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About The Columbus journal. (Columbus, Neb.) 1874-1911 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 13, 1884)
hX.JB.MMl-- t I? THE JOURNAL. "WEDNESDAY, FEB. 13, 1884. Srtcrci it tho ?:-t:5ei, Celcnfca. art., at ::tl clis: sitter. MY LITTLE WIFE. Mv little -wife's a world too sweet tor such a 'man as I am: But she's a Trojan hard to beat As Hector, son of Priam-0 A winsome, willful mepMt she; Brought up to grace ft palace. She ran away to marry me. Half love, half girlish malice. She never has repented though: AVe built a cot in Jersey: She wore delaine and calico. And I wore tweed and kersey. So preat our love, it bridged across Whatever might divide us: However went the gain or loss. We felt as rich as Midas. I helped her with the brush and broom Her morning labors aiding: She folio wed to the counting-room. Made out my bills of lading. And once, when sick of chills I lay. She balanced up the pages; Did all my work from day to day And brought home all my wages. Tnen I was just a shipping-clerk Old firm of Graves and Gartner; Till after long and weary work They took me in as partner. Then year on year went gaily round. While wc grew rich and richer. Until in every spring wc found We dipped a golden pitcher. "When Gartner left (grown old and lamo) 1 bought him out completely: Made wife a partner changed the name To Wheatly, Graves and Wheatly. A silent partner? Not at all: With genius more than Sapphic, She improvised that lady small The poetry of traffic." And "poetry, that's truth," pcrforco, For Mrs. Browning said it: Her hand, unerring, traced the courso Of debit and of credit. Her sene of honor fine as floss, Yet strong as hempen cables. Light as a lariat Hung across. Dragged down our business fables. She made our home a Paradise, With taste supreme and subtle; But said: "I want no cloth of prico. Wrought with a knavish shuttle." And flitting through our offices. With word and smile admonished, 'We'll work no metamorphosis To make a lie look honest!" And so the business grew and grew With not a cloud to daunten; Till wife, who wanted tea like dew. Sent me adrift for Canton. No sooner was I well at sea. Than, with a whirl insanic. Down eame that Hood of '71. And shook the world with panic Then many a house as strong as life Was rent and torn asunder; Poor G raves went trembling to my wife, And said: "We're goinir under." Wife saw the gulf hut kept her poise. Disposed of plate and raiment. Sold all her jewels (but the boys). And met the heaviest payment. Then Graves and she with work and wit. With care and self-denial. Upheld the llrm, established it The surer for the trial. Through all the strife they paid thebands Full price: none saw them falter. And now thehousc, rock-founded, stands As steady as Gibraltar. But wife keeps with us. guards us through. Like Miriam watching Moses; She drinks her tea as pure asdew. And sells it fresh as roses. Yes, she's a Trojan hard to beat As all the sons of Priam: But bless you! she's a world too sweet For such a man as I am! Amanda T. Jones in The Continent AN OCEAN WAIF. "1 was second mate at the time," began Mr. Humphrey Roband, who re lated to me the following story, "and our vessel was a barque, named the Eagle. Wc were bound from New port, in Monmouthshire, to Capo Town, with a cargo of iron, and then we were to go on to Melbourne, and thence to Cafiao. Besides me there was Captain Blackett. the master, and Mr. Josiah Bitting, the chief mate, along with fif teen or sixteen hands forward, includ ing the idlers; and, taking us all round, I don't think that ever a better ship's company sailed out of an English port. There wasn't a foreigner among us; there was no growling, no loafing; everything was done quickly and with a will, and it was not only a pleasure to give an order, but a happiness to watch the execution of it. Well, we left Newport on a Monday afternoon and went away down the Bristol Chan nel, into the Atlantic Ocean, under all plain sail, in the finest of weathers. For near upon a. fortnight there was nothing but brightness overhead, and blue waters under us, madefeatherv by thc wippiug of the breezes which blew, sometimes nor'west, coming now and again a triile fresh, but never so strong as to cause us once to furl the main royal day or night. We saw nothing of the trade wind till we were in about latitude twenty degrees north, and then, after blowing us along for a spell, it failed us one morning, with a slowly falling "glass, and a long, ugly gray swell coming out of the southwest, and a sort of dirty blue sky, filmed over with haze that might have passed. for the drainings froinsnieltcrs chimneys. Amid this, the Mm hung like a huge jelly-fish, a shapeless oozing of bright ness, with scarce enough of power in him to put a streak of light into the brow of the swell that swung, heaving up tall out of the near horizon, with summits that seemed to be trying to wash the yellow stain he had made, out of the vault of the sk. "There was a queer smell of decayed marine vegetable matter about, which came up in whirls, when the rolling of the barque made white water along side, and, spite of the sky being th?n enough to let the ghost of the sun through, there was a look overhead that made you think that, if it was night, you'd see green lightning play ing about over the mastheads, like the dartiugs of the phosphorus from the ship's side in black water, when you're in the tropics, and the night lies dead upon the breathless bosom of the ocean. "Well, what these plain signs beto kened came to pass right enough. The glass went on dropping-and the swell came along in a wilder and angrier roll, until at three o'clock that after noon there was scarce more daylight visible than you'll find in the last fin gerings of