flume when you are at the
bottom and look up is a very different
proposition to going down a fiume when
you are at the top and look down:

THE START.

Stories of former trips that resulted most
disastrously fiash'ed through our minds.
If it had not been for the crowd of onlook-
ers that stood around ready to cheer if we
started, or jeer if we didn’t, we would have
backed out, one and all. There was no

at the beautiful bright world around us
that we were leaving—perhaps forever—we
solemnly climbed into the flume boat and
shook hands sadly with those that were
not going.

The boat that was to carry us down the
flume resembles nothing so much as a. hog
trough with one end missing. The flume
being built V shape and at a right angle,
the boat is constructed likewise, but at
what-would be the bow end of an ordinary
boat there is no end at all, it being pur—
poscl'y left open in order to provide means
for thewater that backs up into the boat
to escape. On examination we found our
boat to be sixteen feet long with a fourteen
inch plank running the length ‘of the boat,
thus making a. false bottom to raise us
from reach of the water. On this plank
rested four small wooden stools, one for
each of the party.

, After taking seats with many misgiv-
ings, and balancing ourselves, the order to
cast oif was given, the spikes holding our
frail craft to the flumc side were pulled
out, and our craft shot on with the current
on its journey to the plains. The sensation
was exactly as if the bottom had dropped
out of the universe and we had dropped
with it. '

ZIPPING DOWN HILL.

“Watch out!” yelled the man in front,
Ehrowing himself back on the man behind

1m.

It was just in time. The sudden shock
threw us all flat on our backs, and the
boat “zipped” under a projecting beam
that would have decapitated the whole
outfit. Cautiously regaining an upright
position we took a look at the scenery
around us. As far ahead as one could see
stretched the flu'me, looking a. thin, spi-
dery thread stretched down the mountain
side. On either side gloomy rocks and
forest trees flashed past in an indistin-
guishable blur when the flume lay near
the ground, but when it rose on trestles
to cross some canyon or ravine we seem-
ed suspended, like Mohammed’s coflin,
“ ’twixt heaven and earth.”

In the mean time our speed had been in-
creasing. N ot a member of the party
spoke a word, but in dumb amazement
held a firm grip to the seat. Our boat had
proceeded but half a. mile when immedi-
ately before us could be seen what we sub-
sequently learned to be one of the steepest
inclines of the whole course of the flume—
a. drop of 250 yards, with a. grade of 1,200
feet to the mile. It was but a few mo.
ments when our boat was at the head of
this incline. .

Pieces of timber could be seen on the
mountain side, below us, these pieces hav-
ing been hurled out of the flume during
their course. The sight was not very as—
surinar to us, but there was no such thing
as stopping or turning back at this stage
of the journey. Holding our respective
breaths and offering mental prayers for
our own safety, we consigned ourselves to
our fate. The boat stopped for an instant
at the head of the chute, pitched over the
curve, and shot out into what seemed to
us mere space.

FLYING THROUGH ' THE AIR.

A dim perception of fleeing forests, dash-
ing wildly pasta wall of rocks for a. few
seconds, the noisy wash of the waters be”-
hindus, after all of which we found our-
selves at the bottom of the incline trying
to regain our breath.- It was short, and
luckily, too. Human nerves could hardly
have stood the strain much longer. Going
on at a slightly reduced rate of speed, we
were treated to a constant change of menu-
tain scenery, now closely hugging the per-
pendicular wall of a rocky gorge, again
being'swept around the sharp point of a
mountain on our way across wide canyons,
up as high-as 130 feet, with only the knowl-
edge of the frail 'trestlework between us
and—what? -' - - .

No grander view of the lower Sierras
could be experienced than that which we
hadas we swept on through space.'. Th
alternating views of ». deep gorges, hi h
cliffs, timber clad mountain heights, coni-
bined with the novel means of transporta-
tion, robbed the journey of all weariness.

course now lay parallel with the stream
and at about the same grade. Our boat
promdcd steadily, but with none .of the
occasional rapidity we had experienced in
the higher mountains left behind. After
having “flumed” abouttwenty-seven miles
We came to the suspension bridge across
King’s river. But even fifty-twomjles of
flume come to an. end at last, and, the
speed becoming tame and slow in compar
ison with the early part of the trip, with
the aid of several men at work “herding”
on the flumo, our frail craft was safely
brought to a standstill, and. we climbed
out on the trestle and stretched our
cramped legs. A few moments later, with
the aid of a thirty foot ladder, We reached
term time, our strange cruise ended—San
Francisco'Examiner. -

 

slums tour A FLUME.

the Sierras to the plains, fifty-two miles.

help for it, and with a last despairing look.

Finally we reached King’s river, and our '

increase in the size of the flume more water -

X " SéVEN'TE’éN'I-H ' "'c'E'fi'TuRY s‘roRY.
, Inthe early flush of the early year,
When blossoms are many ’on every Dough,
-' Little we think of the winter drear;

Some place afar from us, we trow.
It lingers shivering, sere. - :

So'liere were we in our joy of life; .
Here was the spring, and my love and I.
And éverything in the world was rife
With some of the sunshine that flooded the sky,
And hidden were turmoil and strife.

But Swift flies time, and an hour may bring
Shuddering horror and wet eyed grief,
' And joy is as brief as a flash of the wing
Of the wind tossed gull, when out on the roof
The white maned breakers sing

I was his vassal and he was my lord,
Proud of his name and his high degree,
Wood and pleasanee and good greensward,

From the hilltop down to the sea——
A goodly heirship to guard.

