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About The Red Cloud chief. (Red Cloud, Webster Co., Neb.) 1873-1923 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 24, 1888)
P4 t ' ri u rr RED CLOUD CHIE? A. C HOSMER, Proprietor. EED CLOUD. - NEBRASKA AS SHE COMES DOWN THE LANE. Alone the field-, the shadows rail. The sun is h.innng low. And on the ivy-mantled wall The so:: Urhts com-; and go. A zenhyr uarvd Trom above. DsrJts o'er the waving grain. My hear! po- out to meet my lore. As she comes down the lane. . I lean upon the mos-roivn bars. As "Ion? tn- path she Jares. My jrrnciocs tjneen. no blenush nan The coronet -he wear. The -ceptr is. her woman's haad Will bj.ni-h care and piin. Tor I am lord of all the land When she comes down the lana. Soft breeze p'ar about her r.o-x. And lift her sh'mius hair. The unst ?!ow is on her brow. To maie her pasln fair. Her beauteous rce. her modest ntiea. To picture them were vm. And she is is.ne, my bonny queen. As she comes down the lane. The dais's nod a he goes by. The wi!d ro blnshe pint." Sweet sani-b.rds round her pathway 2y, And e: th praKe they think. She hTts her head, her eyes so clear. Smile Into mme ayain: Slyheart cries out: "God bless you, dear." As he comes down the lane. ". D. Camp, in Pteladciphia Prt. THE TLDE-LAXDS. Describing How M133 Vanderpool Crime to Her Own. Mis V.ta.lerpoo! came down the step of her loilzing-house and stood looking about her -with an expression of discontent on her hirh-bred face. It was not a very genteel lodein-liouse, and it wa3 not in a very penteel quarter. The paint was off in patches, nnd one of the faded rreen blinds husj on a slncle hin-e. The steps xvere worn nnd the lit tie front area was ued as a ceoository for wood and coaL There were a pair of dirty faces at the basement win cow, and outside of the door Sairy Ann, the Gordon's eldest, -watched her depart with undisguised curiosity. Pcib!v she knew thut Miss Vanderpool's rent for her single room, third story in the rear, was a week overdue. She tnirht have been sta tioned there as a spy by the Gorgon, her mother, to see that no recereant lodzer contrived to slip o2T, baz and baziraze. with out a forma! parting. She need not jive herself any concern on Miss Vanderpool's account, that lady reflected. Her piano, the one article of value amoc j her possessions. was much too cumbrous to carry, and it was norraed up to its full value. Why was it that people never exhibited any conscience or honor ab .! their music-teacher's bills, as they did abut the.r butcher's and wash erwomen's i Why was it that she. respected and admires as the rich Miss Vanderpool, could nnd no market for her accomplish ments now that she must earn her daily bread? Why did every one take advantage of her and cheat her, down to the pawn broker who had lately taken the last piece of jewelry saved from her financial wreck! She was faint and hungry, and a gnawing pain that was new to her, rescinded her that she had lived on bread and water for six weeks, and ttat she had been on short ra tions for the last few days. If she had been a soldier, now, she could have withstood it richt valorous ly, for there was martial olood in her veins. But to suffer it for no heroic reason, in nothing but the common way ! The thought humiliated her, and she put it aside. She was walkinsr down the street, lined v-ith low cottages, when she stopped before one of the poorest and meanest, where a etunted lilac, just budding in the front-yard, pave evidence of some little refinement on the part of the occupants. But it was not this that attracted Miss Vanderpool's atten tion. Floutinz from the door-knob she be held a little piece of thin white crepe, tied with narrow ribbon, the wan banner of sor row. Tnis was the cottare where the two little nrL- had looked out upon her. with iaujrhiujr. faces, every day as she passed by. Only yesterday they had Sung her kisses from the window. Sow one was gone. The chock bore down upon her with all the sense of a pergonal less. She pushed the pate open and went up the steps. A woman opened the door and led her to a darkened room. It was the custom of the neighborhood to give free admission to visitors at such a time. In the little white co fhn lay the younger of the two children. Beside it at the father and mother, the woman sobbinjr quietly, the father with his arm about her. and in his lap the remaining child, ho had cried herself to sleep in his arms. "I am so sorry;"" said Miss Vanderpool, cently; -is there any thing I can do!' The moment she spoke she regretted it. The mother uncovered her face and looked up piteously, then shraat from the strange visitor. 