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About The Columbus journal. (Columbus, Neb.) 1874-1911 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 17, 1884)
! : 11 ! I i , i h i r;t h t! J I hi THE JOURNAL. WEDNESDAY, DEC. IT, 1884. IsUrsl at tie PcrtsSee, Cclistu, Sit., t nccsi tltn natter. For the Journal. The E.airs Sfcoald be Enforced. Messrs. Editors : With your per mission, the undersigned desireK to submit a few remarks for the candid consideration of your readers, relat ing to the administration of criminal justice in Platte county. I might preface these statements by stating hero that it is my humble opinion that I have a right so to do, for at least two very cogent reasons; fir6t, be cause it was my fortune to reside within her borders for a number of years. Therefore I take more or loss pride in the good name of my old home, particularly when I hear that good name drawn in question so fre quently on account of recent occur rences therein. Secondly, because I am a tax-payer therein, and am di rectly interested in her material pros perity, both as respects the matter of increasing tho valuation of her prop erty, and lessening tho burdens of the lax-payers. Thus, I take it for grant ed, that no good citizen who wishes to bco crime committed in Columbus and vicinity puuished, will take ex ception to these observations. It is expected, howover, that your crooks and their sympathizers may, for hi times past they have stood in public placos and iusultod respectable citi zens whom they hadiujurcd and des poiled; thus investigations have been Btillcd, prosecutions made hideous mockeries, in spite of the efforts of courts and District Attorneys. Tho evils that ensue from such neglect and apathy arc many. Bad examples arc set before the young, which will more than counteract the beneflcent influ ences of the home and school. Prom ises of immunity aro held out to criminals, if they will como into your borders to operate. Tho vicious classes, who will bilk and rob the honest citizens, will increase. The tax-payers burdens will muuipiy. Men of mean?, especially if they havo families, will hesitate to reside and invest in property where 6uch acta are tolerated with indifference. Some may answer if a man don't want to come and live with us he ueedn't. Did it ever occur to such persons that if a man with money who comes among you and invests it, and trades with your citizens, pays his debts, he is building up our interests, lessening our taxes, and is a better factor in the community than a bilk or crock, who dead-heads on and injures you at home and prcdjudiccs you abroad? How can it be otherwise expected than that bnys who are naturally good and have kind parents, would yield to temptation, when such evil examples are put before them, and commit crime. The laws should be enforced and justice ought to havo an inning, just once. Whenever the abovo matters have been broached in my hearing, I havo invariably said that the citizens of Columbus aro not vicious, that they are, generally speak inff, good at heirt ; but aro too back ward in taking an ins ore-it in those affairs which most affect the body politic, thiiikhiir perhaps that the officers of lh law will hritif; things about all right Fonietime. Did it ever occur to you th.it officers cau do very little towards enforcing the laws, if they do not have a healthy moral sen timent to support them in l heir good work? Courts and sheriffs cannot create good juiors. It men, who ought to Mirvc, will nhirk their share of tho responsibility which they oujjlit to assume, on some dry legal techni cality justice will suffer, and cihue flourish. Shall the court be a place where justice is judicially adminis tered, or shall it bccuno the city of refuge for the malefactor, a circus where the crook is the star and the judge the clown? Mcthiuks I hear a voice coming from the inmost soul of every good citizen within your por tals saying that the. talon must go; that they have debauched our morals long enough ; you culprits we have suffered with us too long; in the good ness of our hearts we havo tolerated you hoping that you might turn from your iniquity, and become respecta ble: but how can the leopard change his spots? Henceforth our officials shall have our active moral support. Trusting that thce lines will be re ceived by the well disponed in the spirit of kindne-s in which they arc traced, having waited for others to take the initiatory, the remembrance of warm friends, and the kindly re gard I still have for my old home, have induced this action. Believing that right will ultimately and power fully prevail, I remain. Yours respectfully, Itvnox Mii.i.ett. December Gth, 1SS4. The long expected completion ol tho Washington monument obelisk was accomplished on the afternoon of the Gth by the setting in place of the ruarblo cap stone weighing 3,300 pounds. The ceremonies were few and simple, the celebration of the event boiiifr reserved for Washing ton's birthday. The flag over the monument now floats from the flag staff top, which is exactly six hundred feet from the ground, thus displaying the American colors at the greateet constructed height ever yet known in the world. The monument itself with its total height of 550 feet, far overtops ever' structure of human hands. The corner 6tonc of this mon ument was laid more thin thirty-six years ago. Young wife: I am determined to learn at what hour my husband comes home at nights; yet. do what I will, I cannot keep awake, and be is al ways careful not to make a particle of noise. Is there any drug that pro daces wakefulness? Old wife: No need to bny drags. Sprinkle the toot with tacks. ED1TOK1AL, NOTES. Germany has 200,000 tramps. There are 234 stove foundries in America. American oysters are being planted in the Baltic. There are 450 signal service sta tions in the country. There are 352 miles of street rail way in Philadelphia. Ten thousand women voted in Washington territory. A ton of starch can be made from 250 bushels of