Lititz Record

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VOL. I. LITIZ, PA., FRIDAY MORNING, FEBRUARY 1, 1878. NO. 21.
oetrti.
THE REVOLVING LIGHT.
BOSTON TRANSCRIPT.
• Tib night; the world's asleep; though dark,
Vet day begins to creep
Near dawn : yon harbor light hath shined
Till morn's first peep.
Now light it gleams, now darker seems,
Now fades in gloomy night;
Now lighter grows, now brighter throws
Its full-orbed light.
Yet still it burns, and lights by turns
That dangerous, treacherous edge
"Where breakers lash in sullen dash
O'er sunken ledge.
My eyes still seek the distant streak
W here day the ocean nieete;
Taler the light revolves as'night
The morning greets.
That faithful star which pales afar
ITath faithful vigil kept
At danger's post, guarding the coast
While men have slept.
But now the morn ; the night hath goue,
And yonder little ray,
Mingling its gleams in God's own beams.
Is merged in gloriousday.
ON THE SHORE.
At last, the weary journey o'er,
I hear the breakers plash and roar
From that unknown, unfathomed sea
Upon whose waves 1 soon must be.
Hast thou, O sea, no other strand
Wave that on which I doubting stand't
Hast thou, O sea, no oilier shore
Save that on which thy billows roar?
In vain! in vain! No answer make
The surges that arise and break.
A mist of doubt falls o'er the sea—
I come, resistless waves, to thee.
iiueihititi.
ADVENTURE OF ALL HALLOW E'EN.
"Oh, girls! do you sow liemp seed?"
cried merry little Gertie Ellsworth, burst
ing into tlie room where a group of bright-'
eyed, rosy-clieeked farmers' girls were
gathered near a deep window-seat at the
farther end, chatting over the topics of in-terest
in their little village, after the man-ner
of careless young girls.
Gertie shook back the black, tangled
curls from her glowing cheeks, and flew
toward them in her impetuous fashion,
like a bird on the wing, with alight, airy
grace of movement, and yet with an im-pulsive,
girlish spring which in anyone
else might have appeared awkward, and
which, among the girls, had won for her
the sobriquet of "Trot," and the boys, for
no other reason than hearing their sisters
address her by it, had taken up, almost
unconsciously, the appellation which suited
the active little creature so well. So she
was hardly known by other than this
ridiculous nick-name.
Now this same little Trot was a dear
lover of mischief, and not a soul in D
cold positive!}' affirm that he had not suf-fered
in some way from the pranks which
she was incessantly playing off on any and
everyone who came in her way, without
regard to age, sex, dignity, or color; from
the .parson to black Tom, tlie milk boy, it
was all the same to her, so long as some
object was furnished her upon which to
practice her ridiculous little jokes and
sharp witticisms; and it was agreed that
D didn't boast the person who could
get ahead of Trot Ellsworth's wits. Yet,
withal, Trot was loved and petted by every-one,
in spite of her wickedness, and cer-tain
it was that no one ever got angry
with the merry, light-hearted girl, for her
sunny temper and laughing face forbade
that, "and so she reigned queen of her little
circle of friends and of many a loyal heart
beneath a home-spun coat.
Gifted by nature with beauty of face and
form, musical talent, good intellect, and
the sunniest of dispositions, although but
half the flower-strewn way between her
seventeenth and eighteenth birthdays had
as yet been traveled by her, the society of
D was proud to point out to interested
strangers (for they invariably were inter-ested,)
the little willowy figure with the
melodious voice, presiding at the organ in
church, or the liaRdsome girl with the
dark, bright face, dangerously sparkling-eyes,
and witty repartee, who was the
centre of attraction at their social gather-ings,
as "Dr. Ellsworth's daughter and
our belle."
Hoping we have now made the reader
sufficiently acquainted with the character
and position of our little, heroine, we will
resume our narrative at the place where it
was interrupted by Miss Trot's demand for
an introduction.
