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About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 26, 1899)
12 Conservative * The story of a A FEMALE female Cnisoo is CItUSOE. told by Thovct in his Cosmogrnphie , and by Marguerite of Navarre , and yet seems to be founded on fact. The heroine is the niece of the Sieur do Robeval , whom she accom panied on a voyage of discovery , pre sumably in the North Atlantic. A handsome young ship-builder of St. Mnlo was of the party , and also a Hu guenot minister , and the end of the bus iness was naturally a secret marriage between the girl of blue blood and the workman. The cruel uncle , discovering the plot , put the unlucky couple ashore on an island , uninhabited save by de mons , and left them with one female at tendant and a small supply of provisions. The hardships of such a life , and the trouble caused by the demons were too much for the young man and the ser vant , and Margaret was presently left alone with an infant born on the island. The babe did not long survive , but the mother was of true grit , and supplied herself with food by hunting and fish ing. For two years and live months she lived on this northern island , and was then rescued by some Breton fishermen , who brought her back to France. In stead of trying to bring her uncle to jus tice , Margaret hid herself from his ap prehended vengeance , and supported herself during the rest of her life by teaching a school for young "demoi selles.1 ' Household Words. SOME AVHIMSICAL ADVEUTISEMEXTS. The author of ' 'Pages from a Private Diary" gives some whimsical advertise ments , as , for instance : "Respectable girls , about eighteen , wanted for bet tling. " And from a bookseller's cata logue : "Clergymen. A fine collection of two hundred clergymen , consisting of Protestant ministers , Roman Catholics , Wesleynu Methodists , Unitarians , and Presbyterians , nice clean lot five shill ings. " Another story is of a temper ance meeting , where a lady speaker , the wife of a clergyman , told how her hus band used always before his evening service to eat an egg beaten up with brandy , which made him bilious ; but since ho had left off this drunken habit , ho had also left off his bilious attacks. This was more than old B. could stand , for he roared out : " 'Twere the egg , inarm , what made he bilious. You tell your mister to take t' brandy wi'out "em. " Household Words. LIFE IN THE JEE1 > SKA. Aii expedition left London a short time ago , the object of which was to in vestigate a most important problem re garding the distribution of life in the sea. It used to bo believed that the ocean depths were tenantless , and that all life was confined to the shallow sur face belt ; but this idea had to bo aban doned oven before the Challenger went on her memorable voyage of scientific research. Next the idea was mooted that ( ho oceanic fauna was confined to the surface and bottom belts , separated by nu intermediate /one of barrenness. During the Challenger expedition it was found that if the depth at which the surface nets were towed was increased , new animals were enclosed in their meshes , an observation which pointed to the probability of life at all depths. The investigations now in progress are de signed to settle this important point. The Oceana , fitted with deep-sea gear and oveiy modern appliance , is at work off the west coast of Ireland. It was in tended that extended observations should be made with a chain of tow-nets , the length of which would be gradually increased until a depth of 2,000 fathoms was reached. Experiments were also devised with nets of a self-opening and closing nature , so that samples of life at different depths could bo thus secured. It was also intended to conduct experi ments with trawl. The a deep-sea ex pedition was fitted out at the expense of the Royal Geographical Society and the Drapers' and Fishmongers' Companies. Chambers' Journal. THE GKEEK CHUKCH IX ALASKA. The Rev. Dr. J. Sheldon Jackson , United States general agent of educa tion for Alaska , replying to the attack made upon him by Bishop Nicholas of the Greek church , for his alleged indis criminate appointment of officials in Alaska , said : "The bishop was , perhaps , sincere in so far as the prelate's knowledge went regarding the appointment of officials for the territory. The fact is , I have nothing whatever to do in regard to ap pointments for the country. The offi cials are appointed by the president , and he does not consult mo. "The greatest enemies to public schools iu. Alaska are the priests of the Greek church. They have even impris oned young boys to keep them out of the schools. They do not want their children to learn English for fear they may leave the Greek congregation. However , the cause of the Greek priests in Alaska is dying. They are not citi zens , but are sustained by the Russian government , and have been required to renew their oaths of allegiance every time there has been a change of Russian authority. For the support of the Greek church in the territory the Rus sian government pays annually the sum of $60,000. Their work is not progres sing , and my opinion is that twenty-five years hence will see the end of the Greek church in Alaska. " Philadelphia Press. When men who have only been taught to make shoes are elected to make laws there is generally a complaint to the ef fect that the laws are only half-souled. IlEKLIX SUI'EKSTITIOXS. Although in Berlin , as elsewhere , most .superstitious are connected in someway or other with marriage or with death , still there are quite a largo num ber that have nothing whatever to do with either. For instance , many a housewife would feel as if she were just tempting the fates if she were to allow a room to bo swept at night ; for , while the dustwas going out , she would argue , trouble would bo sure to creep in. A pence-loving servant-maid will have re course to all sorts of odd stratagems to avoid talcing a pair of shoes from off a table ; for , whoever takes them off , she holds , is sure to have a quarrel that very same day with him or her who put them on. I shall never forget the scene I once witnessed in n German household when the fact became known that I had broken a looking-glass. The thing was of no great value it was only a little hand-mirror and as I was its owner , I was at a loss to understand why the breaking of it should cause so much excitement. The servants stood around me wringing their hands , and indulging in all sorts of noisy demonstrations of grief and sympatlry ; while their mis tress , who passed in the world for being a strong-minded woman , looked equally distressed. She told me again and again how sorry she was that such a misfortune should have happened to me in her house. "You will have no luck now for seven long years , do what you may , " she assured me in quite a sepul chral tone. And when I laughed , she waxed quite indignant , and was heard to remark later that the English were sadly lacking in reverence. On n previous occasion , in that same house , I had stumbled while going up stairs , whereupon it was promptly taken for granted that wedding presents would soon have to be bought. If two persons have the same thought at the same moment , and express it in the same words , they may each wish a wish , and the wish will be gratified if they but have the patience not to speak until they are addressed by some third person. With regard to the moon , endless super stitions prevail , not only in Berlin , but throughout Germany , and among them the old English superstition that to see the now moon through glass brings mis fortune. There are superstitions , too , with regard to the color of the horses one may meet. Some people will walk miles on the chance of coming across a piebald horse , just as others will go far out of their way to avoid one that is "skewbald. " Then the way the birds fly , how the leaves fall to the ground , whether stairs do or do not creak , and whether door-bells ring or remain at rest , are all matters fraught with sig nificance for Berliuers ; and not for them alone , for in every land old superstitions die hard. Correspondence London Standard ,
