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About Hemingford herald. (Hemingford, Box Butte County, Neb.) 1895-190? | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 1895)
HtWv -W.t, irj) m NMUHttCAL. AH thf world! bright, All my heart is merry, YtolcU nnd rosrs wd, , 8pnrkllneln tbodotr; -s Brow the lily's while; Lip tho crimson berry; Kprk, 1 lira r a lightsome trend Ah, mj-lcne, Mtyout Win to mo, birds, and Mtifi to me; None so huppy ns 1! Only the mrirlrst melodies bring to mi Whentoiy beloted la by. AlUhe nlr is Bwrrt, AH my honrt 1 itcfc, Fleecy clouds on brccies wnrra Floating fnr ubove; Eye where soft lights meet; Cheek whero roses riot; .ImoV. I see iv gracious form Ah, 'Us you, my lot el "Wing to her, bird, nnd sin to licrj None so hnppy s shot Only the-men-font melodies bring to her Only Ujls mceengo from inel Fiiakk DnMrsicu SueiwAK. I TltfE MOST STORY. fc J. Jlldirell In the Chlrngo Tribune. Sitting one evening with a young of ficer who had already inado himself distinguished for cool courage and a love of adventure, and whom his brother soldiers considered tho best pistol shot in tho army, tho conversa tion happened to turn upon tho al most universal belief in tho super natural. . We discussed tho genii of tho talcs el tho cast, the witches and ghosts so generally accepted a century ago, and the spiritualists of to-day. Suddonly F. turned to mo and paid: "Perhaps you may bo surprised if I tell you a true ghost story, ono I can vouch for myself?" Knowing him to bo ft con firmed Bkoptic upon all supernatural subjects, I smilingly assented. 1 "You need not smile," he continued, Many experienco was enough to shako me nerves oi cue uravest man living, and to have rendered a timid ono mad." 1 1 "Sqroo six or seven years ago, short lyaftcr graduating from the military (Academy at West Point, I was sent with my command, part of a com pany of iieavy artillery, to take pos session of tho littlo fort on Bcdloo's Island, in tho harbor of New York; tho island, you will romembor, on which Bartholdi's Statuo of Liberty is to bo placed. Tho place had been long de serted, had acquired an evil name, was known to bo tho resort of thieves aad smugglers, and, tho Now York po lice said, was tho headquarters of n gang of river pirates. It was, indeed, to break up this nest of scoundrels, who had found that, being United States property, the old fort was novcr visited by tho police, that I was to tako possession of tho is land." v "It was a gray, raw day in Novem ber; rain had fallen in tho afternoon, and, when boats containing my littlo command reached our destination, a cold fog hung over tho harbor and the rising wind howled about tho old bar rack, adding to tho gloom and in creasing tho dreary desolation of tho mildewed old walls. It was already 3 o'clock and daylight beginning to fade so I mado tho necessary prepa rations for tho night as rapidly as pos eible. Inside tho tiny fort there was a house, but in so dilapidated a state that but ono room a largo ono, which had probably onco served as a mess room was habitable, and this the bare floor, tho broken ceiling, tho walls from which the paper hung in trips inado uninviting enough. In this, however, being the best, my trunk was placed, a stove put up, which was roaring in a cheerful way, lamp lighted, a bed, bedding, a tablo and two chairs brought in, and I started on a tourof inspection. Iliad told my sergeant to prcparo tho quar ters for tho men in a long.low building outside tho fort, which seemed in fairly good condition. Soldiers are .rapid, because systematic, workers, and before nightfall all were mado comfortable, and tho supper served to them which did credit to tho com pany's cook. I visited and inspected every part of tho island a mere speck in tuo naroor, as you Know looxea into the old casements, went through tho ruinous old house .from cellar to attic, examined bolts and doors, then, having given orders for tho night, closed the groat gate leading in to the fort and retired to my quar ters." VI certainly am not either a timid or an imaginative man, but there was (something to the last degree depressing in the place that night. The wind, which had driven away the fog, howl ed and mourned in tho deserted