'Nothing, nothinc." h3 moaned, "unless rou could brine bade my child.' There, there. Eniiiy." said the man, pat ting her kindly; "Don't take on so. It's hard on all of us. We're got to bear it together." Miss Vanderpool's eyes wefe wet as she went silently out of the room and closed the door behind her It na.1 been a mistake. her coming. They had plainly resented the intruioa. If only she could have done something for them, could have given them some testimony of her sympathy. To loso a little life that was part of your very own must be hard but doubly hard when poverty and want are attendant upon sorrow. The room had been so bare. There was not a Cower about the cofnn. Miss Vanderpool had b?en accustomed to see grief smothered in costliest offerings, and this little creature was goinr to her last rest without so much as a flower in her little hands the tiny haads that had thrown kisses to her but yesterday. She wished that she could get some Eavrer? for that dead baby. It was April. and there wa none in the city gardens, just recoverinr from the shock of a severe Eastern winter. She had no money to buy them from a iorist. Up in the jrreat house on the bluff that had been her home there was a conservatory, and in it there was a magninccut climbing rose that she had planted herself, years gone by, and nurtured into a viroroas growth. Out of all the riches Ciat she had lost, at this moment she wished only for one of the larse pointed buds. With its petals half unfolded, shut in a little bower of trreea leaves. But that was out cf the question. No even for this acred purpose cald she ask any favors from fie people in the hou-e on tho hi!L A little Iaterand there would be plenty of wild flowers outside the town. The violets always cam; first. Nay; it was already the last of ApriLand with the oft wind blowing and the.ciear sunshine of 1 he past two weeks the violets must be alread t out. She quick ened her steps at the thought A little brook ran through the town and cut anar- rw channel down the bluffs, on its way to the sea. "ear the foot ef the bluffs there wa3 a narrow bench of land stretching be twven th hills and the tide-lands, and there beside tho brook she had jathered. early )rin: violets since cbilduood. If she walked quickly ho could easily get there and bach again before the night had closed down. To reach the plara she had to pass through the business portion of the town. Walking swiftly along, lookine to neither right nor left, she was surprised to have some one ac cost her: "Miss Vanderpool' It was John Asaton, whom she had not seen since the day that she had found her father name dishonored and herself beg gared and homeless. He had asked her to be his wife and she had refused. Was it because she had known him as a poor boy, born in the lowest walks of society, while the Vaaderpools had inherited the wealth and h:gn standing of many generations! Or was it because she elected to bear her poverty and disgrace alone ! She flushed now as she recognized him. One minnte," he said. "Not now. I can not wait," she insisted, and he stepped back without a word. What could he wish to s?e her fori She remembered what he had said that time. "If you were rich and honored I should have been too proud to address yon.' She had resented the speech then. Recalling it now she could not help admitting that it did honor t John Ashton- She was thinking of John Ashton the boy, the little ragged fellow who used to do chores about her father's house, picking u an education a. the public schools, devotirur himself to he service on holidavs. John Ashton the man was a separate entity, and she had never trusted herself to analyze her impressions of him. He was liked and trusted by all men, and very probably admired by women. She knew his errand to the place. He was a celebrated engineer cow. and had come down to take charge of a great project for reclaiming the tide lands. Peaple called the enterprise "the march of improvement," but Miss Vanderpool hated the march of improvement and did not care for benefits to commerce, but liked best the wide stretch of salt marshes with their rusty vegetation, their black pools and flitting fogs. She was cominc to them now, for her path lay alon? their border, and son she was aeside them, and drew a long breath, in haling the freah ocean air with its briny smelL She looked out to sea. where a lumi nous glow along the horizon commemorated the going down of the sun. and sullen clouds above presaged the srathering of a storm. She hoped, with a feeling of pity new to her, that it might be clear for an hour or two on the morrow, that the burial of the little child might not be made drear ier by clouded skies and a driving rain. Not far away on the marsh, surrounded by broad pools which reflected the distant glow in the sky. she saw the tall chimney of a steam derrick and a low. barge-like shapo that seemed to be anchored in the mud. She did not give herself much time to specu late now. Night