twilight ashore. We were snugged down to lower top-sails, the yards square, for there was no call to brace them one way or another when for- hours there hadn't been a breath of wind; no. sir. not so much as to give a flutter to the vane at the royal masthead, saving what the barque gave herself by the sweep of her spars. All hands were on -deck, standing by, knowing that something 'was bound to happen, but incapable of know ing from what quarter it meant to come. It was as much as we could do to see one another's faces. The strain on the spars and rigging was something fear ful, with the rolling, and in the gloom overhead 3'ou could hear the creaking and complaining, the squealing of sheaves, the groaning of parrals'and trusses. At four o'clock or thereabouts, the wind swept down upon us in a body, right in the wake of the swell. It was wind at first, but it became a moving wall in a short time, and before the clewlines could be manned, theforetop sail blew up and burst into smithereens, just like one of those elastic air-balls when filled too full. "It was a terrible tempcsL I, who have seen some fearful weather in my time, will take my affidavit that a worse storm of wind never raged than that It picked the sea up and made wheels of the waves, that looked I don't say they were but they looked to be forty or fifty feet high. The Eagle was full of iron very deep, and labored heavily, . taking in tons of water forward, so that the underdeck forecastle was scarcely to be come at by the men through the scuttle. In the troughs, during the water rolls, the barque would lay so far over to the windward that itwas enough1 to make the oldest seamen hold his breath to look at the curl of the oncom ing sea, and speculate whether it was possible that she could hoist herself out clear of that terrific, white, roaring, flashing arch, before it rolled its enor mous volume clear over her. But the Eagle was a good sea-boat, having a flaring bow that forced the head surges to throw her up, and a swell of the sides that made her cork-like on the lean of a twenty-foot, hill of water. Had she been of the ordinary tank shape, it must have been all froth'to ten feet above the mast-coats, with the watch on deck in the weather-rigging, andthemasterand mates keeping a look-out in the cabin, and conning Eer by the te'1-tale. "For three days we had terrible weather; then it broke, the wind veered to due cast, and after blowing a double reefed topsail breeze for twenty-four hours, settled away into the northeast and blew along s'eady and bright aain into the trade wind. It was a'Wednes day, the morning watch and I had charge of the deck. Daj'break found us under a foretopmast stun' sail, the sky clear, and the cast as irreen as moonlight with the dawn. The sea was calm, the trade clouds rolling iu puffs of vapor athwart the stars over head and in the west, and the horizon a line as black as you could produce by the sweep of a pair of compassc- dipped in India ink. "I stopped over to leeward to have a look at the sea under the foot of the mainsail, and just then the ach of the snn jutted up and sent a long beam of silver light flashing across the ocean, the extremity of which sparkled upon an "object that appeared white and glistening in the radiance. It bore about four points on the lee bow. Tfi fetched the glass, and took a look. She was a vessel, of what rig I could not distinguish, but apparently under small sail. I put down the glass and waited a bit, and then had another look. B now fancied I could detect signs of con fusion aloft, but of this I could not yet be sure, though the small canvas she showed mailc her appearance singular considering the fine weather. Just then Captain Blackett came on deck, and I reported lhe sail to him. He pointed the telescope at her, and said: " 'It seems a case of distress. Your sight's better than mine: have you made out anythmg resembling a color?" " 'No sir,' 1 replied. " 'Well, wc will bear down and see what's the matter. Keep her away!' he called out to the .young fellow atthe wheel; and at the same time I sung out to the watch to lay aft and brace the yards in a trifle. "This was done, and the vessel brought about a point on our lee bow. It was not long before we were able to make her out very plainlj with the glass. It was now seen that she was a small, full-rigged ship of about eight hundred tons: her three lower topsails and topmast staysail had been blown away, and her wheel and all boats were gone. She had bulwarks, and lay very deep, as though full of water. In the lower mizcn rigging the English ensign had been seized, union down, and there it blew, flicker ing like a flame, making as strong an appeal for assistance as ever a man could by waving his hands. Well, wc shortened sail and approached her, keeping a sharp lookout for anything that should resemble a human being; there was nothing in that way to be seen. There was a longish deck-house aft, and the remains of an-Uher one for ward. There was not much swell on, and she lay pretty quiet, giving herself a slow slant, now and again, that hove a space of her wet side into the sun and made her flash out like a beacon. " 'She looks to be abandoned, sir,' says I to the Captain. " 'Why, yes; that's her appearance, certainly,' says he. 'But it's a fine morning; no harm can be done by your stepping- aboard and giving her a brief overhaul." "So the bark's maintopsail was laid to the mast, a boat lowered, and three hands pulled rac over to the wreck. Two men clambered over the rail after me, leaving one in charge of the boat. "We stood a moment looking around. Her decks were full of ratne, ropes, staves and casks.and the like; the main , hatches were otT, as if the crew had been jetti?on;n her cargo, her port bulwarks for &rd of the main rigging were smashed flush with the deck, and altogether she had the most ship wrecked and strained appearance that I ever saw in a vessel atloat. I put my hand to in mcith and sang out: " 'Anybody aboard here?" but the only answer that came was the souiii' of the streaming of the wind through the riging, auu the bubbling and wash ing noise of th water over the side. " 'X fear --" o her not being aban doned, sir, said one of the men. 