"Ah, I had almost forgotten it was 'All
hallow e'en!' But what new mischief
are you brewing now, Miss consequence V
I warrant some poor fellow sufters to-night
from the spirit of mischief that possesses
you!" cried Marion Hyde, a tall, pretty
girl of seventeen, and breaking from the
circle of friends, she clasped her white
hands about Trot's supple waist, and the
two skimmed around the long room in a
breezy waltz, which the other members ol'
1lie sewing circle, to which they all be-longed,
and which had not as yet been
called to order, hastened to follow, while
Trot pursed up her pretty lips and whistled
—yes, absolutely whistled—a lively waltz.
A moment more, and in rushed some half-dozen
more members—laughing, fun-lov-ing
girls—who joined the flying figures in
their dizzy whirls about the room.
"Oh, there, that will do!" cried Trot,
breathlessly, breaking away from her
partner, and consulting the dainty watch,
whose ring was just visible above the
rich crimson sash at her waist. "Seven
o'clock ! Why, where is our president?
But come here, Marion, and let me talk to
you." And she drew her companion up
near the heavily draped window, and be-gan.
"Come over to-night, Marion, and
sow hemp seed with me, won't you? You
know it is my first night, and, although I
have no faith in it, I'm going to try it.
Guy Randolph says 'tis no humbug though ;
says he tried it once, and saw the person
of all persons for him. He won't tell me
who it was though, and I—"
"You have your suspicions, you sly
little puss," interrupted Marion, in a
bantering tone, that brought the blushes
to Trot's bright face, which a pair of
merry blue eyes, peering through the
curtains at her side, did not fail to note,
while the owner's heart gave a great
thump. "What, blushing, Trot? Now
I certainly have cause for suspicions !"
cried Marion, jestingly.
"Oh, that waltz lias warmed me up ; it
always does," stammered Trot, with tlie
poorest attempt at clearing herself from
suspicion that she had made sinee her
remembrance.
'' Now, Trot Ellsworth, tell me honestly,
'without prevarication,' as the president
says, for I shall draw my own conclusions,
whichever way you say. Whose double
had von rather have appear before your
incredulous eyes to-night—Guy Randolph's
or Oscar Levison's—that wicked flirt who
breaks so many hearts, and of whom
Guv has: recently had every cause to be
jealous?';'
" I f ' t w a s anyone else hut you, Marion,
my mentor, I "should think this cross-questioning
very impertinent; but as you
owned up to me like a lady when I ac-cused
y.ou of being engaged to llal Blake,
why, I'll tell you, with the understanding
that it is to be strictly confidential, thai 1
— detest Oscar Levison !"
"Oh, how provoking you are, Trot!"
cried Marion, disappointedly. "I thought
you were going to give me a subject for
thought by stating your preference. Come,
tell me, now, which do you like better,
Guy or Oscar—or do yoa detest both of
them?"
. Breathlessly the figure i icliind the curtain
waited for the answer. This idea of hav-ing
the uncertainty removed for him before
proposing to such a girl as Trot, who was
not given to wearing her heart upon her
sleeve, was very pleasant, yet the suspense
during the interval before her answer was
just as painful as it could have been under
any circumstances. At last the answer
came, low and soft, as the red lips breathed
"Guy," and the bashful head drooped in
shame-faced confusion.
The idea of confidence between two
young and loving girls is all very nice, in
its way, but they should be certain that no
third party is about, and especially an in-terested
one.
" I know I flirted desperately with Oscar
Levison, and I was sorry enough for if,"
the soft voice resumed a little regretfully.
"But he is so handsome and agreeable,,
you know, and I did not. want to show my
preference outright. What girl would?"
And Guy—"
But tlie speakers moved away, that their
confidences might not be interrupted by a
group of girls who were nearing them,
while the figure behind the curtain sat still
in a transport of joy.