potatoes. Bob. Burdette has, it is said, left the Burlington JIawkeye. The payment of pensions so fur this month amounts to $8,300,000. The son of Boston's mayor has been fined $125 for pounding bis tailor. The issue of 6'ilver dollars for tho week ending Doc. (5th was $520,990. Mrs. Southworth is sixty-five years old and has written sixt-tive books. Seventy years ago on the 29ih tilt , tho first newspaper was printed by steam. It is said that there is much smug gling from Mexico into the Uuited States. In Paris there are 150 tradesmen who deal in nothing but old postage 6taraps. Cushions are prohibited iu the New York borne cars by tho Board of Health. A rainbow about twenty-five min utes after sunset was recently wit nessed in Ireland. If you want to spend a cool sum mer go to the table lands of Thibet. It freezes there iu July. An oyster "measuriug two leet in diameter" (local papers 6ay) was rc ceutly sold in Paris for $1.50. It is reported that Lapland aud Northern Sweedeu are 6oon to be opened up by a lino of railway. A report from Kansas City says that the Burliugiou has withdrawn its cut on passenger rates to St. Louis. The London Economist says that the loss of British farmers iu selling wheat at the present prices is $10 an acre. It cuts more to maintain the city of Boston, in proportion to population, than any other city in tho United States. More than 6,000 people were turned out of doors iu Ireland tor non-payment of rent during the quarter ending Sept. 30. Hundreds of people are said to bo actually starving iu the North of England, with many thousand more hungry and destitute. The property committeo of the city of Philadelphia has decided that the Independence bell may be taken to the New Orleans exposition. A society belle iu New York is said to.have recently paid $500 for a pair of shoes. They were of white satin and embroidered with pearls. Jeuny Lind is a teacher iu the col lege ot music at Albert Hall, London, and said to be one of tho most zealous aud hard working of them all.- Recently a steamer supposed to bo the Alliance, ot Cardiff, floundered off Boscustle, and ail bauds were lost. Boscastle is a small seaport of the county Cornwall, Englaud. Walter Young, a Scotchman, and totally blind, work daily digging coal iu a mine near Pittsburg. He fought iu the battle of Balakava, and witnessed the charge of the '"Six Hundred." Dr. Hirschmanu, of Norway, a Michigan man, has, devised a stove pipe with a patent jointing process, which will probably do away with the venerable stovepipe joke and a great deal ol ill-temper and many bad words. The old Independence bell wdl be sent to the New Orleans Exposition, as the request has been made by the city council ot New Orleans, to give citizens from all parts of the Union an opportunity to hear the sound of that memorable and tacred old bell of Irecdom. had reports of the epniemic in West Virginia, especially in vVise, Lee, Dickiusou aud Buchanan coun ties are described as heartrending. On Quest's river, within a radius ol four miles, there arc thirty cases of the disease. In oue iustauce the fa ther, mother and bix children died. Many persons die for want of atteutiou. Some of the wine politicians ot the north can doubtless explain why the solid democratic south id anxious to circulate the news and keep up the impression that tho south is moving ahead on the temperance question, by publishing items "like the following: "Local prohibition of the sale of in toxicants makes steady progress iu the south." Joseph C. Mackin, secretary of the Cook county democratic central com mittee, was arrested on the evening of the 8th inst. on complaint of A. M. Day, secretary of the citizens com mittee, charged with fraud in the Brand-Leman case. Mackin was ta ken before U. S. Commissioner Hoyne and held in $10,000 bail for a prelim inary. This is the first arrest. It will be remembered that Mackin was before the grand jury and refused to inswer questions under his privileged right that he could not be made to criminate himself. Julius Robbie, a farmer living near Somerset, Pulaski county, Ky., was instantly killed by a fiery stone out of a clear sky. He was 6truck by the meteor on the head and his head crushed in, and his clothing torn and burned and his body was streaked with burning streams of molten iron or detached stones of white heat. This killing of a man by the fall of a meteor is the first authenticated case of the kind in American hiBtory. Scientists intend making a thorough investigation of this aerolite now boritd ia Somerset Short Hand Writing. It ia best to acknowedgo that nothing is known for certain as to the early his tory of stenography. It is probable that from the earliest times when men wrote they indulged in abbreviations to a more or less extent in order to waste as little time as possible in copying, and it is very probable also that ingen ious scholars of different nations may often have devised torse and concise systems of caligraphy for their own 1rivate use. But this does not estab ish the existence of any widespread and generally recognized method of shorthand writing, and we find nothing of the kind until the discovery of seme- j iography that is, the art of writing in ! signs at Athens. It is not very clear i who was the inventor of this art. Dio genes Laertius seems to attribute the merit of it to Xenophon, for he affirms that tho famous historian was the lirst . Athenian to practice it. But however J that may be, wo cau be certain of this, . that Xenophon was a very adroit scnie- iographir, and that it is to him we owo j such few of tho speeches of Socrates as have been handed down to our times. Senieiograpfcy must have been a rather j complicated art, for we are repeatedly told by Greek and Latin authors that it was very hard to acquire it. But this fact only adds to tho credit of those who were patient and studious enough to surmount tho difficulties of the arduous task, aud it may be judged how great is the debt that we owe to thoso courageous toilers