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About Nebraska advertiser. (Brownville, Nemaha County, N.T. [Neb.]) 1856-1882 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 6, 1881)
THE ADYERTISEE. G. W. FAIRBROTBER & CO., Pcblisheks. BROWKVILLE, NEBRASKA THIAMIN JSTER'S DAUGHTER. John Greenlcaf Whlttler In Atlantic Mcnthly. In tbe minister's morning sermon He had told of the primal fall, And how tbenceforth the wrath of God Rested on each and all. And how, of Ilis will and pleasure, All souls, save-a chosen few, "Were doomed to the quenchless burning, And held in the way thereto. Yet never by faith's unreason A saintlicr soul was tried, And never the harsh old lesson A tenderer heirt belied. And, after the painful service, On that pleasant Sabbath day, He walked with his little daughter Thro' the apple-bloom of May. weet in the fresh green meadows Spwrrow and blackbird sung, Above him their tinted petals The blossoming orchards hung. Around on the wonderful glory The minister looked and smiled: "Ho at good is the God who pives us These gifts from Ilis hand, my child! "Behold in the bloom of apples And the violets in the sward, A hint of the old, lot beauty' Of the Garden of the Lord!" Thetf upVpske theJittlc maiden, Treading on snow and pink: "0, father, these pretty blossoms Are very wicked, I think. "Had there been no Garden of Eden, There never had been a fall, And if never a tree had blossomed God would have loved us all." "Hush, child," the father answered. "By Ilis decree man fell Hif ways are in the clouds and darkness, But He doeih all things well." "And whether by His ordaining will Cometh to us good or ill, Joy or pain, light or shadow, We must fear and love nim still." "Oh, I fear Him," said the daughter, "And I try to love Him too; But I wish He was good and gentle, Kind and loving a6 you." The minister groaned in spirit, As the tremuloub lips of pain And wnie, wet eyes uplifted .Questioned his own in vain. Bowing his head, he pjndcred The words of the little one; Had he erred in his life-long teaching! Hid he wrong to his Master done? To what grim and dreadful idol Had he lent the holiest name! Did his own heart, loving and human, The God of his worship shameJ And lo ! from the bloom and greenness, From the tenderer skies above, From the eyes of his'little daughter, He read a lesson of love. No more as the cloudy terror Of Sinai's mount of law, But as Christ in the Syrian lillies The vision of God he saw. And as when, In the clefts of Horeb, Of old was His presence knoivn, The dread ineffable Glory, Was Infinite Goodness alone. Thereafter his hearers noted In his prayers a tenderer strain, And never the gospel of hatred Burned on his lips again. And the scoffing tongue was prayerful, And the blinded eyes found sight, And hearts, as flint aforetime, Grew soft in his warmth and light. OLD SAYINGS. The Source of Various Unrecognized Quotations, London Qaecn. The English language is from time to time enriched by striking phrases and happy turns of expression, which take such deep and sympathetic root in the popular vocabulary, and enter into such common use. that their authorship is almost invariably overlooked. Many of them are regarded somewhat in the light -of proverbs, and are treated as though they belonged to no one in par ticular, but to society at large; and none of those to which we allude are usually invested with those inverted commas to which, as quotations, they are in reality entitled. Thus does the world rob and then forget its benefac tors. Shakspeare, of course, was a large coiner of these sayings; but, since in these days there is but little danger of his reputation being injured, we may leave him aside while we recall a few unrecognized quotations from less care fully tended authors. Of these Samuel Butler is perhaps one of the most neg lected. "True blue," for instance, is so ordinary a phrase that we stay to make inquiries about its origin; yet we might, if we looked, find that the au thor of "Hudibras" used it to charac terize, not the tory of his day, but the Presbyterian. He also it was who, as far as we have been able to discover, first introduced the expression, "the main chance," in it3 modern meaning. "Have a care of the main chance," he wrote; and Drydcn, possibly copying him, caused one of the characters in "Persius" to exclaim, "Be careful still of the main chance." We speak of a sharp-witted fellow "outrunning the constable;" and again we are uncon sciously beholden to Butler's Friend Ralph, thou hast Outrun the constable at last. And once more we echo him when we speak of "getting the wrong sow by the ear," for he wrote, "You have a wrong sow by the ear." Another similarly treated author is Alexander Pope. We pass over such comparatively well re cognized quotations as "Fools rush in where ansrols fear to tread;" but it is not generally remembered that he gave us the expressions, "dirty work" and "poetic justice." The one occurs in the "Epistle to Arbuthnot," and the other in the "Duneiad." His age was indeed prolific- of telling phrases. Dean Swift, in "The Tale of a Tub," first alluded to bread as "the staff of life;" Dryden, in "(Edipus," first originated the idea "a green old age," and Pope himself was the author of Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer, And, without sneering, teach the rest to sneer, as well as the still more hackneyed Who shall decide when doctors disagree And soundest casuists doubt like you and me! Yet extracts from far more widely read books than Pope's Of oral Essays" are daily quoted without recognition. When we speak of "a feast of fat things," it may be that some of us rightly attribute" the phrase to its au thor, the prophet Isaiah, but it does not appear to be as generally remembered that "death in the pot" comes to us from the second book of Kings, and that "darkness which may be felt" is the literary property of the author of the book of Exodus. A plav is enti tled "The Mifhty Dollar-" Why not "almighty?" for the name is obviously borrowed from Washington Irving, who, in "The Creole Tillage," wrote of "the'almightr dollar, that great object of universal devotion throughout our land." The quotation is well-nigh for gotten, andfthat perhaps is the reason why it is incorrectly cited. The same may be said of others. Most people cherish-an idea that some one or other wrote of "Beauty when unadorned adorned the most;" but the text, as given in Thomson's "Seasons," really is: Loveliness Needs not the foreign aid of ornament, But is, when unadorn'd adora'd the most. And the same way Prior's Fine by degrees and beautif ally less is commonly deformed and transform ed; and Cowpcrs reference to The cups that cheer but not inebriate, is usually rendered as referring to one cup only. We are, however, wander ing a little from our subject. One stereotyped allusion to the brevity and infrequency of angelic visitations may be traced to any one of some three or four sources. Morris, in "The Part ing," wrote: Like angels' visits, short and bright This was about the year 1711; and Blair, in "The Grave," wrote later of Visit?, Like those