was fast falling, and a little ahead sne saw the tiny brook she sought. But think a moment! Was it the right place i She hesitated for an instant in doubt and perplexity, then looked quickly about to determine her bearings by some familiar landmarks. There on the bluff were the square outlines of her old home, just visible against the sky, and there, off to the right, far beyond, were the harbor lights. Just a little further on, then a sharp turn to the left, a climb ud the rocks to the little beach that lay between the bluffs and shore, and she should find the flowers. She pressed hurriedly on to gain the place before it should bo wholly dark. She knew a way up the bluffs, a steep and winding path, by which she could sain the lighted upper street when she was done. If only she could once find the flowers, the dewy, spring flewers, with their faint, sweet odor and their fresh, sheltering leaves! All worldly thoughts seemed to fall away from her, the weight of disappointment and care was lifted from her heart, and she felt like an eager child, bent on her innocent quest. But what was this the solid ground giv ing way Beneath her feet, every step taking her deeper and deeper into a bottomless ooze, her feet drawn down and held as if by leaden weights! This was not the way it used to be along the banks of the little brook. In a moment the full horror of the situation flashed upon her. Deceived by the light or rendered careless by her own wan dering thoughts, she had strayed further from the town than she had supposed, and what she had mistaken for the little brook was really an estuary of the sea. bordered by treacherous bogs, a portion of the great waste of tide-land which the company were seekinsr to reclaim. Quick and sharp came other recollections. She remembered that children had been lost there when at play. She remembered that every now and then some man or woman had mysteriously dis appeared from sight and knowledge, and it had been whispered about that they had been last seen walking along the border of the tide-lands. But these were people of the lower classes, about whom the Vander pools had riven themselves little concern. She remembered cow ah, how sharply! that she had read with a curling lip that por tion of the young engineer's argument be fore the harbor commissioners, when he was pleding for permission to go on with his work, wherein he had advanced, as one of his strongest pleas, that many lives would be saved by the completion of the en terprise. And now she. Judith VanderpooL the last of her name, was about to succumb to thLi most unheroic destiny. It was bet ter so. She would have chosen this very way of death, if she might. She had ben tortured by one dread, over and over again, during these years of poverty and privation, and she qxve a little hysterical laugh as she remembered it now. If she should have broken down and died in the midst of her unsuccess f ul strurzte she had not the where withal to buy her funeral shroud. Now no one would know, no one would care. O. the terror of it! Not death. Many were there who would know her and greet her gladly; father, mother, brother, friends of her childhood the only friends she had kept. But that last thought! To dropout and never be missed; to leave behind her uot a human being who would care. Why should she grieve over it now! She had. of her own will, separated herself from all human interests; she had never cared for human companionship or love. But, oh God! she did care. She knew it now. Face to face with this terrible and lonely death she had com to a knowledge of herself. Nursing her foolish pride and family traditions, measuring all the world by fale standards, she had wronged herself most of alL Wnat was it that had so touched her in the humble homeshe had just left, braakiag down ths barriers of her own reserve, drawing her on and out of herself, until sho longed to claim some little part in it" What waait but the glad and saored atmosphere of pure family affection J O. her life had been empty; empty. A.nd the one human Iots that she might have had sha knew it now would have made her a happy woman, she had scornfully rejected. O, if she could only live her life over, if she could but take up its tangJed threads again wita clearou vision and humbled heart. It was then that she sent up her first and only cry for help. Hitherto she had beea silently resigning herself to death with a aaidiguitybefittiszaVaadarpooL Now a prolonged and mournful cry went out over the marshes, startling the seasrulls. which rose and wheeled aimlessly about against the darkening sky. The cry was taken up and answered far out on the inarshas. There was a sudden commotion about the barsre, lanterns flashed outside, and by their light she could see dark forma moving about. Bat she sha. was slaking, sinking