Norwalk weekly gazette, Friday, May 29, 1891 · page 9

 

 

 

. gives us a week’s work.

- _s reads out broad leaves.

GAZETTE SUPPLEMENT.

NORWALK, CONN, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 1891.

VOL. I.

N O. 18.

 

 

SUNDAY’S SERMON.

ONE OF REV. DR. TALMAGE'S
STERLING DISCOURSES.

 

 

Subject: "One -chk’s Work.”

 

TEXT: "And the evening and the mom
ing were the sixth day.”—Genesis i., 31'.

From Monday morning to Saturday night
If we have filled
that week with successes we are happy. But
I am going to tell you what God did in one
week. Cosmogony. geology, astronomy, or
orthology, ichthyology, botany. anatomy
are such vast subjects that no human life is
long enough to explore or comprehend any
one of them. But I have thought I might
in an unusual way tell you a little of whal
God did in one week. And whether you
make it a week of days or a week of ages, I
care not, for I shall reach the same practi-
cal result of reVel-ence and worship.

The first Monday morning found swinging.r
in space the piled up lumber of rocks and
metal and soil and water from which the
earth was to be build-3d. God made up his
mind to create a human family. and they
must have a house to live in. But Where?
Not a roof, not a wall, not a door, not a
room was fit for human occupancy. There
is not a pile of black basalt in Yellowstone
Park or an extinct volcano in Honolulu so
inappropriate for human residence as was
this globe at that early period. Moreover,
there was no human architect to draw a plan,
no quarryman to blast the foundation stones,
no carpenter to hew out a. beam, and no
mason to trowel a wall.

The first thing needed was light. It was
not needed for God to work by, for He can
work as well in the darkness. But light may
be necessary, for angelic intelligences are to
see in its full glory the process of world build-
ing. But where are the candles, where are
the candelabra, where is the chandelier? No
rising sun will roll in the morning, for if the
sun is already created its light will not yet
reach the earth in three days. Nor moon
nor stars can brighten this darkness. The
moon and stars are not born yet, or it
created their light will not reach the earth
for some time yet. But there is need of im-
mediate light. Where shall it come from?

The record makes me think that, standing
over this earth that spring morning, God
looked upon the darkness that palled the
heights of this world, and the chasms of it,
and the awful reaches of it, and uttered.
whether in the Hebrew of earth or some
language celestial I know not, that word
which stands for the subtle, bright, glowing
and all pervading fluid, that word which
thrills and garlands and lifts every thing it
touches, that word the full meaning of which
all the chemists of the ages have busied
themselves in exploring, that word which
suggests a force that flies one hundred and
ninety thousand miles in a second, and by
undulations seven hundred and twenty-seven
trillions in a second, that one word that God
utters—Light !

And instantly the darkness began toshinr
mer, and the thick folds of blackness to lift,
and there were scintillations and corusca-
tions and flashes and billowing up of resplen-
dence, and in great sheets it spread out
northward, southward, eastward, westward,
and a radiance filled the atmosphere until it
could hold no more of the brilliance. Light
now to work by while supernatural intelli-
gences look on. Light, the first chapter of
the first day of the week. Light, the joy of
the centuries. Light, the greatest blessing
that ever touched the human eye. The robe
of the Almighty is woven out of it, for He
covers Himself with light as with a gar-
ment. 0h, blessed light! I am so glad this
was the first thing created that week. For
lack of it the body stumbles. O thou Father
of Lights, give us light!

Now it is Tuesday morning. A delicate
and tremendous undertaking is set apart for
this day. There was a great superabuu-
dance of water. God. “by the wave of His
hand, this morning gathers part of it in sus-
pended reservoirs, and part of it He orders
down into the rivers and lakes and seas.
How to hang whole Atlantic oceans in the
clouds without their spilling over except in
right quantities and at right times was an
undertaking that no one but Omnipotence
would have dared. But God does it as easily
as you would lift a glass of Water. l‘hcre He
hoists two clouds, each thirty miles wide and
five miles high, and balances them. Here
He lifts the cirrous clouds and spreads them
out in great white banks as though it had
been snowing in heaven. And the clrro-
stratus clouds in long parallel lines, so
straight you knowan infinite geometer has
drawn them. Clouds which are the armory
from which thunder storms get their bayo-
nets of fire. Clouds which are oceans on
the wing. No wonder, long after this first
Tuesday of creation week, Elihu confounded
Job with the question, “Dost thou know the
balancing of the clouds?”