place; tne rats croopeu up ana wiwun me partition walls, and there rose a $ strange, earthly smell which reminded me, I scarce knew why, of new-made graves. Nowand then some sea-bird's scream could be heard, or tho distant roar of tho foghorn of BOine passing ship was added to the sighing and groaning of the wind. I sat down and read the one or two newspapers I chanced to have in my pocket, wrote out a few memoranda, then opened my trunk, lifted out the tray, which 1 placed upon tne tittle tame, puc a number of articles of daily use on a little shelf, and then, although it was till early, not. more than 10, 1 be lieve, I made my toilet lor the night, turned out the lamp and jumped into bed. I had placed my pistol, a self corking Colt of the largest size, under my pillow, but no sooner was the lamp out and nil was dark than the tales told by the NewYqrk police came forcibly to ray nniul, and I almost regretted not having posted, a sentinel inside the littlo fort. Then I felt likelaughing at iuytcH for such absurd apprehensions.- Still t could not weep. I WMjust doz ing off when a rat skurrylng along or the wild scream of some passing sea gull Would arouse me with a start to toesand fret for another, qdarterfolt an hour." At last sleep came; calm, peaceful, dreamless sleep. How long I slept 1 have no idea; perhaps for an hour, perhaps for two. Then, from within my very room, of which I had seen every window barred, every door bolt ed and locked, there came a long, low moaning cry, ending with a shriek so horrible, so ghastly, that I am not ashamed to say that, as I rose in my bed, my heart seemed to Btop for a moment and my hair rise stiffening on head." It was but for a moment. A faint light from tho waning moon camo in through tho shutters, and, as Iroso, thcro rose across tho room along wliito figure! What? I saw it start from the floor and grow to a man's size or more, and- as I-gazed, heard that dreadful shriek! What? No matter. It was something, nndita presenco returned all my combative ncss and anger; hot, fiery wrath was my only feeling." '"Somo scoundrel,' BaidI to myself; 'is playing mo a trick. Somo of these piratosmugglers have arranged a ghost for mo, have thoy? Well, we'll see who can play ghost the best.' " "As Iroso W)ad taken njy,six'Shoot or from under my pillow," and now 1 called out: 'Who are yoii? What are you doing there, you scoundrel?' No reply. 'Who are you? Answer, or I'll shoot.' Still thcro was silence. My pistol was pointed a littlo above the centre of tho figure, and again I cried: Answer or I'll shoot.' No answer came, and I pulled tho trigger. I was sure of my aim, and yet tho bullet seemed to bury itself harmlessly into tho wall beyond. Lowering my aim I sent another ball somowhat lower, and then a third, almost to thoground. Still tho figure neither moved or spoke. There it stood, white, ghastly and un injured by lead. As tho third shot left my pistol I leaped from tho bed and rushed upon the shadow form, A bor of cartridges lay upon tho tablo and these I thrust into, tho breast pocket of my night dress. Cocking my rovolvor ns I ran, I tried to bo'izo tho intruder with my left hand, flinging myself with all forco upon him." "Horrors! An instant later I was thrown down, down. I knew nothow far or where. The floor Beemed to have opened and swallowed mo up. With a crash I camo to the bottom of tho pit, bruised, bleeding and in utter darkness." "Confused; half unconsciousj strug gled to my feet, and onco moro there came, first that moaningcry, and then tho dreadful scream which had roused' mo from my sleep!" "You know how littlo superstition thcro is in my nature some soy, in deed, too little, for it isdifllcult lor mo to behove in anything not patent to my senses; but at that moment thero crept into my soul a grisly fear of something not of this world. A shud der ran through my frame. I could feel my eyes dilate and open, to their utmost nnd a sweat, cola as ice, min gled from my brow with the blood trickling from my wounds. All was still as death. I tried to shout; my throat, dry, parchod and contracted, refused its office. No sound camo to break that horrid silence. I strained my eyes into tho black obscurity which encompassed them a darkness which pressed