Lititz Record

              Wî(ç îMita ¡Record
I« Published every Friday morning;,
At $1.50 per Annum, in Advance,
OFFICE : BROAD STREET, LITITZ, LANOASTEB
COUNTY, PA.
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YOL. IV. LITITZ, PA., FRIDAY MORNING, JUNE 10, 1881. NO. 40.
'hq %ititz Record,
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HEADQUARTERS FOR
HOUSE—STIRES
-AT-Keiper's
Great Furniture Warerooms,
45 North QUEEN Street, Lancaster, Pa.
EVERYBODY
In aeed of FURNITURE should give us a call. Great bargains offered.
Goods sold at lower prices than ever before known. We hare a large
stock from which to make selections, and guarantee to give satisfaction
to all our patrons, who are cordially invited, to call and see for them-selves.
No trouble to show goods. Buying direct from the manufac-turers,
we are enabled to sell at bottom prices.
ja9 J. M. KEIPER
?M. H. BOLLINGER
Manufacturer and Dealer in
CHOICE CONFECTIONERY,
CAKES, FRUITS, NUTS, &C.
{pp* Cakes for Weddings and Parties a Specialty.
MAIN STREET,
LITITZ, Lancaster Co., Pa.
NEW GOODS
AT TSHUDY'S STORE,
M A I N S T R E E T , LITITZ.
A F U L L L I N E O P
Cloths and Cassimeres for Men's and Boys' wear, Cottonadeu
Cheviots for Shirting, Calicoes, Ginghams, Muslins, White
Goods, and everything else in the line of. Dry Goods.
UNDERWEAR, STOCKINGS, GLOVES, GENTS' FURNISHING GOODS
NOTIONS OF EVERY DESCRIPTION.
HATS AND CAPS.
Stationery, Queensware and Glassware, Groceries, Hardware, Glass, Paints
and Oils, Ready-Mixed Paints of any make desired. All Goods at Lowest
Market Prices. Give us a call.
ROBERT N. WOLLE.
MAIN Street, LITITZ, Pa.
DRY GOODS,
PAINTS,
LINSEED OIL,
GLASS,
OIL CLOTHS,
CARPETS,
Headquarters for Harrison's White Lead and Ready Mixed Paints, all colors.
We are prepared to sell Carpets from one of the largest Carpet houses in th«
country, by means of the wonderful Carpet Exhibitor, which we invite our
friends and neighbors to come and see.
HARDWARE,
QUEENSWARE,
STONE WARE,
CEDAR WARE,
STATIONERY,
GROCERIES.
GILL'S CITY GALLERY-PHOTOGRAPHY,
No. 19 EAST KING Street, LANCASTER, PA.
Copying Old Pictures a Specialty. Landscape »lews, «roups and Build-
Ingi. FIMogroplir in all its Branches. oclS-1
. WM. H. REGENNAS
Would hereby announce that he has opened 8
new store near the
RAILROAD DEPOT, LITITZ,
where he haa on hand and makes to order all
kinds of
Good Tinware,
at the Lowest Prices. All kinds of work to or-ier
and REPAIRING promptly attended to.
Roofing and Spouting a Specialty.
Also,
PICMBIKG, GAS AND STEAM-FITTING.
Good Workmanship guaranteed. Give him a
cau. apss
ATB. RtiDtWBACH," ~~
JUSTICE OF THE PEACE,
SURVEYOR AND CONVEYANCER,
LITITZ, PA.
X am now prepared to do Surveying- and Con-veyancing-
in all its form. Papers carelully
and neatly drawn.
CLEf KING OF SALES, REAL AND PERSONAL.
Houses to Rent and for Sale.
A130,
Agent for rirst-Class life and F i re
Insnrance Companies.
BARGAINS! BARGAINS !
AT'
A DAY OF PROMISE.
Look forth,, beloved, from thy mansion high.
By soft a!] 8 fanned.
And s<e t t e summtr with its bluest s ty
Surpri a the land !
See how the bare hills ba*k in purp'e bliss
Along t! o south ;
On the brown death of winter falls a kiBS
From summer's mouth!
From p'nes that wave a :, ong the vanished
trees
Their phantom bowers
A murmur comes, as sought the ghosts of
bees
The ghosts Of flowers,
Though yet no blood may fill the willow rind
No grass-blade start,
A dream of blossoms fills the yearning mind,
Of love my heart.