when ono re members that bad it not been for them well nigh all the models of Grecian eloquence that has survived to this day, and among them the matchless orations I of Demosthenes, would have been lost to us. There are at present but two speci , mens extant of Greek seniciography, ! one in. the library of the Vatican and the other in the Bibliothcquo Impcriale at Paris. The first contains the works of Dennis tho Areopagite. and tho second the speeches of Ilenaogenes, to gether with a few extracts of an un known work. From Athens shorthand writing was imported iuto Rome, where, thanks to the influence of Cicero, it became not only a fashionable art, but also a most lucrative and horsorable profession. Tiro, tho frcedman of Cicero and after ward his confidant and intimate friend, was the most renowned of Latin notarii. It would seem, however, that stenog raphy was very fa from having at tained then the degree of perfec tion which it has reached during tho last sixty years. What corroborates this opinion is that on the day when Cato was to speak against the measures iroposed by Utusar to thwart the Cata ino conspiracy, Cicero was afraid to rely upon only one or two shorthand writers for a report of tho intended speech; he caused as many as twelve to be placed in differont parts of tho Sen ate hall, and it is thus that we have be como possessed of this celebrated har rangue of Cato, the only ono that remains of him. So great was the im portance which Cicero attached to stenography that, although a short hand writer himself, ho found it utterly impossible to get on for a singlo day without Tiro, who was constantly at his elbow ready to take down his ini- frovisations, or to copy out his letters, n one of his epistles ho says to this valued amanuensis: "I should not have thought, my dear Tiro, that it would have been so hard to have dis pensed with your help. Take care of your health "and be persuaded of this, that the best service you cau render me is to keep from being ill." If wc had need of other testimony to prove the esteem in which stenography was held at Rome, we might cito Ovid and I'ru dentius, the first of whom tells us that Julius Cuisar habitually wrote in short hand, and gave his manuscripts over to copyists to transcribe, and the second, that St. Cassian, who lived under the reigns of Decius and Valerius, was one of the most celebrated professors of stenography. Having been condemned to death for refusing to sacrifice to idols, he was delivered over to the ten der mercies of his pupils, who killed him with their stylets. The historian Vano was another practiced nolarius the 490 volumes he left were all written in shorthand. However, the "Tironian notes," as they were called (from the fact of Tiro having first adopted them from the Greek), were originally of a very im perfect character. Two principal causes conduced to this imperfection: Firstly, the letters of Tiro's shorthand alphabet had too much analogy with tho letters of tho ordinary alphabet, which, consisting as it did then, entire ly of the letters wo now call capitals, did not admit of rapid tracing; and secondly, tho stenographic vocabulary of Tiro comprised only 1,100 words, which rendered it quite impossible for anything but a rough outline to be taken of most public speeches. Nev ertheless, the S3slem, such as it was, worked very well, and being improved shortly after its introduction into Italy, by Parsianus and Aquila, who simpli fied the signs and enlarged tho vocabu lary, it soon spread among scholars and became very popular. Augustus resolved to learu the art, and after a few months of study acquired great proficiency in it. Hereupon Maetenas, who had been a little skeptical at first, extended his powerful patronage to shorthand writers, and the consequence was that within a few years there were no less than seventy-live schools at Rome and JJuO in the provinces where the Tironian notes were taught. From that time ever Italian of education was as much bound to know stenogra phy as a modern gentleman is to know how to spell. Younsr Romans and o4 corresponded with each other by meant' of shorthand, and tho Acta Dutrna, those budgets of news that were dis patched every day or week from the Forum of Rome to the more important cities of the empire, were all drawn up in the abbreviated form, and only trans cribed upon reaching thoir destination. Among tho notarii who modified the Tironian notes, two, deserve special mention, viz.: Seneca, the Rhetorician, and Saint Cyprian. The former added two thousand and the latter eight thou sand to the number of signs in tho vo cabulary. Subsequently the number of these signs attained a total of thirteen thousand, aud the art of stenography then reached the acme of its perfection. Instead of drawing up mere summaries of the speeches they heard and filling up the gaps afterward, cither from memory or under dictation of the ora tors themselves, as had been done in Tiro's time, the later shorthand writers of Rome were as smart at reporting a public harangue verbatim as any of tho gentlemen ia the Chamber of Deputies' gallery nowaday. Many manuals of explanatory rules to regulate the use of the thirteen thousand signs were also written during the Second and Third centuries, and the difficulties which had at first been inherent to tho study of the art were thus gradually combatted or simplified. Brooklyn Eagle. A foreign gentleman at a musical evening a few weeks since expressed a great wish to hear "Home, Sweet Home," which he had been told was a striking example of musical pathos and expression. A well-known professor of music, having been asked to play it, sat down to the piano and dashed into Thalbcrg's variations to the air, to which the foreign gentleman listened with deep attention, becoming, how ever, a little bewildered at tho compli cated passage to the li-ialo. At the con dition he rose and grm-lyIioo8 hands with tho professor, saying: "Itankyou, sarc. 1 think we understand now your Home. Sweet Homo' so nice