It was not Guy Randolph's fault that he
was there and had heard the conversation
of the two girls in this seemingly dishonor-able
sort of way. He was the nephew of
Dr. Ellsworth's second wife ; had been
paying his aunt a visit, and to-night had
strayed into the curtained recess to watch
the brilliant sunset, never thinking that he
was encroaching upon private dominions
when he entered the large sewing-room,
and was only reminded of the fact when a
bevy of merry girls entered, and, divesting
themselves of their wraps, took their posi-tion
near the v. indow and began talking,
over the affairs of the sewing-circle. As
he was a stranger to many of them—and
with all his good looks and assurance was
not the man to court the position of being
the only masculine object of interest in a
'room-full of pretty girls who were likely,
under the circumstances, to regard liis
presence there as intentional—he had re-mained
in his hiding place, pulling savage-ly
at his tawny moustache, and muttering
beneath his breath,—
" Hang it ! now I'm in a pretty fix ! But
if I hadn't been engaged in the proverbial
pastime of love-sick swains I should not
have been caught here like a great idiot!
Deuce take it! I'm like the lion that was
caught in a snare—I believe it was—and
then freed by the little mouse." And to
make the simile complete, he waited duti-fully
for the "little mouse" in the person
of Trot or his aunt, to come to his rescue,
when the sound of Trot's entrance, the
merrily whistled tune and dancing feet,
had impelled him to take a peep through
the parted curtains to see what spirit of fun
and revelry had been let loose in the crowd
of girls outside ; but just as lie was in tlie
act of doing so, liis movements and atten-tion
were arrested by the mention of his
own name, and for the first time he became
aware of the presence of the two girls in his
vicinity. Fow men, however inclined to
play the role of eavesdropper, would have
resisted the temptation to listen lo what
followed. But hark! even now lie hears
them coming toward him again, and Trot-is
saying,—
"Now you will be sure to come, and we
will sow hemp seed right here, in this very
room ; and oh, wont it he fun ! Kenneth
Lane is to stay here to-night with Guy, and
their room is directly over this, and front-ing
tlie milkman's house 011 the opposite
side of the street, Guy promised to sow
hemp seed to-night at twelve, and I've
arranged to play a pretty joke on him and
Kenneth." And, standing there, not two
feet from the intended victim of her practi-cal
joke, and within excellent hearing dis-tance,
Trot unfolded her plans to the ap-preciative
Marion. "You see I got my
idea from a story I read, but it is not the
least bit laughable for not having been
original. Two years ago, I bought a pow-erful
magic lantern, and from the very
room that they will occupy to-night, I
threw, one after another, the reflections of
its horrid pictures into little black Tom's
room, frightening him almost into convul-sions.
Wasn't I wicked? Well, I gave
him the lantern afterward, to quiet my
conscience, and to-niglit I have hired him
to go up into his attic at twelve o'clock,
and by means of this same lantern throw
the reflection of an old colored woman up-on
the west window, so that it will appeaj;
upon the opposite wall of their rooni, you
know. Won't it be fun? I'd give all my
valentines prospective to see Guy's faeCj
and if I had not promised him to sow
hemp seed, we would contrive some way
to see it, too. And then won't I tease
him about it?"
The entrance of the president here in-terrupted
Trot's confidence, but Guy had
heard enough to satisfy the most, inveterate
practical joker. The love of mischief was
as strong within him as in the roguish
Trot, although it did not so often assert
itself, and lie determined to repay the
prank which she had played but recently
upon his unsuspecting self as well as come
out ahead of her in her anticipated master-piece.
But just now the thing uppermost
in his, mind was to find some avenue of
escape from the room, which was now
filled with busy, bustling maids and ma-trons,
all talking discordantly, but working
in harmony, and it was hopeless for him
to try to escape through that throng un-seen,
while in his present position he was
in imminent danger.of being discovered
and brought to light. He turned about
and tried'" the window ; it yielded, slid
noiselessly up, and lie slipped out upon the
veranda unobserved ; but as lie was closing
it, behind .him, he accidentally allowed it
to fall with a thud that brought the whole
circle to the window in a breath, only to
see the soles of a pair of boots vanishing
around the corner—at least, so it was af-firmed
by some Opinions were now
divided whether it was a robber, or the
wind, or possibly, Trot's pet cat; and
Trot, after combatting the latter opinion
most manfully for a while, at length ad-vanced
the theory'that in all probability it
was a- humming-bird, that wore patent
leathers, number nine, and then the matter
was allowed to rest, while the industrious
circle resumed its occupation.