Look forth, beloved, through the tender air,
And let thine eyes
The violets be it finds not anywhere
And scentless dies,
Look ! and thy trembling locks of plenteous
gold
The day shall see
And search no more where first on yonder
wold
The cowslip» be,
Look and the wandering summer not forlorn
Shall turn aside,
Content to leave her million flowers unborn,
Her song untried,
Drowsy with life and not with sleep or death
I dream of thee,
Breathe forth thy being in one answering
breath,
' And come to me!
Come forth, beloved! Love's exultant sign
Is in the sky,
And let me lay my panting heart to thine
And die!
Mrs. McWilliams' Fright.
SAYE $1.50 PER TON
VERSIBLE GRATBS. HARDWARE,
IRON, STEEL, OILS,
PAINTS, GLASS,
WOOD AND WILLOWWARE,
BUILDING MATERIAL,
TINWARE and general
House Furnishing Goods,
At prices as low as anywhere else.
We are still selling the
FAMOUS RUBBER PAINT.
BOMBERGER & CO.,
successors to i. A. Buch & Bro.,
j t i f LITITZ, PA.
J. D. WITTERS',
BROAD Street, - - • LITITZ.
A Large and Fashionable Stock o: BOOTS, SHOES
AND
RUBBER GOODS.
I believe I carry a larger stock ol Boots and
Shoes than any other house in the countiy, an?
can sell as cheap or cheaper ior cash than a r/
other house lor the same quality oi goods.
Also,
SHOE LEATHER AND FINDINGS,
and first quality Shoe Dressing lor sale. Mea-sures
taken and all kinds of
BOOTS AND SHOES MADE TO ORDER.
Repairing done with neatness and dispatch.
Dealer In three kinds of first-class Sewing
Machines, viz: the Howe NEW B, the NEW
HOME and the HOUSEHOLD.
Please call and examine these Machines be-fore
purchasing Irom any traveling agent. You
can save from $8 to $15, according to style ana
finish, on each machine, as I have no expenses
on them. Traveling agents have big expenses,
and those wlio buy o£ such agents must help to
pay suoh expenses. If you desire any other
make than those mentioned above, I can fur-nish
you whatever machine you wish at the
same low rates.
A full line oi Standard Sewing Machine Nee-dles
and the best Keflned Sperm Oil, prepared
expressly lor Sewing Machine use, lor sale.
Don't torget the name and place.
J. » . W I T T E R S,
n12 BROAD Street, LITITZ.
SCHOOL BOOKS,
SLATES,
COPY BOOKS,
HANDY TABLETS,
PAPER, PENS,
PENCILS, INK.
AND A GENERAL ASSORTMENT OF
STATIONERY
At Very Lowest Prices, at
TSHUDY'S STOKE.
Well, sir—centmued Mr. McWilliams,
for this'was not the beginning of his talk—
the fear of lightning is one of the most dis-tressing
infirmities a human being can be
afflicted with. It is mostly confined to
women; but now and then you will find it
in a little dog, and sometimes in a man. It
is a particularly distressing infirmity, for
the reason that it takes the sand out of a
person to an extent which no other fear
can, and it oan't be reasoned with, and
neither can it be shamed out of a person. A
woman who could face the very devil him-self—
or a mouse—loses her grip and goes
all to pieces in front of a flash of lightning.
Her fright is something pitiful to see.
Well, as 1 was telling you, I woke dp,
with that smothered and unbeatable cry of
"Mortimer 1 Mortimer!" wailing in my
ears, and as soon as I could scrape my
faculties together I reached over in the
dark, and then said:
"Evangeline, is that you calling S What
is the matter? Where are you?"
Shut up in the boot-closet. You ought
to be ashamed to lie there and sleep so,
and such an awful storm going on.:'
"Why, how can one be ashamed when
he is asleep ? It is unreasonable; a man
can't be asaamed when he is asleep, Evan-geline."
"You never try, Mortimer—you know
very well you never try."
I caught the sound of muffled SODS.
That sound smote dead the sharp speech
that was on my lips, and I changed it to—
"I'm sorry, dear—I'm truly sorry. I
never meant to act so. Come back and—"
"Mortimer!"
