THE HERALD.
PUBLISHED EVERT THURSDAY
PLATTSMOUThT NEBRASKA.
OI-FICHi
On Main Str-ct between 4th and 5th,
second Story
OFFICIAL. PAPER OF CASS COClfTY.
Terms, in Advance t
One copy, one year , (3.00
One copy, six months j00
One cepy, three months . !m
NEBRASKA
EJRA
JNO. A. MACMURPHY, Editor.
PERSEVERANCE COXQUEUS."
TERMS: $2.00 a Year
VOLUME X.
PLATTSMOUTII, NEBRASKA, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1874.
NUMBER
THE HERALD.
ADVKIlTIsnfO IIATKS.
PACK.
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1 BO SI IK! y ..r 3 'I'M o go 10 (KM in I
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5 (Ml 8 (in! io no'1'2 (XI 20 00 28 ool 85 m
S 00 13 00 15 (Ml IH 00 ai 00 HI (N)l Ml 0V.
lb oo 18 no on as no '.) no') on1 inn op
y All Advertising bills due quarterly.
3T Transient advertisements must be paid faC
In advance.
Extra copios of the IlaaaLn for sale by IL J.
Streight, at the Postotflee, and O. F. Johnson, cor
ner of Main and Fifth streets.
HENRY BCECK,
bKALen in
l1 vl i- nit utx- e ,
SAFES, CHAIRS,
Lounges, Tables, Bedsteads,
Etc-.. ETC., KTC,
Of All Descriptions.
METALLIC BURIAL CASES.
Wooolen Collins
Of all sizes, ready-made, and sold cheap for caeh.
Wilh in:iny thank for past patronage, I invite
all to call and examine my
LARUE STOC K OK
"iit-nit iti-o mid Collin.
janJS
MEDICINES
J. H. BUTTERY'S,
On Main Street, bet. Fifth and Sixth.
Wholesale, hi.. I Kelail Dealer in
Drugs and Medicines, Paints, Oils,
Varnishes. Patent Medicines.
Toilet Articles, etc, etc.
f'iTIiESCKU'TK tNs carefully comotinded at
ail hour, day anil night. 35-ly
J. VY. SHANNON'S
Feed, Sale and Livery
Main Street, Plattsmouth, Neb.
I am prepared to accommodate the public with
Carriages, Buggies, Wagons,
AND
A No. I Hearse,
0a Short Notice and Reasonable Terms.
A II A C K
Will Run to the Steamboat Land
ing, Depot, and all parts of
the City, when Desired.
jant-tf
First National Bank
Of Plattsmouth, Nebraska,
SUCCKSSOll TO
Tootl, Iliuuiii Clurlc.
,I'!H Kitz;erald
K. (J. IVEV
A. W. M. f.AliHl.lN
John O Koirke
President.
Vice-President.
, Cashier.
Assistant Cashier.
Tlii Hunk is now open for husiness at their new
room, corner Main and Sixth streets, and are pre
pared to transact a general
BANKING BUSINESS.
Stocks, Bonds. Gold. Government
and Local Securities
BOUGHT AND SOLD.
Deposits Received and Interest Al
lowed on Time Certificates.
DRAFTS DRAWN,
Available in any part of the United States and in
all the .'riueipal 1 owns and Cities oi fcuropc.
AGENTS FOR THE
CELEBRATED
INMAN LINE anil ALLAN LINE
OF STl-lV31i:S.
IVr-ons wishing to hriiig out their friends from
Curoe can
rn: hasb tii kkw rno rs
'riii-oiili to Plaltismoiitli
Excelsior Barber Shop.
.r. C. BOONK,
Main Street, opposite Brooks House.
HAIR-CUTTING,
Shaving and Shampooing.
KSI'ECIAL ATTENTION (ilVEN TO
i rn; mi.iici:s iiAiit
Call and See Boone, Gents,
And get a boon in a
nll-ly
NEWS OF THE WEEK.
Compiled from Ttlegrams of Accompanying Dates.
Monday. Dec. 7.
ArTEK several consultations and confer
ences tietwecn the iron manufacturers and
puddlcrs of Pittsburgh, the latter struck on
the 5th, and nearly all the iron works arc
closed and many workmen arc thus thrown
out of employment.
Fubthek troubles are reported in the
mining regions of Pennsylvania, growing out
of the needy condition of large numlicrs of
unemployed miners. Lawlessness and crime
are the order of the day in many localities.
The 'longshoremen's strike in New York is
ended, the stevedores having come to an ami
cable understanding with both men and ship
owners.
Kino Kalakaca. and his suite left San
Trancisco for Washington on the morning of
the 5th in sjiecial palace cars.
A i) ispatc'ii from Rome, Italy, reports an
other rising in the Tiber, and a threatened
overflow of the low country.
Tiik funeral of the lute Mayor Havcmeyer,
of New York city, took place on the 5th.
Tuesday, Dec. 8.
Retokts reached New Orleans on the night
of the 6th that large bodies of armed negroes
were on their way to Vicksburg to take pos
session of the Court House. On the 7th Gen.
Emory received a dispatch that a riot and
lighting began on that day. An Associated
Press dispatch of the same date says an
alarm was sounded at 9 o'clock in the morn
ing that the negroes were marching on the
town. The citizens gathered eti nutate,
armed immediately, and advanced to meet
the negroes on the Baldwin Ferry road.
They were encountered on Grove street, just
outside of the city, about 300 strong. The
commander of the citizens warned the
negroes to distMirse. but they refused, and
immediately firing commenced on both sides.
The negroes retreated about a mile, and
again made a stand in an old breast-work
and house, but were soon routed. The loss
in this engagement was one citizen, Oliver
Brown, killed, and altout twelve or. fifteen
negroes killed, several wounded, and
about twenty prisoners. On the Hall's Ferry
road altout 250 negroes were found and routed
after a short engagement, with several killed
and wounded. The attack was made for the
purpose of reinstating a colored man named
Crosby into the office of Sheriff. It . was re
ported that the negroes were burning cotton
gins and dwellings in the neighborhood.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court has denied
the writ of mandamus sought by McDill's
counsel to compel the State Board of Can-"
vassers to award McDill the Congressional
certificate from the Eighth District.
The New York Court of Appeals has de
cided in the case of Mr. Tilton against Mr.
Beecher that the defendant has a right to
have the bill of particulars asked for la the
court below.
Wednesday. Dec. 0.
A tkai n on the Kansas Pacific"Railway was
stopped by obstructions on the track at Mun
cie. Mo., on the 8th, and five armed men en
tered the express car, uncoupled it from the
train, and compelled the engineer to haul it
away from the passenger car, when they
robbed the safe of Wells, Fargo & Co. of
about $30,000. The passenger car was not
entered nor were the passengers disturbed.
Some firing was indulged in, but no one was
hurt.