and quiet to begin ui:h. but. at the eud, oh, what a row iu tte house." Anthracite Coal. Few of the oonsumers of anthracite coal have any idea of what it is more than a utility, where it comes from, or how it is obtained. Again, some who arc conversant with the mining of bi tuminous coal suppose that it is all the same, and so pass the subject by. May I not then call attention to some ot tho more pleasing features of its composi tion with rock and hill to form tho mountains of Eastern Pennsylvania and of its production in its familiar forms? "Lackawanna" coal is known all over the United States, and the word is the same kind of a trado mark to coal that "No. 1 hard" is to tho Northwestern wheat. On leaving tho Erie Railway at Susquehanna for the coal region, ono notices first the sandstone of the hills through which the road lies. Railway cuts disclose a varying rock, sometimes solid but often scaly and broken. This being the kind of rock lying next the coal we naturally look for outcropping oi it, out mo uip or me strata is aoout 30 or 35 toward the south. A harder rock is seen in the noxt layer above that seems to be almost granite Tho soil is good, producing maple and beech timber, hemlock only growing in the scant soil of the sandstone hills. This passed, the rock on which the great coal deposits of Pennsylvania rest, with about the same dip, 'slowly hides itself iu the hills toward the south. At Carbondale but little till has to be removed to reach the coal. At Forest, three miles north, the vein "starts" or crops out, and is lightly worked. At Archibald, the little town lies within a great horseshoe, the open part being toward the north, tho deposit lying all around but not under it. One" of tho most remarkable "potholes" in tho world was recently opened hero. It is very like those near Luzerne, Switzer land, but is larger. Theupperstratum of coal is about ton feet in depth, be neath which is thirty feet of sand rock which lies upon the vein wo first notice at Forest. This "pot" has its run in the surface rock, and is more than twenty feet in diameter. Being forty live feet deep, it extends nearly to tho second vein of coal. It is hardly funnel shaped, the sides aro too nearly per pendicular, but it is rather smaller toward tho bottom. When found it is full of fine sand, water-worn stones, some of which were of a flinty char acter, but round and highly polished. Many of these are now on exhibition at at tho company's office. The "pot" is soon to be opened for an air shaft. Further down this road toScranton aud we are in the Lackawanna Valley. Pittston, Wilkesbarre, and down tho river to Mauch Chunk, and wc have passed through the heart of tho anthra cite region. There are a large number of private mines, but most of the coal is produced by tho large corporations and railroad cbmpauies. Comparatively few of tho mines employ tho "shaft" except for ventilation, bringing the product of the mine out on a "slope" or inclined plane. At the outer terminus is tho hoisting machinery together with the "breaker. This is the part of the mining work that any one may visit and not incur the danger or inconvenience of a descent into the dampness of the "pit." The breaker is a large frame building cov ering an area varying from five hundred to fifteen hundred square feet, and is usually about sixty feet high. As tho coal comes from the mouth of the slope it is hoisted to the top of the building and thrown into the breaking or crush ing machinery. This is a series of im mense rollers havingshort, strong teeth which work freely between each other as the machinery moves. The rollers may be adjusted so as to break the coal to a very small size or leave it in lumps of ten or twelve pounds each. This larger size is consumed by the gas com panies. After passing the crushers tho coal is dropped upon the screens, which are immense sieves standing atanaugle of forty or forty-live degrees, so placed ono below another the finest beneath and the coarsest at the top that as it fails to go through tho first it readily rattles off into the "dump," which is true of all tho others as well. It is still a coEoidcrable distance from tho grouud, and this facilitates loading tho cars, which are run under the dumps to receive the different grades as they have been separated above. A car can be loaded in from six to nine minutes. Trains of from one hundred and thirty to ono hundred and fifty cars follow ono another out of this region with their thousands of tons of the shining coals. More than two thousand car loads aro mined and shipped daily from the Wilkesbarre region. The Scran ton re gion sends out as much more, and this does not include near all of the mining interests in tho anthracite region. row, since tnese ears carry troni live to twelve tons each, putting tho esti mated number of cars at six thousand, and we have approximated verr nearly to the amount mined per day 500,000 tons. Some people fear that the sup ply may be exhausted and cry "hold!" There are many tons wasted every day, but it is like a few heads of grain left in tho harvest field, too small an amount to consider. Then, I am told, tho greatest deposits remain un touched, wholly below the veins now worked, ami of an equally good quality. The veins now worked are probably but a per cent, of what lies untouched be low. The mining proper is let in con tracts, anil the men who drill and blast and get tho coal loose, so that it may be o:tded. rarely work more than half a day. They hire common laborers to load their cars a certain number of cars being allowed to each contractor. What is called "top coal" is often the best iu the mine, but is not removed until the "chamber" is "worked." It lies next to the rock overhead and is .safer than tho bare rock as a roof, since the latter often conies down without warning tiie miners, and tho former never docs, always cracking and settling slowly. The chambers are "run" from the mat:, artery or excavation through the vein at distances of about fifteen feet