of angels, short and far between; while Campbell, in "The Pleasures of Hope," varied the comparison to Like angels visits, few and far between. The expression, "a dim religious light," may be found in Milton's "Pen seroso," and the commonly repeated saying that "absence makes the heart grow fonder," is to be discovered in T. H. Bayley's song, "Isle of Beauty." Colley Cibbcr, as almost every one is aware, took into his head that he could greatly improve upon Shakspeare's tragedy, "King Richard III.," and in the pursuance of this idea he made va rious additions to the play, many of which have curiously enough entered, as it were, into the language. Among these we may notice, "So much for Buckingham!" "Richard himself again!" and "My soul's in arms and eager for the fray!" but in spite of them, Mr. Cibber's tinkering, though gratefully adopted by more than one great actor, litis now fallen into well merited disrep ute. In criticising Lord Beaconsfield's speeches hostile papers are fond of mak ing effective reference to "apt allitera tion's artful aid," but they seldom,, if indeed, ever, allow Churchill, the satir ist, any credit for the phrase. Mr. O' Connor, too, if we remember rightly, has written of the conservative states man as the gay "Lothario of politics." How many persons, we wonder, recol lect that the "gay Lothario" is one of the characters in Rowe's tragedy, "The Fair Penitent." Then, again, the phrase, "comparisons are odious," is almost invariably written without quo tations. It occurs in Burton's "Anato my of Melancholy," and also in Her bert's "Jacula Prudentum," and Shak speare, in "Much Ado About Nothing," says "comparisons are odious." A lite rary journal of some standing recently made itself a laughing stock by re marking that this was not classical English a quite sufficient proof that he whom Ben. Johnson called "Sweet swan of Avon," is not as well known as he ought to be. Tho-origin of the term "the midnight oil" is hard to trace; but it occurs in Quarles, in Shenstone and in Gay, and was probably invented by the first. "Devil take the hindermost" opens another difficult problem; but perhaps Beaumont and Fletcher may claim the phrase, which was used in later days by Buller, Prior, Pope, Burns, and half a dozen more. "Diamond cut diamond" is traceable to Ford's "Lover's Melan choly," where it may be found, in the form "diamonds cut diamonds;1 and the expression, "neither fish nor flesh nor good red herring" seems to belong to Sir H. Sheers. "Turn over a new leaf," says Middleton in. "Anything for a Quiet Life;" and it was Mrs. Mala prop, in Sheridan's "The Rivals," who first owned "the soft impeachment." Oliver Goldsmith in "The Good-natured Man," wrote "measures, not men, have always been niy mark;" and Burke, doubtless alluding to the popularity of the phrase in his day, spoke of "the cant of 'not men but measures.' " To Milton we owe the saying that Peace hath her victories, No less renowned than those of war; and it was Goldsmith again, who, in "She Stoops to Conquer," introduced us to "the very pink of perfection." Every one must be acquainted with the amusing episode of "Tweedledum and Tweedledee, as describi d by the author of "Alice in Wonderland;" but few are aware that the quaint names were orig inally coined for the benefit of Handel and hi? enemy Bononcini, and that it was Byron who wrote: Some say, compared to Bononcini, That Mynheer Handel's but a ninny ; Otners aver that he to Handel Is scarcely fit to hold a candle. Strange all this difference should be 'Twixt Tweedledum and Tweedledee. Yet, after all, there was a real and substantial difference, for Handel's name will never be forgotten, while that of Bononcini may be said never to have lived at all. It was Thomson who first spoke of teaching "the young idea how to shoot," and it was Bacon who enun ciated the aphorism, "Knowledge is power." A Remedy for .Diphtheria. Xcw Tork Herald, Dec. 14. At a meeting of the Brooklyn board of aldermen yesterday afternoon a com munication on diphtheria and its cure was received from a lady in Williams port, Pa. Sh said that she was the mother of six children, all of whom had been afflicted with the dreaded disease and were cured by the following reme dy: "Take a slice of fat bacon side meat the older the better; sew it on a soft piece of flannel; then saturate it with coal (petroleum) oil. Place it on the neck, having the meat reach from ear to ear. After pounding several raw onions into a poultice, place enough of the same into the patient's stockings to cover the souls of the feet and have the patient put the stockings on. The poul tice must be warm in order not to chill the patient. The throat should then be gargled with some tomato catsup,stroug with red pepper, salt and vineg ir; or pepper, salt and vinegar shaken well together will do. If the patient is too young to gargle wet the throat with a few drops. If vomiting occurs, lime water purchased at the drug store, with directions should be given. Be sure to cause an irritation on the neck." The communication was referred to the board of health. Outgrowing One's Friends. Golden Rule There are men and women in public life whose pathway is marked by the "remains" of whilom friends whom they have squeezed dry and dropped, like so many sucked oranges. In poli tics it is said of such a man that he has kicked down the ladder by which he climbed. In literary or other walks of life the human sponge often swells up with the thought that he has "out- frown" his humbler friends of other ays. In private life the self-conscious soul contents itself with becoming more and more the centre of its little circum ference, taking none within its orbit who will not consent to revolve around it and emit light and warmth for its en joyment. There have been many and noble definitions of what a friend i.. People of rear individuality, strength and sensitiveness doubtless have fewer real friends than they are apt to think, unless they have been cherishing uncon sciously, low ideals. But whatever a friend may not be, certainly that sweet and noble term is unmerited by one who, however generous in other direc tions, is selfish of himself. To cough and at the same time be en tertaining is impossible.. Dr. Bull's Cough Syrup will reach your case. Price 25 cegts a bottle, Ole'Bull's First Performances. Barnet Ph'llipa In Harper's Magazine for January. Ole Bull ha3 just played a sonata for me under all those circumstances which would render it the most impressive, for I am his guest; and though the storm beats without, beside his hearth-stone, which is all in a glow, I bask; and as evening brings darkness to the room I hear the violin in an absorbed way, for nothimr can divert mv thoughts. The lady pianist who accompanies him fol lows sympathetically each shading of the music. Then around the lire-place, with many a cigar, my host tells me the history of his early life. "My uncle was a publisher, and had a quantity of sheet music quartettes, and so on. He played the violoncello, and he bought me my first violin. It was a lemon-colored violin, and so sour so sour! I played for the cats, and absolutely drove Jjiem away from their food. I am sure that the cats got ill over Fiorillo's studies. They kept clear of a little summer house where I used to play. When I was eight years old I played the first violin in a quartette of Pleyel's. JWhen I was nine years I used to play with some very good amateurs, and when my piece with them did not come early in the evening they used to put me to sleep in a violoncello case and wake me up with a red apple. In Ber gen there was a garrison, and there was a band of wind instruments, and do you know that a clarionette quacks to-day at least to me just as it did then! I used to slumber away in the 'cello case because the amateurs "would play two quartettes before supper. It happened occasionally that, from eating too much supper, the players were troubled yes troubled. One evening my uncle said, 'Come, let us play a quartette of Bee thoven's.' Some one remarked -Beethoven is so difficult.' 