upon me which seemed to hold me, breathless, in its infernal embrace. Nothing. A void, vnst as tho universo, narrow as n tomb. My shuddering feet stood upon a somo- thingdark, dark and cold, as if thoy rested on a nest of serpents; above, around, a silent pall of unutterable obscurity. My elbow touched tho wall. I started as if stung by a scor pion or as if ghostly hands had siezed mo from tho nameless mystery which lay around. My heart Btoppcd and then sent tho blood whirling to tho brain in sickening force. Was I mad? Was this a fever-born dream?" "Somo dreadful thing, cold.slimy, as was everything in this hideous place, Crawled oi wiggled from under and be side mv feet. Spdts red and green be gan to dancoliko demons' eyes in tho distance formed probably by prc3 sure of tho blood upon the brain and nerves." "I have twico or thrice since then faced what seemed like probable death; withoutmueh feeling about the mat tor, but tho foo was visible, tangible; not a hideousvoid like that I faced that November night." "Again I tried to call out, and this timo a faint, hoarse sound, which seemed to bo tho voice of another, is Bued from my lips." "I had Btruck my head violently in tho rnnid descent, but gradually my senses returned and drove off tho nameless dread, only to replace it with a feeling ol helplessness, almost of des pair. The air was bitterly cold, cold with a vault-like chill which stiffened my limbs (clad as I was in a single linen garment) to the bono. But, with the return of thoueht came the better leeung or a wish to at least struggle lor existence, i tried to collect my ideas, to in some manner explain how the strange thing could possibly have happened,. It was all alike reasoning around a circle." "What had been in my room? How came it thero? What had it done to me? How could I possibly have gone through tne lloor? Here liadi goner or a" well. Bywhat possible agency rouldlhavo been thus hurled into this pit? 1 had paced over the whole room and there certainly was no opcning.in theQR? unlfSwIt'lmd been most carefully masked. Besides this, I felt sure that my fall had been much greater than tho distance from the room I had slept in to tho cellar. My brain was still somewhat clouded by tho blow my head had received, and which I thought had been struck just before my fall, or rather, beforo my being violently thrown downward." "Fortunately my pistol was still in my hand and tho box of cartridges in my pocket. I felt carefully for the wall, placed my back against it, and, determining to sell my life.dearly if at tacked, watted a moment in silence. All was still. Taking tho box as noise lessly ns possiblo from tho pocket of my night shirt I reloaded my pistol. Still nothing. But I was freezing. Tho slimy stones beneath my bare feet wcro rapidly chllHng my blood. If I firo my pistol, I thought, I may Bee whero I am, I tired twice." "It was tho cellar which I had al ready visited! I had only, then, fallen 10 or 12 feet. I at once remembered that to this cellar there was a door leading, by an oxtcrnal flight of stone steps leading to the ground in front ol tho room in which I had slept. An other shot showed mo tho door, on which, however, thero , was a heavy, old-fashioned lock without a koy. Half a dozen shots from my revolver broke tho rustic iron and X was free!" "Covered with blood and slime, I stood at length beneath tho stars; my head ached violently, my teeth chat tered with cold, but I was free! 0,the dcliaht of that moment! Free!" "My first feeling was that it was my duty to call Bomo of tho men and search the house; but that I could not bring myself to do. No, I must not bo seen by them in such a plight, nor must they como until I had solved tho mystery. My own outer door was too securely bolted to forco open; but making my way through another en trance;! easily blew tho lock off an inner door of communication. Qraspingmy .pistol tightly, I cautiously entered. There, directly across tno room, was the figure!" "Bang! bang! nnd I sent two moro bullets crushing through it. Whatever it was it certainly was no living thing. If not, what then? What or wild had struck mo that blow? Who had open ed tho solid floor and cast me into tho pit beneath? With oyo and car upon tho