Paris dispatches say the Rothschilds have
advanced 20,000,000 reals to the Spanish Gov
ernment, and the bankers of Madrid 150,000,
0(H) reals more. Rumors prevail that Don
Carlos is negotiating with ex-Queen Isabella.
Thursday, Dec. 10.
Dispatches from India announce that the
Th e latest news relating to the Vicksburg
troubles is to the effect that the excitement
is subsiding and business generally has
been resumed. The Governor's procla
mation denouncing the alleged riotous pro
ceedings and calling on all good citizens to
aid in upholding the laws of the State, issued
on the 7th, was responded to by a proclama
tion by the Mayor of Vicksburg, who claimed
that there had up to that time been no riot
ous assemblage in that city; that the meeting
of the unarmed taxpayers who requested the
resignation of irresponsible officials who had
failed to execute bonds was quiet and order
ly, etc.
The Proctor-Moulton libel suit has been
compromised, Moulton paying the costs,
amounting to about $5,000. Miss Proctor
solemnly avers that there was no truth in
the charges made against her as to her rela
tions with Mr. Beecher, and Mr. Moulton
admits that he spoke merely from hearsay.
observation of the transit of Venus in that
country had been entirely successful. Over
100 photographs had been taken. Successful
observations at Cairo, Suez and Thebes had
also been made. At Shanghai the weather
was overcast and the sun obseured.
The Grand Jury which indicted Harring
ton and the other defendants in the late 6afe-
conspiracy trial in Washington having been
declared illegal, the defeudants have been
discharged.
Krlday. Dc. 11.
Cable dispatches state that observations
in re a rd to the transit of enus failed in
Ormsk, Orenshurg, Kasan, Uralsk, Astrachan,
Kertch and Tiflis, but were successful at
Teheran, Hobartstown, Adelaide and Mel-
lHrne, Australia, and at points in India,
Japiwi and China.
Ezra Cornell, the founder of Cornell Col
lege, died on the 9th at Ithaca, N. Y.
Rev. W. K. Hu.ntingtox, of Worcester,
Mass., has been chosen Bishop of the State of
Iowa by the Episcopal Convention recently
in session at Davenport.
The Iowa State Grange met at Des Moines
on the fcth. About 200 delegates were pres
ent. The annual address tmta the num
her of subordinate Granges in the State
at 2,000 an increase over last year of 162.
One hundred and nine smaller Gransres
have been consolidated. On the 10th
the Treasurer reported the receipts last year
at $:E5,:Kt.S2: exienditures for laat vear.
GO TO THE
Post Office Kook Store,
H. J. STEEIGHT, Proprietor,
roa tiiir
Books, Stationery, Pictures, Music,
TOYS, CONFECTIONERY,
Viplin Strings,
Newspapers, Novels,
Song Books, etc., etc.
POST OFFICE BUILDI.NU,
PLATTSMOUTH. NEB.
$M,-iO.1; balance on hand, f 1,883.11. The
Mate Agent reported the business of his
office for the year at 90,000. The saving to
the Grange by the State Agency is over $27,
000. The Committee on the Railroad Tariff
Law reported that it was not -the law they
wanted and had proved impracticable.
The Actual number of negroes killed in the
fight at Vicksburg on the 7th is now reported
at 150.
Saturday, Dec. 12.
In the trial of Count von Arnim at Berl
the fact has been devclojicd that hia tccrct.i
was instructed by Bismarck to act nd a r
upon his conduct.
A Washington dispatch says the Adminis
tration approves of the course of Gov
Ames, of Mississippi, in endeavorinc to bud-
pre6s the disorders existing in that State
without calling for the assistance of the Fed
eral Government.
The trial of Jesse Pomerov. the bov-mur-
derer, has been concluded in Boston, the 1urv
brisging in a verdict of murder in the first
degree, with a recommendation that he be
imprisoned for life.
AJi earthquake shock was distinctly felt in
the upper part of New York city, along the
Hudson River, and in Connecticut on the
night of the 10th.
The trial of the 6uit of Tilton against
Beecher has been postponed until the first
Monday in January. Judge McCue has de
cided that the plaintiff shall be limited as to
his proofs of specific acts of the alleged crime
of the defendant to those named by
him in his bill of particulars, but shall
not be prohibited from introducing testimony
relating to declarations, documents, confes
sions, etc., in which alleged confessions no par
ticular time or place shall have been re
ferred to.
The Michigan Board of State Canvassers
have concluded their laliors, and an
nounce the loilowing result: loiai num
ber of votes for Governor, 221,443; Bag-
ley, 111,519; Chamberlain, 105,550; Carpen
ter, 3,937. The balance of the State ticket is
about the same. Congressional majorities
First District, Field (Rep.), 1,956; Second,
Waldron (Rep.), 1,530; Third, Willard (Rep.),
1,201; Fourth, Potter (Dem.), 1,039; Fifth,
Williams (Rep.), 1,158; Sixth, Durand (Dem.),
,63t; Seventh, Conger (Rep.), 1,9G;
Eighth, Bradley (Rep.), 2,276; Ninth, Hubtiell
(Rep.), Constitutional amendments Yes, 39,
289; No, 124,034. Woman suffrage Yes, 40,-
187; No, 125,857. The vote of Manitou and
Presque Isle Counties was not received.
Miss Julia A. Garretson has been elected
State Lecturer of the Grange in Iowa, in place
of Mr. Wilkinson, resigned.
. CONGRESSIONAL.
The second session of tbe Forty-third
Mongrel's opened at noon on the 7th Vice-
President Wilson presided in the Senate and
Speaker Blaine In the House An order was
i;recu to in tne senate ttxtng ine nour or meeting
at twelve o clock dully until otherwise pro
vided Certificates were presented of the
election of George F. Edmnnds, of Vermont,
and William W. baton, of Connectic ut, aw bena-
tom for the term becrinninji March 4, 18T5 A
committee was appointed to notifv the President
of the assembling of Conirress The President"
Messase was read in both houses The joint
Select Committee on the District of Columbia
presented a bill placing the District under con
trol of three Regents, appointed by the Presi
dent Bills were introduced to revise
tbe law for the collection of customs dutie; for
he relief of nre-emntors in the grasshopper dis
tricts of Kansas and Nebraska: appropriating
JilOO.ono to purchas? food for starving settlers on
he frontier The reports or tne recn'tary oi
he TreaiMirv, Department of Justice and Comp
troller of the Treasury were presented and ordered
printed Adjourned.
In the House four new memliers
Messrs. Schell and Chittenden of New ork.
Carpenter of Sonth Carolina, and Finck of
Ohio were' sworu in A bill was read
to repeal the law known as the
Press-gag law The President s Message was
read and ordered printed The Legisla
tive. Executive and Judicial Appropriation bill
calling for $19.fi-H.4M; the Navy Appropriation
hill calling for Sl..l7ti.lH: the. Army Appropria
tion bill calling for $J7,701 . m ; the Indian Ap
propriation bill railing for JI,8Sl..ri07. and the
Fortification Appropriation bill calling for $ S50,-
000 were reported from the Committee on Ap
propriations and made the special order
for Dec. 15, Dec. IB. Dec. 17. Dec. 18 and Dec. SB
respectively A hill was passed appropriating
$:w.Uin to purchase scales for the use of the Post
office Department A bill was introduced ex
empting from the operation of the law requiring
prepayment oi posia;e cases woere mc uui-ri-tions
were taken prior to January, 1875. ...Ad
journed.