'But we must,' said my uncle. The quartettes .were bound together in one book. They used to let me play the Cramer and Haydn; they were easy; but the Beethoven ah! in those days he was thought hard. That night the first violin was troubled after supper. We call it tipsy, just as you do. 'What a shame!' said my uncle. '01c, do you take the part and play it.' "I had heard it, but had never tried it. I did not think much about it, but I remember that I was right then and there proposed and elected a member of that musical club. At very long inter vals after that good instrumentalists would come to Bergen, and I would lis ten to them. I heard the compositions of Rhode and Spohr, and played them as well as I could. Father was an apoth ecary, and his assistant played the flute. The assistant used to receive musical catalogues from Copenhagen. I de voured the names, and for the first time saw that of Paganini on his famous twenty-four caprices. One evening fa ther came home, bringing with him two Italians. I was fourteen then, and their talk fijed me. I wanted to hear about their great violinist Paganini, and they told me all ihey knew. Even the men tion of his name excited my imagina tion, and made me wild. I went to my grandmother. 'Dear grandmother,' I said, can't I get some of Paganini's music?' 'Don't tell any one,' said that dear old woman, 'but Iwill try and buy a piece of his for you if you are a good child.' And she did try, and I was wild when I got the Paganini music. How difficult it was, but oh, how beautiful! That garden house was my refuge. Maybe I am not so sure of it the cats did not go quite so wild as some four years befoie. One day a memorable one I went to a quartette part'. The new leader of our Philharmonic was there a very fine violinist; and he played for us a concerto of Sphor's. 1 knew it, and was delighted with his reading ef it. We had porter to drink in another room, and we all drank it; but before they had finished I went back to the music room and commenced try ing the Spohr. I was, I suppose, car ried away with the music, forgot myself and they heard me. " 'This is impudence,' said the leader. 'And do you think, boy, that you can play it?' 'Yes,' I said, quite honestly. I don't to this day see why I shoifld have told a story about it do you? 'Now you shall play it,' said somebody. 'Hear him! hear h!m!' cried my uncle and the rest of them. I did try it and played the allegro. All of them ap plauded, save the leader, who looked mad. " 'You think you can play anything, then?' asked the leader. He took ca price of Paganini's from a music stand. 'Nowtry this,' he said in a lage. 'I will try it,' I said. 'All right; go ahead.' "Now it just happened that this ca price was my favorite, as the cats well knew. I could play it by memorv, and I polished it oft. When I did that, they till shouted. The leader before had been so cross and savage, 1 thought he would just rave now. But he did not say a word. He looked very quiet and composed like. He took the other mu sicians aside, and I saw that he was talking to them. Not long afterward this violinist left Bergen. 1 never thought I would see him again. It was in 1840, when 1 was traveling through Sweden on a concert tour,, of a snowy day, that I met a man in a sleigh. It was quite a picture; just near sunset, and the northern lights were shooting in the sky; a man wrapped up in a bear skin a-tracking along in the snow. As he drew up abreast of me and unmuf lled himself, he called out to my driver to stop. It was the leader, and he said to me, -Well, now that you are a cele brated violinist, remember that when I heard you play Paganini, I predicted that your career would be a remarkable one.' 'You are mistaken,' I cried, jumping up; 'I had played it before.' 'It makes no difference good-by,' and he urged on his horse, amiin a minute the leader was jrone." C7 - Denver. K. S. Shaler la January Atlantic The city of Denver ends the plain travel. After the long journey through a region where the waves of civilization seem to die away among the alkali plains and antelopes, it is a strange sen sation to find one's self once again in a full grown and prosperous town, with Paris fashions in homes and people, and the look pf thrift that usually comes on ly with time. It needs the iron wall on the west to persuade one that he is on the very front of civilization, and tljafc what he sees aboutAim has been scarce a score of years in its making. Except that the town is squared, and not close knit, it might belong in Ohio, or even in New England. There are shops that would do credit to Broadway.and houses that would fit in our oldest towns. In the people there is no more of the front ier than any one may find in all the towns west of the Alleghanies. The la boring miner has been called to the mountains, and except that he comes here to spend his gains, or to show his "prospects" to men of capital. Denver is out of his range. Probably no other American city has such a noble site. The eastern slope of the Platte rises evenlv and gradually from its sandy bed until in a mile it gains a height of two or three hundred feet. From any house top and all the streets one gets majestic views out over the vast eastern plain or over the mountains. A canal brought on to the ridges of the plain from the Platte canon supplies ditches, through which, in summer, water finds its way among the street, and by little sluice gates into the gardens that surround every house. For the time the irriga tion of this long parched soil has brought about much sickness, so $a tlje town seems to be temporarily unwholesome; but this condition must soon pass, and leave the city with almost ideal condi tions of salubrity. Free form parching heats and withering cold, nearly snow less, with the sweet, dry air of the moun tains and the oasis-like fertility that ir rigation will in time give to its sur roundings, it may hope for a noble future. ROWS ON THE RAIL. Continuation of a Bitter Fight. Special dispatch to the Omaha Herald. PuiLADELrniA, December 23. The determined contest which has been waged by the Pennsylvania railway, against the Baltimore & Ohio continues