apait and are from twenty-live to thirty-five feet broad. For tho hotter circulation of air these chamber walls are cut through at regular distances, so that the whole is a might' labyrinth. When the chamber is worked, the top eoai and the "pillars" i. e., what is left between the chambers is removed as far as possible, but ii often results in loss of life or limb. Miners make fair wages, but are no more careful of their earnings than their laborers, who earn far less. There is much more of inter est to be told, but perhaps a later letter would tell it better. The geology of the mines would be subject matter of tho greatest interest and value and receive much attention if written. Cor. Cleve land Leader. m A matrimonial association has been started in Harlem. Young men pay monthly dues of live dollars and agreo to remain single one year. At tho'end of that time any one, by giving three months' notice, will receive on his wed ding 2,000. Many are joining. N. Y. Express. -Maggie Lee, a "magnetic girl," gave a performance in Frankfort, Ky., the other night, in presence of Proctor Knott and a large audience. A man weighing 225 pounds sat in a chair, and she easily lifted him and the chair by touching" tho chair with the tip of hei ringer. Louisville Courier Journal. Edward Simms, organist of St. Michael's, Coventry, England, has held his position seventy-four years, and still continues tor officiate. Yaller Dog and Raw Dog aro the names of two little towns south of Hepp. er, Oregon. Our Kong Birds, Now is tho time when the bad boy of the country is csuojially activo in rang ing tho woods and climbing the trees, at the imminent risk of his mischiev ous head, to rob tho birds' nests of their coSd l" yl,ng. and even to carry oil tho nest"wholc. This vicious habit is not by any means confined to the chil dren of the poor and ig.iorant: on tho contrary the bovs who are most de structive of binf-life seem to be tho sous of wealthy people, who have abundant leisure and no useful way to occupy their time, aud pocket money enough to provide themselves with the climbing irons of tiie telegraph ro paircrs, so that scarce a bird of the forest is coy eno-igh in hidiug his nest to escape danger from these young rogues. i ho law against this sort of reckless destruction is a dead letter, as long as it is not put in execution by Iho public sentiment of the people. The bad boy kuows perfectly well that there is such a law, and he knows just as well that his father takes some pride iu his col lection of eggs and nests, and will de feud him if any complaint is mado. It is a fact that between the adverse in tluenccs of the vicious boys, the crows, hawks and squirrels, who are also nest robbers, and tho crowding of our vil lages with the worthless English spar row, our native songsters, such as the blue bird, tho song sparrow, and the oriole, aro not as plenty as they used to be, and it is a great pity and a shame that this is so. Tho true lover of the beauties of nature takes most delight in their natural ways. To tho writer, a caged song bird is an object of pity. unless, indeed, it tic a tanary uorn in a cage, which kuows not the joy of the open air, and can not endure our climate unprotected by man. Tho sight of ono of our wild song birds, such as the bobolink, the mock ing bird, or the oriole, confined behind wire?, is a sorry sight; the poor thing doesn't feel like singing, and even after he has given up beating his feathers to pieces in hopeless attempts to escape, and philosophically makes the best of his imprisonment, he never sings with half the life aud joy that inspires him t break of dawn in his native woods r meadows. Whon people learn to love these wild lungs for their very wildness, and to f. -Inure their wonderful ways of nest building and caring for their young, t!u reckless boy will find his tracks .va.ched by the police, and his trade in birds' eggs gone for want of customers. The crow, tho hawks, cats, and the red squirrel, aro mischievous nest robbers, and deserve to be destroyed, as does also the English sparrow, which by sheer force of numbers, is crowding out better native birds. Our oriole or golden robin is, of all- our birds, the most charming in color of his plumage and richness of Jiis song: he comes with the bobolink about the 10th of May, and well deserves to be encouraged for his constant war upon the insects, as well as for his great beauty, matchless song, and wonderful way "of hanging his bag-like nest from "the crotch of some droopmg elm bough. But who would rob his nest, or cage him? O, fie, boys, let him fly! and try to coax him to build near the house by haging out on the bushes plenty of old strings early in Mav: he will c-arrv them oil' and use them to good purpose. The blue bird is another harmless and useful bird, and well worth en couraging. He likes to build his nest in hollow trees, and will kindly accept an old tin can or other shelter placed among the trees for his nest. There are many other birds which deserve to be encouraged to build near our farm houses, which should receive the attention of young people, who will find far more pleasure in encouraging them than in destroj'ing them. Use your hunting propensities against the common enemies of man tho wood chuck, skunk, hawk, mink and cat but in the name of good sense let alone the harmless and useful birds. W. D. Fhil brick, in New England Farmer. m Coffee and Bananas. A eentlcman who lived for many years iu Mexico has explained to a re porter why bananas are so abundant on our streets, and, indeed, all over tho country, in the following way: In cer tain parts of Mexico and Central America, particularly on the lowlands, a large amount of coffee is now being planted. The young coffee tree is quite tender and without protection in the way of shade would certainly be burned out by the lierco sun of the Southern country before it had reached its bear ing season about three or four years after planting. Thcroforo when tho young coffee tree is set out as