t When she came to herself she was in her own little rooao. It was very quiet and comfortable. Her landlady flitted in and out, with a lock of honest concern on her careworn face. So the world was not so hard, after alL She the Gorgon seemed glad that, her delinquent lodger was alive, and said no word about the rent overdue. Somebody had pulled the lounge, on which she lay, up to the stove, and there was a fire there, the first for many weeks, for her own fuel had given out in February, and she had beea freezing ever sinew freezing heart and body. And what was that brewing on ''the stove, that sect such a tfclicious fragrance through the roetni 'Now, my dear," taid the Gorgon, pour ing something into a clumsy earthen cup and handing it to her, "just you take this cup of coZee and bit of hot roll, and it'll set you up in no time. You've beea looking peaked and mis'abie this long time. Folks that feeds theirselves don't take no proper care- I've beea thinking, this long while, that if you'd just take your living along of me and give pianny lessons to my Sairy Ann but I hardly dared ask it, you being sich a fine plajer and she having no instru ment unless you'd maybe let her come up and practice times when you was in and could watch and see sne didn't dirty the pearl keys or spile it " Homely and rough as she was, there was a delicate flush on her thin cheek as she checked herself in her bold presumption. "Didn't dare ask it!" Mias Vanderpool would have acted as the child's nurse, scrubbed floors, washed dishes, if she had asked it. The backbone of her pride was broken. But what was the woman saying now "And now, if j-ou'li let me tidy up a bit and make things half-way decent, for the gentleman's been waiting to see you this long time." "The gentleman! What gentleman J" MLs Vanderpool was not used to callers. The landlady answered her inquiry : "Why, who but him that saved you ! Him that brought you here in his arms, looking like dead and ail covered with mud and a pretty sight you were, Miss VanderpooL And awful work it was cleaning you up, if you be a lady!" What made Miss Vanderpool's face aflame and her heart beat so J It mignt be any .one of a thousand men. There was no reason, no reason in the world, she told herself, why it should be any particular one. Yet. as luck would have it, it was John Ashton! No, not luck. Chance rarely favors such men as he. All that they have is won by hard endeavor, and persistent faith, and dogged watchfulness. Luck is more apt to buSet them, to call out all the slumbering forces in them and show the stuff of which they are made. He had turned and followed Miss Vanderpool at a iespectful distance, that afternoon he had met her on the street. It was getting late, and he had some old fashioned notions, now almost out of date, prejudicial toa woman's goingabout at night, unprotected, upon the streets. When he saw the lonely direction in which she was tending, he had followed still more resolute ly, for he knew the character of the men along the water-front better than she. And who could tell whom she might meet in that wretched place at such an hour! When she stopped to look seaward he had gone down over the marsh, both because he had some instruction to give to his foreman and because he feared she would discover him in turning back. He had been first to hear the wild, beseeching cry aad to realize its pur port; to start out with a party of men pro vided with lanterns, planks, ropes, every thing needful: to man a boat and row fierce ly up the slough, flooded at high-tide, di rectly to the spot where a human life so precious to him. was going out; to throw himself out upon the morass, bracing him self on the planks they had brought, and finally, like the true knight he was, to gather the unconscious girl in his arms, covered with mud as she was, and wrapping his coat about her, bear her to the place she called her home. But John Ashton was not the man to claim any recompense for the service he had rendered. The more serious her peril, the greater the risk he had run on her behalf, the more need that he should be delicate and distant in all his bearing toward her: that he should try to make her forget he had ever pressed any claims upon her. He would not have come now nad he been his own free agent. She saw that the moment he opened the door, and shrank from her own thoughts. He surmised the look upon her face and interpreted it in his own way. So she disliked him so much that it galled her to think that he had put her under such obligations. Well, well! If he had had time to consider, it might have been better to have left it to one of the men, 'or, at least to have concealed his own connection with it. "You are feeling better. Miss Vander pool!" There was not a note in his voice beyond the ordinary requirements of courtesv. She answered him in kind. "Quite well now, I thank you. Won't you be seated." motioning him to a chair. "I thank you." But he still remained standing, his hat in his right hand, his left hand was it her fancy, or were the fingers clenched! hanging easily beside him, "I came." he said, in a matter-of-fact way, about a matter of business. I tried to speak to you on the street to-day. You were not willing to listen. You were right. It was not the proper place." 