In the Senate, on the 8tli, bills were
introduced to reduce the salary of the President
of the United States, after this term, to $25,000
er annum ; for the construction of Cnited States
iovernment telegrapn lines nerween vtasning-
ton, D. C, and Itoston; amendatorv of Sec. 10 or
the National Currency act of 1H4 and Sec. 9 of
the act of July 1:1, li6 A memorial was re
ceived from various publishers asking for a
change of the Postal laws Adjourned.
In the House, on the 8th, a report from
the Special Committee on the Arkansas troubles
of the testimony taken during the vacation was
presented ann ordered printed ...rsuis were
passed reducing the allowance to Bank Ex
aminers and fixing the rates; to prohibit
Senators, Representatives and Delegates to
Congress from acting as counsel or other
wise in suits, or proceedings against the
I'nited- States. . ..Among the bills introduced
were the following: For the extinguishment of
the Indian title to the Black Hills Reservation,
Dakota; to substitute t'nifed States notes for
issues or National Banks; for an additional rep
resentative from Nebraska; for free banking; to
regnlate elections in certain Southern States; to
amend the act to enforce the right of citizens to
vote; repealing the iacrease of the President's
salary Adjourned.
In the Senate, on the Oth, several me
morials were presented, among them one from
the citizens of Kansas for an extension of time
to homestead and pre-emption settlers on pnblic
lauds who have been afflicted by the locust
plague ...A list of standing committees
as sunmitted and agreed to, jnessrs. uavis.
of the Committee on Claims, and Dennis, of
the Committee on Agriculture, exchanging
places Among the bills introduced were: Au
thorizing the Secretary of War to ascertain the
expenses incurred by Kansas in resisting the In
dian invasion of 1874: relating to pensions and
iroviding for the payment of arrears of pensions
. .Adjourned.
In the. House, on the 9th, the bill in
reference to the railroad bridge at Omaha was
postponed until the second Tuesday in February
.Various parts of the President s Message
were referred to appropriate committees ...The
bill to continue the Board of Audit, to examine
and audit the unfunded or floating debt of the
District of Columbia, was amended and passed
.Adjourned.
In the Senate, on the 10th, a joint reso
lution was agreed to appointing the lion. George
Bancroft a member of the Board of Regents oH
the Smithsonian Institute, in place of Gen. W.
T. Sherman, resigned. The House hill appro
priating $:.0CO for the purchase of scales for the
fostoflices, was amended and passed The
louse resolution to bind one hundred copies of
the Revised Stattftcs. without index, was passed
.Executive session and adjournment till the
14th.
In the House, on hc 10th, a bill was
introduced and referred directing the Freedmen's
Bank Commissioi.era to declare an immediate
dividend and to institute snit against tbe Trus
tees, officers and agents of the companv, with a
view of holding them ersonally lia
ble The Diplomatic and Consular
Appropriation bill (1,M,785) was made
the special order for the M The
Senate amendment to the bill appropriating
f.Tn.(fir scales required in carrying ont the law
for the prepayment of newspapers was con
curred in. and' the bill passed The Speaker
announced the following appointments to fill
vacancies on committees: On Arkansas Affairs.
Scudder. of New York: Judiciary. Finck, of
Ohio; Civil-Service Reform, Chit tendsn. of New
lork: Centennial. Schell. of New York: In
valid Pensions, Straw-bridge, of Pennsylvania;
Education and Labor, also on Expenditures in
the Naval Department, Carpenter, ol South
Carolina Adjourned.
Senate not in session on the 11th. In
the House, bills were passed allowingthc home
stead and pre-emption settlers in Iowa, Minne
sota. Nebraska and Kansas whose crops were
destroyed. by grasshoppers in 1874 to leave and
re aosent irom tneir lands tin Mav. inre, without
prejudice to their rights; Senate dill for the ap
pointment of George Bancroft lo fill the vacancy
in the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian In
stitute. ...A resolution was adopted directing the
arrest of Richard B. Irwin, now in New York
city, agent or the Pacific Mail Com Dan v. for con
tempt in having failed to oher the summons of
the Committee of Ways and Means, who sought
his testimony In the investigation into the Pacific
Mail subsidy begun at the close of the last ses
sion of Congress. Mr. Irwin had promised to be
on nana oy ine ism.... Adjourned.
St. Louts.- CallU Fair to choice. $4.50516 00.
Hog Live, $7.57.75. Fltiur XX Fall. 4.3Ta
4.50. Wheat No. 2 Red Fall. $1.( WHILOM. Corn
No. 2, new, HldtMtc. (Mttt'So. a, !735c. Rye
Sl.0Hffil.07. Harleu No. 2. $l.:K&1.35.orl:-Mc88,
MawicE.-Kor-Spring XX, $5.255..
Wheat Spring. No. 1, Wl H-'c : No. 2, WO
.xil4c. Corn No. 2, 7fr.7:lc. Oa4-No. 2, M'4
54c. Rye No. 1, OS'Joc. JiarUy No. 2,
$1.31(31-32.
Ci-KTKiir Wheat No. 1 Red. $1.104l.im;
No. 2 Red, $1.05'4ai.06. Vorn New, 71 V47"Jc
Oats No. 1, 57'45rtc.
Detroit. Wheal Extra, $1.15!41.:6. Corn
74H75c Oaf 54'455c.
Toledo. Wheat Amber Michigan, tl.owa
1.09V4; No. 2 Red, $1.0H1.04. Com Mixed
new, 69K&70c. Oats No. 2. 55Hao6c.
RuFFAiiO. fleeces $4.:10766.00. TIoqs Live,
$6.9J7.40. Shetp Live, $1.01 K&J.25.
East Libbrtt. Beeves Best, $6.fS07&6.75;
medium, $5.7.VT((i.S0. IIoq Yorkers, $4.25
H.rtO; Philadelphia, $7.--rT7.40. Hheejt JJest,
$4.7K&5.25; medium. $1.00a4.50.
ALL SO UTS.
The newspapers indicate that more
men are trying to live by their wits than
can do it honestly. They recite count
less and varied incidents of petty swin
dling. Up the Hudson a man goes into
houses with a woful tale of sudden pov
erty, and asks for a loan on a gold ring.
lie would not permanently part wiiu n
on any account, as it is a hallowed keep
sake, and he only wants a dollar until lie
can return and redeem it. He has thus
disposed of hundreds of brass rings at a
big profit. An operator in Connecticut
starts lamp shade stores as a cover for
liorrowing money, and then decamps.