"Heavens! what is the matter, my
love?"
"Do you mean to say that you are m
that bed yet?"
"Why, of course."
"Come out of it instantly. I should
think you would take some little care of
your life, for my sake and the children's,
if you will not for your own."
"But, my love—"
"Don't talk to me, Mortimer. You
know there is no place so dangerous as a
bed, in such a thunder-storm as this—all
the books say that; yet, there you will lie
and deliberately throw away your life—for
goodness knows what, unles for the sake
of arguing, and arguing, and—",
"But, confound it, Evangeline, I'm not
in bed now. I'm—"
[Sentence interrupted by a sudden glare
of lightning, followed by a terrified little
scream from Mrs. McWilliams, and a tre-mendous
blast of thunder.]
'•There 1 You see the result? Oh,
Mortimer, how can you be so profligate as
to swear at such a time as this !"
"I didn't swear. And that wasn't a re-sult
of it anyhow. It would have come,
just the same, if I hadn't said a word, and
you know, Evangeilne—at least you ought
to knew—that when the atmosphere is
charged with electricity—"
"Oh. yes, now argue it, and argue it,
and argue it! I don't see how you can act
so, when you know there ia not a lightning
rod on the place, and your poor wife and
children are absolutely at the mercy of
Providence, What are you doing ? Light-ing
a match at such a time as this ! Are
you stark mad?"
"Hang it, woman, Where's the harm?
The place is as dark as the inside of an in-fidel;
and—"
"Put it out! put it out instantly! Are
you determined to sacrifice us all? You
know there's nothing attracts lightning
like a light. [Fzt!—crash!—boom-bo
loom—boom—boom!] Oh, just hear
it! Now you see what you've done !"
"No, I don't see what I've done. A
match may attract lightning,for all I know,
but it don't cause lightning—I'll go odds
on that. And it didn't attract worth a
cent this time; for if that shot was leveled
at my match it was blessed poor markman-ship—
about an average ot none out of a
possible million, I should say. Why, at
DollvmouDt, such markmanship as
that—"
"For shame, Mortimer 1 Here we are
standing in the very presence of death, and
yet in so solemn a mement you are capable
of using such language as that. If you
have no desire to—Mortimer 1"
"Well."
"Did you say your prayers to-night ?"
"I—I—-meant to, but I got to trying to
cipher out now much twelve times thirteen
is, and—
• [Fzt!—boom—beroom—boom! bum-ble—
itmble bang SMASH I]
"Oh, we are lost, beyond all help! How
could you neglect such a thing at such a
fc'.me aa this?"
"But it wasn't such a time as this."
There wasn't a cloud m the sky. How
could I know there was going to be all
this rumpus and powwaw about a little
slip like that ? And I don't think it's just
fair for you to make so much out of it any
way, seeing it happens so seldom; I
haven't missed before since I brought on
that earthquake, four years ago."
"Mortimer! How you talk ! Have you
forgotten the yellow fever ?" "
"My dear, you are always throwing up
this yellow fever to me, and I think it is
perfectly unreasonable. You can't even
send a telegraphic message as far as Mem-phis
without relays, so how is a little de-votional
slip of time going to carry so far.
I'll stand the earthquake because it was in
the neighborhood; but I'll be hanged if
I'm going to be responsible for every-blamed—•'
[Fzt.'—BOOM beroom-boom I boom I—
BANG I ]
"Oh, dear, dear, dear! I know it struck
something, Mortimer. We never shall gee
the light of another day: and if it will do
you any good to remember, when we are
gone, that your dreadful language—Morti-mer
!" „
"Well! What now?"
"Your voice sounds as if—Mortimer,are
you actually standing in front of that open
fireplace?"
"That is the very crime I am commit-ting."
"Get away from it this moment. You
do seem determined to bring destruction on
us all. Don't you know that there is no
better conductor for lightning than an open
chimney ? Now where have you got to?"
"I'm here by the window."
"Oh, for pity's sake, have you lost your
mind § Clear out from here this moment.
The very children in arms know that it is
fatal to stand near a window m a thunder
storm. Dear, dear, I know I shall never
see the light of another day. Mortimer?"
"Yes."
"What is that rustling ?"