'An empt3' cofiin couldn't be more destitute of life.' I stepped to the door of the deck house and looked iu. There was no appearance of injury here. A table went down it, with fixed chairs on one side and a locker on the other, and on the port side was a row of cabins, five or six, I think. The door of this deck house swung open and the two men and I peered in, and then sa-s I: " 'I'll j ist step in and see if I ca . come across any papers belonging to her,' for I must tell yon there was no name on her bows, and whatever migLt have been written on her stern was un der water. But scarce had I uttere-i the above observation, when a sort of thin, wailing cry came from one of the cabins. " 'Hello!- says one of my men, 'the crew have gone 'arid left poor puss3' be hind.' " 'Pussy!' says I, who had caught the cry very clearly, and heard a note in it there was no mistaking, 'that's no cat, lads. Follow me.' And I walked straight to the cabin, from which th8 sound appeared to come, and opening the door, saw just the kind of sight.ray mind seemed to have been prepared by the cry we had heard to witness. The cabin was a bit of box with a scuttle over the topmost of a couple of bunks. There were some female garments on the deck, along with an infant's feeding bottle, broken, and a few other domes tic odds and ends only met with at sea when there are women aboard. As we entered, a second small, wailing cry came from the upper bunk, and, on looking, we spied a dead women in it, with her right arm cat around a baby nine or ten months old. It was impos sible to tell that she was dead till we drew close and saw the signs plain. She was a young woman, not more than twenty-six or twentv-seven, her hair yellow." and in life I "don't doubt she had been pretty enough, but now her face was so strangely white that she might have passed for a figure worked in plaster of Paris. The baby was loo young to s't up; he lay it was a boy, sir he lay on his dea"d mother's arm. giving no .v and then the queer cry we had heard, the wail an infant utters af ter it has exhausted itself in crying for hours. I picked him up out of the bunk and found him wet through, and his ilesh like stone, for the cold. His mother's clothes if the woman were his mother, which I don't doubt were streaming wet, too, and this made us suppose that she had been driven from the deck by the washing water and had ntered herj cabin and had lain down to die there. -"The men spoke hurriedly about how it came to pass that these two should have been left alone in the wreck. Who was she? T said there was no account ing for what happened at sea. She might have been the wife of the master, who was drowned in the storm,-and left no one to look after her; or all hand's might have perished in getting the boats over; or the crew might have for gotten her when they put off; there was no telling. There lay the woman dead, I said; and I gave the baby to one of the men named Nipper to hold whilst I pulled off my coat to wrap the little chap up in, "for he trembled like a shivering bird with the cold, and kept on wailing, as if our handling him and the sound of our voices had put a bit of life into him. We looked hurriedly into the other cabins, but they were empty, and we could find no papers. There was no good bringing the dead mother along with us to Dury; the ship she was in was her rightful coffin, and being very deep, with her main hatch open, I rightly reckoned that the next Int of sea that got up would sink the wreck fast enough, I don't say as I didn't mumble a prayer as I came away .holding the little chap. It was an af fecting sight to see that young woman ;lying there quite recently dead, as we might suppose by her little onr being ,alive; and when I took a last peep at her I almost felt as if she knew that I was taking her baby away from her. We handed the infant into the boat, and shoved off for the bark that lay hove to waiting for us about half a mile to leeward. " 'What have you there, Mr. Roband?' sings out Captain Blackett, leaning over the rail. " A bab3 sir,' I answers, and I pulled .my coat a bit open to let him see the little face inside. " 'Well, well,' cries he, tossing his hands. 'Look sharp and get aboard.' "All hands were looking over the side when I handed the baby up, and there went a deal of hoarse whispering among the men as they pressed forward to sec the waif. I carried him to the Captain the worthiest man, sir, with the tenderest heart that ever sailed a ship; he pulled off his cap as if awed by the misery and suffering: that was typi fied by the bairn, and his eyes filled with tears as he gazed down upon it. " 'And the mother lies dead yonder, Mr. Roband?' says he, pointing to the wreck. 'Ay, sir,' says L " 'God receive her!' says he. 