Half of this Tuesday work done, the other
half is the work of compelling the waters to
lie down in their destined places. So God
picks up the solid ground and packs it up in-
to the five elevations, which are the conti-
nents. With his finger he makes deep de-
pressions in them, and these are the lakes,
while at the piling up of the Alleghanies and
Sierra Nevadas and Pyrenees and Alps and
Himalayas the rest of the waters start by
the law of gravitation to the lower places,

and in their run down hill become the'

rivers, and then all around the earth these
rivers come into convention and become
Oceans beneath, as the clouds are oceans
.bove.

Now it is Wednesday morning of the
world’s first week. Gardening and horticul-
ture will be born to-day. How queer the
hills look, and so unattractive they seem
hardly worth having been made. But now
all the surfaces are changing color. Some-

thing beautiful is creeping all over them. It
has the color of emerald, Av, it is herbage.
Hail to the green guest! God’s favorite color
and God’s favorite plant, as I judge from
the fact that he makes a larger number of
them than of anything else. But look yon-
der! Something starts out of the ground
and goes higher up, higher and higher, and
It is a. palm tree.

onder is another growth, and its leaves
hang far down, and it; is a willow tree. And
yonder is a growth with‘a mighty sweep- of
branches. And here they come—the pear.
and the apple, and the peach, and the pome-
granate. and groves, and orchards, and for-
tests, their shadOWS and their fruit girdling
the earth.

Now it is Thursday morning of the world’s
first week. Nothing will be createl to-dsy.
The hours will be passad in scattering; fogs
and mists and vapors. Tin atmosphere
mustbe swept clean. Other worlds are to
heave in sight. This little ship of the earth
has seemed to have all the ocean of im-
mensity to itself. But mightier craft are to
be hailed to-day on the high seas ‘of space.
First, the moon’s white sail appears and
does very well until the sun bursts upon the
scene. The light that on the previous three
mornings was struck from an especial word
now gathers in the sun, moonand stars.
One for the day, the other for the night.

And th a sun now appears, afterward to be
found eight hundred and eighty-eight thou~
sand miles in diameter, au'l, put in astro
nomical scales, to be found to weigh nearly
four hundred thousand times heavier than
our errth; a mighty furnace, its heat kept
up by meteors ponringiutc it as fuel, a war (1

 

devouring other worlds with its jaws of
flame. And the stars come out. those street
lamps of heaven, those keys of pearl, upon
which God’s fingers plav tha music of the
spheres. How bright thav look in this ori—
ental evening! Constellations! Galaxies!
What a twenty-four hours of this first week
——;olar. lunar. stellar appearances! All this
Thursday and the adjoining night; employed
in pullingr aside the curtain of vapor froru
these flushed or pale-faced.worlds.

Now it is Friday morning in the first wee':
of the world’s history. Water, but not a fin
swimming it; air. but not a wing flying it.
It is a silent world. Can it be that it 'was
made only for vegetables? But hark! There
is a swirl and a splashing in all the four
rivers of Pison, Gihon, Hirlekel and Euphra-
tes.- They are all aswim with life. some
dartin’: like arrows through solit crvstal.
and others quiet in dark pools like shadows.
Everything, from spotted trout to behemoth,
all colored, all shaped, the ancestors of
finny tribes that shall by their wonders of
construction confound the Agassizes, the
Cuviers and the Linnaeuses and the ichthvo-
lozists of the more than six thousand years
following this Friday of the first week.