Meanwhile, the object, of so much dis-cussion
had rounded the corner and taken
to the woods, fully expecting to be pur-sued
by at least a dozen advocates of
" women's rights," led by the indefatigable
Trot. He was greatly surprised and grat
ified, therefore, to find thai the confusion
had subsided, and once more breathing
freely, he made his way to the parlor,
where his aunt, detained from the circle
by rheumatism, was entertaining Kenneth
Lane, and wondering "what had become
of that boy, Guy."
Guy immediately relieved the good
lady's mind on entering, and engaged her
in a game of chess, while Kenneth buried
himself in a magazine until the breaking
up of the circle, when the parlor was made
brighter to him by the presence of Trot
and Marion. Just which one's absence
would have detracted from the brightness
we will leave the sequel to show.
The time passed very pleasantly to the
young people, with siiiging, playing and
games, while plenty of quips and jests
were contributed—not alone by Trot, but
Guy proved himself nearly, if not quite,
her equal in wit and repartee. Trot was
not jealous of him, however, but heartily
enjoyed his jokes and badinage until the
clock surprised them by striking eleven,
and then her merry laughter resounded
through the hall and up the stairway to
tlie two young men, as they disappeared
in their room, but not for the night, to be
sure. The next hour was a busy one to
them both, and Kenneth; having been
taken into Guy's confidence, was in his
element when at last the clock struck
twelve, and they prepared to put their
little plot into execution, but wondering
much at the non-appearance of the "col-ored
woman " to which Trot had alluded.
Meanwhile, to avoid disturbance by the
other inmates of the house, the two girls
retired to the seclusion of the sewing-room,
and there, heaping 011 a pile of wood in the
wide old fire-place, they prepared to spend
the next hour as pleasantly as possible.
"There," whispered Trot, "now we
must be quiet, Marion, that the boys may
not know of our presence here. Now take
this easy seat by the fire, while I profane
the president's sacred chair by appropri-ating
it at your side." And together they
talked ancl laughed until a few minutes
before the mystic hour of twelve, when
they prepared themselves for a sight of
their future lords.
'' Really, Trot, we know so very little
about it, that we may not perform the
sacred ceremony aright. Ought we not
to be alone?" questioned Marion.
" Oh, I don't know," answered Trot,
carelessly, busying herself with her pre-parations.
"I guess they will appear to
us just as quickly together as any oilier
way. I'll risk it," she added, in a confi-dent
tone.
At this, Marion parted the curtains of
that window, saying, as she did so,—
"Let's have a little light on the subject,
any way." And the bright moonlight
poured into the shadowy room, and lay in
huge yellow patches on the floor and wall.
A large table was now moved into the
middle ol'the floor opposite the window,
and then each girl armed herself with a
package of hemp seed, and looked in each
other's eyes.
" Aren't you afraid, Trot?" asked Mar-ion,
her pretty face slightly pale.
"Afraid? No, indeed, I'm not!" an-swered
the dauntless Trot; and then the old
clock 111 the hall chimed the hour of
twelve. With just a little hesitancy at
first, the girls at length commenced their
march around the table, "chanting the
mystic verses, and sowing the mystic
seed.'' On the third revolution around the
table, the seed crunching beneath their
light footsteps, and their faces turned re-solutely
away from each other—that no
chance sight of the mischievous smile on
either might be seen—the two stopped be-fore
the window a moment, when, slowly
and majestically, a figure glided in front
of it, and between them and the moon.
The face could not be seen, as it was thus
thrown in the shadow, but the huge pro-portions
of the figure were clearly outlined
against the moonlit sky, while two giant
arms were stretched toward the two fright-ened
creatures who had thus sought to
dip into futurity, and who had, to all ap-pearances,
succeeded grandly. Just then
the figure turned slowly, as though swayed
by the gentle wind or a sudden impulse,
and the face was plainly seen—a round,
ruddy, rubicund visage, with great staring
eyes, and cheeks and nose that spoke un-mistakably
of the free use of something
stronger, than cold water as in the moon-light
they glowed ruby red.