"It's me "
"What are you doing ?"
"Trying to find the upper end of my
pantaloons."
"Quick! throw them things away! I do
believe yon would deliberately put on
those clothes at such a time as this; yet
you know woolen stuffs attract lightning.
Oh, dear, dear, it isn't sufficient that one's
life must be in peril from natural causes,
but you must do everything you can pos-sibly
think of to augment the danger. Oh,
don't sing ! What can you be thinking
of?"
"Now, where's the harm in it."
"Mortimer, if I have told you once I
have told you a hundred times, that sing-ing
causes vibrations in the atmosphere
which interrupt the flow of the electric
fluid, and— What on earth are you open-ing
that door for ?"
"Goodness gracious, woman, is there
any harm m that ?"
"Harm ? Ther'es death m it. Anybody
that has given this subject any attention
knows that to create a; draught is to invite
the lightning. You haven't half shut it;
shut it tight—and do hurry, or we are all
destroyed. Oh, it ia an awful tl ing to be
shut up with a lunatic at such a time as
this. Mortimer, what are you doing ?"
"Nothing. Just turning on the water.
This room is smothering hot and close. I
want to bathe my face and hands.''
' 'You have certainly parted with the
remnant of your mind! Where lightning
strikes substance once, it strikes water
fifty times. Do turn it off. Oh, dear, I
am sure that nothing in this world can save
us. It does seem to me chat—Mortimer
what was that?"
'It was a do—it was a picture. Knocked
it down.''
"Then you are close to the wall! I
never heard of such imprudence! Don't
you know that there is no better conduc-tor
of lightning than a wall ? Come away
from there! And you came as near as any-thing
to swearing, too. Oh, how can you
be so desperately wicked, and your family
in such peril ? Mortimer, did you order a
feather bed, as I asked you to do ?"
"No. Forgot it."
"Forgot it! It may cost you your life.
If you had a feather bed, now. and could
spread it m the middle of the room and lie
on it, you would be perfectly safe. Come
m here—come quick, before you have a
chance to com mitt any mofe frantic indis-cretions."
I tried, but the little closet would not
hold us both with the door shut, unless we
could be content to smother. I gasped
awhile, then forced my way out. My
wife called out—
"Mortimer, something must be done for
your preservation. Give me that German
book that is on the end of the mantle piece
and a candle; but don't light it; give me a
match; I will light it in here. That book
has some directions in it."
I got the book—at the cost of of a vase and
some other brittle things; and the madam
shut herself up with her candle. I had a mo-ment's
peace; then she called out—
"Mortimer, what was that ?"
"Nothing but the cat."
"The cat! Oh, destruction! Catch her,
and shut her up in the wash stand. Do be
qu ick, love; cats are full of electricity. I
just know my hair will turn white with
this night's awful perils."
I heard the muffled sobbings again. But
for that I should not have moved hand or
foot in such a wild enterprise in the dark.
However, I went at my task over
chairs and against all sorts of obstructions,
all of them hard ones, too, and most of
them with sharp edges—and at last I got
kitty cooped up in the commode, at an ex-pense
of over four hundred dollars m
broken furniture and shins. Then these
muffl d words came from the closet:
"It says the safest thing is to stand on a
chair in the middle of the room, Mortimer;
and the legs of the chair must be insulated
with non-conductors. That is, you must
set the legs of the chair in glass tumblers,
f F z t ! - boom!—bang !—smash /] Oh !
hear that. Do hurry, Mortimer, before
you are struck."
I managed to find and secure the tum-blers.
I got the last four—broke ail the
rest, I insulated the chair-legs, and called
for further instructions.
"Mortimer," it says, "Wahrend eines.
Gewitters entferne man Metalle, wie z B ,
Ringe, Uhren, Schlussel, etc., von sich
und halte sich auch nich an solchen Stellen
auf, woviele Metalle bei emder liegen,
order mit andern Koerpere verbunden sind,
wie an Herdeen, Ofen,Eisengittern u. dgl.
What does that mean, Mortimer ? Does
it mean that you must keep metals about
you, or keep them away from you?"