And while I stand on the banks of these
Paradisaical rivers, watching these finny
tribes, I hear a whirr in the air anfl 1 look up
and behold wings—wings of larks, robins,
doves, eagles. flamingoes, albatrosses. brown
thresbers. Creatures of all color—blue, as
if dipped in the skies; fiery, as if they hal
flown out of the sunsets; gal-den, as if they
had taken their morning bath in buttercuos.
And while I am stu'lying the colors thev ba~
rzin to carol and chirp and coo and twitter
and run up and down the scales of a music
that they must have heard at heaven’s gate.
Yes. I find them in Paradise on this the first
Friday afternoon of the world’s existence.
And [sit down on the bank of the Euph-
rates, and the murmur of the river, to-
gether with the chant of birdsin the sky. puts,
me into a state of somnolence. “And the
evening and the morning were the fifth day.’

Now-it is Saturday morning of the world’s
first week and with this day the week closes.

But, oh, what a climacteric day! The air
has its population and the water its popula—_
tion. Yet the land has not one inhabitant.
But here they come, by the voice of God cre-
ated! Horses grander than those which in
after time Job will describe as having neck
clothed with thunder. Cattle enough to
cover a thousand hills. Sheep shepherdel
by Him who made for them the green pas-
tures. Cattle superior to the Alderneys and
Awers'uires and Devonshii es of after times.
Leopards so beautiful we are glad they can-
not change their spots. Lions without their
fierceness and all the quadruped world so
gentle, so sleek, so perfect.

But something is wanted in Paradise and
the week is almost done. Who is there to
pluck the flowers of this Edeuic lawn? Who
is there to command these worlds of quadru‘
pad and fish and bird? For whom has God
put back the curtain from the face of sun
and moon and star? The world wants an
emperor and empress. It is Saturday after-
noon.
originate a human being. In the world
where there are in the latter part of the
Nineteenth century over fourteen hundred
million people, a human being is not‘a curi-
osity.

Before night there were to be two human
and yet immortal beings constructed. The
woman as well as the man was formed Sat-
urday afternoon. Because a deep sleep fell
upon Adam, and by divine surgery a r-
tion of his side was removed for the nuc ens
of another creation, it has been supposed
that perhaps days and nights passed be-
tween the masculine andfeminine creations.
But no! Adam was not three hours un-

mated.

God breathed into this cold sculpture of
a man the breath of life, and the heart be-
gins to beat, and the lungs to inhale, and
the eyes to open. and the form to thrill,
and with the rapture of a life just come
the prostrate being leaps to his feet—a
man!

But the scene of this Saturday is not yet
done, and inthe atmosphere, drowsy with
the breath of flowers, and the song of hobo-
links and robin redbreasts, the man slum-
bers, and by anaesthetics, divinely adminis-
tered, the slumber deepens until without the
oozing of one drop of blood at the time or
the faintest scar afterward, that portion is
removed from his side which is to be built
up the Queen of Paradise, the daughter of
the great God, the mother of the human
race, the benediction of all ages, woman the
wife afterward woman the mother.

What do you think of that one week’s
work? I review it not for entertainment,
but because I would have you join in David’s
doxology, “Great and marvelous are Thy
works, Lord God Almighty ;” because I want

on to know what a homestead our Father

uilt for His children at the start, though sin
has despoiled it, and because I want you to
know how the world will look again when
Christ shall have restored it, swinging now
between two Edens; because I want you to
realize something of what a mighty God He is,
and the utter folly of trying to war against
Him; because I want you to make peace
with this Chief of the universe, the Christ
who mediates between offended Omnipotence
and human rebellion; because I want you to
know how fearfully and wonderfully you
are made, your body as well as your soul an
Omnipotent achievement; because I want
you to realize that order reigns throughout
the universe, and that God’s watches tick
to the second, and that His clopks strike
regularly, though they strike once in a
thousand years.

SOME peculiar customs of Korak, in
the peninsula of Kamschatka, are re-
ported by the noted Russian explorer,
Mr. George Kennan. There, the
young man who would marry has to
work two or three years for his pros-
pective father-in-law, and then win his
bride by catching her in a chase
through the tents, in which the girl is
supposed to be fleeing from him, as-
sisted in her flight by other women,
who at the same time hinder her, pur-
suer and beat him unmercifully with
their sticks. Another queer custom
is that of putting to death their sick
and old, but Mr. Kennan found that
those advancing in years look forward

to this end with as much complacency

a's'we do to a natural death.