An Ohio knave sells cows of a supposed
new breed to farmers, showing only
fictitious photographs. He collects a
small sum " to bind the bargain, and
leaves the rest of the payment until the
cows arc delivered which of course
never happens. The old dodge of fooling
farmers into signing promissory notes,
under the delusion that they are simply
putting their names to an agreement of
some kind relating to patent rights, and
then selling the notes for collection, has
been revived in Western Piew rorK. Ana
finally a seller of a new grease-extractor
in IJulfalo cleans one of a pair of gloves
lust to show how it works, and then
refuses to make the pair mates in clean
liness for less than ten cents. N Y
Sua.
TIIK MAKK K TS.
December 7, 1871,
N aw York. Vnlton 14(15"c. KIout G wd
to choice, f.Vl.V5.7S: white wheat extra. S5.75fri
6.25. What No. 2 Chicago. tl.loai.H; Iowa
Spring, $1.111.12; No. 2 Milwaukee Spring,
ti.l&l-l:itt. Rye Western, 9j(?t;7c. Barley
$1.501.52. Corn ?lc. Oats Mixed West
ern, 7l?t7o,'4c. Pork New mess, $J1.0Ur3i!l.2T.
hard l:l$i&13Xc. cheene 12'4M5c. Wool
Common to extra, WfyXrc. Bfrr-r $KUxfJ
M.O.). Hoqs Dressed, $8.87' i 9.00; -live.
jo.Bi!,7.oo. Sheep- L.ve, $4.75ftiri.50.
CmcAnn.Beeres Choice. fl.V.Wis.eO; good
"I " .V'M; tnciiiiim, :j.75C(t4.2.; butch
-tork, $2..-tfqn75: stock cattle, $2..V)
. fogs Live, good to choice, fti.85
iffi.J". arup uood to cnotce, $ l.O04.ti24.
Butter Choice yellow, :tt:tsc. Eggs Fresh.
25rti2tc. Pork Mess, ne. $19.50rtl.7S. Lard
$13.05(13.15. Cheese New York Factory,
14s15c: Western Factory, 14sl4Hc.
Flour White winter extra, $.V00aa.5o:
spring extra. $4.12V45.50. wheal spring
ru. , e'iwic. tsOnt iio. X, 74Hi74Hc
Oats No. 2. MVffrSSVc. Rue No. 2. ftluiftiUc
Barley No. 2, $1.-3H1.27. Woot Tub-washed.
4o57c; fleece, washed. 40S47c: fleece, an.
washed. 27 14c. Lumbei First-cleur, $50.00
g.uu; secona--iear, i40.ma,-w.i.; com
mon boards, $11,003,12.00; fencing. $11.0012.00;
"A" shingles, $3.0x.3.25; lath, $i.00(2i2.2.-.
Cimcins ATI Flour $5.00fft5.50. V7h en t R ed
ll.08tjfcl.12. Corn New, 70Ci72c. Rue SI. 070.1 .OH.
OaU 57ab0c. Barley $1J015. Fork $19.75
NEWSPAPER ENGLISH OF 1884.
Picked np a paper here to-day.
And, by my conscience, I must say.
That they do write in the funniest way!
Some time ago, over my cup.
Went sound asleep just woke np;
Must have been well, let me see
Eighteen hundred fifty-three.
Cow came along bell wonld tinkle;
Roused me up second old Winkle;
Fell asleep, by their say so.
One and thirty years ago.
'Bout that paper? I was struck
All in a heap, sir inst my luck;
"Miss Susan Smiler'Il eloeuU
Next Thursday evening." I stood mute;
Never, in all my life, bad beard
Of such au outlandish, barbarous word.
Elocnte! Elocute! I declare!
Bit my whiskers; pulled my hair;
Looked in my Webster "t wasn't there;
Gave the thing up in wild despair
Said to myself, it's mighty quair!
Pretty near choked myself with rage;
Papers set forth on another page
Wonderful piece of local
" People up town are going to enlhime m
And then the thing got worse and worse, .
"To-morrow the people ait niter suf
"July 4th happy to state
People all going to ttselarate ,""
Think I'd better shut np shop,
" Mr. A. B. is a philanthropf
And then, look here; why, bless my eyes,
What in the world is " Bistnarckize "
Eyes of mine, yon can't be trusted!
" Coal-oil factory all combusted;
" Circumtreneh your favorite fruits;
" Mexican Empire re volute;"
And since the davs 1 went to school.
What sort of a thing's a " perpeiulicnUr
Reading along why, bless my fate!
Here's a man who's going to ra."
Why, what on earth this paper about?
(io stark mad if I don't find out.
Must he French, and yet. I vow.
Never heard of the word till now.
Folding paper, undecided
Dear me! some oue's " homicided."
Laid down paper right away;
For, bv my conscience, I must say.
That thev do write in the funniest way.
R. W. Lothrie, in Bonlon Transcript.
TBAPrER Em.
The Cincinnati Enquirer remarks:
A young man of the town who parts
his hair ill the center is said to have
made a slight mistake at the opera last
night. In order to obtain a clearer per
ception of a high note he reached in his
coat-tail pocket and brought forth what
he thought was an opera-glass, but what
muecu proved to ue a revised compila
tion of a derringer. People inhis imme
diate vicinity were surprised and some
what frightened to see him elevate the
ordnance to his eyes and steadfastly gaze
down into its dark caverns of death. It
was upon first impression thought to be
a cool, deliberately-planned suicide, but
when he quietly put it back in his pocket
and brought the real article into requisi
tion lhc horror melted from before their
eyes and it became apparent that it was
only a mistake after all. A few hairs
whose beat lay on tne larrxmra siac oi
the young man's skull had by some means
gotten on the starboard side. Hence the
slight aberration of mind."
-A scene was enacted at the Hahne
mann r air yesterday anernoon wnicn
was not down on the bills. B.very fash
ionably-dressed lady, from whose ears
hung diamond drops, and on whose
lingers sparkled gems of the first water,
was detected stealing some children's
underwear. .The services of a detective
were secured, and the kleptomaniac sub
jected to a custom-house search, which
revealed the fact that her pockets were
stuffed with fancy articles of various
descriptions which she had pilfered from
the dincrent tables. Ihe managers oi
the fair, with a magnanimity much too
liberal in the present era of crime, al
lowed the woman to take her departure,
with the injunction to keep away from
the fair for the future. Unicago inter-
Ocean.
The Sing Sing (N. Y.) Republican re
lates the following incident: "On
Wednesday afternoon of last week, as
Mr. Noah Barnes was engaged in the
back yard of his residence on Liberty
street, he came across a live turtle. On
picking it up he was greatly surprised
at finding the names James Ryder and
Stephen Aayles, 1833, scratched on the
shell. Upon bringing tne turtle to tne
village, and showing it to the above-
named persons, they remembered the
circumstance of the cutting of the names
in the turtle's shell over torty-one years
ago, when they were young men."