alert ready for foe, human or other, I reached tho tablo whero tho lamp stood and felt for a match. None. But I had somo in my pockot. My clothes wore upon the other side of the bed. I went slowly around,-found.tho matches, camo back to the table, and keeping my pistol in my right hand, removed the globo and chimney of the lamp, struck a light, took a hurried look about tho room, put tho firo to the wick, replaced tho chimney, and turned again to tho wliito mystory. Thero it stood; but what it was I could not oven guess. Ono thingwas certain, it had not been thero when I went to bed. In tho light it looked like a great white box some ten feet high' open on the sides, and standing against tno wall opposite the foot of the bed. Taking up tho lamp I walked toward it. What is that on top? By heavens, it is my trunk!" "What do you think tho ghost was! It was an old, white-painted dumb waiter leading to tho former kitchen. My trunk had chanced to bo placed di- .. 'm ;i a ...i.r.i. i .i ...tit. xectiy on us iup, which was luvri wilii nnd formed part ofthofloor. Thejnr and tho footsteps had loosened its old weights. I had taken tho tray ol clothes from tho trunk, nnd the dumb waiter; gradually loosened had shot up, as such things will at times do a couple ol hours later. It had long been discused and tho ehclvings . removed. When, therefore. I rushed at it I had simply fallen into a hole, somo threo feet by two in tho floor between tho elevator's sides; had struck tho bottom board, the machine had gone down with me, nnd, my weight removed, had again risen. I had come down very hard on tho stono paving in tho former kitchen, hnd cut myself on somo projecting mice, for thero were two nrettv bad places from which the blood still drip pedand that was my ghost; that the mysterious agency which had 'hurled mo into that 'awful' pit!" "Did you ever hear of a ghost doing more? I novcr heard of ono who could do half so much." "But just think it I hnd gone Bare footed and bedraggled, called up my men, and led them to combat with- an old white dumb-wniterl" NfftTIM m SNtKS. , Running ghjs.t9, to.cattb,Uckling. Bpints, seizing apparitions by the throat, nailing hallucinations, peering into haunted houses and bearding spooks in their dens, experimenting with thought transference nnd mes merism, and in general monkeying with all the unfathomable mysteries of tho human soul, thi.'i is the unique occupation of a bodv of learned men. galled, the American Society tor Psy- ctucnuMeearch. In a back room in a modest looking house in Boylston Place. Boston. 1b the headquarters of the society's sec retary, Richard Hodgson, LL. D. Dr. Hodgson isan Englishman, about thirty-seven years old, a graduato ot Cambridge University, a profoundly learned scholar and u lovel-headed man of much common sense. "Our society was formed," ho said, "for the purposo oi making au organ ized and systematic attempt to in vestigate that dark border of human experience- und to examino critically the phenomena which aro not now explained by any satisfactory theory. WbiCIIVIUI JMV11 V. UIIIIIIVIHU III . iwuii- trics admit the possiblo existence of what tho uneducated call ghosts or spirits, and further, that one mind may exert upon another aposilive in fluence otherwise than through the recognized sonsory channels. "In accordance herewith, tho re search work ot our society is divided among five committes, allot which aro prosided over by men of unquestioned ability, learning and fairness. Pro fessor H. P. Bowditch, of Harvard, is chairman ot tho Committee on Thought Transference; Professor Jo 8iah Royce, of tho Committee on Ap- earitions and Haunted Houses; u. JJ. ory, a well-known Bostonian, of the Committeo on Hypnotism; Dr. W. N. Bullard, of Boston, ot tho Committeo on Mcdiumistic Phenomena, and Profe&sor C. 8. Minst, of Harvard, of the Committeo on Experimental Psychology. The 8ociety for Psychical Research guards its gathered materials ' witn meat secrecy. Its rich fund of facts is not published until thoy have been passed upon and thoroughly examin ed by tho various committees; even then tho names of those who contrib ute their experiences are in no enso furnished to the public. Among the following are som'o of the most aston- shine lacts on record: On January 1, 1880, at 10 A.M., Mrs. T , a lady living in a western town, writes to a member of Congress, the husband of her daughter,in Wash ington. Dr. Hodgson has seen tne original letter.