 

THE files of the United States Ger--

poration Bureau make the following
exhibit of new corporations incor-
porated in the United States during
the month of March: Mercantile and
manufacturing companies, 677, $116,,-
785,520.;5, gold and silver and other
mining and smelting companies, 105,
$95,032,000; coal and iron companies,
37, $8,807,550; banks and investment
companies, 42, $6,376,000; municipal
light, heat, power, and transportation
companies, 106, $36,059,500; building
and loan associations, 85, $213,156,000;
miscellaneous, 393, $75,403,685; total
number of corporations, 1,563; total
capitalization, $541,020,753.

No one but the Lord Almighty can .

HORSE AGAINST BEAR.

INA

 

POWERFUL BRUTES
UNIQUE BATTLE.

 

A Huge Grizzly Kills 9. Colt and is
Attacked by a. Magnificent Stal-
lion—Bruin Whipped After a.
Fierce Contest.

The wild horses were evidently com-
ing my way. This gathering of phantom
steeds gradually became more distinct as
they came near me, and now were per-
haps 200 yards from me and near the
canyon. Nearest of all to the edge of the
ravine was a mare with a young colt
playing about her, the two being some-
what separated from the other horses.
As I was turning to go to my horse a
movement in the lifeless, log—like mass
lying over-the break of the bank arrested
my attention. Still flat on the ground,
it was working over the brink upon the
upland like a thick—bodied snake.

Suddenly it aiose, expanding as it did
so into a huge form, misshapen and terri-
ble, of a grizzly bear, and with a rush of
astonishing rapidity, darted straight to
the colt, which it reached before the
little creature had even time to turn, and
struck it down with a blow of its paw.
The poor mother in terror dashed away
a few steps, then turned and reared as if
to attack the slayer of her olfspring. In-
stantly the bear made for her with a
savage roar that caused her to wheel to
run, but before she could move a stop he
was upon her haunches, tearing at her
with his claWS and teeth in the endeavor
to drug her down. Borne almost to the
ground, she with a mad plunge freed
herself from her enemy, and with torn
and bleeding haunchcs galloped in wild
terror among her comrades, whicn,
neighing loudly, were drawing away and
together in alarm.

The bear turned back toward the
colt, which did not move after it was
first struck down, and growling as he
stood over it, began to tear it. The
band of horses ran but a short distance,
then gathered in a knot and, with the
colts in the midst of the gathering, stood
with their heads facing inward and their
heels forming a circle of defence.

A magnificent stallion, dark bay, with
a white star in his forehead, a gallant-
stcpping animal, wonderfully alert and
free of gait, with a powerful neck
proudly curved, and a great sweep of
mane and tail, dashed about them like
one in command until their arrange
ments were complete. Then, leaving
the other horses and ncighing shrilly, he
trotted straight toward the bear, which
now was dragging the colt toward the
canyon. The sun,now risen, was burning

enough to give me a clear view of all
that was going on before me.

“You’re playing a bluff,” I thought,
as the stallion advanced upon the savage
beast of prey. “You’ll not take any
risk by getting too near that bear. If
he gets hold of you it’s all day with
you.”

The bear evidently resented his ap-
proach, and when the stallion came near
he turned to face him, growling and
making a great show of teeth. Then
when the steed had. advanced to within
a few yards the bear made a swift push
toward him. His movement, a scramble
and run of astonishing quickness,
brought him to his object at once, but
instead of turning tail to flee, the stal-
lion met him at a gallop and plunged
straight at him, striking terrifically with
his fore feet with the swiftncss and cer-
tainty of a boxer in the endeavor to
trample down his enemy. The bear half
rose on his haunches, and, protecting
his head as well as he could With his
great paws, struck out in return on the
defensive. The onslaught of the horse
was so quick and furious that the heat
was knocked backward under the de-
scending hoofs; but twisting around on
all fours almost under the horse he sud-
denly reared, and clutching each side of
his opponent’s neck with his forepaws,
pulled himself forward and caught with
his teeth at the horse’s throat.