it is in regular rows, alternate rows of bananas are set out at the same time. The coffee plants arc sprouted ami set out on the plantation much the same as our cabbage or tomato plauts. The banana is a particularly luxuriant plant in moist, low soil and grows with tho utmost rapidity. It at once becomes a guardian angel to the tender cofiee tree, shielding it with its outspread verdant wings from the tropic sun, and so con tinues until the precious berry plant is able to fight its own way through life. The banana throws out shoots and spreads almost as rapidly as a straw berry plant. It bears fruit all the year round, commencing with the first season, and thereafter at any time one may seo this prolific bearer in all stages of advancement toward fruition. One stalk will be just peeping from the ground, when another is a foot high; another is half grown; another is in full bloom; another bears green fruit and another bears ripo fruit. The progress of theso shoots keeps on without interruption at all seasons of the year, so that oue may procure continuous food from one plant at all times. Tho coffee planter, when the bunch of bananas has attained its full si.o but is still green, cuts oft" thi one particular stalk, which ends its in dividual career. It is a mistake to sup pose that bananas oven in the tropics can be allowed to ripen on the plant for food purposes. The become so rich, being thirty-three per cent, sugar oi saccharine matter, that they are almost like jelly and are unfit for food. Tin explains why tho fruit are all green when they arrivo in this market, and not, as is generally supposed, because they woulu spoil in transit if plucked when ripenod. The gentleman referred to says: "During the summer time I eat nothing else for my noonday meal but this luscious fruit. It is meat, veg etables, bread and drink to me. It is a food designed by an all-wise Provi dence for the inhabitants of the hot climates to live on and still retain their health." When tho coffee plant roaches ma turity, the banana trees having fulfilled their" mission are cut down for two suc cessive seasons, which exterminater. them. The steady and remarkable in crease in coffee growing owing to the enormous demands of all countries, has brought with it the increased banana planting, and as a consequence ha flooded the civilized world with this low priced and delicious fruit which form erly was a high-priced luxury, tho planter naturally endeavoring to take advantage of tho two crops. Some iden of the number of banana trees on a large plantation mav bo obtained from the remark of the planter: "I have so many banana trees on my place that if you gave me me five cents apiece for them I would throw in all the rest of my plantation, mills, coffee fields buildings, and everything I had on it."" Pittsburgh ChronicleTclegraph. m . It is noted as an interesting fact that the wages of sin have not been oat; down tn any perceptible exteat. Negro Minstrels. 'I havo a reasonable good onrtom sic," remarks that typical amateur actor. Bottom the Weaver; "let's havo tho tongs anil the bones." The tongs, though not obsolete, are now something archaic, but masters of the noisy art and mysterv of bone plaj'ing are still to be found disguised in black and set over against masters of the more dulcet tambourine, at the oonosito ends of tho . 14 : scmicifclo of sable perf6rmers known to tho world at large as negro minstrels. It is, perhaps, more accurate to confess at once that tho negro minstrel is prac tically knowu and loved only in those arts of the world where the English auguage is spoken. The burut-cork opera of tho Christ' Minstrel is appre ciated only in Great Britain, in Greater Britain, and in the United States of America -where, iu fact, it had its rise some two score years ago. Where tho English language is not spoken, tho grotesque verbal dislocations of Brud der Bonos somehow fail of their reward. Indeed, nothing can bo more humor ously pathetic than the dignified aud reserved attitude of the audience in a Parisian afe cinn'ttnl Ilia Alea'.ar or the Ambassadeiirs in .summer or the Kldorado in winter when a pair of blacked-up and hopelessly -less Cock- I neys are attempting an exact imitation i of tho savings and doings of the Amer- ican plantation negro, studied by them at second hand from souio Irish-Amer- Scan pe -former who had proba- bly never in his life seen a cotton-liold or a sugar-house. And the estate of tho Germans ia yet less j gracious than that of the Frenchman; there is even a legem! in circulation ' setting forth the absolute failure of an I enterprising: American 'ii:i!ia;ur's at- ! tempt to ltivadu uermaii Willi a reso lute band of negro minstrels, in conse quence of the pcrspie:iv Jy of tho Ger man critics iu detecting tho fraud of trying to pass off as i.egroes white men artificially blackened! Obviously, tho imitation darkey of the uegro min strel" stage did not coincide with the genuine darkey as evolved from tho IVutonic inner consciou-.ne.ss. Prob ably tho German critics would have objected even to the conscientious dis play of misplaced zeal which it was our good fortune once to behold iu America. At the huge summer hotels which mako Saratoga one of tho brightest and gayest of American watering-places, attendants in the dining-rooms are generally negroes, varying in hue from the ebony of tho full-blooded black to the tawnyivoryof the octoroon. The waiters of oue of these hotels sometimes obtain permis sion to give a minstrel show" in the dining-room, to which the "amused" guests of the hotel are admitted for a price. It was one of theso minstrel shows given at a Saratoga hotel three summers ago by genuine darkeys, that we were privileged to attend; and when the curtains were drawn aside, discov ering the row of sable performers, it was perceived to the great and abiding joy of the spectators, that the musicians were all of a uniform darkness of hue, and that they, genuine negroes as they . were, had "blacked up, the more closely to