The Louisville Courier-Journal esti
mates the aggregate of the tobacco crop
in the United States this year at 105,000
hogsheads and 6o,000 cases, as compared
w ith 2G5.000 hogsheads and 140,000 cases
in 1873 and 272,000 hogsheads and 145,000
cases in 1872. Adding in the stock left
over, the total supply this year is 200,860
, , , .f.i- oo j.o :
nogsneaas as compareu witn otjtto m
1873 and 373,03 in 1872. Calculating
that the rcqur'renients will be the same
as ia previous j cars, the supply left in the
markets October, 1875, will be only 2,000
hogsheads, as compared with 135,000 this
year and 1 15,000 in 1873.
The Aslieville (N. C.) Expoxitor says:
Bald Mountain is again on the shake.
A few nights ngo five or six terrible
shocks were felt at the distance of six
miles. Glasses on the tables were made
to rattle. The shocks were equal to those
last winter. Maybe she will burst at
last."
A philosophical tailor in Harrisburg,
la., advertises that when people "with
sallow, irregular, and homely faces" are
clad in garments of his making they
are. looked upon with love and venera
tion, their countenances being regarded
as tlic iudcx of pure and compassionate
spirils."
A big brother, in Pottsville, Pa., has
been brought lo shame. His sister had a
beau who was obnoxious to him. One
dark night on the steps she seemed to be
anectionalely kissing this beau good
night. The brother crept up softly and
kicked hard, and down fell an elaborate
scarecrow.
' A gentleman said to bis gardener:
" George, 'the time will come when a man
will be able to carry the manure of an
acre of land in one of his waistcoat
ptickcts." To which the gardener replied:
" 1 believe it, sir; but he will be able to
carry all the crop in the other KH,ket."
A newly-married couple in Connecti
cut recently started out on their wctUing
tour accompanied by a small-sized two-year-old
infant, which they had hired
for the purpose of deluding the public
into the belief that they were old stagers
Rivers, a man on trial in Lancaster,
N. II., for marrying too many women, is
said to have remarked that he had rather
serve a reasonably short term in the
State Prison than to live with any one
of his five wives.
An Oakland (Cal.) married lady has
made f 60,000 on the purchase and sale
of mining stocks during the past year.
She don't ask her husband for pin-money
any more, Dut sne blutls him when he
proposes to borrow of her.
A preparation warranted to banish
wrinkles is among the latest of the toi-
et delusions.
A Vermont man hasn't missed wind
ing the family clock a single night for
thirty-eight years.
Never wait for anything to turn up
but go and turn it upfyourself.
It requires no particular skill to make
a oiunuer.
"They say three removes are equal to
a fire, and by that count I've been through
fire some several times, and I can't say
I've come out, like Shadrach and Mesh
ach, without the smell of it on my
clothes; but, with it all, I never did ex
pect to lc landed in a place like this,
dropped, as you may say, right in the
middle of a howling wilderness, with
panthers and bears and wild Injuns for
next-door neighbors."
This speech was flung out with direct
aim at the person of a tall, sun-browned,
one-armed pioneer, who sat in the door
way of a Minnesota cabin, at a time when
that extreme portion of the State could
be much more accurately described as a
howling wilderness than at present. The
clearing was small. Solid walls of full
grown timber rose on every side. Green
stumps were thicker than the potato and
corn hills with which they were inter
spersed. A single lonely wagon track
led away through the woods to the settle
ment down the creek, and a wilderness
of tangled vines and bushes and brilliant
wild flowers crept in on every side.
The timber of the cabin -was not yet
seasoned by weather. Great tree trunks
had been hastily hewn down and piled
into the form of a house, with tufts of
fresh hemlock and spruce and pine cling
ing to their sides.
No other chimney smoke rose within
sight of this settlement. It was entirely
isolated. The open door showed a rude
interior, where a pretty girl with bared
arms was kneading bread at the far side
of the room. She was "brilliantly fair,
with a mass of wavy brown tresses like
glistening flax. A younger girl, Hanny,
was leaning by the door-post, watching
her father clean and load his gun. She
had learned to make cartridges, and
could put in a priming and ram it down
with a will. Hanny kept a young gray
hawk in a cage a fierce creature that
snapped at every thing that came near
it. She petted, too, a little bear cub her
father had once brought her home for a
plaything, after killing the mother.
Hanny in relation to her sister Bessie
was like darkness compared with light.
She was a resolute, fearless child, with a
brown skin and a mass of straight dark
hair. She could ride the wildest colt she
had ever seen, either with a saddle or
without; it made little difference to
Hanny.
An old man, large of frame, but weak
and powerless in his limbs,-sat bent over
a fire of chips upon the hearth, though
it was midsummer.
Against the cabin wall hung an odd
assortment of arms and equipments,
fishing tackle, the skins of wild animals,
deer antlers, and in one corner a heavy
hunter's saddle with girth-straps and
stirrups. In one of the three windows,
fitted with solid plank shutters, stood a
sweet-scented geranium growing in a pot
which Bessie had brought with cherished
care all the way from the old Massachu
setts door-yard. In another stood a sewing-machine
and a little case of books
Ehen Gardner had conned over many
times in his leisure moments, for he was
a " reading man" and had his head
crammed full of notions, but the virtue
of adhesion to places did not belong to
Jiben. Lvery little while all through lite
he had heard a voice bidding him arise
and depart into a new country, and those
appendages, wife and children, had fol
lowed on with tears and lamentations at
leaving friends and kindred and dear as
sociations all behind, liut a nappy in
difference to such nancrs cenerallv be-
- t J
longs to the born pioneer like Eben
Gardner. He fulfills his destiny. A
mighty man he was, tall and strong as a
son of Anak. lears before he had lost
his left arm in a planing-mill and his
reputation was all the greater because of
t. He could do more plowing and mow
ing, could slay more trees and let more
daylight through the forest in a given
time with Ins-one arm than the average
Minnesota settler could with two. ISow
the blue eyes shone in his tanned face
as he watched his wife, a tall, slim woman
in a faded calico, moving about in the
act of sweeping the cabin floor and eas
ing her mind at the same time, as recorded
above.
" I know you must let off steam about
once in so often, Celinda, said he, ram
ming the'eharge well down in the gun
barrel meantime. It does you good,
and it don't hurt me. I'm a patient man,
and I can grin and bear it. lou know
that old saying, Celindy, about a scold
ing woman and a smoky chimbly
" It's all very well for you to try and
turn it off with a slur on women," said
Mrs. Gardner, her sense of grievance
deepened by the provoking kind of ban
ter in which Eben was skilled, " but it's
what I never expected when I married,
to be dragged out here, like goods and
chattels, among rattlesnakes and wild
Injuns. I can't sleep in my bed at night
for thinking the red-skins are crawling
tnrougn the bush."