in an aggravated form. Just where the trouble is between the rival lines is going to end is beyond man's know ledge. It is growing from bad to worse, and yesterday's proceedings cannot but give cause for grave apprehension. The moving train laound for New York, while hemmed in on all side3 by long freight trains on the disputed mile track, was run into by a heavily loaded freight train and the escape from serious results was very narrow. The rear coach was badly damaged, and the fright among the passengers, who were powerless to avert the danger may be imagined. The course of the Pennsylvania road has been such as must naturally lead to great restlessness among the employes, and if it proves nothing more there will be good cause for congratulations. Last night an extra engine went over the road in advance of the passenger train and in a dark and lonesome place was suddenly thrown from the track. Upon investigation it was iound that a switch had been misplaced, the lock having been broken. There can be but one in terpretation of this deed and had it been followed by the throwing of the passen ger train into the river its object would have been accomplished. The train leaving New York this morning at nine o'clock arrived here on time, but it was immediately so effectually blocked as to be unable to move ten feet either way. In front the Pennsylvania ran a great long coal train and in the rear half a dozen empty cars, and in this shape the Baltimore & Ohio train was held up wards of two hours. Meantime six or eight Pennsylvania engines were run up in close proximity to the belated train, and the annoyance of its passengers increased by the incessant blowing ofl steam and other like diver sions o? the engineers. The engine at tached to the coal train was taken away and all hands disappeared presumably for dinner. By two o'clock the B. & O. train from Washington showed up and the west bound train was released. The east bound train was then taken in and done for, for nearly two hours and final ly let go. The through trains get along in a little better shape, it being found that the time lost here is really made tip on the main line. It is plainly the de termination of the Pennsylvania to de stroy, if possible, the completion be tween New York and Washington, and to this end it is deliberately causing ev ery possible delay to the B. & O. trains between the cities named. The through train for the west last night was the heaviest of any since the new line was opened, there being over a hundred through passengers on it. It was de layed about an hour here. How Minnie was Lost and Found. Our Little Ones. When Minnie was only a year old she could run about everywhere. She could open all the doors; she could go up and down stairs without any one to help her; she could say a great many little words, too. She would gnly stop to take one short nap at noon; all. the rest of the day slic would be running around from one room to another. Once she got lost in a very funny way. The house was full of peo ple, yet for a while nobody could find Minnie. Her mamma was there, and her grandma, and her aunt Nelly. Her grandpa was there,und her Uncle John, and her Cousin Katy; and there was a dressmaker in the sewing-room, and the cook was in the kitchen. But not one of all these persons could find Minnie. Siie was lost till Major found her. Ma jor was the dog. I will tell you how it happened. Uncle John and Cousin Katy were go ing home; they lived in the city of New York. Cousin Katy was in her cham ber packing her big trunk; Minnie's mamma and her Aunt Nelly were in their chambers, busy about their work. Minnio was going around just as she pleased. She stopped to see Cousin Katy pack her clothes. She sat down on a little stool. By ami by she began to feel sleepy. Cousin Katy went out for something, and left her alone. She looked into the big trunk. Some of Cou sin Katy's dresses were in the bottom. Minnie 'thought this would be as nice a bed as her own crib. She climbed into it; she crept under Cousin Katy's pretty silk dress, and shut up her eyes. In a minute she was fast asleep. After a short time, mamma said, "Where is Minnie?" And grandma said, "I haven't seen her for a good while; where can she be?" But nobody could tell them. Then they began to search for her. Cousin Katy ran into her room, and looked about. The trunk stood in a corner, against the wall; she did not go near that, so she did not find Minnie. Aunt Nelly went into all the closets; grandpa looked under all the doors; the cook went down cellar, and looked in the coal-bins;while I was ruuningup and down looking everywhere. But the lost child could not be found: grandpa had a lanie foot, so that he could not look anywhere. He told Uncle John to search in the barn. So Uncle John went out, and looked all over the barn. He knew very well that Minnie could not get in there; but he looked because grandpa told him to. When he came back into the house, Major came with him. Then Uncle John thought that per haps the dog could find her. So he said: "Major, go and find Minnie." Major understood what he said. He went around the rooms, smelling and pricking up his ears. When he got into Cousin Katy's cham ber. he walked toward the trunk. He stopped in front of it. He put his nose into it. Then he wagged his tail and gave a little bark. Uncle John followed him, and there he found Minnie covered up in the nresses. O, what a time there was over her! Mamma and grandma came and look ed into the trunk. Aunt Nelly and Cousin Katy came and looked in. The dressmaker and the cook came, and they all laughed together. Grandpa was so lame that he could not come to see the pretty sight, but he laughed at the foot of the stairs. After a while mamma took her out of the trunk, and put her into her own lit tle crib. And this is the way that Minnie was lost and found. You cannot make, yourself better by simply resolving to be better at some time or other, any more than a farmer can plow his field by simply turning it over in his mind. A good resolution is a fine starting point, but as a terminus it has no value. 