resemble the professional . uegro minstrels. Saturday Review. , Given to Lylusr. What is the matter with the human race? What obliquity is it that induces people to tell lies out" of which they can get no possible benefit? Are the ma ority of people consciously un veracious, or are they really duprs of their senses? "I said in" my wrath all men are liars." Perhaps he might havo said it coolly and with scientific precision. Perhaps it is questiou of physiology rather than of morals. The human framo is ac knowledged to be a wonderful piece of mechanism. The Psalmist admired it, but it puzzled him. If he hail been a scientist he would have been able to give physiological reasons for ttic opin- iuu iiiaL im:i5 ia uui uuc jicuci, mail no, not one. scarcely a periect woman. It is known that two people do not seo the same thing alike, and consequently they describe it differently. They do not hear the same statement alike, and they always repeat it with variations. Of all witnesses the eye is the least trustworthy. It appears to be the most subject to delusions. There is a reason for this. No two persons have eves alike. The two eyes in ono head are seldom alike; if they match in color they are different in form, different in focus. Not ono eye in ten millions Is in a normal perfect" con dition. The focus is either behind the retina or in front of it, and tho eye is either near-sighted or far-sighted. What cau be expected off such an im perfect organ in the way of correct ob servation? It appears to bo still worse with the ear. It is at best a crooked organ, and nearly everything that passes through it gets a twist. And these two defective machines are allied with probably the most deceitful little member that ever was the tongue. The effort of the tongue to put iuto sound and speech the so-called impres sions obtained through the complicated mechanism of the eye and the car is a ludicrous failure. Any ono who is familiar with a court of justice or neighborhood talk knows that. And owing to the sympathy of one part of the body with another, the thumb and the fore and middle fingers (which hold the peii) become infected. The .substi tution of the inflexible stylographic pen for the tlowing quill aud llexible steel it was thought would tend to remedy tlis defect. Rut this obstacle in the wav of writing does not check the tendency to i prevaricate auy more than stuttering does in the case of the tongue; and it is as dillicult for a stutterer to speak tho truth as for aglib-tongued person. The conseaiienco of this infection of the pen-lingers is that what is not strictly I true now and then creeps into print. 'People are beginning to find out this physical defect, and many persons uow will not believe what they read in a newspaper anv more thau if it were told them by an intimate friend. Rut they read it and repeat it; and, owing to the defects before spoken of, they scarcely ever repeat it as printed. So we all become involved in a congeries of misrepresentation. Charles Dudley Warner, in Harper's Magazine. Tom Ochiltree's Hard Luck. Tom Ochiltree, the red-headed Texas member who shares the honor of being the biggest liar of the South with Joe Mill button, came into the House tho other day with all the indications ot a bad spree on his countenance. His associates greeted him and inquired, "What the dickens have vou been doinjr. Tom? You look as though you had been on a lark." Tom answered that ho had been up all night playing poker. "What luck?" "Never had such luck in my life curse it Why, I lost -SG.OOO." "Six thousand dollars!" echoed his friends in amazement. "Yes," said Tom, turning to his seat, "and the worse of it is that ten dollars of it was in cash." Detroit Times. Th London Standard says: "Tha doctors have made life almost not worth living with their precautions against being prematurely cut short. The air is IHen with germs, the earth exudes poison, the sixpences wc handle contain the seeds of zymotic plagues, the very cat that we may stroke may have passed from a typhus patient's bedroom to bear on its fur the messen ger of d"ath net door. And now we arc told that we smell a Gloire de Dijon at our peril, and that the azalea in our buttonhole may in the course of half an hour impart ha- fever to a carriage foil of railway travelers." MISCELLANEOUS. a &an Francisco nowspapcr ro i porter is to marry a lady worth 5'4,0CG. 000. Newspaper men do not seem t. care for money. Boston J'ot Le Dimcnchr, an Amicus paper, has discovered that next year is the 1,'JOOth anniversary of tho Virgic Mary's birth, aud advocates a celebra tion. j San Francisco has organized a "Girls' Union" for the benefit of voting women who are strangers in the city and who mav need svmnathv and as sistance. &:h Francisco Calf. Concerning the dampness and un healthful condition of new brick houses, it is an old saying that the owner of a new brick house should let it be occupied during the first year by his enemy, during the so -ond by his friend, and during the third bv himself. Troy Times. At Naples the other day a stool torpedo boat was launched, which had been built therefor the Italian Govern ment. In her trial trip she not only accomplish"!! the stipulated speed (twenty miles per hour), but d d twenty one anil a half mile, whi di ba long way the bot time on record A bachelor's societv with nialri- J monial tendency and provisions ha- "eon tornied in .larlein. N. .). Only young men aro eligible. They pay a j mouthlv dim of five dollars and agree i t remain single one vear. At theVnd ' " 1 hat tune any one. by giving three iiioiiuis nonce, may iveive -,uuu o his wedding-day, outributed out of the fund of the society. -.V. '. Tribune. -Tho wealth of the United States is .i, . . -. .... estimated at i&U.OOO.OOU.OJO: that of Great Britain at $ U),OOi),00U.0O0. The wealth per inhabitant in tho United States is J00, and iu Great Britain it is SI, POO. In the United States seventy two parts of the weal;h jo to labor, twenty-three to capital and live to gov ernment. In Great Britain forty-one parts jro to labor, thirty-six to capital, and twenty-three to government. Chi cago Journal. George Wilson, of Cleveland. O . has sued a linn of white lead nianu faeturers, his late employers, f.r$lt,HY damages, alleging that he and two others were directed to clean out what was called the cog-wheel room, beneath th main floor of the faeto-y. a -id that 1( did not know the daugeroii ehar ac.erof tiie work, ond was made ill for a year, by the poiouou.s fumes of the lead, anil eventually totally blind. I IN two fellow-workmen, he says, aro dead. Cleveland Leader. Dr. Sturge, a medical missionary to Siam. relates how a native do-to"!