'D'ye understand the management of babies, Mr. Roband?" " Whv, I have two of my own,' I answered; 'but I was so much away at sea when they were little ones that I can't say I ever had a chance of watch ing what my wife did to 'em to keep 'em healthy. But what we have to do with this baby,' say I, 'is to feed him and get him warm at once.' " 'Then take him below take him below, Mr. Roband.' cried the Captain in a tremulous voice. Give him your j attention, sir, and never mind about your duties until you've got this poor littlo creature into ship-shape condi tion.' "Well, I carried him to my cabin .and sung out to the steward to help me undress Trim, for the thought of hand- j ling this frail and delicate object alone ! unnerved me. I'd any day rather have the job of taking in the masts of a 2,000-ton ship than the handling of a baby for ten minutes. Both the stew ard's and vay fingers were square-end-1 ed, and we had to be very careful in hauling out the safety-pins and clearing t fie little chap of the things he was dressed in. He cried so that I was in I an agrony, making- sure we were hurt- , ing him; but the steward said: 'io, I know the nature of infants; it would be unnatural if thsy didn't cry; it's a fash ion their lungs have of growing.' 'Are you Mire?' says I. 'Cock-sure,' sa's he: 'haven't I seven of my own, Mr. Roband?" When the baby was wrapped up in one of my llannel shirts, that being softer tha:: any blanket we had aboard, the tevard went and warmed some Swis milk at the galley fire: and while I was itting waitiug for the steward, with the haby lying on my knee, the Cap'ain comes in. ' .'od help this poor little one!" says he; 'what age do you take him to be, Mr. Roband.-" " 'Not a year old,' says I. ' 'Not a year old! he cried; 'how wonderful are the ways of Provideuce that a "'my bubble of humanity like this shouid be left unharmed by a storm that, maybe, has drowned all the rough ana sturdy fellows who filled that ves sel. It's like seeing an iron ship beaten to pieces by seas amid whose hollows you observe the little stormy petrel securely flying.' "The steward arrived with the warm milk and a spoon, and we turned to feed the baby. I tried my hand, but it wao no good; I couldn't get the milk d'wi his throat; it capsized down his neck, and his being ravenous and cry ing made the job more difficult. Here, give me hold, air, said the .-teward; so I A,ut the baby on his knee. Well he knew more about it than I, and got a fair caulker of milk into the little 'un, and after a bit the little hap fell asleep, whereapon lie was laid down in my bunk, and t'-ere lie was, quiet enough. "Sir, we had M:ne hopes of his thriv ing after this. Ho wa, a sort of a trial in'his way, for he wanted washing, and dressing, and feeding, and looking after, and it came hard upon us, who hadn't the fingers nor the understanding for such wik. He was a beautiful boy. I never saw finer eves in an infant; bi as the heavens under which we ! .:. : , , ."". "iwrinaquiverin: vere s.v.hng, and a lovely little figure, iue tjl(" materi J( &o:nct;nics when it would come to "Where did my turn to undress him I'd let him lie I jjjej tlu rcpor na"cuou a uanneismrt stretcnea across tnv kne is, and tickle him ami make '. uu laugh, until the dropping of a tear, like a parched pea, down niy cheek would make me feel that I was" acting the fool, and allowing thoughts of my homo and of this bairn's loneliness to trouSlf me too much. He had but the elotiio we found hini in; sotheCaptain 5 - ? - ! i a am. . -: c eacn oi us a soil, canco snin, to one ,.f the men forward, a neat hand j 11,11 ""- "eeu.e, a cuap naiueu yiaw, to . make into a co :ple of suits of linen for the baby; and tins and a knitted waist coat and a swathing of flannel round hi; body and legs kept him tidy and warm and comfortable. We got mighty fond of him. We'd bring him on deck and lay him in the fold of a sail or on the ensign when the weather was fine and warm, and then you'd see him kicking up his legs in the sunshine, toasting his tiny toes in it, and looking at his fingers and talking to hiniselt. He made the bark more liunian than ever I thought a vessel could be ren dered. He begot a strong home feeling in us all. and you'd see the moving fancies he'd put into the men as they'd creep aft and I never pretended" to notice them to have a look at the little 'un. Many a stream of tobacco juice I've seen them squirt overboard from the quarterdeck after watching the baby, as if their hearts were too full to suffer 'em to wait until the got for ward to expectorate. "But one day, sir, there came an. end to this. It must have been the cutting of a tooth, I think. He had a fit, but pulled through it, and we thought him all right, and I left him sleeping and looking comfortable enough in my bunk while I went on deck. We were then in latitude twenty-eight degrees south, in the tail of the trade wind. "I had been on deck two hours, when the steward came up through the com panion, and, approaching me slowly and speakine very solemnly, he says: Mr. Roband,' he says, 'little Jimmy that was the name he went by 'little Jimmy,' he says, 'has gone to jine his mother.' "I started and said: 'What's that vou say?' He answered: Our little un's dead, sir.' "I ran below and found the Captain in my cabin looking at the baby that lay a corpse in ay bosk. I had grow wonderfully fond of the bairn, sir, and the sight broke me down, and one or two heaving sobs came from me. no more to be helped by me than the tightness in my throat. O, sir, it was as if a beautiful little Indian bird that you had cherished and looked after had died of the Cape cold in spite of your love. Only this was an immortal be ing, a fellow-creature, a little baby that we had plucked from the very brink of an ocean grave into which his mother's dead embrace was dragging him; and we had learned to love nun. " He Is gone!' said Captain Bhckett: 'tis God's will, Mr. Roband. We did our duty by him we c9hld not have done more.' " "We may take it, sir, that his mother wanted him,' says the steward. " Ay, steward, and her entreaty has been answered,' says the Captain,"with a glance aloft. "I could not take any hand in equip ping the little mite for his funeral. I was too much upset sir. The Miilmakcr made a tiny hammock for him, and they put his hands together, and smoothed the little wreaths of yellow hair upon his head, and dressed him in olean