3IAI.AKI 41, FEVER. Malarial Fevers, constipation, torpidity of the liver and kidneys, general debility, ner vousness and neuralgic ailments yield readily to this great disease conqueror, Hop Bitters. It repairs the ra rages of disease by converting the foxl into rich blood, and it gives new life and vigo' to the aged and infirm always, gee "P royerbs" Jn other column, ONE MAN'S PROGENY. A "Pennsylvania Dutchman" Who lan Been the Father or Forty-one Chil dren. Reading Escle. "Yes, it's so," said the man. "0, John, you must be mistaken," replied his third wife. "Well, I tell you it's so. I ought to know," was the emphatic reply of John Heffner, who lives on Maple street, be tween Chestnut and Spruce, this city. A reporter for the Eagle called upon Mr. Heffner to learn the correct history of his much-talked-about brood of forty one children. Heffner is sparingly built, smokes a short pipe, and makes a living in the rag business.. He is 65 yerrs old and has a pleasant smile and a cheerful greeting for all friends. The story of the man's married life as related by himself is probably the most remarka ble on record. He was born in Germa ny'in 1815. hen 25 years old in 1840 he married his first wife, who lived eight years She became the mother of seventeen children in that time, having twins the first year of her marriage. The next year another pair of twins was born. Each succeeding year for four years thereafter Mrs. Heffner be came the mother of triplets. The sev enth year was signalized by the birth of only one child. Mrs. Heffner died and was laid away in the village church yard in German'. The widower had now a family of seventeen children, the oldest only seven years of age. Three months thereafter a young lady took chargo of the children, anclin course of time she became the second Mrs. He'fl ner. The first wife had died in Februa ry, 1818. In February, 1849, this sec ond wife presented Mr. Heffner with a boy. On Christmas day of the same year the nineteenth child was added to the Heffner flock. The family now was larger than any other in that part of the country. Fiye years passed on and Mr. Heffner' s household was increased by the addition of ten more children, a pair of twins being born every year. There was now a lull, and for three years thereafter only one child was born to them. In 1854 he came to this country with his family, and the last three chil dren were born in America. It 1857 his wife died, having been married nine years. He was now the father of thirty-two children, twelve of whom had died, leaving twenty to be taken in charge by a widow, whom he married in 1858. Mrs. Heffner number three had one child by a previous marriage. She became the mother of nine more children in ten years oy single births. His last, or third wife is still living. None of the first set of seventeen chil dren survive. Two of the fifteen of the second wife's children still live, and three of the third wife's. In :i period of 28 years from 1S40, when he first married, to 1868, the date of the birth of his last child he became the father of forty-one children. Thc'five who are still living are nirls. With the step child that the last marriage added to the list, forty-two children have called John Heflher"father." The old man has long since forgotten the names of his numer ous progeny, and can only recall those born in later vears. A Biz Rat-Killer. Hartford Times. Uncle Aaron lived near Hartford, and was a matter-of-fact man. His barn and out-houses fairly swarmed with rats, and uncle Aaron was telling a friend from another town who was visiting at his house how he had seen a hundred at least at one time. The friendlaughing ly told him a hundred was a good man rats, and begged him to take off a few. Uncle Aaron replied to the effect that he was fixing a trap, and if his friend would wait a few days he would convince him he was not tying. "All right," answered his friend; "if you catch anywhere near a hundred just let me know." Uncle Aaron, too, said: "All right," adding: "I'll let you know." When his friend started for home the last thing he said was: ' Be sure you let me know how many rats you catch. A hundred is a good many." The-trap uncle Aaron was at work on was a sort of platform almost as large as abig barn door, and the; plan was to weight it with heavy rocks, raise one end about three feet from the floor, and have it so rigged that the pull of a string would spriug it and let it fall to the floor, making it decidedly uncomforta ble for any living thing that might hap pen to be under it. Afterarranging it to his mind he began to bait it. He threw meal all around and under the trap, and went to a place conveniently near and watched things. He did not have to wait long before lie counted at least twenty rats busily investigating that meal. "But they did not go under the platform. This was kept up for several days, and after a while the pa tient watcher, who spent an hour or two even day in seeingthem manceuvre.had the satisfaction of seeing several of the rats venture under the trap. Then he Knew his plan would be a success. He could pull the string almost any time of da' and catch a dozen or twenty, but he was "laying low" for a bigger haul. The upraised platform was no longer a terror to the animals. They took the bait from under it as readily as could be desired. Finally uncle Aaron thought the time was ripe to pull the string. He had not baited it the night before, so the rodents would have keen appetites when he sprinkled the cheese crumbs and meal that morning. After doing this he took up his position and waited. First one rat a sort of pioneer came gliding out and began te partake of the feast. Next a pair came out, then three or four, then a dozen. They came from all directions. Uncle Aaron was actual ly trembliug with excitement. He could hardlykeep his hand from pulling the string." But he waited until the space under the platform seemed fairly alive with the creatures, and then he pulled. Down went the platform with a crash. A number of the rats were seen scampering off, but uncle A.aron felt confident he had nailed some of 'em. As he came up he saw heads and tails protruding, and he thought he would give them all a good square chance to die before he raised the trap. lie waited till night, and then he lifted it. He counted one hundred and twenty two dead rats. He put them in a box and expressed it to his friend, accompa nied by a note which read as follows: I take this method of letting you know how that barn door trap worked. Count 'cm and see for yourself. I'm going to bait the trap agai to-morrow. Would you like to have me let you know how many I catch next time ? A hundred is a good mahy, but a hundred and twenty-two rather beats it. Kerainisceuces of an Old New York Fireman. Harper's Magazine for Januari. "The pride and ambition of each fire company," says Mr. Zophar Mills, "were to be the first to reach a fire, and the most efficient in putting it out. We had as much love for that as we pos sibly could have for anything else. We would leave our business, our dinner, or anything, and rush for the engine. The night I was married there was a lire. I could see it and I wanted to go immediately. But the next morning early, before breakfast, there was another fire," and I went to that. So you may judge how we liked it. If we had a parade, we always paid the expenses ourselves. We always paid for paint ing, repairing and decorating of our en gines. Engine No. 13, to which I be longed, was siver-plateil the first that was so at a cost of perhaps $2000. We didn't ask the corporation to foot the biU. J kept an account of my ex penses in connection with the fire de partment, and I found that in seven years I had paid in charity, in clothing, and in incidentals, 3000. Mr. W. L. Jenkins, president of the bank of Amer ica, was a member of engine company No. 13. Many of its other members were Quakers. " There were few 'roughs' then, as in modern times. Nor were there any salaries, except in the case of the chief engineer, and temporarily of the assistant engineers Firemen now are liberally compensated; they get $1200 a year each, and are retired on half-pay, "if infirm, after ten years' ser vice. Many and many a time have 1 worked my "breath out while pumping old thirteen, and lain in the street, and jumped up again and seized the brakes", because there was no one to take my place. The city was not then divided into districts. I once wennt from this very building pn Front street, near Wall to Astoria, in 1841, and saved four frame buildings whose roofs were already burned off. When, the alarm sounded I thought the fire was some where up the Bowen-. I ran nearly all the way to the Hell Gate ferry at Eighty sixth street, and then crossed the river. "At a fire in Haydock's drug store, in Pearl street, near Fulton, on the 1st of July, 1834, 1 had a narrow escape. The building was high, and all of it above the second story was consumed, leaving only the gable walls standing. Several firemen, after the flames had been extinguished, were ordered to take their hose up to the second story and play upon the debris, in order to pre vent sparks from flying about, and the fire from smouldering. As I stood there at six o'clock in the morning, with two of my men, I suddenly saw one of the highgable walls spread out like a blank et and coming down upon us. My only chance was to turn my back and take it; there was no time to run. I was knocked flat, of course, by the falling mass of brick, and was forced through the second-story floor, and also through the first-story floor, into the cellar. I remember raising myself on my elbows, and then getting up and walking out, after having gone through two floors with that wall on top of me. Why didn't it kill me? I don't know. It was Providence a miracle. Eugene Underbill and Frederick A. Ward, who stood ti few feet from me, and were holding the hose pipe, were instantly killed. John T. Hall and William Phillips, twe odier firemen on the same floor, jumped out of a window, and one of them landed upon a fence, and was landed upon a fence, and was badly in jured. I wore a tin trumpet swung across my back, and my flesh in conse vuence was black and blue for six months. My cap was not dug out of the cellar until evening. The former foreman of Thirteen, who was on the second story advising standing up to his bricks so hot as some of his toes, us, was buried neck in hot to burn off and a brick's length ofl the calf consideration of his of his leg. misfortunes In he was made the first fire-bell ringer of the city hall. He lived for thirty years after that. Chief Engineer Guliek dis played great presence of mind in the emergency. His first order was to en gine No. 17, which was working near the fire, to take off the tail-screw, let the water out of the box, and then pump air into the ruins. The men were dig ging all day for their buried comrades, and for the bodies of poor Underbill and Ward, who stood not fifteen feet away froni mj when the wall fell without warning. We were playing 'washing down' as we called it, the object being thoroughly to put out the fire that lin gered in the straw, cotton, and so on. We considered that the fire was pretty much out, and were only giving a few finishing touches. Thirteen atterward erected a marble monument to Under bill and Ward in the cemetery in Car mine street, opposite Varick. The Irish Situation. Editor's Easy Chair In Harper's Mna2lue for Janu ary The Irish situation is simple. Eng land will not consent to separation. The instinct of self defense prevents. Sep aration would not cure the Celtic ha tred of the Saxon, and England would always fear that Ireland would be made an ambush for a foreign foe. While thus separation is impossible, Mr. Glad stone, the head of the British govern ment, is a statesman of proved power in England, and of proved friendliness to Ireland. Mr. Foster, the Irish sec retary, is a diseuter, ahd not only free from any of the old tory bitterness against the island, but anvious to cor rect evils and abuses. There was no reason whatever to doubt that while the government could not heal the woes of Ireland with a touch or in a year, yet that great and beneficent progress was possible under its amicable sway. But while Mr. Gladstone is confronted with the Afghan and Zulu and eastern ques tions with which his predecessors had embroiled the country, he is also men aced by an Irish question forced upon him by Mr. Parnell. Indeed the latest of the Irish leaders seems to feel that the exclamation of the Irish emigrant, "If there's a gov ernment, I'm agin it," is true Irish pa triotism and statesmanship. The true policy for Ireland, so far as we can per ceiveit here, was an alliance with the Gladstone government, not defiance of it. If the aristocratic element in it was feared, certainly a tory administration would be a hundred fold more unfriend ly, and the attitude of the peers on the compensation bill showed the full force of tory hostility. Mr. Parnell must know that against Irish violence Eng land of all parties would solidly sustain the government, and that remedial leg islation would be made more difficult. He may be legally acquitted upon his trial, but he is morally condemned for throwing his country into a hazardous position. But so the curse of old injustice re turns to pleaguc England. The chil dren's teeth are on edge with the sour grapes of the father's eating. "How oft has the banshee cried?" And the fateful voice of the banchee seems to wail in every wind that blows over Ire land. It can not be said truthfully that nothing would have been done if the present movement had not occurred. The land laws had been modified. They would have been modified still more. A wise and generous administration like that of Mr. Gladstone would have me diated between Irish suffering and Eng lish prejudice. But when Mr. Parnell says, as at Gal way, "I feel convinced that it you ever call upon Americans in another field and in another way for help, and if you can show them that there is a fair and good chance for suc cess, you will have their assistance,their trained and organized assistance, for the purpose of breaking the yoke, which encircles you," he not only tells the most ludicrous untruth, but he tells it for the purpose of luring his country men to take steps which can lead only to their own destruction. He does not allow Mr. Gladstone to mediate between suffering and prejudice; he forces him to say that order must be preserved and life and property protected. You must not splutter or be "fussy" over your work. The fussy fellow can waste time in his haste as well as the dawdler in his slow trifling. Have a quick eye and ready hand and patient heart, always. If you have an hour in which to do a half hour's task, do it in that half hour, and so gain for yourself time for recreation. Indolence grows on us with suffer ance. It begins by tying us with silken threads, and eqda with fettering us with cart-ropes, THE FAILESG JUDGES. How the Supreme Justice Have Fall en luto the Sere and Yellow Leaf. Washington Letter to Chicago Tribune. There are a great many sensational and conflicting stories relative to the membership of the supreme court, many of Avhich