" Oh, Trot ! what do you see?" gasped
Marion, looking white and scared.
" I see a great ogre—brother to Hans
Zechondgreyer, the saloon-keeper, I should
say, by the strong family resemblance ;
and oil, Marion, he can't be mine ! I never,
never could take him as long as I live 1
No, I'll live an old maid forever first !"
" He must be yours, Trot! You sowed
hemp seed as well as I—he's not mine,
any way ! Oh, I wish I hadn't sown hemp
seed ! ' burying her scared face in her
hands
"Well, upon my honor, he's a beauty,
and it appears to be a case of love at first
sight with the old fellow !" declared Trot,
emphatically, recovering her impudence
with her courage. "But why can't he
go away now ? I don't want liim staring
at me an}' longer. I know, Marion, he s
a Mormon saint, and has come for both of
us. If lie wouldn't stare at us so, and de-vour
us with his great eyes, there might
be some chance of his forgetting how we
look, and so pass us by the- future ; but I
see lie does not mean to forget us. Well,
if I've got to endure him sometimes, I'll
not endure him longer now, so I'll make
an appeal to his saiutsliip. Come, go
away, sir, we have seen enough of you !"
The figure still stood immovable.
"Oh, I'll not endure this any longer !
Open tho window, Marion, and I'll see
about lliis !"
Marion closed lier eyes, and sliudder-ingly
held the window open with one white
hand. Out scrambled Trot over the low
window seat, armed with all the courage
she could muster, together with the poker,
resolved that be it spook or double, or the
veritable Mormon saint in the fiesli, it
should be vanquished. But at .this 1110
ment a mighty vibration shook the mon-ster's
frame; something came whirling
down from an upper window, and the fig-ure
toppled over upon the screaming,
frightened girls, while shouts and bursts
of uproarious laughter, followed by the
most violent demonstrations of mirth, in
the shape of two bootless, liatless, young
men canie down from that upper room.
Trot gathered up her poker with a half-formed
determination to use it upon the
two whom she realized had played such a
ridiculous joke upon her-—the queen of
jests—but contented herself with turning
her back upon them, and tearing to pieces
and examining the prostrate, monster,
which proved to be a figure formed by
stuffing a coat and pair of pantaloons,
and, with plenty of sticks and a mask and
hat, had been the means of giving her
such a fright. It had been let down from ,
the upper window by a rope, and now
clothing and skeleton were scattered about
the veranda and sewing room, while Guy
and Kenneth rolled upon the floor and went
through with more gymnastic perfor-mances
than ever graced a circus the
whole year round, for from an adjoining
hall they had witnessed the scene, and
now. their pent up mirth must find vent.
Just here a prolonged yell was heard,
and Bridget, the cook at Ellsworth house,
came rushing down the stairs, her face
white with terror, her eyes protruding, ancl
lier hair fairly standing 011 end with fear,
"Ocli, sure and 'tis mesilf that's kilt,
' entirely !" she gasped, bursting into the
| sewing-room, and adding her cries to the
} general confusion, which had now aroused
| Dr. and Mrs. Ellsworth, who appeared at
the hall door, rather en deshabille, inquir-
* ing in affright what had happened. "Oh,
me counthry !" cried the affrighted girl,
crouching with terror upon a chair.
" Och ! I'll nivir git back to ould Ireland
atall, atall ! for the ugliest, and blackest,
and the fattest Injun jest come in my room,
and when I shied the wash pitcher at his
head, there he was, a grinnin' at me still,
with the watherall clroppin' from the wall
around him—sure, ancl it went right
through him, ancl lie never moved, until
he went up the chimney, leavin' a smell
of brimstone behind him, and meself wet
as a dlirowned rat!"
The party immediately ascended to
Bridget's room to discover the cause of
her affright. When they reached the
room they found alldark and silent, and
what appeared to be an old colored woman,
surrounded by a halo of light, appeared
at the head of Bridget's bed, vanished and
reappeared again.