'You mistook. It wasn't that, I was preoccupied: I couldn't have talked then with any one," she explained, hurriedly, and in a low voice. He scarcely noticed her words and did not at all comprehend them, but went on, in a formal, business way: A matter of business. I was authorized to conduct some ueeotiations with you They concern the Vanderpool estate." Weak as sho was and broken as she was, she could not suppress a little laugh, only half mirthful, but wholly sarcastic The Vanderpool estate ! What had there been of it, since she cams iaio possession of it, but an inextricable tangle of debt and litigation, lapsed contracts and forfeited rights! 'Now that we have got ready for work we are in a position to negotiate for the tide-lands. There are seventy acres belong ing te the Vanderpool estate. I am em powered to make you the following offer." He drew a paper from his pocket and named a sum which took Miss Vanderpool's breath away. Enough to restore the lost glory of the Vanderpools. Enough more than enough to buy back the old home where her mother had died and she was born; enough to restore her to the life of affluence to which she had been bred: enough to place her forever above the reach of the petty privations and racking cares that had sat so heavily upon her but yesterday. She raised herself upon one elbow and looked at him. Her eyes, always large, shone with an unnatural brilliance. He thought her exulting ever her restoration to wealth and power. "I woB't ask you for an answer now," be II said; "perhaps yon would bett.-r consult a lawver. Mar I sav to the compan vtnat you will rive your answer in writiur. 1 TI,e "" aa.t izlt or s2ie cr-iit?ec- Hevasmovin-r toward the door, not even j Vrar Lo'-''at- waiting for her answer, for he had deter- The insect known .v.-tho soreutcoa mined to give her no opportunity to refer to I year locust L uot a morabor. of the Io- the events cf the day. He was arrested by ,., .. , ,u . : t n - a -.- a single word: ' cust out of the 'i,-:1"a family, and jX3 "John! " I correc. name i the harvest fly. Tha "So woman evcr-spsaks in such a way to a insect is remarkable chiefly for th man she does not love, but the men do not', , . .. .. , "., . always understand. John Ashton did not understand. He came back and stood bvher sidelookingdowndoubtfullyintotheshining seventeen years ia one spoie, thir eyes raised to his own, then quickly turned teen in another. The perioditl cicada away.. It was only a man, after all. and he appear:j in some parts of the country had some bitter recollections to steel him .. , , , , aRainst any betrayal of weakness. Besides, n?:rI-T .ever5 ar. and perhaps a few she was a rich woman now, richer than she had been in the days when he had assured her he would have been too proud to ask her to share his life. stood then; slowly at tot, with a dawning comprehension of ali the words meant to him and to her. Then Heaven itself seemed to open to him. as he gathered her into his arms. Had any other Vanderpool ever made overture to the man she loved! Would the checks of dead and gone Vanderpools have reddened with mortification could they but have witnessed thii shameless betrayal of her heart! Somehow Miss Vanderpool was the money- "It would have seemed like a curse if it said. Flora had parted us. dear." she Jltiine Lowjhead, in Argonaut. HOW GAS IS MADE. Aa EipUBmtinortheDtmii.Whichcm - plicate the Bcallr Simple Process. The principle of gas manufacture is very simple, but there are many prac- xicai aetaiis wuica complicate me actual , T, , r t ...! ' process. It depends upon the fact that. . , ,. . , ... I when bituminous coal containing car- , ,.- - T.-.I.U.1 bon and nvarogen is subjected to heat . - . ." .. , , , in a retort. 11 is paniany aecomposea, giving off gaseous hydrocarbons and other nroducts. ana leaving behind, a -ri rt i tVrT OAmmnnl t lr"w r vn coie. But many other compounds are , , , J . -T. , . formed at the same time, which must . . , , ., .... be separated from the gas before it is , . 1 .. .. v - jti- ht to be sent into the pines, and dehv- , . ., .r-t , ereu to iaa consumer, ine prouuets consumer. of the distillation of coal may be divi ded roughly into four clashes coke, coal-tar. ammoniacal liquor and illum inating gas. Coke contains from ninety , to ninety-live per cent, of pure carbon. , the remainder being ash and sulphide ' of iron. The ammoniacal liquor con- , tains at least five different salts of am monia. The coal-tar contains about forty different liquid and solid hvdro- C i.u m : .: T carbons, and the illuminating gas twen- tv-five or more gaseous hydrocarbons tnt,i n( nZ -untv ji-i.