are absolutely false. To-day another appeared, according to which" Justice Hunt car.notwrite or sign his name, and, consequently, cannot re sign, and is afflicted with rapid soften ing of the brain. Not a single one of these reports about Justice Hunt is true. His mind is perfectly clear. He writes a good letter in a plain hand, and has done so within a week, as one of his as sociates on the supreme bench said this afternoon, and he is no more afflicted with softening of the brain than any other member of the court. He has not, however, recovered from the stroke of paralysis which he had something more than a year ago, and does- not expect to resume his duties this winter, if he ever does. He has not resigned, and does not intend to resign until he can be placed upon a footing with the other judges, and retire on full pay. At pres ent he cannot do this, as he lacks a few months of the term of service necessary in order to avail himself of the provis ion of the veteran act. Justice Clifford, the Maine member of the court, is in a deplorable condition, unable even to resign the position which he has held for nearly twenty-two years .and avail himself of his right to retire .m pay. He is in his 7Sth year. The Maine republican politicians would very much regret to have Justice Clifford die during this administration, as none of them are in favor with President Hayes, and Justice Clifford's successor, if Mr. Hayes had the choice, would not proba bly be satisfactory to them. It is by no means certain, as has been asserted.that Attorney-General Devens will be nom inated as the successor of Judge Strong, of the supreme court. Judge Bradley, who is now assigned to the fifth circuit, which includes, Florida, Alabama, Mis sissippi, Louisiana and Texas, will probably be transferred, after the resig nation of Judge .Strong, to the third district, over which he litis presuled,and which includes New Jersey, Pennsylva nia and Delaware. It litis been report ed that the president will then probably appoint a resident of the fifth judicial district to fill the vacancy, and will se lect the present circuit judge, William B. Woods, a native of Newark, O.. who has resided for some years at Mobile. But very great opposition is made at this proposition. Were he to appoint a citizen of a northern state to this south ern circuit, the senate might refuse to confirm, as they did Judge Roekwood Hoar, against whom many republicans voted on account of his residence out of the circuit. After the adjournment of the United States supreme court yesterday there was an affecting scene in the private room of the associate justices. Judge Strong then formally announced the fact that he had written his resignation, and intended to leave the bench imme diately. He would, he said, call upon the president to-daj- and tender his res ignation. All the justices of the court present expressed the deepest and most heartfelt regret at his departure from them. Justice Strong to-day called on the president and tendered his resigna tion, to take effect immediately. He will accept the resignation and fill the va cancy at an early date. It is not defi nitely known who will be Judge Strong's successor. The resignation of Justice Swayne of his position in the supreme court will be sent in shortly after the holidays. An Unfortunate Mistake. Baron A. w:is traveling with a friend through the south of France and into Italy. He was the possessor of a bran new and very splendid chronometer, of which he was very proud. A constant source of complaint on the jousney was that nc watch pockets were affixed to foreign beds, and that the chronometer, placed under the pillow at night, slipped, after the fashion of chronometers; from that position, and in doing so incurred risk of breakage. At length at a small hotel near Lugano, at which a night's rest was to be taken, the baron found to his delight, the pocket, the absence of which had marred the pleasure of his journey. So overjoyed was he that there was some talk of arranging the ne.xt day's journey with a view to re turningto sleep once more at an inn so far in advance of its rivals in its atten tion to the comfort of its guests. In the morning, however, t'-.e baron came down with a rueful visage and showed the new chronmeter silent and ruined. What had been taken for a watch pock et at the head of the bed was a small vessel full of li'oly water. In that the watch had slept all night without ex periencing the benefit which a more re sponsible being might have received from such an immersion. Sara Bernhardt. IHcbard Grant White In January Atlantic. Sara Bernhardt is not a great artist; and I doubt that by any study or effort of which she is capable she will ever become a great artist. Perhaps, how ever, it would be more correct to say that she is not an artist in the grand style, and that by the limitations of her nature, moral ami physical, she is inca pable of that style. Her power, strange to say, is chiefly a personal power. Of intellectual force or even of intellectual subtlety, she suggests but little, and her moral nature seems to be as thin and weak as her phvsique You are inter cited in the feelings and in the experi ence of the woman; feelings which hard ly rise to the dignity of emotion: ex perience which is hardly beyond the range of the occurrences of every-day life. Her exhibitions of love, of joy, of grief, of feminine petulance and fem inine perplexity, of delight in life, of interest in all the little incidents winch go to make up social intercourse these it is which make the charm of her acting; and in this department of her art the present day has not seen her su perior hardly, I believe, her equal. Under the influence of these feelings her face becomes transformed, almost transfigured. I have never seen on the stage, or in real life, countenance so changed and so elevated bypassing from repose into action. The face which before seems like the faded picture of some other face, not lovely, becomes in stinct with intelligence and charged, surcharged with intelligence. You then see that her eyep are really tine; they become large and brilliant, full of mean ing and of light; and her mouth has a sweet expressiveness which, when com pared with the character of its lines in repose, is marvelous. No actress that 1 remember is her equal in the assump tion of a look of ecstatic joy. Inspired and remoulded by the pxpression of this emotion, the eyes and lips of that mean and almost sordid visage, which defies the skill of painters and shames the art of photography, beccmc angel ie,worthy of Raphael's conception of a cherub". Such a radiation of purity and tender ness, such an abandonment to simple, confiding, all-absorbing happiness, is rarely seen portrayed in any form of art rarely even in very nature. There is almost a childish naivete in her look. When, as Adrienne, she throws herself into Maurice de Saxe's arms, and put ting her hands upon his shouiders ooks up into his face, it is not the love of an actress of experiences that she express es; it is that of a pure young girl in her first love, who in her first lover sees and worships a demi-god. When, as Frou Frou, she sits upon her father's knee, and gives Tjpnt to her delight at the pro posal of marriage that proposes to re- move her sister from the household in which she has usurped her place, it is less the relief of a jealous woman freed from the tormenting presence of her ri t al that we see than the delight of a na ture which seems incapable of suspicion in the anticipation of a coming joy. And it is this light, sweet girlishness of her emotional expression which makes Frou Fron the most charming and completely satisfactory of her impersonations. She is fully capable of sounding the little rippling flood of Frou Frou's thin and feeble, but captivating nature, which, "like shallow streams, runs dimpling all the way." When she gets into deep-, er waters her plummet is too short. 