- Thlsiettcr'explalns'a' telegram which Mrs. T had sent only three hours before, inquiring about her daughter's health. The original of this telegram has also been seen by Dr. Hodgson. The telegram reads: To the Hon. , Homo ot Rep res m- tilth ch, Washington, D. C: 1 can. Will como II Kelt needs mo. The signature is tho mother's name. Mrs. T.'s letter ol explanation first says that she had been lor some days anxious about her daughter Nellie's health, although there had been no illness of lute. Letters from Washing ton had been lacking for somo days; tho last ono hod repo'rtedthedaugh ter as having just leturned from mak ing fifteen calls, "very tired and near ly frozen." "I waked," said Mrs. T., last night between 12 and 1 o'clock, deeply impressed with the feeling that Nell needed me. I wanted to get np and send a telegram. If I had con sulted or followed my own inclina tions, I would have dressed and gone down to the sitting-room." Later, however, Mrs. T. went to sleep again, but in tho morning tho vivid inipres- '.. .(.... .n,,,l A I- 7 o n. Afra W --" OiUU 1GIUII11U. ftw , a II.. A.o. . v hen, 1 Bent tho telecram and'wroto appar ently before sho received annnswer.for mo-ning in 1883 at my house, which I had but recently purchased, I will first describe the room in which I saw it. Litis a bedroom with awiadow at either end, a door and a fireplace at opposite sides. The room is in the upper story of a two-story housemaid to have been built before tho revolu tion. The walla aro unusually thick and the root high, pointed and uneven. The occupants at tho time I speak ot were my brother Henry, myself and a servant woman. Tho latter slept in a room on the basement story. A .hallway divided my brother'sroom from mine. Oothe nichtTJeToro the morning mentioned I had locked my door, and, having undressed and put out my light, I fell into a sound dream less sleep. I awakened about 3 o'clock in the morning with my face to -tho front window. Opening my eyes. I saw right before mo the figuro of a, woman, stooping down and apparently looking at me. Her head and shoulders wrapped 'in'acommbn.gray wbole'n'sliawl. Het' arms wero folded und wrapped in tho shawl. I looked at her in my horror and darod not cry out lest I might move tho awful thing to speech or action. I lay nnd looked and felt ns if I should lose my reason. Behind her head I saw the window and tho growing daWn, the looking glass and the toilet tablo and tho furniture in that part of the room. "After what may have been only a few seconds of tho duration of this vision I can not judge she raised her self and went backward toward tho window, stood at tho toilot table and vanished. I mean shegrowl)y degrees transparent, nnd that through tho shawl and tho gray dress sho wore I saw tho'whito muslin of tho table cover again, and at last saw only that in tho place where sho stood. For hours I lay as I had lain on first awakening, not daring oven to turn my eyes, lest on tho other side of the bed I might seo her again. Now. there is one thing of which I could take my oath, and that is that I did not mention this circumstance either to my brother, or to our servant, or to any ono else. THE SlPOOK SEKK AGAIN'. "Prripllr n. fnrtninhh n.fl.rwn.Tc1. when Bitting at breakfast, I noticed that my brothpr seemed out of sorts and did not eat. On my asking if any thing was the mutter, ho replied: No, but I've had a horrible nightmare. Indeed,' ho went on, 'it was no nightmare. I saw it early this morn- inn, jtiRt as distinctly as i see you.' What?' I asked. 'A villainous-looking hac,' ho answered, 'with her head and arms wrapped in a gray shawl, stooping over me and looking like rFli.,nli ii'lint-. ntmir.