- a total 01 over seventy distinct ,1. .--.., ...i 11- i....i chemical substances, all " by the distillatipn of apiece of soft coal, i It must be remembered that a few or j none of these exist by themselves in t the coal, but are all formed by the chemical reactions which take place , during the distillation. The retorts in which the coal is distilled are . made either of cast-iron or fire-clay; they are about nine feet long and one and a half feet in diameter. After being filled with coal, they are raised to a red heat, or even higher. The impure gas thus formed passes off through an upright pipe, which con nects with a horizontal one partly filled with water, known as the hydrau lic main. The pipe from the retort dips under the water, so that all the gas must pass through it. The coarser and less volatile impurities, including a large proportion of the tar, are con densed in this main. The gas. however, is still at a high temperature, and very impure: so it is sent through a set of vertical pipes connected with each other like a steam radiator, which are either exposed to the air. or cooled artificially. Many of the impurities are condensed and separated from the gas in the cooler, but it is sometimes still further purified by being passed through large i-ou vessels filled with lumps of coke over which a stream of cold water is constantly flowing. This still further purifies the gas, especially by absorbing the ammoniacal com pounds; but the offensive and danger ous sulphur compounds remain, and to remove these the gas is sent through large iron boxes containing movable trays covered with moist, freshly slacked lime. The lime absorbs the greater part of the compounds of sul phur, and the gas is then ready to be stored in the large holders, improperly called gasometers, and from thence delivered to the cus tomer. After absorbing the im purities, the gas-lime, as it called, possesses a most horrible odor, and in thickly settled localities its disposal without creating a nuisance is an im portant and sometimes a difficult mat ter. A more effective and simpler means of purifying gas is much to be desired. What is known as water-gas has been substituted to some extent for that distilled from coal. It is essen tially a mixture of hydrogen and car bonic oxide, and is formed by a curious reaction which takes place when steam is passed over red-hot coals. The steam is decomposed, and hydrogen is set free, while the oxygen unites with the carbon of the coal to form carbonic oxide (CO). As this gas burns with a non-luminous flame, it must be "en riched"' with light-giving hvdrocar-1 bons, wkich are usually obtained from the distillations of crude petroleum. It js claimed that this gas is much cheaper than that produced by the old process; but practical trials have not as yet con firmed this, and the presence" of the highly poisonous carbonic oxide ren ders it a much more dangerous agent ! to introduce into dwellings Popular j tk7'Ul,4CC .Ctt.J. A German authority attaches some importance to a troublesome silk spin ner of India "Gricula trifenestrata' from which an excellent fiber has been obtained. This silk worm is ex traordinarily productive, the living be ing surviving two generations in one year, and it forms a new and remarka ble source of raw material for the silk industry. THE PmODrCAL CICADA. icu"lu ui tiLuc uci.c;cir lur n. iu ioas from the larva to the pupa state of tQe insects may appear anywhere. during any summer, but the lineal de scendants of eah swarm appear only everv seventeen or thirteen Years- Tho I P0P&r time of locust , derived from this appe wa- doubtless appearance m iare swarms after long intervals of time, like the locusts of the East. In its per fect state this harvest fly is of a black color, the ee.iC and veins of its two pair of wins haing orange color. Near the tip of the outer wing? is a zig-zag line in the form of tha j ietter W. which the superstitioud I 9 w VI 9 r 1 .-Afe A n vn wmJt fe n w W iiiii;iii muu.MC3 iijjjJiUiii;.ii.u ,ii. As this is seen on every insect, and as some of the insects appear ia some part of tb.2 country every year, the prophecy is considerably weakened by it ffvo!!,nt Tn,'tiir Th t(irTj. if t!-iia c - lc.lda are deposited in the twigs of trees, the female piercing a hole to re ceive them. Hre thev hatch in about I . . , , young larv fall tf , , , ., ; . ,, . tn,i ground, where thev instantly oury , , , "i .1. - themselves bv means of their fore feet, i,. ,. . .. , , . ... Thev live m the ground during their , - . , , ", ,, Ions period of growth, seldom burrow- long period of growth ing more than three to four feet below ( the surface. Thev follow the roots of ! ! plants in their subterranean move- I tr j inil 1 t.a iirwi fa liilu rf tViiV3 . . -.'