Trot, thoroughely exasperated, rushed
down the stairs ancl over into little black
Tonus attic, imploring him to put his ap-paratus
out of sight before it should be
discovered, as he had thrown the reflection
upon the wrong window. When she re-turned,
she found them all gathered in the
sewing-room, and a burst of merriment
greeted her. She knew in a moment that
lier attempt to hide her unfortunate prac-tical
joke had been a failure. Yes, Guy
had informed them all of the whole chain
of occurences of tliat never-to-be-forgotten
night, ancl now Trot had to own herself
fairly "given away" instead of "sold, '
as she had often declared Guy to be when
made the victim of one of her practical
jokes or sharp witticisms.
The time has passed most merrily since
then, and now Mr. and Mrs. Guy Ran-dolph
are just returning from the wedding
of Kenneth Lane and pretty Marion Hyde,,
and it is agreed that the two couples are
to live near neighbors. Each All Hailow
E'en is to be spent at the old Ellsworth
homestead. Perhaps it is all the better
that, although Mrs. Guy is the same gay,
merry little personage of old, she lias,
since that eventful night, lost the ardent
love for a practical joke which once char-acterized
little Trot Ellsworth.
SENSATION IN PLANTS.
M. Figuier believes that a plant has
the sensation of pleasure and of pain.
Cold, for instance, he says, affects it
painfully. We see it contract, or, so
to speak, shiver under a sudden or vio-lent
depression of temperature. An
abnormal elevation of temperature evi-dently
causes it to suffer, for in many
vegetables, when the- heat is excessive,
the leaves droop 011 t h e stalk, fold them-selves
together and wither; when tlie
cool of the evening comes, the leaves
straighten, and the plant resumes a
serene and undisturbed appearance.—
Drought causes evident suffering to
plants, for when they are watered after
a prolonged drought they* show signs
of satisfaction. The sensitive plant,
touched'by tlie finger, or only visited
by a current of unwelcome air, folds
its petals and contracts itself. The
botanist Desfontaines saw one, which
he was conveying in a carriage, fold its
leaves while tlie vehicle was in motion
aucl expand them when it stopped—a
proof that it was the motion that dis-turbed
it,
MIGRATORY QUAIL.
I n Europe there is found a fine spe-cies
of quail, which, as the cold weather
approaches, crosses the Mediterranean
into Africa. Several months ago
a Mr. I-Iapgood, of Boston, and" a
Judge Everts, of Vermont, imported
some of these birds. As the cold
weather commenced they were seen to
leave New England for the South.
Subsequently several of them boarded
vessels at sea, quite a distance from
tlie coast, and it was feared all would
be lost, but the following letter shows
that some of them are safe):
SAVANNAH, G a . , D e c . 10, 1877.
Mr. Editor—Let your friends, Judge
Everts, of Vermont, and Mr. Hap-good,
of Boston, take heart. Their
European quails have not all gone to
sea. They are here in considerable
numbers. I have, 011 three several oc-casions,
found them during my shoot-ing
excursions in this vicinity. The
first time I noticed them was about
the IQtli of November, when I shot one
before I observed that it was not a
native bird. I recognized it at once as
a true "cohornix <jomnmn4n," being per-fectly
familiar with that bird, as I have
often shot them in Egypt as well as in
the south of France and in Africa.
Two or three days later I saw 'tliem
again, and at such a distance from
where I saw them at first as to preclude,
in all probability, the idea that it was
the same bevy. I am well convinced
that there are at least three bevies of
the. birds safe from the perils of the sea.
I congratulate the sportsmen of the
country upon tlie apparently successful
introduction of this rare game bird to
America, and especially do I congratu-late
the public spirited and liberal
gentlemen who inaugurated and so
abl\ vuiked out the scheme of their
i m i o i t i t i 11.
That they will return north with the
spring, I have, from my intimate knowl-edge
of their habits, no doubt what-ever.
So let us have peace. Very truly
yours, JOHN A . READY.
MADAGASCAR.