things, and, before he was stitched up, all hands lay aft to say good-by, and ne'er a man among them that entered the cabin but stopped to give the little cold face a kiss before leaving. We kept him till next day, and buried him after eight bells had been made. "It was a green, windy, glistening morning: the emerald seas ran at us, melting in froth as they came; and the shadows of the men gathered around the gangway, swayed at our feet as the bark rolled oyer the surges, and the dancing sun darted beams like spears of light from the clouds through whioh he swung. O, sir, the contrast of that little hammock upon the grating with the huge grave that was to receive it! The service was almost more than some of us could bear; I'd see the men tarn their heads away, and look down, and when at last it came to the passage that's a signal at sea for the tilting ol the body into the water, we all let our breath out in a sob as the tiny ham mock sped like a snowflake over the sMe and vanished in the slant of a sea whose breaking summit flashed a rain bow over the spot." London Teh graph. Farming with Figures If a strict account were kept with everj acre of the farm, a note made of the acres that produce and those that do not, it would be a surprise to many farmers to know how few of the acres they farm really yielded a profit, and how many fail to' return any income. When once this is found, how easy it would be to put the whole in a way of paying something towards the sum that might be realized. Some one has said most farmers have a better method of farming in their heads than they put into actual practice. This is no doubt trim TTmr mnnv fjirmpw L-nnw that their swamp lot is unproductive, and by the outlay of $100 for a ditch, and clearing, that nveor ten acres wouiu be the best land on the farm? Why don't they put their knowledge into practice? That large pasture is nearly unproduct ive, and it only supports a few sheep. Thevknow it, "and do know if it were plowed it could be made to produce a most abundant crop of clover, How many dairymen know that ten of their fortv cows do not pay for their keep- mjr, but actually "live oil the profits of the others? How many farmers know that they do not half fertilize their laud, do'not half drag, or fit the soil for the crops, and if they would use the hoe and cultivator twice as much they would get double the crop for their labor? Why don't they do it? How many who hastily perform their work, to "get it ofl their hands," know as well as Solomon could tell them that their haste is waste, and that thorough work would pav far better, and why don't they? The success in farming at the present day is not so much what is undertaken, but what is actually performed and completed in workmanlike manner. Success in farming is complete, finished methods. "Anytniug that is worth do ing is worth doing well," is an old say ing, but farmers are not fully cognizant of it, or else fail in following its princi pies. The successful farmer of the future will not be a bonanza farmer making an attempt to farm "all crea tion," out the one who farms upon busi ness methods, making every outlay bring definite and paying returns, and making the whole farm productive, rather than making a few acres bear the whole load of obligation. Pennsyl vania Farmer. Fishes in Lore. "Ever see a fish make love?" asked, a naturalist. "Well, here's a chance," he continued, pointing to a small square tank. "In there are some sticklebacks that were sent to me some time ago, and for quite a while they have been working at their nests. "Buihl nests? I should say so. The stickleback can build as good a nest as; a robin. I've been watching this honey moon business for about a week. I first notieed the male began to change his color, becoming a bright red, and soon he began to collect small sticks and pieces' of fibre of various kinds; these he began to mould into regular form, and then passed around them with a quivering motion, that was to, nl together. i the glue come from?"; cporter. "It comes frbm a special gland," was the reply. "It is in fact the plaster, and by these invisible cords the nest was kept in shape. Every once in a while the fish t would dash into the nest, and finally ! a hole was formed, so that the nest is ' as you see it now an oval about three inches across with a hole through the cenler. The mater5al is mostjy threads that T put in for the ,ish to ue Now iust watch the i;ttle foiiow m Taking a large hand magnifier, the stickleback was soon brought into view, looking as large as a trout. He was engaged in a desperate chase after a coquettish female that dodged here and there in fruitless efforts to avoid him, and in a few moments she was cornered near the nest and reluctantly passed into the home prepared for her. "That's the'end of the courtship and wedded bliss," -said the naturalist. "The male prepares the house, drives the female in, aud when she has laid the eggs, takes her place until they are hatched, and, indeed, until the young fishes are able to attend to them selves." The fish had already undertaken its duties and was stationed over the new ly laid eggs, aerating them with its fins, occasionally rushing out to attack the intruder. "He will do this," said the owner, "until the fish are hatched and able to take care of themselves; then he will tear down the nest." Boston Globe. " According to Rabbi Sonneschein, of. St. Louis, the American Jew can keep Christmas without in the least violating his religious convictions. The Rabbi says that the 25th of December was celebrated by the pagan world as the time when the longest night gives way to the lengthening of the day, and that the early Christian church," which had originally celebrated the natal day of its founder in the spring, accepted, at the end of the fifth