"Well, I hardly know. It appears to
be a little mixed. All German advice is
more or less mixed. However, I think
that sentence is mostly in the native case,
i with a gentle genitive und accusative sifted
in, here and there, for luck, so I reckon it
means that you must keep some metals
about you,"
"Yes; that must be it. It stands to rea-son
that it is. They are in the nature of
lightning rods, you know. Put on your
fireman's helmet, Mortimer; that is mostly
metal."
1 got it and put it on—a very heavy and
clumsy and uncomfortable thing on a hat
night m a close room. Even my night-dress
seemed to be more clothing than I
strictly seeded.
"Mortimer,I think your middle ought to
be protected. Won't you buckle on your
militia sabre, please?"
I complied.
"Now, Mortimer, you ought to have
some way to protect your feet. Do, please,
put on your spurs."
I did it—in silence—and kept my tem-per
as well as I could.
"Mortimer, it says,'Das Gewitter lauten
ist sehr gefahalich, weil die Glock<s selbst,
sowie der dorch das Lauten veranlasste
Luftzug und die Hohe des Thurmes den
Bitz anziehen konnten." Mortimer, does
that mean that it is dangerous not to l ing
the church bells during a thunderstorm?''
"Yes; it seems to me that—if that is the
past participle of the nominative case
singular, and I reckon it is. Yes; I think
it means that on account of the height of
the church tower and the absence of Luft-zug,
it would be very dangerous (sehr
gefährlich) not to ring the bells in time of
a storm; and, moreover, don't you see,
the very wording—"
"Never mind that, Mortimer; don't
waste the precious time in talk. Get the
large dinner bell; it is right there in the
hall. Quick,Mortimer, dear; we are almost
safe. Oh, dear, I do believe we are going
to be saved at last!"
Our little summer establishment stands
on top of a high range of hills, over looking
a valley. Several farm houses are in our
neighborhood, the nearest some ttiree or
four hundred yards away.
When 1, mounted on a chair, had been
clanging that dreadful bell a matter of
seven or eight minutes, our shutters were
suddenly torn open from without and a
brilliant bull's eye lajitern was thrust in
at the window, followed by a hoarse in-quiry
:
"What in the nation is the matter here?"
The windows were full of men's heads,
and the heads were full oleyes that stared
wildly at my night dress and my warlike
accoutrements.
I dropped the bell, skipped down from
the chair in confusion, and said—
"There is nothing the matter friends —
only a little discomfort on account of the
thunderstorm. I was trying to keep oS
the lightning."
"Thunder storm ? Lightning ? Why,
Mr. McWilliams, have you lost your mind?
It is a beautiful starlight Bight; there has
been no storm."
I looked out, and was so astonished I
could not speak for awhile. Then I said:
"I do not not understand this. We dis-tinctly
saw the glow and the flashes
through the curtains and shutters, and
heard the thunder."
One after another those people lay down
on the ground to laugh, and two of them
died. One of the survivors remarked:
Pity you dindn't think to open your
blinds and look over to the top of the high
hill yonder. What you heard was a cannon;
what you saw was the flash. You see, the
telegraph brought some news, just at mid-night
: Jones' nomination and that's what's
the mttter I"
Yes, Mr. Twain, as 1 was eaymg in the
beginning (said Mr. McWilliams), the
rules for preserving people against light-ning
are so excellent and so innumerable
that the most incomprehensible thing in
the world to me is how anybody manages
to get struck.
So saying he gathered up his satchel and
umbrella, and departed; for the train had
reached his town.
"A Gosliburned Fool '
How Long Man »lay Live.
And it came to pass recently, that as a
wealthy and benevolent citizen of Noo Or-leenz
opened the door of his dwelling, in
order that he might proceed, as he was
wont, unto his place of busines», he did be
hold a poor tramp reclining upon the steps
before the door-
And the tramp was exceedingly lean and
ill-favored. His raiment it was dirty, and
his eyes they did have in them the sad and
far-away'look of a half- starved dog.
And the old gentleman hove nigh unto
him and spake unto him, saying, "Look
ve—what want ye here?"
And the tramp lifted up his voice and
said; "Wilt thou give me to eat? Even
thirteen days have flown by since feed hath
" my lips."
And the heart of the O. G. was moved
with compassion—even unto the bursting
of his suspenders.