An inquiry addressed to the London
Meld elicits the following concise in-formation
upon Madagascar: Madagas-car
has an approximate area of 228,564
square miles ; but this is not precisely
accurate, as no complete triangulation
of the island has ever been made. The
Government is constitutional, the pre-sent
monarch being Queen Ranavada
II., who is the head of the rulers of the
twenty-eight provinces into which the
land is divided. Bribery prevails much
among officials: Inhabitants variously
estimated at from 1,600,000 to 4,000,'-
000; the probable number being'
2,500,000. Soil very fertile in parts.
Chief vegetable production rice, woods,
gums and medicinal plants, also sugar
and iudia rubber; much iron ore, also
some copper and mercury, and a little
coal. There is alio certainly gold, but
its working is not allowed. It is essen-tially
volcanic in formation, and its
chief physical feature is tlie central
mountain mass, reaching from north
nearly to south, and having three ab-rupt
successive terraces toward the east
shore, and more gradual terraces to the
north, south and west. The centre
plateau is over two hundred geographi-cal
miles long, and lias a general height
of 4,000 feet. There are three great
tribes of the Malagasy, viz.: Betsimis-araka,
Sakalavas and Hovas, using dif-ferent
dialects, besides the other set-tled
tribes; the language is certainly
not easy, even to Malay scholars. In-habitants
rapidly being Christianized
and favorable to Englishmen, except
as regards permanent settlement.—
Climate hot and deadly on the coasts ;
more temperate in the interior, but not
suited for Europeans.
FALSE HAIR.
False hair, for ladies' wear, being re-cognized
as a necessity of modern social
existence, the want must be somehow
supplied. But live hair, hair bought,
to use the technical phrase, "on f o o t"
—the hair of girls ancl women bribed
to submit their lock to the shears—
grows annually scarcer and dearer.—
When the modest demand for tresses
was influenced by a few elderly dames
in need of wigs, the supply was easily
secured by agents who bargained with
the peasant maids of Brittany and ATT-vergne.
Paris alone would now con-sume
all, and more than all, of the
available capillary crop in France ; and
Marseilles, tlie present centre of the
hair trade, deals with Spain, the East,
and especially the two Sicilies, for
the forty t ons of dark hair which
she annually makes up into 65,000
chignons.
"Dead h a i r " has something of a
sinister, sepulchral sound, but as with-out
it the cheap curls, fronts and chig-nons
could not be made at the price, it
may be comfortable to know that the
original owners of the raw material are,
as likely as not, alive and well. Rag-pickers
value 110 unconsidered waif ancl
stray of the street, short of gold ring
and silver spoon, so highly as tlie clot-ted
combings of female hair, soon to be
washed with bran and potash, carded,
sifted; classed and sorted. There are,
commercially, seven colors of hair and
three degrees of length. Much dead
hail- enters into the cheaper of the 350,-
000 " p i e c e s " annually made in France.
The dearest chignon cost some five and
twenty pounds ; the cheapest a fiftieth
part of that amount. England is the
best consumer, and close upon her heels
comes America.—All the Year Bound.
Advertising Rates.
One inch, one week $ .75
One inch, three weeks 1.75
One inch, six months 5.00
One inch, one year 8.00
Two inches, one week 1.25
Two inches, three we6ks 2 00
Two inches, six months 8.00
Two inches, one year 13.00
One-fourth column, one week 3.00
One-fourth column, three weeks 7.00
One-i'oui-th column, six months 15 00
One-fourth column, one year 25.00
Local notices will be charged at the rate of eight
cents per line for each insertion.
Wmwtiez.
—It is estimated that the Turks have
lost over 100,000 by tliccasulties of war
thus far.
—Wisconsin is Indian for " wild-rush
ing-river."
—Syracuse, N. Y., has a stone pile
which keeps away all tramps.
—Pearls consist of concentric layers
of carbonate of lime ancl membrane.
—Married women in Japan shave off
their eyebrows, and widows shave the
entire scalp.
—A true knight is fuller of gay-bravery
in the midst than in the begin-in
g of danger.
—Blankets are the " circulating me-dium
" of the natives of Vancouver.
The richest chiefs have them stored by
tlie hundred.
•—A number of gentlemen are about
sinking several artesian wells at iforris-tovvn,
Pa., with a view to supplying
pure water to that place.