Why was he not content in soul~ .
He with his lady and children and pelf— .
To end perchnnce with his name on the roll ‘
0f honor, and just. leave her to myself?
’Twns all that I had that he stole.

A pad of smoke and a. whiz in the air,

And there he lay with his blood on the sod,
Wounded to death by me in my lair. .. '

I had bundled him into the presence of God
Without a moment for prayer.

And now these jailers would keep me pent
Here in this cell for the years that
Till my sight grows dim and my body is bent
With thinking and thinking, so much my
brain ' -‘ -
With horror on horror is rent.
But no! to-mon’ow—how slow time slips
To those who would hasten l—l’ll hide th
knife ’
They give me to eat with, then into eclipse, ,
0r worse, I‘ll plunge—but my passion‘s old
strife— , _ -
He died with her kiss on his, lips.
, ~Dublin University Review,

Ice at the Capital.

“The amount of ice consumed by‘the de-
partments in Washington is enormous in
the aggregate,” said a big dealer. “At the
treasury building alone a ton and a half of
ice is delivered every morning for the day’s
consumption. Each room, you see, has its
water cooler, or, at least. a pitcher, which
must be kept filled with cold drink from 9
-a. m. to 4 p. m. .The. ice is delivered in
great blocks from ‘ carts at the door, and
' the messengers chop it up into pieces, fill
buckets with the .lumps and carry the

to each pitcher or cooler its proper supply.
In the cellar there are big refrigerators,
which are filled with a reserve stock. N oth-
in'g is put in these refrigerators except ice,
the clerks not even , being allowed to keep
bottled beer in them for noontide' refresh-
ments. . _ ~ *

“It is the same way with all the other
departments. The war, state and navy to-
gether use about as much as is consumed
in thetreasury building. But it is the de-
partment of the interior that is the great
devourer of ice. In the pension office and
the main building of the department to-
gether from five to six tons are used every
twenty-four hours. The post office gob-
bles up 1,200 pounds a day. However, you
must remember that these quantities are
always variable. In summer much more
goes than in winter, and if the 1101: season
is unusually long or intense, we people
who take the contracts areapt to find them
far from profitable;”—Washington Star.

Fooling the New Clerk.

“I was in. a bookstore in, Nassau street a
few weeks ago talking about a new etching
of Lowell when a tall, gaunt youth rushed
in, watch in hand, and so out of breath
that he stuttered. ‘Mr. Pliny wants. this

 

 

 

book immediately,’ he said, ‘so that he can
takevit with him when he goes on the 4:30
train.’ and the youth handed the dealer a
slip of paper on which was written: ‘ “The

3 Life of Adam’s Father, ” bound in half calf.’

‘We haven’t it in stock now, but you can
get it at Scribner’s,’ said the proprietor, at
the same time winking slyly at me, and
adding as the youth sped out into the
street: ‘That is the way a firm of bankers
tests the brilliancy of their. new clerks;
“The Life of Adam’s Father? has been in
existence as a joke for fifteen years, and
one new clerk hunted it for hours before
he found—not the book, but that he was a
fool.’ ”—New York Critic.

Oysters Grown'Ready Packed.

Mr. Joe King, the oysterman, has a small
keg of full grown oysters which is a- curios-
ity. Under favorable conditions oysters
will attach themselves to any convenient
surface which is hard and smooth. Sam«
ples of such growths have been seen in end-
less variety, and they have included old
boots and shoes fully encrusted and filled
with fine oysters, bottles covered with bi-
valves, crocks and pots of them, utensils of
all sorts full of them. and even a clay pipe

_ burdened with three or four heavy shells;

but it is not often that oysters take the
trouble to pack themselves so closely and
so cleverly in a keg, handy for transportao
tion, as in the Joe King specimen—Bald.
more Sun. - ,

Mixed Relationship. ,

An old English magazine tells of an inter
marriage which brought about a singular
complication:

A Mr. Harwood had two daughters by
his first wife, the eldest of whom married
one John Coshick; this Coshick had a.
daughter by his first wife, whom old Har-
wood: married, and by her he had a son;
therefore, John Coshick’s second wife could
say as follows: ‘ '

My father is my son, and I‘m my mother‘s mother:
My sister is my daughter. and I’m grandmother

to my brother.
—St. Louis Republic.

 

Pictures on Stamps.

“Whose picture is this on the ten cent
stamp?” a reporter inquired, of a stamp
seller in the postofiice. The man took down
a sheet of ten cent stamps and regarded
them critically. “Veil,” said he, “dot’s der
first time I ever hear about dot. I give it
up. I t’ough‘t‘ every picture got der feller’a
name underneath it, already.” Of'course,
there never were any names on postage
stamp portraits, but this story shows that
a man may handle goods year in and year
out and not :know anything about them
after alL—New York Letter.

There is as yet no satisfactory machine
for cutting cornstalks in the field. Self
binding reapers.ate used in some localities
to cut the Smaller varieties of corn, but for
large, fully matured sorts these do not
work Well. "" " " “ ' ‘

 

The municipal government 0! London,
which has a population of 4,500,000, costs
the taxpayers $25,000,“. The population
of New Yorkcity is 1,500,wo,.a_nd its muni-
cipal government costs the taxpayers 898,-
000,000. V '

Probably the most gorgeous pair of shoes
ever made was that worn by Sir Walter
Raleigh, wh‘mh were covered with precious
stones that at the present time would have
possessed a value of about $50,000.

Gen. Booth says, “Out of every five per-
sonsiuLondonone-dies citherjn the hon
pitch, asylum: or worthouljel." . .

buckets all over the building, distributing :-