.... tnus sometimes proving quite injurious 1 ... , . .. ; ., . 1 to vegetation. As the time of their , . ," .. . ., , transformation approaches thev grad- ., , , . -r . , - " , uaHv make their way to the surface of the earth through long circuitous pas sages. They burst through the crust during the warm nights of the spring and early summer and ascend trees; and in a few hours the pupa skm m which they are enveloped breaks, and the perfect insect comes forth. The ground is often riddled like a honeycomb by the-e insects, they ap- , f. " a. 7,7 TV T ' hve? prolonged they would undoubtedly rni jrr tiitmK.i; i rr"? trjT thnu do great injury tO vegetation. OUt for- "7 ".7," tw Ir? - ".n. 7 h.Tr nh- tiHKuelt. their exigence is but epheme- . ... ,,,... -,..-. , .v, ,.,., A..er emergence from the pupa .2!.-",, tVio miLt rt.f,ir-m t.i iit nf HnrfU I .-viw. ....- ...v-j tm,.... ...-...... . .r. w itrresL in me matter, ana a law was duction. and soon die. They have j voted allowing its use in the principal scarcely a trace of digestive apparatus. cities. Even Russia preceded Spain, and it is supposed that they do not eat for in 1881 the instrument was there any thing in their brief lives. The re- used quite commonly, and even at productive organs of both male and ' greater distances than in France. Now female are fully developed on their in France, in towns boasting of a popu- birth into tne winged lorm. l he males carry over 500 sperm cells, and each female lays from 400 to 500 eggs. The female has a complete digestive system though she is smaller in size than the male and she feeds upon the young foliage, but fortunately she lives but a few weeks. She bores into small twigs, laying about sixteen eggs in a hole, and continues her work until her eggs are deposited; by this time she is so exhausted that she falls from the tree and soon dies. It is fortunate. considering the great fecundity of this insect, that ants and other flies feed upon its eggs, and that blackbirds, woodneckers. frosrs. toads and ho:rs devour the larvae when they fall to the ground upon being hatched, or are turned up in a half-developed state by the plow, also that it only appears at long intervals. The twigs punctured to receive eggs usually die and fall from the tree, and in this way the cicada does much harm to fruit trees, though forest trees bear it very well. The periodical nature of this inject has been known for two hundred years. a description of a seventeen-year locust brood being on record as far back as 1633. But it remained for the present entomologist of the United States, Frofessor C. V. Riley, to dis cover, by comparison of the dates of thir appearance, that one of the cicada species had a period of trans formation five years shorter than the other. Prof. Riley published in 1885 a chronological statement of all the periodical cicada broods that had been recorded up to that year, giving dates of their future appearance. He says that in general terms "the seventeen year broods may be said to belong to the Northern, and the thirteen-year broods to the Southern States, the di viding line being about latitude 38 degrees, though in some places the seventeen-year broods extend below this line, while ia Illinois the thirteen year broods run up considerably be yond it." Chicago Inter Ocean. A Literary Genius. Jones I say. Smith. I understand that Brown is something of a literary man. Smith Literary man, yes. Why, Brown writes for the waste baskets of some of the leading newspapers and magazines in the country. X. T. Sun. Some strange things were brought up from the earth while drilling wells near Albany, Ga. White pine logs were brought up from a depth of 700 feet. Mr. Merritt, at a depth of twentv- seven feet, dmrthroueh a mass of seven feet of petrified bones. They were thigh bones, ribs, finger bones, teeth, and with these remains of some forgotten race, immense bones of animals now extinct. A Mr. Bowies, in digging out for a mill foundation, came upon the shore of an ancient ocean. This sand showed the ripples from the waves and was covered with marine remains, shells, sharks' teeth and bones of deep sea monsters. ! MISCELLANEOUS. For th- convenience of housyv l keeper? a r&d or Hatiron has been in " vented whici: makes use of the princi 5 pie of expansion of metals by heat to I ring a small bell when the iron is hot f enough to iron clothes with. Deer are seen neatly every day in the vicinity of Bangor, Me., and seem to be gaining confidence in man. A fine specimen was seen grazing in a pasture a few days ago by a man driv ing past, and the animal