" Red-skins! pooh!" exclaimed Eben,
polishing away at his gun-barrel with
the sleeve of his hunting-shirt. " There
hasn't been an Injun raid on these parts
for more than five years, and am t likely
to be, with a fort only twenty miles off
lull oi Government troops to protect the
settlers. You may sleep like the dead
for all the red-skijis will do to you.".
"And you may pooh-pooh once too
often, Eben Gardner, and then you'll see
the beauty of living twenty miles from
a fort and Lncle Sam s troops. I never
did set up to have the gift of tongues,
nor to prophesy, nor to see visions, nor
dre&m dreams ; but when I do predict
thing it's pretty apt to come true. Then,
let alone the Injuns, how nice it is to
live a day's journey from Sabbath and
sanctuary privileges, without a neighbor
to speak to, and no doctor if j'ou lay at
tne point ot death.
" You wouldn't need a doctor if you
was at that point," said Eben, malicious
ly, " and all the way in between you are
a darned sight better off without one."
" Of course I don't expect any relig
ous sympathy from you," returned Mrs.
Gardner, her resentment having simmered
down now into melancholy, ' and 1 don t
s'posc you'd mind it a mite if there was
a snake's nest right under your bed. But
you might think of the girls. What
schooling, or privileges, or chance will the
girls ever have in this lonesome spot?"
" 1 brought the girls out to tins new
country on purpose to give 'em a chance,"
returned Eben. " If they had staid
there in Windham with their Aunt Dor
cas, who is always straining to be gen
teel, they d have dried up into old maids
unless they took the ninth part of a man
between 'em. I brought the- girls out
hero to learn to ride and shoot and do
something besides strumming on the
planner and wearing their eyes out over
that tarnal cVochet work. And as for
husbands, they are as thick here as blue
berries. Hanny there is the girl for me.
She could ride a streak of lightning if
she could get it bridled and saddled, and
Trapper Eph has got his eye on Bess.
lullo, Bess, don t you think this is a
good country? What is your opinion of
Eph?"
" It s a horrid country, returned a tall,
pretty girl, kneading away at the bread,
with her beautiful white arms bared.
tnd you needn t talk to ine about Eph."
" Well, my lady, let me tell you Eph is
as likely a young lellow as you ever
clapped eyes on, and the best shot be-
wecn this and the l'acihe coast, lhere
ain't a man in this whole region that's
had the experience in ranging Eph has.
He s teared and respected wherever he s
known."
Eph has never been out of the bush
further than this blace," said Mrs.
Gardner. " What does he know more
than an Injun? You wouldn't marry
your girl to a savage? It would be l.ke
harnessing a tame horse to a wild mus
tang pony."
" You may call him what you've a
mind to," returned the pioneer, " Eph
is every inch a man ; not one of your
white-livered counter-jumper, to be
sure, but a man a girl ought to feel
proud of."
Don t blow Kph s trumpet, lather,
said Bessie, tossing her pretty head. " It
is like the blowing of the wind."
" You may go further, my girl, and
fare worse," responded Eben, with a
touch of anger.
" If you hadn't any feeling for your
wife and daughters," struck in Mrs.
Gardner, "you might have thought of
the old man. It was too bad to pull him
up by .the roots, and bring him 'way off
here to die in the woods, far from his
home and Ins old neighbors.
Die!" repeated Eben, contemptuous
ly. " Why, nobody ever dies in this
climate. He'll live to be rising a hun
dred, and hearty and smart to the end.
You're sound, ain't you, father sound
as a nut?" continued Eben, raising his
voice so that it might reach the old man,
who sat most of the time in a doze.
" Yes, to be sure," returned the old
man, in a wavering treble. "I'm sound
all but my bones. Tlley ain't what they
used to be. And my teeth are gone, and
my sight is failing, and I'm a little hard
o' hearing."
' Why, there's the pha bc-bird singing
in the open," said Eben, raising his head
to listen. 44 1 like to hear the little fellow
tunc his whistle. It makes me think of
the time I was a boy set to watch the
corn-fields at home."
The sharp report of a rille resounded
through the woods. "That's Eph," he
added, in a startled tone, "l know the
bark of his rifle as well as I do my own.
What has brought him back here at this
time of day? By good rights he ought
to be thirty miles on his way toward the
reservation to barter for skins."
t that moment the graceful, lithe
form of the young trapper leaped like a
cat out of the woods, lie held his cocked
piece in his hand. His hunting shirt of
buckskin. With gayly-died fringes, was
open at the throat ; his head was bare,
his eyes glittered and his bronzed lace
was strangely pale.
Eben sprang to his feet. "My uod,
Eph! what's the matter?"
"The red-skins: lhc young man,
throwing back the dense clusters of c urly '
brown hair from his forehead, almost;
hissed the words through his blanched
lips.
"Oh, the red-skins!" shrieked Mrs.
Gardner, as she caught the words in the
interior of the cabin.
"Be still !" said Eben, sternlv; and lie
stood up and clutched his rifle.
1 heard at Brashear, Enli added.
bringing his words out with wonderful
coolness and precision, "that the red
devils were out on the war-path after
plunder and scalps. I turned in my
tracks. I covered every step of the way.
I crept through the woods. Five miles
below the bend, at Tuttle's, they have
murdered all the pale-laces and set lire
to the settlement."
"And Tuttle's babies, the twins them
pretty flaxen-haired poppets he was so
proud of?" asked Eben, in a kind of
gasp.
" Brained 'em," returned Eph, laconi
cally, "and the girl fifteen years old."
Bessie uttered a fearful shriek. Ihe
women were clinging together in a fright
ened group, and the old man's bewil
dered, half-vacant face made a pathetic
background. A terribly giitn look came
into Eben's face.
"There's one that'll die hard if they
come on to Jjiese diggins, Eph. Where
are they now?"
"On a straight trail 'for this clearing.
They'll slop at Sandy "Pellew's shanty to
fill their tkins with whisky, but it won't
keep them back above half an hour."
" I knew my laying awake nights wasn't
for nothing," moaned Mrs. Gardner;
" and now the red-skins are right upon
us."
"No time for wailing and lamentation,
mother," returned Eben, his lace soften
ing a little. " It's a lil'e-aud-death tussle.
I was a short-sighted cuss; and if ever
we get out of this scrape alive you may
lay on the lash without mercy. I put
my trust in that tarnation fort full of
Government troops sent out here to pro
tect the settlers."
"There's oniy God to trust to now,"
said Mrs. Gardner, solemnly, " and I shall
begin to pray. Human help can't in no
likelihood reach us."
"Do. mother, pray strong; and Epli
and 1 will back up your prayers with all
the powder and ball there is in the cabin.
Darned pity we haven't got more than
fifty round! Every shot must pick off a
red devil. But before you begin to pray,
mother, just set out that demijohn of old
rye."
"Not much," returned Mr3. Gardner,
with decision. " There's life and death
in this business. You are two to a hun
dred, and you must go lo work w ith cool
heads. hen 1 see you need it, I'll deal
round the liquor."