—"What is called a one-legged rail-road
is being made near Oil City, Pa.
There is a single iron rail, on which
saddle-shaped cars are to run, guided by
wooden rails lower down.
—A steamer plying between San
Francisco and Stockton keeps ail ec-centric
and useful sheep 011 board.
The sheep is trained to go out on a
gang-plank at landing when a flock is
to be loaded, to show t h a t the approach
is safe, and to act as a pilot.
—John Ilolden, a surveyor of Perry
county, Miss., lias dug up a treasure of
$35,000 in coin, to which he was guided
by an instrument of his own invention.
The money was buried during the war
by guerillas, who quarreled and killed
each other oft, leaving only general in-structions
as to the neighborhood where
sit was concealed.
—Nevada dogs seem to be made of
"sterner s t u f f " than other American
curs. Lately one fell clown a ninety-five
foot shaft, struck with emphasis on
hard rock, lived sixteen days without
food or water, was taken out after that
time, and immediately ran down and
totally destroyed a rat-that presumed
too much on appearan ces and approached
rather too near the sickly-looking an-imal.
—Krupp employs 14,000 workmen at
his gun foundry at Essen, and 8,000
more outside of the place. A party of
curious Americans recently applied for
admission t o the works, but were pointed
to a notice at the entrance, printed in
English, French, German and Italian,
which said that 110 one would be allowed
to enter, except persons of distinction
and those sent in behalf of a foreign
government. They then sent in a note
to tlie proprietors. The note was re-turned
and on the back of it was written
in English a reply to the effect t h a t the
managers must refuse the request.
—It is not generally known, perhaps,
that the motto "God speed the plow''
sprang out of a rebellion. There was
a great deal of "plucking down of in-closures,
and laying waste of fields to
enlarge the common lands," in the
early part of the sixteenth century ; and
in 1549 the practice led to an agrarian
insurrection in the Midland and north-eastern
counties of England. Tlie
rebels on that occasion bore a banner,
on which was inscribed "God speed the
plow;" and this is the first instance 011
record of the use of the phrase. I11 all
probability, therefore, it was invented
then.
—Liszt, the great pianist, who is now
in Rome, requires a great deal of pres-sure
before he will play, and if he con-sents
it is only after much flattery. A
lady got the better of him the other day
by locking her piano when he was ex-pected,
instead of leaving it open like
her friends and rivals. Tlie famous in-strumentalist
was spared hints and
prayers, but lie was not at ease. He
wandered about the instrument for a
while, and finally asked the fair hostess
for the key, which she had put in her
pocket. Her guests heard him at his
best, as though in protest for the slight-to
his beloved art.
—The following noticeis conspicuous-ly
set up. in the state forests of France:
''Hedgehog— Feeds 011 mice, small rod-ents,
slugs and grubs. Do not kill a
hedgehog. Toad—a farmer's friend ;
destroys twenty to thirty insects per
hour. Do not kill a toad. Mole—De-stroys
grubs, crickets and insects in-jurious
to agriculture; no trace of
vegetable matter is ever found in its
stomach; does more good than harm.
Do not kill a mole. Cockchafer and
liis grid)—Each insect lays seventy to
one hundred eggs. Kill the cock-chafers.
Each department of France
loses annually thousands of francs by
the injuries of insects. Birds are the
only enemies capable of contending
with them. Children, do not rob the
birds' nests.
—In France each inhabitant drinks,
on an average, three-quarters of a gal-lon
of spirits annually. Sudden deaths,
the consequence of drinks, are most
frequent in those departments in which
spirit is drunk; they are rare where
wine only is consumed. Cases of in-toxication,
sufficient to bring the
drinker under tlie notice of the law, are
also five times more frequent in the de-partments
which consume much alcohol
than in those in which wine is con-sumed.
So, also, with respect to alco-holic
delirium; the number of cases
stands in almost direct relation to the
amount of spirit consumed, and partic-ularly
to the amount of manufactured
spirit which is taken. Vendee and
Charente present the only exceptions to
this rule, and there a large quantity of
•white wine is taken—almost as danger-ous
as brandy.