-9 Kr. )u,fl- again to who had been in my room? IIow came it there? and so on through the round again. The more I thought tho more inexplicable became the whole affair, but at least I could now think not shiver in nameless terror." "I knew not where I was, but I felt euro that no Bound I could mnke would reach tho men, all of whom were outside the fort. Even from tho' ground-floor room it was quite cer tain that, especially on such a night with tho waves beating against tho sides of the islet, no mere report of a pistol could be heard a distance." "Where could I be? Was this some trick of the thieves -ho had held the deserted tort so long? It wub durk as only a windowless vault can be even at night. Not one ray to show me if the place were large or small a cellar An Ancient Fire-Eater. The most famous ot all firo-eaters was Robert' Powell, who was befpre the public for nearly sixty years, and was seen by many distinguished mop, nmone others by the dukes of Cum- land and Gloucester and Sir Hans Sloane. Mainly through the instru mentality of this last named tho Roy al Society in 1751 presented Powell with & purse of gold and a large silver medal. Here is his programme: 1. He eats red-hot coals out ot the fire as aatural as bread. 2. He licks with his naked tongue red-hot tobacco pipes, flaming with brimstone. 3. He takes-odarge bunch ot deal matches, lights them all together and holds them in his mouth until the flame is extinguished. 4. He takes a red-hot heater out ot the fire, licks it with his tongue sev eral times, and carries it around the room between his teeth. 5. He fills his mouth with red-hot 'charcoal and broils a slice of beet or mutton on his tongue.anu any person may blow the fire at the same time with a pair ot bellows. 0. He takes a quantity of resin, pitch, beeswax, sealing wax, brim stone, alum and lead, melts them to gether over a ehafing dish ot coals and eats the same with a spoon, as it it were a porringer of broth, to the great and agreeable surprise of the spectators, etc. Notes and Querries. in tho margin of the letter sho added the postscript: "Telogram here; thank goodness you uro well." The lady in Washington whoso mother had had so vivid an experience had been seriously ill the same night, although the morning had found her much better. Her attack was a very sudden one. which she described us neuralgia of tho luugs, with a hard chill. "It must have been," she says, "about the hour mentioned in my mother's letter I at last exclaimed, Oh, don't I wish -ma was here! I shall send for her to-morrow if I am not better.' " In the morning came the telegram from the West, but. the patient was better, and she and her husband were puzzled at her mother's uneasiness and replied by telegraph, "Wo are all well; what is tho matter with you?" SIIKFK1.T ANOTIIBR'S TAIN. An old gentleman living at Albany had been ill for months. His married daughter resided at Worcester. One. evening last summer, she suddenly laid down tho book she was reading and said to her husband: "I believe father is dying." She was strangely overcome by the impression, as there had been nothing whatever in the con versation or in her own thoughts to lead to the subject of her father's health. All that evening and tho next morning the feeling haunted her, un til a despatch came Baying mat ner father had died the evening before. A Lowell physician was called to see a patient about 10 o clock one night. It was extremely dark, and in alichtini! from his conveyance be made a misstep and sprained . hlsy ankle. severely. His wife, who was at home, in bed, asleep, suddenly awoke with the vivid impression that an accident had occurred to her husband. She arose, wakened the servant and com municated her fears to her. Nothing could induce her to return to bed. At 1 o'clock the doctor returned, and it was found that the moment of his ac cident and pf his wi'e.f awaking were simultaneous. He was three miles away from home at the time. Hero is a narrative, vouched for by the highest authority, of experiences in a house some miles from the city ot Worcester. The man who sends it in is a well-known manufacturer, and his word is as good as his bond, which would be honored anywhere for $100,000. He writes: "In re'ating what I saw on July this- . He got up folded his arms and pufchimselfin-thoposture-I remembered so well. He then described how the figure moved toward tho door and disappeared. 