"That's good grit, mother. You were
made for a pioneer's wife, after all."
Bessie was sobbing behind her grand
father's' chair.
" What's the matter?" asked the old
man, holding on to the arms of his chair
with his trembling hands, and looking
aimlessly around, with a dim sense of
trouble. The terror and confusion had
just made a faint report to his mind.
"The red-skins are burning and kill
ing in the clearines, father. They'll be
upon us soon. W'e. must barricade and
st and to cur guns. Eph has gone to drive
in the cattle and horses."
"Red-skins!" repeated the old man,
with half comprehension. " Brother
Stephen was out with Jackson in the
Seminole war. You remember, don't
you?"
" Yes, I remember, but that was long
ago. They're here, father, right upon us.
I didn't think they would ever be, but
they are. But don't get frightened,
father. I'll take care of you as long as
I can, and defend you with the last drop
of my blood."
"es,"said the old man, looking up
with wistful childishness, "you said you'd
take care of me as long as I lived, Eben.
You said I needn't fret my head the rest
of my days. Life is like a tale that's
told. I shan't trouble anybody long. You
always held to your word, Eben, when
you was a boy. You was the most truth
ful of the lioys, and I knew I could trust
you when you said you'd take care of
me."
"My God! I will," exclaimed Eben, in
a tone of agony, " so long as my life is
spared. They shall trample on my dead
body before they touch a hair of your
head, father."
Eph had hastily driven the cattle and
horses into the sheds. Everything was
put in a stale of siege. The heavy plank
window shutters were barred, and it was
through the small openings of these,
which made a dim twilight in the interior
of the cabin, that the two frontiersmen
proposed to iepul.se their assailants.
Eph's mouth was drawn into a grim, Iiard
line, but there was a kind of glow about
his fine dark eyes. He felt a wild joy
he could but half conceal, for his oppor
tunity hail come lo defend the girl he
loved wilh the whole force of his impet
uous, half-tamed nature. At least he
could die with her, and to a being like
Eph that alternative was far better than
living without her.
Hanny had been busy on her own line
of defense. She was supple and spry as
a cat. Flushed with excitement, the
child's dark face was almost handsome.
" What be you about, Hanny?" asked
Eben.
"Getting my gun ready," said Hanny,
coolly. She had rummaged out an old
fowling piece from some corner of the
cabin. "You know you said yourself,
father, I could make a first-rate shot.
You have always been wishing for a boy.
I'll he your boy, father, and stand close
beside you, and we'll show the red-skins
some tall shooting."
" You're a trump, Hanny, a regular
little brick," choked Eben, feeling a
lump in his throat; and lie passed his
hand softly over the girl's thick hair.
But that old gun is no good. You shall
be my other hand, and help ine load.
Only, child, when the firing begins you
must get behind my back."
"Hist!" said Eph, listening with his
head bent low. " I hear I hem coming
through the woods."
Bessie, in the obscurity of the cabin,
flung herself down at Eph's feet.
"Oh, Eph!" she moaned, "you told
me the other night you loved me, that
you had never loved a woman before. If
you love me still promise that you will
kill me before I fall into the hands of
those savages before they do to ine
what they did to poor Mary TutUc. Oh,
don't let them scalp me, Eph! Put your
rifle to my head and blow my brains out.
I am a coward or I could do it myself,
for there is a sharp knife hidden here in
the bosom of my dress. Promise me,
Eph, and I'll reward you if God spares
us."
Eph's face was portentously pale. He
gave her an indescribable look, and said,
curtly, " 1 promise."
A dark living stream came flowing
out of the bushes and undergrowth. All
that could be seen were waving plumes,
and the glow of war-paint, and gleaming,
murderous eyes, and the shining gun
barrels held before them ready for a
deadly spring.
" The bloody cusses have drove along
all the cows and horses they could gob
ble," muttered Eben, "and hoppled them
on the edge of the woods. They expect
to find only women and children and the
old man at home. They don't dream of
the warm welcome we've got ready for
them, Eph. There, now they begin to
smell mischief ; the shanty looks too
quiet. Who's that big, brawny fellow
crawling ahead?"
" Big Pine-Tree," whispered Eph, with
his eyes to the opening. " He and his
braves killed every settler in Sloeuin
V alicy last year. Don't fire yet; lay low.
Let 'e in creep up closer. We must pick
our men every time."
There was a blaze, a sharp report, a
cloud of smoke; then a yell went up
from the savages, as they sprang to their
feet, that shook the tasseled corn like a
great wind.
"How many bit the dust that time,
Eph?"
Eph held up two fingers.
"Let me load for you," whispered
Hanny. "lm your other arm. lake
the old gun; it won't kick this time."
Eben looked oyer his shoulder, and
saw Bessie crouching on the floor behind
nun.
" Go comfort your grandfather," said
he, sternly.
The old man sat ga.ing with pale, va
cant face and bewildered eyes at the
scene before him. A low, monotonous
moan, like the. cry of some animal in
pain, issued from his lips. Bessie
dragged herself to him, put her arms
round his neck and drew his head down
on her bosom. M is. Gardner had hung a
great kettle ot watjerover the fire; it was
all she could do. She crept to the bed
on her knees, with her apron over her
head, and began rocking back and forth
in the intensity of silent prayer.
The yells and hoots and -howls of the
savages were like the beating of storm
waves on the shore. Every shot from
the inside of the little fortress told fa
tally upon the enemy. There were wil 1
wai'lings and death-songs from a band
chosen to carry oil the dead and wounded.
" Only two rounds left," whispered
Eph, wiping away the powder and smoke
from his eyes.
The decisive moment of the assault
had come. There was a scrambling of
feet up the side of the cabin, and the
sound of dull, heavy blows on the roof,
which, fortunately, was made of timber
or great thickness, just squared by tne
axe. Eben mounted the ladder to ward
oil the assault in that quarter as best he
could with his one arm, while, resolute
and rigid as a man of iron, Eph, w ith
hatchet in hand, took up his station at
the door, where the trunk of a large hem
lock tree had been brought to act as a
battering rani. The red-skins, frenzied
by their losses, had attempted lo kindle
a lire under one corner of the cabin, but
the ground and fuel being damp from re
cent showers it failed to ignite.
There was a dense cracking and snap
ping and bursting asunder of the planks
of the door from the terrible concussion
of the missile directed against it. The
blows of the assailants uon the roof
mingled with those below. It was an
orgie of demoniac noises. There may
have been shrieks and wails from w ith
in, but they were drowned in the tem
pest that raged without.
At last they had succeeded In kindling
a slow fire under the angle oi tne nouse
where the wind drove the flames against
the wall. A suffocating smell of smoke
began to creep in between the legs
Hanny had dropped her gun and was now
passing boiling water up the ladder to
Eben, who, judging from the unearthly
yells of the half-intoxicated savages, was
using it to good enect.