4 'Black Trackers" in Australia. The settlers of. Victoria are so much vexed by bush rangers, who invariably disappear when they are wauted, that they have sent to Queensland for "black trackers." That it should be necessary to go to Queensland to find blacks in possession of these faculties says not very much perhaps for our success in keeping the aboriginal alive. In Eng land people may be inclined to rank the belief in the savage power of tracking with the belief in the hazel wand of the treasure-seeker or the explorerfor wells. The cleverness of the wild hunteris sup posed to exist only in Cooper's novels. In Australia it is "very well known, by experience, that the blacks will recog nize the tracks of a man they have not seen for years, and will hunt it ovor tracts of bush where the white man is lost. The great story of the sleuth hound qualities of the Murri is, unfor tunately, mixed up with a ghost. In the eyes of science, and perhaps of com mon sense, it is, therefore, a record of hallucination. The tale, however, has often been repeated, and perhaps never contradicted, that a drunken old squat ter, returning from market, saw sitting on a gate a man who had lately left his station and the colony for England. The squatter's wife refused of course, to believe that a man who was in England could be sitting on an Australian gate; but the squatter, after another interview with the figure, consulted the local magistrates. They sent a black tracker to inspect the spot and his proceedings were not uninteresting. He first detect ed some minute spots of blood on the top rail of the gate. He then walked to a neighboring pond, threw himself flat on the ground and watched the surface of the water. After a few minutes ho arose, threw a stone iuto the pond, and said: "You find white fellow there!" The pond was dragged, and the body of the white fellow wtis discovered in an ad vanced state of decomposition which had made itself apparent to the keen senses of a black fellow. We need not go further into a story of eommotrplace murder and clever concealment. Some points in the tale may not satisfy the skeptic, but it proves the strength of colonial belief in black trackers. He Thought He Had 'Em. Sniffles brought his two weeks' spree to a close on Thursday night. He lay on the lounge in the parlor, feeling as mean . as sour lager, when something in the corner of the room attracted his atten tion. He asked lroarselv: "Mirandy, what is that?" "What is what, LiKey?" Sniffles' name is Lycurgus, and his wife calls him Likoy for short and sweet. "Why that that thing in the cor ner," said the frightened man pointing at it with a shaking hand. t "Likey dear, I see nothing,'' replied the woman. "What, don't you see it?" he shrieked. "Then I've got 'em. Oh, heavens! bring me the bible. Mirandy, bring it quick! Here, on this sacred book I swear never to touch a drop of whisky. If I break my vow may my right hand cleave to the "roof of my mouth and " Here, catching another glimpse of the terrible object, he clutched his wife and begged in piteous tones: "Don't leave mo; don't leave your Likey," and burying his face in the tohls of her dress he sobbed himself iato a . troubled sleep. Then his wife stole gently to the cor ner and picked up the toy snake and threw it into the stove. Gconje Francis Train as He Looks To-Duy. I suppose tnat the figure of the George Francis Train of years ago lives in ma ture Boston memories. It has grown to be a feature of my morning walk to my ottice to look at him, ensconced at the window in the corner of the reading room of a hostelry which I puss daily. His feet are generally as high as his head; he has a bouquet always in his button-hole. And he is usually absorbed in the perusal of something, either print ed matter or manuscript. He has cer tainly had an exceptionally curious career in this country, Australia. China and Europe. I tim not sure that passengers on the overland route do not still talk with bitted breath, as they did some years ago, of the homeward voyage of "that extraordinary American, you know," and the man who established horse railways in London told me that the ghost of "George Francis Train rose before him in every street. His achieve ments in this country are matters of contemporaneous history. Now he lives on $10 per week, sits in Madison square when the weather permits, ami foods the little birds. A Nice Point in Grammar. Ito;t land Courier. The two young heirs, who had ben taking their first lesson in grammar, disputed long and earnestly over a ques tion, and at lat agreed to decide it by arbitration, selecting the head of the family as arbiter, with full power to send for persons and papers. The old man w:us jn-easiu"- his boots before the kit es o chen stove. "Father," said the elder heir, "is it proper to say 'we is rich,' or 'we urn rich.'" The old man worked carefully down into the hollow of his boot under the in step, remaining a long time in thought ful meditation, and then slowly replied: "Well, I should say it woukl come nigher to the truth to sav we hain't rich." The oung heirs, when they came to think what a hard time they had worry ing pennies out of their paternal rela tive, thought it might be made that way, too. And the old man kept on annoint inr his boots with the extract of hog. A Neat Turn of Koscoe Conklins1. Sew York Wurtd. At the election after Roscoe Conkling had voted a coarsely dressed, rough looking but jolly old fellow rusned up just as Conkling uncovered his head, and burst out with "1 vote next to Ros coe Conkling!" As the haughty sena tor slowly turned to look down upon the man, the latter said, "HuHoe. Ros coe, I used to know you." The mag nificent Roscoe turned fully around, put out his hand to the man, and with that lordly courteousness of manner, meas ured articulation and carefully modula ted voice that are all his own, replied: "I not only used to know you but I know you still. How do you do to day?" The aristocratic American swindler" has not yet attained to his full bloom in Europe. A 32ailro:il llna:"" In the emplov of the C. M. K St. Paul R. K-, had been grievously affe-tel with diaries for six years, fie xk t r boxes of Kidney-W.rt, aud now writes thit he s entirely cured. Get a bo? or bottle and try H. Tribune an4Ftrm X Urn U