century, the pa gan festival, transferring its celebra tion of Christ's birth to December. Moreover, the Maccabean priests insti tuted a festival on the 25th of Easier, the corresponding Jewish month, to take the place of this pagan feast, when they had, by defeating the Syriam Hag, driven out Greek idolatry. fit Imis Globe JIaarj in Songs. The ?ecrct of success in the world de pends upon hitting p -pular fancy at a critical moment. Those who aim to lead or direct taste generally fail: these who catch the spirit of tlie hour tri umph. Thus it is that ephemeral? grow rich and notable while giant minds are starving in obscurity. We need not -o far for an illustration of ' this anomalous condition. If one will contrast the success of a certain class of song-writers with the unsuccess of composers of grand melodies aud the builders of noble verse there will be seen in bold front the difference be tween gratification and education in the matter of taste. There are several young men in the coun'ry, bright, observing, but not very intellectual fellows, who devote a small fraction of their time to the mak ing of light-flavored songs that appeal aentimeutally to the heart, the music being little more than a jingle of notes, with an occasional melodious strain. Being written to catch the masses, and not to delight the sense of the musically refined, these fugitive pieces are de scribed as "craze" songs, and the uni versality of welcome given to many of them justifies the term. These are the tunes that, heard from the stage, are picked up readily and hummed by every one, are whistled in the street and sung in the parlor until they are familiar with all conditions of people, from gamin to belle. And these songs are mostly musical tricks. The writers shrewdly take up some common emo tion and play upon it, nothing being more characteristic of these sons than tkeir nursery flavor, their childhood elements. Iu one of the most popular there is an insignificance of ideas, a flatness of verse, a school-girl quality of rhyme aud an insipidity of musical character, yet there have been over "iOO.OOO copies of it sold, and the fortunate author has already received 18,000 in royalties. This is" the song entitled "Peek-a-Boo," written by a oright young Irishman named Scanlan. This young man, who is but twenty-five years of age, has written several of these "craze" songs, among them, "He Never Went Back on the Poor," "Terry Joined the Gang," 'By-by, Baby, By,-by," from which he has received something more than $25, 000, and now calculates his income from continued royalties about $2,000 a month. The sentimental "Silver Threads Anions the Gold'' is still selling, after 3o0,0)0 copies of it have been put upon the public. "Put Me in My Little Bed" and "My Grandfather's "Clock" have reached 300,000 copies each, and are out of demand. There are a score or more of these "craze" songs that have been sold phenomeually, and they are being turned off incessantly, each sea son having born to it from one to a dozen. Of course a great many write who get no returns, but that is because they nave neither the tact nor the means of introducing them to the pub lic, not because they can possibly write anything too idiotic to win favor. We cannot imagine any one writing less sensible things than the popular catches, I never drink behind the bar. Though I may smoke a mild cigar, "Babies on Our Block," or "Are Ye There, Moriarity?" The profits on such songs range between 2,000 and $15, 000. There is another field in which trash tells against worth in the conquest of public favor in astonishing proportion. Among the most popular plays now are those that some years ago would have been denied admission to the stage. They are made up of the most direct appeals to the sympathetic emotions as distinguished from the reasoning facul ties, usually being such affairs as the judgment condemns, while the senti ment, easily affected, approves. A successful play yields its proprietor anywhere from 10,000 to 1100,000 a year, though the latter figures, of course, cover the very rare exceptions. Profits of 40,000 a year on theatric enterprises are not uncommon. It will not do to say that good plays and good attractions do not succeed, for as a mat ter of fact they make, in the long run, the most money. But the phenomenal successes arc the plays that, like the adroitly-timed songs, become a "craze," either for their striking novelty or be cause of some factitious circumstance attending their production. The re ceipts from the performances of "Hazel Kirke," for example, have so far considerably exceeded $1,000, 000, and it is yet by no means worn out. Mr. Bartley Campbell received in one year from two -of his plays the sum of 94,000. He perhaps re ceivesmore than that now. Otherplay writers sell their works outright, when the terms range from $2,000 to 10,000 for a play. This year Mr. Daly, of New York, gets 6,000 for merely renting two of his old plays for a season of thirty weeks to Mr. John Stetson. There is still a cheaper class of plays, for which the terms are 100 to $500 for a play perhaps the work of three weeks. With these figures to encourage the aspirant for wealth and fame, it is small wonder so many rush into attempted competition with successful song-writers and dramatists. But alas for credulous human nature. The successes are as one to a myriad of failures. The for tunes of the few is the ignua fatus of the many. There are musical geniuses whose songs will never be sung, and prodigies of playmakers whose writings will never be read. They maybe more entitled to the forward place than those who get there; but the battle is not always to the strong nor the race to the swift. They who succeed are twice fortunate fortunate in the chance and fortunate in happily availing