Nothing but the astonishing strength
and quickness of the stallion saved him
from being caught in the deadly grap-
ple, which once secured by the bear,
could hardly have been broken. But, as
if realizing that he had no show in such
a clinch, the horse backed away so
strongly and suddenly that he broke the
hold of the bear—a cruel grip—for from
where I was I could see the blood drip-
ping from the stallion’s fore shoulder as

e galloped away. '

The horse. lost no time in putting a
safe distance between himself and the
bear; but then, instead of leaving his
enemy in possession of the field, as I
hoped he would—for I thought he had
no chance against such an opponent—he
trotted in a wide circle around the bear,
which, with bristling hair, stood on h s
guard. turning his head to follow his as-
sailant’s movements with a vigilant
watch. He understood the situation
better than I did for the stallion after
describing several circles, suddenly m‘ade
fonthe bear in the same manner as be—
fore, striking with his fore feet, and even
making as if he would tear at him with
his teeth. But in spite of the fury of
the attackand the trampling hoofs, the
beai‘ at last worked his way as before to
a firm hold of the neck and shoulders of
his gallant enemy. ‘-

-f‘You won’t get away so easily this
time,” I said to myself as the stallion
backed away with frantic energy; drag-
ging- behind him over the ground the
gray shaggy beast at his throat. But
finally he tore himself clear, bleeding
freely, and leaving a tattered bunch of
his mane in the boat‘s paw, as he dashed
once more safe from that terrible clutch.

As I watched this exciting duel with
breathless interest my sympathies natu-
rally were all with the horee. Each time
that they had come to close quarters I
had raised my rifle to send a shot into

 

 

away the fog, and the air had cleared .

 

[the bear, but had restrained myself when

I thought of the utter hopelessness of
the situation for me, and my own horse,
lied and helpless, if the bear should turn
upon me.

The bear had got some hard hits from
the stallion’s hoofs, and I saw that while
still on the watch he was working his
way nearer the edge of the ravine. He
continued to back away until he got to
the fallen colt. There he stopped and
stood over his prcy with his face to the
foe, as if determined to protect his booty
at all hazards.

There was more fighting on hand for
him to do, for with a squeal of rage and a
fury of speed that I have never seen
equalled, the stallion came down once
more upon him. As rearing he plunged
at his shaggy antagonist one of his sharp
hoofs landed fairly upon the hour’s nose,
and all the distance of 150 miles away I
could hear distinctly the sound of the
concussion upon the bone in the most
sensitive point of the bear, where a heavy
blow tells and is liable even to be fatal.
'As the stroke landed the bear went over
on his back helpless for the moment, and
the stallion trampled over his body under
such headway that he did not stop until
he had gone to a point a dozen yards be-
yond.

Whirlingagain in the very ecstasy of
fury the wild horse came once again at
the bear, which had gained his feet and
was crawling toward the canyon. He
struck at him once with his fore hoofs,
then suddenly whirling be planted his
fore legs against the ground at an angle
of 45 degrees, and backing toward the
retreating animal, let fly a succession
of kicks with a terrible force and swift—
ness.

I could hear the trumpet blows re-
sound upon the bear’s body as if they
would break the bones wherever they
fell, and every time they landed the
bear, now thoroughly demoralized, gave
a groaning yell of pain; once he was
knocked clean off his feet for a. second
time, and sent prostrate on his side.
But he regained his feet, and made the
best of his way, powerfully assisted from
behind, toward the canyon’s brink.

Followed all the way by these launch-
ing heels the bear scrambled, and was
kicked to the edge of the ravine. which
he seemed pleased to reach and down
which he plunged with eager willing-
ness. Just as his body rounded the brink
the stallion‘s hind hoofs landed solidly,
knocking him heels over head, so that
he rolled like a ball down the steep,
rocky sides to the very bottom.

The stallion paused at the edge of the
ravine snorting defiance at his foe, then
described a great circle on the prairie,
curveting and neighingas he ran around
the mares. ——[Denver Republican.

 

Feathered Surgeons.