And he called unto his maid-servant and
commanded her, saying: "Give thou unto
this poor traveler food and drink, of which
he standeth sore in need. Verily, I know
how it is myself. See that thou lettest him
eat his fill, for it is written; "It is more
blessed to give than to receive." But hark
ye, sirrah! Verily, tlie wood pile lieth nigh
and unto it the ax adjacent, and when thou
hast partaken of thy fill, see to it that ye
repay me. even unto the hewing of wood.
What sayest thou, fellow? Wilt thou do
this thing?" Art thou of mind to work?"
And the tramp lifted up his voice ana
spake unto him with tears and said: "Yes,
that will I! Ye bet thy socks I will I Even
as thou commandedest will I obey. I will
tackle thé festive wood and hew it even
unto the blistering of my hands."
And the old man went his way.
And the tramp doubled the tracks of the
maid-servant unto the dining "hall and sate
down and did eat of the food which she
sat before him. And he ate heartily as
though he was possessed of the stomach of
Doctor Tanner—him who fasted forty days
of old and afterwatds brought a grievous
famine upon the people.
And when he had risen he did basely
stow the spoons and forks in his pockets.
And he wunlt unto himself and said, 'These
will fetch cash.'
For he meditated not on the baseness of
the act.
And he wiped off his chin and pulled-down
his vest and betook himself unto the
woodpile aforesaid.
And when he concentrated his vision
upon the wood, and had seen that it was
tough even unto hickory, his heart failed
him, and he leaped the fence and did ex-claim:
"Blamed if I'll chop it."
And he went his way and was seen no
more in that place forever,.
Now when the even had come, the
wealthy and benevolent old gent returned
home and hted him straightway unto the
woodpile, that he might feast his eyes upon
the wood which, in Ms simplicity, he be-lieved
thè tramp had hewn.
But when he had drawn nigh unto it,
behold! it was as he had left it on the
morn—untouched by the hand of man!
And he marveled greatly as one who
sees a thing he can't exactly get the rights
of.
And when he had discovered how that
the tramp had played him false, even unto
the pulling of the wool over his eyes, he
tore his hair and beat his breast and kicked
himself in divers places; and gave himself
up to sore lamentation, crying out at the
top of his voice, "I'll be blarsted if I'll
ever be such a goshburned fool again."
A Forsotten Story.
It was Prof. Hufeland's opinion that
the limit of possible human life might be
set at 200 years. This is on the general
principle that the life of a creature is eight
times the years of its period of growth.
That which is quickly formed quickly
perishes, and the earlier complete develop-ment
is reached the sooner bodily decay
ensues. More women reach old age than
men, but more men attain remarkable
longevity than women. Some animals
grow to be very old. Horned animals live
shorter lives than those without horns,
fierce longer than timid, and amphibious
longer than those which inhabit the air.
The voracious pike exists, it i9 said, to an
age of 150 years; the turtle is good for a
hundred years or more; and among birds
the golden eagle is known to have lived
nearly 200 years, while the sly and somber
crow reaches the venerable age of a
century. Passing up in the scale of life
to man and skipping the patriarchs, we
find many recorded instances of longevity
among the classic Greeks and Romans.
Pliny notes that in the. reign of the
Emperor Vespasian, in the year 76, there
were 124 men living in the limited area
between the Apennines and the Po of 100
yeaTS and upward, three of whom were
140 and four over 135. Cicero's wife lived
to the age of 103, and the Roman actress
Luceja played in public as late as her 112th
year.
Coming down to more recent times the
most notable authentic instance of great
age is that of Henry Jenkins, of Yorkshire,
Eng., who died m 1670, 169 years old.
He was a fisherman, and at the age of 100
easily swam across rapid rivers. Another
historic case is that of Thomas Parr, of
Shropshire, a day-laborer, who lived to the
age of 152 years. When more than 120 he
married his second wife, and till 130 he
could swing the scythe and wield the flail
with the best of his fellow laborers. In
his 152d year Parr went up to London to
exhibit himself to the King. It proved an
unlucky visii, for violating the abstemious
habit of a century and a half the old man
feasted so freely on the royal victuals that
he soon died merely of a plethora. On
examination his internal organs they proved
to be in excellent condition, and there was
no reason why he should not have lived much
longer save for this unfortunate taste of
royal hospitality. Prof. Hufeland's roll of
centenarians includes many more remarka-ble
cases, among them that of Mittlestedt,
a Prussian soldier, who served 67 years
under both Fredericks, fighting many
battles and enduring much hard campaign-ing,
and who after all this married
successively three wives, the last when
he was 110, only two years before his
death
In a diary kept by an early colonist dur-ing
the years 1737 to 1746, and preserved
by his descendants, occur the outlines of a
remarkable story whbh may be of interest
to our readers.