-administered an emetic to a love-sick lady who had swallowed a quantity opium with suicidal intent. Th" "sci enlist of Siam took a live eel. dipped oil" a part of his tail to m.ikchim squirm in a lively manner, and then pu-hel him, tail first, down th romantic damsel's throat. When the eel returned to the stream of running water near which the jrirl was made to recline tho opium quickly followed him. "What's the matter with the bank?' demand an excited tourist, "fl.wi'd." replied the calm citizen. "What." e claimed the excited one. "tint e!i-.'d"' "Shut up tighter than wax." asserted the calm oho. "Well, that's queer."" saiil the tourist. "Not ten steps awa from where we now stand a citizen told me she was busted wide open.' and now you say she is shut up -tight as wax.' What liars some men are." Anil he made an entry in his note-book. Bit rliwjton Ha ickeje. Recent defalcations and deficien cies bring to mind the case of a eoloreu bank janitor who lived in Philadelphia in lS.r7. He had been in the servi-c of the Pennsylvania Rank, the ota! wreck ot which was one of the incidents of , tj,c Iian;e 0f tiat yean As usual iu a larjre de t sm., wrecks, there was ficiency. Tho books of the bank had been kept in such a m:ed-up way that its affairs were in a great tangle." Ono day it was announced that the directors had found out how much the deficiency was. The old darkey thereupon put on all his dignity and "remarked, "Wo don't care so much about knowing how much de deficiency is: but de question dat agitates my mind, and dat agitates de mind ob de public, is. wharVde de ficiency gone to." Thoy never found out oxactly where the deficiency be took ilseU.Ftitudclptia lleord. Ri.sniarck's Wife. The giant spirit who raised the Ger- j man people from their long abasement. and gave them their place among the nations, iu due time, by his choice of a wife, established for himself a happy home, iu which his domestic nature has received a manifold and fruitful devel opment, and that he is, after all, not by anj' means the man of blood and iron which many people suppose hira to bo. His wife is nine years younger than her husband, and was married to him iu 1847. Her maiden name was .Johanna von Puttkamer, and she was the daughter of a quiet, godly Pomer anian home, the atmosphere "of which was pervaded by the spirit of the Mo ravian fraternity. That "the mad Squire Junker of Kneipnof," as Bismarck was then called in tho gossip of the neighborhood, tho future "Iron Chancellor," should have been attract ed by, and attho same time should havo awakened a warm and lively interest I : in, a lady wiiosc tirst impressions of men and things were received amid such surroundings, need not, afterall, create any surprise. Kven in those days tho period of unrest, storm and stress had been succeeded by one of 'aim, and his wildness and love of mischief had jriven dace to self-examination and a Iomnn alter nigner tilings, mo rnnccss was strictly and piously brought up, but is of a cheerful and lively disposition, en dowed with a considerable amount of mother-wit, keenly sensitive, and pos sessed of oxcellent taste. Very musical, and an excellent performer on the piano, she is at the same timo a careful and thrifty housewife, and like the noble ladies of former times, possesses some knewledge of the j healing art. During all these years she has shared intelligently her husband's hopes and cares, sometimes even tho political ones, as witness the letters published by Hesekiel, written to her when official duties or holiday travels chanced to separate them for a while In these he addresses her as "My darling" (rnein Jlerz), "My best be loved; he sends her jasmine from Pcterhof; ho promises her Kdelweiss from Gastcin. From tho royal castle at Ofeu he bids her "good-night from far away,"' and adds, "Where can I have heard the song which has been running through my head all day: 'Over the blue mountains, over tie white sea foam. Come thou, beloved one, como to thy lovely home? I wonder who can have sung that to me some time or other in 'auld lang syne?' " Elsewhere he recalls on the sixteenth anniversary of his marriage how it "had brought sunshine into hi3 bachelor life." Over and over aain he gives expression to a feeling of homesickness, of longing for her and the children. And in a letter written from Sraaland he wishes he had a little castle peopled with those he loved on one of the wood-and-heather-bound lakes of that Swedish province. Many other parts of this correspondence show how dear his wife is to him, and how often he thinks of her. On the other hand, we can infer from several of the letters that the good lady has become deeply imbued with her husband's en ergetic modes of feeling and of thought M9TU9 autcn, t narper a Magazine. GO TO A. & 1. TURNER'S BOOK AND MUSIC STORE -FOIt THE- BEST GOODS -AT- The Lowest Prices! CONSULT THE FOLLOWING ALPHA BETICAL LIST. AI.UILtIS, Arithmetics. Arnold' Ink (genuine). Algebras. Autograph Al bums. Alphabet I: oeks.Autlior's Cants, Ark, Aceortleons, Abstract Legal Cap. Itt:8'Slli:s, i:aket.l.abvTivs,i:ok, P.ible. Pells tor oy, I'dan'k Hook, Hirtlut-iv Card. P.:ikft Buggies, boy Tool-rhe.t.. Hall. Hanker' Cas, box's Wagon. Sleds unit Wheelbar row.. Hotelier Hook. Hruss-eitgod IU:. lcr. Hilt -book, Hook Strap. 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