'Her malevolent face and her posture Btruck terror to my sou!.' he said. "A year later, in tho month of July, one evening about 7 o'clock, my sec ond oldest sister nnd her two little children, who were visiting us, were tne onlv folks at home. Tho eldest child, a boy ol 5 years, wanted adrink ol water, and on leaving tho dining room to fetch it my sister desired tho children to remain there till her re turn, sho leaying tho door open. Com ing back as quickly as possible, she .mot,the.boy,v.pale and trembling,- on his way to her, and asked why ho nad left tho room. 'Oh,' he Baid, 'who is that woman?' 'Where?' she asked. The old woman who went up-stairs,' ho answered. Sho tried to convince him that thero was no ono else in the house, but he was so agitated and so eager to prove it that" she took his trembling hand in hers nnd brought him up-stairs, and went from ono room to another, ho searching behind curtains and under beds, still main taining that a women did go up tho stairs. Mv sibter rightly thought that tho mere fact of a woman comg up stairs in a house where sho was a stranger would not account lor the child's terror. "A neighbor of ours stnrted when we first told him what wo had seen, and asked if we had never heard that u woman had been murdered in that house" manv years previous to our purchase of it. He said it hud tho reputation of being haunted. This was the first intimation we had of the fact. Nothing more was heard of tho ghost of the murdered woman, how ever, for two years. "On the night of July 7,1880, I was wakened Irom a sound sleep ny some one speaking close to me. I turned round, paying: 'Emily, what is it?' thinking that my sister, who slept in the room next to mine, hnd come in. I saw plainly the figure of a woman who deliberately and silently moved away toward the door, which re mained shut, as I had lelt it. "Two days after this occurrence I was wakened anout 0 o'clock in the morning by a presentiment ot ap proaching evil. lopened my eyes and distinctly saw tho form of a darkly clad, elderly female bending over me with folded arms, and glaring at me with the most intense malignity. I tried to scream, and struggled to withdraw myself from her, when she slowly and silently receded backward nnd seemed to vanish tnrougn tne bedroom door." Philadelphia Press. A Vast Catastrophe. Chinese newspapers and private let ters from PekiiLbripRdeVaUsof thi overflow of tho Yellow Rlvor in Sep tember of last year. This event wa dismissed with the notico of a few lines by most American newspapers, so little do we know of the real condi tion of our brotheron the other side of the globe. Yot no castropho so vast has occurred-iiutho.world during this century. Ab it is liable to recur at fdturo times, a brief, description o! its cause and effects may bo of inter est: Tho Hoang-Ho or Yellow River, drains tho great basin of North China, as tho Mississippi does the Central States of tho Union. It bears a singu lar likeness to our own groat river in several particulars, chief of which is tho crookedness ot its course, its sud den huge serpentine bends. Ic drains like the Mississippi, hilt ratrg?f. df'RleJtttleitility-, carrying their rich alluvial soil to tho delta at its ' mouth. Tills rich silt, or mud, as in the caso of tho Mississippi, chokes up its mouths, until the river is forced to ooze its way through innumerable bayoux to the sea. In both rivers the spring rain.-) and the melting of the biiow on the moun tains near its source produco stulden dovasting, floods. Tho water disre gards its crooked channel, nnd rushes, staight across plantation, villages and cities. The Chinese, like tho peoplo among tho Mississippi, have found it neces sary to build rampart a on either side of tho murderous river to protect them from its liny: but tho Chinese began this work nearly threo thous and years ago. As tho increasing de posit ot silt near its mouth closes them, tho water is forced back into its bed, and rises higher than-the sur- -rounding country each year, neeess'w tnting higher "levees." Ten times Binco B. C. 1200 the vast flood has broken through these bar- , riers, and found a new way for itself to tho sea. In 1852 an outbreak oc curred, and tho mighty flood went 'back to the'cpannol through which it flowed when our Saviour was on tho oarth. Each outburst is necessarily accompanied by enormous loss of life and destruction oi property. On the 