The passions and temptations of men are
the same in all ages, but the half-barbarous
condition of the country in those early
days, and the remoteness of nations from
each other, gave to hum an tragedies a more
sombre and dramatic background.
Stripped of wordy description, the inci-dents
are briefly as follows:
Two young- men, members of wealthy
mercantile families in London, immigrated
to Pennsylvania about the year 1700, and
went into busme3s, one as a physician, the
other as a merchant.
In a year or two the former, Doctor
Whiting (as we shall call him, though that
was not his real name), was betrothed to a
beautiful young girl m Delaware, The
marriage was set lor June in the coming
year.
In the meantime he resolved to return to
London and look after the little patrimony
which had fallen to his share, and after
some difficulty he persuaded his friend
Truefelt, the merchant, to accompany him.
A voyage across the Atlantic was then a
matter of months, not to be undertaken
save for important cause, and we find it
set down as proof of the frivolity of the
two young men that, without any real ne-cessity,
Truefelt consented thus to endan-ger,
as it was thought, his life.
While in London, Dr. Whiting was led
into dissipation. He drank heavily, and
gambled away much of the money which
he had received. Of this, Truefelt was
cognizant.
The men sailed for home together on the
barkentine Judith. Vessels never ventured
alone at that time across the mighty deep.
There were storms and hurricanes to face,
and worse than all, the pirates, who were
said, truly or not, to infest the southern
coast; a coast peopled, according to popu-lar
belief, by cannibals. The barkentine,
was one of a fleet of ships which left port
at one time, and kept together for mutual
protection.
Dr. Whiting and his friend quarrelled
during the greater part of the voyage.
Truefelt used the knowledge he had ac-quired
of the doctor's misdeeds in London
as a rod to control him. Finally, in a fit of
passion, he declared his intention of making
known the whole matter to Whiting's be-trothed.
From that moment, as the physician
afterwards declared, he held Truefelt in
dire hate and dread.
"I felt that by some means I must be rid
of him, else I was undone.''
Chance put the means in his way. The
fleet anchored to take in water at an un-known
island. The passengers landed, and
the two companions strolled up into the
tropical forest in company. Truefelt, over-powered
by the heat, lay down and fell
asleep, charging Whiting to summon him
when it was time to return to the vessel.
"Then I thought within myself, I can
now be clear of this man, and EO I left him
sleeping there, and returned to the vessel,
saying that he had fallen into the sea from
the rocks to the southward, and was
drowned. They would have made search
for his body, but the other vessels had set
sail, and the captain was forced in great
distress of mind, unwillingly to weigh
anchor,"
We can imagine the flash of guilty jov
and relief that, at first, filled Whiting's
breast at thus being rid of his enemy.
Then, as the ship sailed out into the ocean,
he remembered that this man was his friend,
and that he was left there forever. There
was no possibility that he could ever es-cape.
The island was a savage wilderness,
out of the usual track of vessels. It was
murder—murder by starvation.
"Then I was beset by a great terror and
agony, he says. "1 also thought that i
saw a dark figure on the shore holding out
his hands to the vessel. 1 would have asked
the captain to return, but dared not, know-ing
that it was impossible for him to do
so."
There is no record of Truefeit's condition
after he awoke and found himself deserted
on this rock in the midst of the sea. He
sustained life, we aie told, by mean.3 of the
fruit and roots which grew abundantly on
the island. There are one or two notes
only that the diary gives of Truefeit's ex-perience
during his solitary life, which
lasted for nearly a year.
"His great fear was that he should lose
the power of speech, and he was used to
practice himself therein, singing and talk-ing,
in different voices as it were, so that
one might suppose, to hear him, that he
had many companions." . -
And again : "Finding a cat which had
escaped, probably, from some ship, he
trained it and made it his constant compan-ion.