themselves of it Cincinnati Commercial-Qazette. Rothchild's Wonderful Orchid. French horticulturists are at present greatly interested in a plant at one of M. de Rothchild's celebrated hothouses at Ferrieres, near Paris. Perhaps the strangest of the strange family of or chids, Vanda Lowi, was discovered by H. Low in 1847, in the hot, damp forests of Borneo, where it climbed to the top of the highest trees. Its long leaves, which not rarely measured a yard or more in length, appear small if com pared with the length of the clusters of buds, which reach a length of three yards. Each cluster of which there are at present eleven in full flower at Ferrieres numbers 280 buds, all flow ering at the same time, which are so different in appearance that side by side they may be easily taken for distinct species. The plant was bought in 1876 for a large sum of money, but at present it is considered worth $25,000. It is re ported from Italy that in the garden of Marquis Corsi Salviati, in Sesto Flor iento, the Vanda Lowi is also at pres ent in flower, which is the first time it has ever flowered in Italy. Pall Mall Gazette. m m Foreman Allin, of the Springfield, Mass.. armor, who is something of a meteorologist, has a novel explanation of the gradual equalization of climate north and south that at the south be coming colder as that of the north be comes warmer. Every storm he thinks, is due to electricity, and the railroads and telegraph lines, with their steel rails and wires, forming as they do a network of conductors all over the country, tend to equalize the olimate. Boston Post. m m Since the appointment of the Na tional Convention there, Chicago is said to wear its hat on one side d smoke a cigar at an angle of forty-fiT de-rees. N. T. OmrnerciAdveHutu FARM AND FHESIDE. An Iowa farmer trains his vines on elm trees, and claims im proved results. CJiicago Journal. Tough meat may be made, as ten der as any by the addition of a little vinegar to trie water when it is put om to boil. X. Y. Herald. There is no use in cleaning your poultry houses unless you burn the old nests. They will harbor more of the various kinds of poultry parasites than you can ever exterminate with a white wash brush. Exchange. Partial paralysis in a mare is a se rious matter and requires a long time to produce any beneficial results. Give her one dram "eash of powdered ax vomica and Iodide of potash night and morning in he. food for a month or two. Give the paralyzed side plenty of hand rubbing and friction. Chicago Horse man. A wr'ter in LippincoWs Magazine says that the ocoiloiny of French cook ing is something to" open American eyes. Not a drop of water in which vegetables are boiled ever drains away wasted, but with a dish of milk and a little pork fat or butter is made a good soup vehicle by means of which to con sume dry bread." In the caily stages the spavin, says the Mirror aud I'arwr. is not clearly develop d, but afterward it is so well mar.-ed that a spavin may be pronouueed to e.it without an eam nation of the joint. Treatment should bo directed to the abatement of the inflammation, which gives rise to the pain, and also to promote absorption of the new growth. Apply tincture of iodine daily over the joint with a brush. Homemade yeast is much slower in its action than brewers', aud if set in the morning the bread would probably not be ready till quite late in the even ing. A two-pound loaf will take about three-quarlers of an hour in an ordinary oven; ten minutes longer if baked in a tin. Keep a clean, bright skewer for testing. If, when plunged i to the loaf, it comes out clean, then the bread may be drawn, but if sticky it must remain longer. Ar. Y. Herald. The simple plan of storing e'ggs in dry ashes has been used for some time by a correspondent of the Live Slock Journal with very satisfactory results. Though rather fastidious about their quality, he reports having enjoyed those thus kept during a period of more than four mouths, and in one in stance a whole year. The only precau tions seem to be (besides, of course, sound eggs to begin with) "to see that the ashes are quite dry, and to see that the e"gs do not touch one another." For barley soup, cut three slices of bacon and two pounds of the neck of veal in small pieces: put them in a saucepan or small kettle with a pint of water. Let this simmer for three quarters of an hour, then add one small onion, a carrot, two stalks of celery, half a teaspoonful of black pepper, a teaspoonful of salt, and two quarts of hot water. Let this boil for at least two hours, then take'from the fire, and when cold, remove the fator scum from the top, strain the soup, and put it on the fire and add a pint of barley which has been washed and soaked in cold water for three hours at least Boston Globe. The Profit in Farming. In agriculture, as in all other indus tries, it is the best use of opportunities and materials that makes the most profit. The soil is the material from which the farmer produces his income. It is productive only when it is at work, that is, when it is "bearing some crop. When it is idle it is simply so much money at rest and yielding no interest The soil, too, like money, is exhausted when it is idle, and is increasing in value when it is at work. One might as well fear that so much money as the land is worth would become reduced in value by being well invested, as that the land would be impoverished when it is in a productive condition. This can be very clearly shown. A field is sown now to rye, and the crop will bo gathered next July. Frequently it will lie until the next spring, when it may be planted to corn. The corn will stand a month after it is ripe and might be cut, and the land will be plowed in the spring and sown with oats. The oat stubble will be two months before it is flowed