20th ot last September a cre vasse broke the dyke, and a body of water five bundled miies long.seventy feet deep and a milo wldo burst upon tho plain. This plain a territory of ten thousand squaio miles, occupied by over threo thousand villages was submerged. The destruction of human lite is estimated at live mil lions., Nono of tho water has yet reached the sea; it forms a vast lake of death where last summer was a tortile, populous plain. The Chinese Government has given nearly threo million dollars, besides the annual revenue from a great province, to rebuild tho dykeB, and a population equal to that of our Mid dle States is swarming now like ants about the banks of the huge current, trying to put a curb upon it, knowing that it is a curb which, at some future time, it will surely break through ngaiih as win- England's Rare Lace-makers The lace-makers of Honiton, who number some 1,200 in the manufac- .tufing.ldistrjct, ore all middle-aged and old women. 'J. lie ntstory oi tne lace is checkered and curious. It is reported to have been first introduc ed into England by the Flemings flying from tho persecution of the Duke of Alva, The two great fires that in 1750 and 1707 broke out in the town almost ruined the manufac turers. Queen Adelaide tried to re viw the ftinkina industry by orderintc -a skjrt'rtoMbe-'made from desiciiBof nn.ttirn.1 flowers beginning with the in itials of her name, for already tho designs had lost all beauty. The attempt had no great reault.for when Queen Victoria ordered lace for her wedding from Honiton, it was with difficulty workers were found. Ulti mately a lace drees worth 1,000 was manufactured In the email fishing vil lage of Beer. Tolstoi. In the German magazine Nord unu Sud thero is an account by the Rus sian author, Danilefski, of a visit which ho made recently to the famous novelist, Count Tolstoi. Tolstoi's home is at Jassnaia-Poli-ana, a place not far from Moscow, where ho was born in 1828, and to which lie retired somo twenty-five yeats ago. soon nfter leavinp the army. Here he lives very simply, oc cupying himself,- when not-engnged m literary labors, in farm-wo-ck, chopping wood, mowing, nnd in ter in shoe-making. Notwithstanding tho reports to the contraiy, he appeared to bo in the full possession of his faculties, and had not given up writing. His great interest at present is still those theo logical studies which led to his well known book "My Religion," which, though ciiculated in manuscript in Russia, was translated into French, English and Germnn. His library table was covered wjth foreign magazines, while on tho sim ple book-shelves wero tho works of npinezn, Voltaire, uoetho, jcousseau, all the Russian authors, Shakespeare, Auerbach, Sismondi, Emerson's Es says, and Henry George's "Progress and Poverty." In tho course of his conversation with his visitor ho said, "Thirty years ago, when I began to write, out of the hundred millions of inhabitants ol Russia, the renders and writers could only be numbered by the ten thousands. "Now schools are multiplied in the townB and village. These ten thou sands have become millions, and theso millions of our countrymen come be fore ua lika hunurv birds with wide- open beaks. Jiud crying, 'Messieurs authors, give us some food worthy of you and of us, write for us who are famishing for a living literature.' " It was this intense conviction of the needs of his uneducated countrymen that has led Tolstoi to devote so much of his time to the preparation of school-books, even primers, and the writing simple, popular tales, which, with his other -works, mako him more than any other Russian writer a creator of a national liter ature. Referring to his habits, he said: "Every day, according to the sea son, I labor on my farm. I cut down trees. I chop wood, I mow. "Ah, and I plough! You do not know what a pleasure that Is. You go along turning up the fresh earth, tracing tho long lurrows, and you ao hot notice that one hour, two, three, pass. The blood courses joyously through your veins; your head is clear, your feet scarcely touch the ground; and how hungry you get, and how you sleep afterward!" It is said that the price of oats has not been bo low as at tho present in one hundred years. -r 1 ,rv Tb ' 7-