 

Some interesting observations relating
to the surgical treatment of wounds by
birds were recently brought by M. Fatio
before the Physical Society of Geneva.
He quotes the case of the snipe, which
he had often observed engaged in repair-
ing damages. With its beak and feath—
ers it makes a very creditable dressing,
applying plasters to bleeding wounds
and even securing a broken limb by
means of astout ligature. On one occa-
sion he killed a snipe which had on the
chest alarge dressing composed of down
taken from other parts of the body and
securely fixed to the wound by the co-
agulated blood. ' Twice he had brought
home snipe with interwoven feathers
strapped on to the site of fracture of one
or other limb. The most interesting ex-
ample was that of a snipe both of whose
legs he had unfortunately broken by a
misdirected shot. He recovered the
animal only on the day following, and
he then found that the poor bird had
contrived to apply dressings and a sort
of Splint to both limbs. 1n carrying out
this operation, some feathers had be-
come entangled around the beak, and,
not being able to use its claws to get rid
of them, it was almost dead from hun-
ger when discovered. In a case recorded
by M. Magnin, a snipe which was ob-
served to fly away with a broken leg was
subsequently found to have forced the
fragments into a parallel position, the
upper fragment reaching to the knee,
and secured them there by means of a
strong band of feathers and moss inter-
mingled. The observers were particu-
larly struck by the application of a liga-
ture of a kind of flat-leafed grass wound
round the limb in aspiral form and fixed
by means of a sort of glue.

 

What Curves a Base Ball.

Curved motion is given to a ball by
twirling it when pitched, so that it re-
volves as it moves forward. A. ball
thrown in the air is retarded in its for-
ward motion by the resistance of the air,
which exerts apressurc not only on the
face of the ball but also on its sides by
friction. If the ball is simply thrown
forward without any special bias
the friction of _ the air is equal
on all sides of it; but if one
side he made to move faster than the
other—that is if the ball be made to ro-
tate on its own axis from right to left or

left to right—so as to increase th: lat-

eral friction, the result is naturally a
curve in its flight in the direction of the
side on which its progress has been re-
tarded. Hence what is known as a
“ curved ball.”—[St. Louis Republic.

 

An Ancient Butcher Shop.

The Museum of Antiquities at Dresden
has come into possession of an interest-
ing marble relief from Rome, which
represents an ancient butcher’s shop of
oblong shape, and divided by a pillar
into two unequal parts. In the greater
stands the butcher with a high chopping
block resting on three substantial legs
before him, while behind him hang the
steelyard and cleaver, he himself being
occupied in dividing a rib of meat with
another cleaver. On the wall above him,

 

' just as with us, is a row of books near to

each other, on which hang pieces of meat
already dressed—a rib and a leg of meat,
9. pork joint and udders—a titbit of the
Romans—also lungs and liver, and, last
of all, the favorite bear‘s head. On the
left, in the smaller division of the shop,
the wife of the butcher sits in an easy
chair, with an account book on her knees,
engaged in assisting the business of her
husband by acting as bookkeeper.—
[London Tit—Bits.

 

ROMAN HOUSES IN LONDON.

 

Civilization in Britain Nearly 2,000
Years Ago.