And he was wont to think over the
many hundreds of his friends and acquain-tances;
their wit, their excellent parts,
their virtues, and the affection they bore
him, and to reproach himself in that he
had not been more grateful, saying, 'Out
of the full world of living things, there is
left to me only the hairy limbs and dumb
tongue of tins poor little beast."
Truefelt must have possessed a womanly,
gentle nature. He does not appear to have
cherished any bitterness or plan of revenge
against Whiting ; his sole feeling seemed to
be intense self-pity.
Dr. Whiting, returning home, married,
and lived in luxury. But his health failed.
He grew to be the mere skeleton of his for-mer
self. He gave up his connection with
the church, neglected his patients, and be-came
a prey to an intractable gloom.
At last he announced to his wit e that he
must make a séa-voyage; that he was about
to die, and God had given him a work to
do before death. As soon as she consented
to this (she thinking him to be insane), he
partially regained his former energy, and
vigorously set on foot preparations for his
voyage.
Now here is the strange part of the story.
The night before the ship was to sail, Dr.
Whiting, returning home, was compelled
to pass through a lonely part of the town,
where the streets abutted OH the forest.
Within the borders of the wood he saw a
man, apparently unarmed, beset by two
ruffians. Highwaymen were common in
those days in the larger colonial towns.
Dr. Whiting at once attacked the thieves.,
and laid about him with a sword-cane
which he carried.
The ruffians fled, but not before they
had stabbed him through the breast. As
he fell, the traveler whom he had defended
caught him and supported him until the
tardy watch came.
The stranger was Truefelt ! Dr. Whiting,
insensible from loss of blood, did not rec-ognize
him. Truefeit's emotions would be
a strange study as he stood there holding
in his arms the man who had tried to mur-der
him, and now had saved his life. He
did not make himself known until he had
helped the watch to carry Whiting to the
stoop of his own house.
Then he said, "You have risked your
life to save mine. You know what you
owed me. I think we can go scot-free of
each other." And ending this singular
homily with a laugh, withdrew.
Truefelt, it appears, had been rescued by
some vessel, and brought to a Northern
port, from which he had found his way
home. Whiting gave up his voyage. He
recovered his health and with it his spirits.
After a year or two, the men renewed their
old intimacy, but they were known as more
sober, honest, God fearing citizens than
they had been formerly. The truth of the
strange story was never revealed until both
were dead.
A. Mighty Siruiigle.
Young men, what are you living for?
Have you an object dear to you as life.and
without the attainment of which you feel
that your life will have been a wide, shore-less
waste of shadow peopled by the
spectres of dead ambitions ? You cau take
your choice in the great battle of life,
whether you will bristle up and win a
deathless name and owe almost everybody,,
or be satisfied with scabs and mediocrity.
Many of those who now stand at the head
of the nation as statesmen and logicians
were once unknown, unhonored and unsung.
Now they saw the air m the halls of Con-gress,
and their names are plastered on the
temple of fame.
You can win some laurels, too, if you
will brace up and secure them when they
are ripe. Daniel Webster, and President
Garfield and Dr. Tanner, and George Eliot
were all, at one time, poor boys. They
had to start at the foot of the ladder and
toil upward. They struggled against pov-erty
and public opinion bravely on till they
won a name in the annals of history, and
secured to their loved ones palatial homes,
with lightning rods and mortgages on them.
So may you if you will make the effort.
All these things are within your reach. Live
temperately on $9 per month. That's the
way we got our start. Burn the midnight
oil if necessary. Get some true noble-minded
young lady of your acquaintance
t ) assist you. Tell her of your troubles
and she will tell you what to do, She will
gladly advise you. Then you can marry
her, and she will advise you some more.
After that she will lay aside her work any
time to advise you. You needn't be out
of advice at all unless you want to. She,
too, will tell you when you have made a
mistake. She will come to you frankly
and acknowledge that you have made a
jackass of yourself. • As she gets more ac-quainted
with you she will be more can-did
with you, and in her unstudied, girlish
way, she will point out your errors, and
gradually convince you, with an old chair-leg
and other arguments, that you were
wrong, and your past life will come up be-fore
you like a panorama, and you will
tell her so, and she will let you up again.
Life is indeed a mighty struggle.