did not leave at his approach. Expert riders say there is really no "lady's horse." as any good horse is as much suited to a skillful female rider as to a man. Certain kinds of horses are best suited to certain kinds jf riders, men or women, that is all. A gastronomic novelty at a reeed iinner given by a member of a hunting 2lub was a young fox standing among high grasses. The fox was formed of turkey boned and j'ellies, the shading 3f the animal being done by the darker meat, and the high grasses were com posed of the different kinds of salads. A Pittsburgh man said that a cer tain woman was "sourer than vinegar, and it cost him two hundred and fifty dollars to settle the case. The widow did n't feel hurt at all. but she said she'd be doggoned if she could have English as she is spoke abused after that fashion. In England there is j'ust space snough between the edge of the rail road station platform and the foot boards of the passenger cars to let an unwary traveler fall between and be ground to pieces by the moving train. An accident or two has happened, and an agitation has begun in favor of re form in either the footboards or the j platforms. "In America." the reform- ers urge, "such an accident could not happen."' At the Brooklyn Library readers have recently made the following blunders in asking for books: "The Sane Idiot" for "Sane Lunatic:" "Agnes Sewerage" for "Agnes Surriage;" "You and I"' for "We Two:" "Mr. McOul's Adventure" for "Mr. Incoul's Misad- ' venture" "The Beau of Orange River' for "The Bow of Orange Ribbon:" "He Fell in Love With Himself." and "He Fell in Love With His Mother." for "Ha Fell in Love With His Wife." One in- I - - q , ivanieaanoveloyji"s,-owDaca . when Miss Muhlbach was meanl I Snain h.is iri.-irio nn nm,nv.j at nil ! : fl . T r , o in the use of the telephone. In 1882 , ,-, , . . the Government besran to feel some in- I a - ,- r -1 ., 3 - , lation of 18.000 inhabitants the tele phone is completely unknown. Luxem berg gives the cheapest rates for yearly subscriptions and Russia the dearest. FEROCIOUS REPTILES. Saarlaas Some of Which Attala of Xtaeteea Feet. Length The crocodiles inhabiting the lower parts of the Burmese rivers are of a very large size, some of them attaining to nineteen feet in length. A writer. who states he has visited India, savs ' he can not discover the difference be- (.neeu cue .casieru crucuuue ana lae Louisiana and Florida alligator or cav- man. That there is none in fact except in name. It is evident he has not seen any at close quarters, for there is much difference between the several varieties. There are actually twelve species of the crocodile, eight true, one ga vial and three alligators: these have a specific, not a general, difference. Those I saw in ;he Ganges have long, narrow muz zles and are called gavials.. They are peculiar to that river, being found no where else. I have met with the sau rian tribe in Egypt. West Africa. India, Burmah. South America. Jamaica and the Southern States, and have found that all differ in some particular. The Burmese name for them is "Meejoung." There is a town on the left bank of the Irrawaddy called Hinthadan. where 1 resided for some months. During the year previous. I was informed by the head man of the place, over one hun dred persons were killed by these ferocious reptiles. There is a ford over the river at this place, and the crocodiles had an inconvenient habit of lying in wait for those persons cross ing the ford, seizing and carrying them off. Not being fond of their food in a fresh condition, they hide their vic tims in the mud at the bottom of the river until the flesh has gained by keeping a sufficiently gamely flavor to be relished by them. Dogs are a favorite food of theirs, and a crocodile will often land and run after a canine to try and capture him for his larder. As the reptile can only run fast in a straight line, being to unwieldy to turn quickly, the dog generally con trives to elude his pursuer and make . his escape. I killed sveral crocodiles during my stay in Hinthadan. and had their hides prepared and tanned and utilized them for boots and shoes. Being impervious to wet. I found them most serviceable during the wet mon soons. I used to get a Burman to pad dle me about in a dugout, until 1 saught sight of a -ineejoung" lying on a sand-bank basking in the sun. when I took careful aim at their vulnerable part, their belly, where the scales are thin, and a conical bullet will enter with ease. A couple of these leaden pills fired into this portion of a meejoung's anatomy will make him feel very sick indeed, and he will soon give up the ghost. On approaching a dead croco dile the heavy and penetrating odor of musk is most nauseating, and it was a long time before I became accustomed to it. Burmah Cor. Son Francitc Chronicle. '4