The houses of the better class can be
reconstructed from the Roman villas
whose foundations have been laid bare
in various parts of the country. A very
great number have been found and par-
tially examined by excavations. Some
of them are of a size and splendor which
denote great wealth, as well as a feeling
of profound security. They have been
found, for the most part, in the southern
counties. Many are in Kent—a county
which, so long as the Count of the Saxon
shore protected its coasts, was the safest
part of Britain. But many of these
villas have been found in Lincolnshire,
and there are probably hundreds await-
ing discovery. It is not fair in consider-
ing the trader’s house of London, to
take the magnificent ruins of such a
villa as that which has been laid bare at
Woodchester, in Gloucestershire. Here
we find sitting-rooms fifty feet square;
here are splendid tessellated pavements,
fresco paintings, fragments of statues
and groups, Samian ware, and every in-
dication of art and luxury. We need
not suppose that London merchants live
in palaces. Into the lofty, brilliant,
well-heated apartments of the finer
houses there was thgown a confused
mass of furniture not unworthy of the
richest palaces of modern days.
Cushions and lounges of crimson silk
and Babylonian tapestry surrounded
the banqueting tables and walls;
mirrors of metal or glass shone
on all sides. Glass windows let
in the inconstant sunlight; and candles,
lamps, and candelabra in the winter
evenings, scattered over the room on
tripods, tables, niches, and, peihaps,
hung aloft on the ceiling, threw down
sufficient 11ght. The infinite number
and varied forms of their lamps show
the care the Romans gave to lighting
their rooms and their taste for nocturnal
amusement. Carpets, rugs, and matting
were thrown upon the mosaic floor.
Statues of real merit stood around in
artistic negligence. Tables of Citron
wood, or marble tripods, book shelves
and stands, glass vases of all forms and
modes, rich with green, red, or purple
dyes, shone on the. Roman sideboard.
Goblets, pitchers, and vases of the deli-
cate red Samian ware added to the glow
of color; they were so fragile that only
fragments of the finer kind have been
preserved. In the midst of his luxurious
home sat the London curial, or alderman
of the Roman timc, on his curulc chair,
surrounded by wife and children,
clothed in the richest fabrics of the day,
andall glittering with rings, jewels,
armlets, bracelets, some of which have
been left behind to tell their tale. On
the bones of a woman’s arm in Mr.
Roach Smith’s collection are seen three
bracelets of gold, with gems and rare
chasings.

To complete the picture of the home
of the Roman period, we must add a
great number of articles of convenience
or comfort that would seem to us almost
exclusively modern. Chairs, lounges,
sofas, bedsteads, chests, closets, drawers,
curtains, glass vessels, mirrors and
vases, bunches of keys, and a great va-
riety of kitchen utensils, gold and silver
ornaments, baskets and urns for money,
great amphorze filled with wine, and the
well-stored kitchens of the wealthy,
made up the requirements of Roman
life. These the barbarous Saxons plun~
dered or destroyed, chiefly from a fear
that magic lay in all objects of art. A
garden in the front of the villa, filled
with roses from Poestum and lilies and
violets was never forgotton by a people
so fond of flowers; baths. hot and cold,
were attached to every large house.
Fourteen centuries and the ravages of
Saxon and Dane have covered Roman
London with a cloud of mystery that no
one has been able to remove.——-[Harper’s
Magazine.

 

Skinning Eels Without a Knife.

 

“Lute” knows as much about skin-
ning eels as any man between Hunter’s
Point and Sag Harbor. But he is not
proud and admits that there was a time
when he did not know so much about
this slippery product of the Sound.

“It cost me the cigars for a big crowd
once,” said he, “to learn how to skin an
eel without usin’ a knife. I didn’t be-
lieve it could be done and there don’t
nobody until they sees it for them-
selves.”

I confessed that the skinning of an
eel without a knife would be an exploit
suflicient to excite my admiration.

“Well, now, just watch.” Lute
dropped the eel he held on the ground,
put his large and robust boot upon its
tail and rolled it rapidly back and forth.
The tail did not smash, as one would
think, but after being rolled a dozen
times or so the skin split in two seams
along the side's. He took an end in‘each
hand and pulled them apart. The skin
peeled off easily in two sections.

“That’s wrong end first, as most folks
skin eels,” said Lute, “but it’s just as
good a job.”—[New York Herald.

 

TRUE GENEROSITY.

Greene—What do you do when you
get stuck on a counterfeit bill?

White—Give it to my wife—[Munsey’s
Weekly.

 

A JEWSHARP FACTORY.

 

How the Little Musical Instruments
' are Made.

The village of Bath—on-the-Hudson,
though its manufacturing interests are
few, can boast of possessing the only
jcwsharp factory in the United State:-
outside of New York city. Simple as
the jcwsharp is it rcquir'es, nevertheless,
no little skill in construction.

The proprietor of the factory in Bath
is John Smith, and he has perfected him-
self to such an extent that his work is
recognized as among the best in the
world. The factory is a smallbuilding
situated a short distance off 3dstrect‘,
and although unpretentious contains
every facility for the manufacture of
jewsharps.