" It's time for the whisky," said Mrs
Oardner, in the bnei pause while L,pi
stood waiting, and she lifted the jug to
his lips. lLj took a long, deep pull, and
thanked her with a look! Splinters from
the door flew about in all directions. It
groaned in a kind of agony. Slowly the
tough plank yielded until then; was an
aperture large enough to admit a head
a head with'a pair of snaky, glittering,
evil eyes. Eph, standing a litlle in the
shadow, brought down his ux. It clove
the skull of Big Pine-Tree through bone
and brain. Then followed the vharp re
port of a rifle. It was the last Eph
knew. His arm dropped lax and nerve-
ess at his side. His head fell forward a
little ; he sank to his knees, and finally
fell prone.
Bessie uttered a heart-rending cry.
"Hark!" said Mrs. Gardner, holding
her back, for she would have rushed to
Eph at the risk of her life. "There's
something coming through the woods.
Its either the judgment-day or an
earthquake."
It was it crashing and rushing and
rending through brush and undergrow th
witli the steady, even, measured beat
ol horses' hoofs pressed to their utmost
peed.
The loss of Big Pine-Tree bad disor
ganized the attack below for a moment,
and the breach through the door was not
yet large enough to admit a man's body.
Eben was engaged still in it close bond-
o-hand light upon the rool, dashing the
loiling water upon the foe and using it
at the same time to put out the lire. In
a moment's breatliingspaee he happened
to look toward the wood, where the
openings in the trees rendered visinie
any moving object behind them. 1 hen
he raised his voice in a mighty bhoul.
1 lie soldiers! the soldiers! he cried.
Deliverance was close at hand.
When Eph fecblv came lo conscious
ness his eyes seemed half full of blood ;
there was u strange whirring in his head.
His limbs were of as little use to him as
f they had belonged to another body.
Some one was fumbling and feeling
about his side with a gf-ntle hand, and
then he heard Eben's voice.
'Tncre may lie two or three ribs
broken; 1 can't tell yet until we get him
in to the bed; but 1 know the wound
ain't mortal. He's young, and lough as
pine knot. I dine, l-elindy, hurry
along; bring nic some bandages out of
the client; tear up a .shirt if there isn't
anything else hanoy."
It was a minute or two bi-iore r-ph
ould concentrate his strength on the
ict of opening his eyes. Then all was
nst a mist ot pain; lor lie was con
scious oi a terrible acne soincwiicre..
But presently be saw a patch of the cabin
floor with sunlight lying on it and knew,
though be did not see them, that a group
of men were gathered about the door.
lanny was by the lire-place feeding her
rraudl'ather something out of a bowl.
Where was he? Who was supporting
him? With this thought Eph feebly di
rected his gaze, upward until it rested
u Bessie s face. Mie was holding his
head in her lap and he saw that a little
pearly tear was stealing down her cheek.
n an electric Ilasli all the past came
back to him. " What has happened to
nic?" He motioned out the words rather
than spoke, for his tongue and lips
seemed made of cast iron.
' You got hurt. Eph," and the tears
dropped down on his face; " but 1 hope
not much. You won't die, Eph, you're so
young and strong. Father says it isn't a
mortal wound and he is a kind ol natural
bone-setter."
There were other questions' in Eph's
eyes to which he could not give voice.
. . .... ... r. .
" Ihe soldiers came, irom tne ion,
Bessie went on, "just as the lire got
under way and was about to smother us
all. They drove oil" the red-skins and
are chasing them now through the. woods,
only a few that staid to help father out
out the llames. Uul you saved us, I'.pii,
when you held them back from breaking
down the door. Not any of us are hurt.
Father didn t get a scratch. Oh, what a
miserable coward I was! I could do
nothing to help; but you, Eph you
would have given your life to save us."
Bessie s face quivered, and she cov
ered it with her trembling hands. Eph
never removed from her hU eyes. His
gaze was profound, searching, inscruta
ble, going down into the very depths ol
her being. With all bis impetuosity
there was in him something of the deep
reticence of the savage.
" Do you want me to live?' he said, at
last. And then he added, slowly; "I
didn't want to live any longer alter w hat
you told me the other day. You couldn't
like au ignorant fellow brought up like
a bear's cub in the bush."
A painful crimson tide swept over Bes
sie's neck and cheek. " Eph," said sdic.
I was a foolish, silly girl, not worthy of
you. This day has taught me lhc value
of a brave, true man " Then she bent
her head lower, and added, in a w hisper,
" You are dearer to me than life, and I
must have been loving you all the time.
Eph's face was transfigured. He
stretched out his hand. Bessie under
stood the motion, and clasped it in hers.
Then, with a great sense of weakness
coming over him, he fell asleep.
Eben was examining the old man for
the third or fourth time to see that he
was uninjured. "Hearty, ain't you,
father; only a little shook up?"
The old face smiled vaguely. " I knew
you'd take care of me, I'ben. You al
ways held to your word."
" Well, Celindy," to Mrs. Gardner, who
had been waiting on the soldiers, giving
them such supplies of food as she had at
hand, "you was right about the red skins,
after all. I shall stick by the shanty,
though. Me and the old man, we'll stay,
and Hanny too, I guess. That girl, she's
worth her weight in wildcats. But if
you feel scary about staying, you might
go and stop awhile with your sister Dor:
cas until we get. cleared dp a little more.
I can't breathe in a thicker settled place
than this. I must have lots of fresh air;
and, now I've lit the Injuns ami overcome,
I've drove down the stake for a good
long spell."
" The Lord has given us a great deliv
erance," said Mrs. Gardner. "It was in
direct answer to my prayer, and you
won't hear me complaining any more
after to-day. There nothing like look
ing death in the face to bring folks to
gether and make them of one heart and
one mind. Here I rai-e mv Ebenezer.
We'll stay and civilize together, Eben,
and the wilderness shall blossom as the
rose." Harpcr'n JJiz-ir.
A fiig-antlc Project.
The project of converting a portion of
the Sah'ira Desert into an inland sea con
tinues to find favor, and it is understood
that thorough surveys with a view to
determine the precise mode of accom
plishing this object are underway by the
French Government. As to whether the
result aimed at is desirable or not is at
present a question of considerable dis
cussion. On the one hand, the replacing
of a large amount of desert waste by
water, and making peaporls of interior
points in Algeria, and the expected res
toration of an ample rain-fall to various
parts of Northern Africa, are viewed
with favorable anticipations. On the
other hand, it is maintained that the sea
will be simply an immense evaporation
basin, which "will soon be clogged up
with salt; or that a seuious interference
will take place in the amount of heated
air carrie 1 across the Mediterranean,
which at present prevents the extension
of the Alpine glaciers. Should this be
interrupted, it is feored that increased
glaciation will ensue, possibly restoring
a large portion of Central Europe to its
condition during the reindeer epoch.
Whatever be the result of thisgrcnt en
gineering operation, it is extremely prob
able that it will be attempted by the
French authorities. Harper' h Magazine.
n