and sown to fall grain of some ind. Now the ground has been idle more than half the time, producing nothing. On the other hand, a field now in rye or wheat may be plowed as soon as the crop is cut and planted with fodder corn, or sown with millet, or a green crop such as rape, or with turnips, and from five to ten or fifteen tons per acre of val uable lodder taken from the soil. This will feed a good many stock, sheep, pigs, cattle, or cows, and the whole value of it will be returned in manure. Or the crop may be plowed under and the soil greatly enriched by it. The following corn crop will be increased either way by the manure or the green stuff plowed in. U the corn is put in in good season, the land being plowed in the fall so that no time is lost, and is cut as soon as the grain in glazed, rye may be sown and harrowed in, and a good fall or winter pasture may be secured. There will be something to be plowed in, too, in the spring more or less, and again the land will be in better condition. This con stant cropping will keep down weeds and will produce something that may be fed to stock, and if done, as a rnle, will easily provide fodder for twice as much live stock as the farm usually car ries. No farmer will have a shadow of a. doubt that atthe end of ten years with such treatment as this his land will bo far richer and more productive, and he will be proportionately richer himself than ;if it had laid idle six months of each of those years. N. Y. Times. m m Matrimonial Advice. The young woman said her lover was coming on the train, and she was going to be married. Whereupon the old lady said she had much experience in the "marrying business," and would five the young lady some advice, and ere is what she said: "Well, child, never marry a railroader, for he is lia ble to get killed at any time. Never marry a military man, for he is liable to go to war and get shot Besides, hia gorgeous clothes attract the attention of the women. Never marry a hotel keeper. My first husband was a hotel keeper and fell through the elevator opening and broke his skull. Never marry a traveling man, for he is always away from home. Never marry a steamboater. My second husband was a steamboat captain, and got blowed into 4,000,000 pieces! I always get terribly mad when I think of that man. Never marry a grocer. My third hus band was a grocer, and he was killed by a molasses barrel fallin' on him. When I think of him I'm completely disgusted. Never marry a carpenter. My fourth husband was a carpenter, and fell off a scaffold and was smashed to a jelly. May his soul sleep in peace! Never marry a machinist My fifth husband was a machinist I'D never forget the day he was brought home on a board. I didn't recognize him. A belt had come off a pulley and hit him plum in the face and spread his nose all over his countenance. I promised him on his dyin' bed that I'd never marry another machinist" Just then the train rolled in and the old lady asked: "Child, what business is jourloTerin?" "Insurance business." "O, mercy! Yon don't mean to marry kirn? My sixth tpsband was as in surance " But the young lady was gone to meet her lovn.-Exchmg. sBsPLjf LH eaaB tlssyUraMilaUk KAVlATAIiD. Daily Expro-.s Tmh.8 rr OiuhI.i. ('iil cago, Rau44 'l I jr St. LouU. aud ' iciiits Ksnt. Thxvuph cars vin. l't-oria to Imllan mpoUs: Bifgautrulimnn 7at:-r- "ars and Day eoe"ora- a el throuu tiuiua. aud lMuiig t ar'ccit cf Mihsouri iUver. Tiironah Tiekfts r.t thoTjnwmt l:otr3 bagg&uu wsU br eluded 1 1 iirstlnation. Any information a.3 to ratut, routes t- tliiio tublos wiilUo rv rfti"iy furnished uioa api'licntk'ii to any afect, cr to I. S.KUSTIS.Ccncrat Ticket Agent. Oxuaba, 2iv. XsTOTIOE Chicago Weekly News -AND SOLUlIStlS, USE, J07RHAL FOR $2.50 a Tear Postage Included. The OBI JA.GO WEEKLY NEWS is recognized as a paper unsurpassed in all tha requirements of America! Journalism. It stands conspicuous among the metropolitan journals of the country as a complete News-paper. In the matter of telegraphic service, having the advantage of connection with the CHICAGO DAILY NEWS, it has at its com mand all the dispatches of the Western Associated Press, besides a very extensive service of Special Telegrams from all important points. As a News-paper it has no supe rior. It is INDEPENDENTS PoUtics, presenting all political news, free from partisan bias or coloring, and absolutely without fear or favor as to parties. It is, in the fullest sense, a FAMILY PAPER. Each issue contains several COM PLETED STORIES, a SERIAL STORY of absorbing interest, and a rich variety of condensed notes on Fashions, Art, Indus tries, Literature, Science, etc., etc. Its Market Quotations are complete, and to be relied upon. 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Special terms to agents and clubs. Sample Copies fiee. Address,' CHICAGO HERALD COMP'Y 120an22Fiftb-av., 40-tf CHICAGO. ILL ILYON&HEALY tt4twtH..CUf iuimijmHIii-j ifci MttmSsZm. Ml H K "FbiiHQ nbaXVAHiK Daily E-rpreaa Trains for Denver, coc nacting in. Union lepot for all pointi Iu Colorado, Utah, Caliroruiu. -. th: .i.tirw YWst. Tha advent of thiiJino giv tho trav ol? r a Jfew 1'outr to th AVit. -with sceuery au.i uu railages ucuquamu c:sawncro. anon galo nt alt tha irniortruit'tiitini. am! i THE HENRY LITERS, DKALKK IN WIND MILLS, AND PUMPS. Buckeye Mower, combined, Self Binder, wire or twine. Pumps Repaired on short uotice J2T0ne door west of Ilcintz.- Drug Store, lltli Street, Columhuj, Neb. x HENRY G-ASS, TJISTDEHTATCEIl ! COFFINS AND METALLIC CASES J.ND DBALKIt IN Furniture, Chairs, Bedsteads, Bu reaus. Tables. Safes. Lounges. &c. Picture Frames and Mouldings. ZSTIlepairina of all kinds of Uphofotmi Goods. 6-tf COLIIMKUS. NKB. Special Announcement! SEDUCTION IN PRICE. 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