When the factory is running at its full.
est capacity over two grossaday are
turned out. The busiest time of the
year is that just preceding the holidays.
During this season the factory employs
five people—the proprietor, his twosons,
and two other Englishmen, who live
near the factory.

The manufacture of the “harps” is an
interesting process, and but few people
are aware of the large amount of work
expended in making ajewsharp of good
tone. The frames of the instruments
are not made by Mr. Smith. He buys
them from a foundry. Upon these frames
is bestowed the least woxk; it is in set-
ting the steel tongue in the frame and
filing the lower portion of the frame to
fit the tongue that the most care and
skill are required.

The first work 'done on a jewsharp is
to place the frame in a vise, file off the
roughness and taper down the points, so
that each side presents a. sharp edge,
between which the tongue is to vibrate.
The most delicate work then begins. A
piece of steel wire is cut from a coil,
hammered flat at one end and left round
at the other and tempered with the
greatest care. The flat end is then set
in the arc of the frame, and than the
two ends are carefully pressed and ham-
mered until they come as close as possi-
ble to the tongue without touching.

The round end cf the tongue is then
bent in the form of a right angle, the
point is turned over and the “harp” is
ready to be placed in the handsol‘ a
finisher. There are seven sizes and four
kinds of finishing—the common, gold
bronze, lacquered and tin plated. The
harp can be toned to any pitch. To
make the tone high the tongue is made
small and pressed back toward the
frame; to make the tone lower it is bent
forward. Mr. Smith is not only a good
maker of the harp, but can extract quite
a little music from the little instrument.
He can also play two at once, which he
tunes, so that they are in harmony, by
filing the frames. '

When business is rushing Mr. Smith’s
Whole family is pressed into service, and
each member excels in his or her par-
ticular work. Mr. Smith prophesies
that within a few years the instruments
he makes will be in more general use
than now. He has once enlarged his
factory and expects to do so again.—
[Albany Journal. '

Improved Cattle Ship.

The ship is 460 feet long, 49 feet beam,
and 35 feet deep. Her gross registered
tonnage is 5,750, and her dead weight
capacity 7,300 tons. She has three com-
plete decks for the storing of cattle and
each deck is divided into watertight
compartments, which can be instantly
separated from the rest of the ship in case
of fire or other accident. The ship can
carry 1,216 cattle, and has insulated
storage rooms abaft the main engine
rooms with a capacity for 2,387 quarters
of beef. The refrigerator machinery
consists of engines and compressions.
In the latter the air is cooled and then
sent among the suspended quarters of
beef. The cattle when brought aboard
are placed in separate stalls, which are
arranged in rows with a wide passage-
way between. This permits the cattle-
men to give them the best of attention.
The floors of the stalls are of cement, and
can be easily cleansed with hose. ‘ In the
rear scuppers are arranged, and the
drainage they collect is ejected over the
side at every ten feet. Wooden frames
above the cement afford the cattle a good
foothold when the vessel is pitching.

Water is supplied to the cattle from
buckets instead of casks, the water being
stored below the engine rooms, whence
it is taken by pumps and distributed by
hose to the various compartments.’

Perhaps the most noteworthy ' fea-
ture of the Normandie is the system of
ventilation. Thirty-four cone-shaped
ventilators forward bring in fresh air by
natural draught. The air ports on each
deck are so constructed that the water
striking them in heavy seas will be
checked from entering by floating valves,
which open to admit the air when the
water recedes. Foul air is drawn to the
top of the vessel by huge centrifugal
fans—[New York Sun.

 

A Big Royalty in, a Name:

Shakespeare asked, or rather Juliet,
“What’s in a name?” - The world has
been pretty unanimous in replying, “A
good deal." An example of the power
of a name has just come under my ob-
servation. A short time ago one of the
leading corset houses found that a rival
was selling goods under aname very
closely resembling their own. They
looked the matter up and learned that
this house had found a woman engaged
in a corset factory near by whose name
suited their purpose and that they give
this woman a royalty of ten cents a dozen
on all the corsets they sell hearing her
name. Thus it appears that there are
cash advantagesin having a name which,
if not famous itself. sounds and looks
very like the famous name of somebody
else—[New York Continent. ‘ ‘ —