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0, BAD BOY AND HIS PA.
STILL ON TtlE OLD FARM.
pcnron Will Not Accept Hennery's
m-p lie Flays a Joke and
0.*th" “Auer.”
rFrjmtDe Milwaukee Sun.]
“Wall I swow, here comes a walking
J^siwime " the grocery man as the
, fol
in the store,
‘°nl 1 1)V the boy, and who he looked had sick, lost half and
and tired, matter with ?”
P flesh ‘ ‘ What’s the you
‘‘Got the ager,” said the boy, as lie
-Jd Sflooked the perspiration around the off store his upper to see lip if
3 Sfof that would
gfthe 8 “Had too much quinine dreamy out of life his of
® on oil farm, and been shaking ever
esse the anyway.”
since. Darn a farm, with
“You see I went out to the farm
chum, and I took the fish poles and
Gained 0V in the the woods deacon’s, while and he he drove gave
Ac horse to resignation, and the
Jf deacon wouldn’t my accept it. He said he
•, m resignation until after
J 0 " ^id my act it. He said he
f. an( j then on
j 1 put me j n j a il for breach of prom
JS ■t e ? f I quit work notice, and left and him without chum
, lo , proper my
and told me, and so I concluded to
CaE or ^- rather than have trouble, and the
* id y chum could work a few
fvs ga m
for his board if he wanted to. It
**■. flint pretty poor board for a boy to work
my chum wanted to be with me,
’•a stayed. Pa and ma came out tc
1 the farm to stav a day or two to help,
Mas Aing going to help harvest, and ma
* i 9 Anted to help the deacon’s wife, but
PV to carry the jug to the field,
TAcd lav u nder a tree while the rest of us
lie and ma just talked the arm ofl
Si deacon’s wife. The deacon and pa
!e in the shade and see my chum and
work and ma and the deacon’s wife
Wiped'so |®j they and forgot organized to get dinner, strike
Ct jay chum me a Pa
we were beaten by monopoly.
took me by the neck and thrashed out a
Leon shock of wheat with my heels, and the
took my chum and sat down on
bm and we begged back. and they But gav6 us
oar old situations we got
even with them that night.
' chum and had got all
‘‘After my me
{he chores done that night, we sat out
on a fence back of the house in the or
light'and chiml eating green apples in the moon
trying to think of a plan of
revenue Just then I saw a skunk back
|<rf the house, right by the outside cellar
Moor and I told my chum that it would
’ them right to drive the skunk
serve shut door, but
own cellar and the mv
chum said that would be too mean. I
jskeil him if it wo.uld be any meaner
(tan for the deacon to thrash us because
TO couldn't mow hay awav in,“and fast enough said
So-tTO L/idn’t, men to pitch it he it
and so we got on each side of
if Cellar skunk and sort of scared it down
[Led and them we crept up softly and
the cellar doors. Then we went
i the house and I whispered to ma and
lied if she didn’t think the deacon had
me eider, and ma she began to hint
lat she hadn’t had a good drink of cider
jace last winter, and the deacon’s wife
mid us hoys could take a pitcher and go
icwu cellar and draw some. That was
loo much. I didn’t want any cider, any
BT, so I told them that I belonged to a
pperaiice society, and I should break
ET T.Iedgo if I d’rawed cider, and she
latflwas a good boy, and for me never
It touch a drop of cider. Then she told
p dram where the cider barrel was,
' '"1 cellar but he said he was afraid to
b lown cellar in the dark, and so pa
bid Cl he and the deacon would go down
Ce draw the cider, and the deacon’s
asked ma to go down too and look
lithe ijr fruit and berries she had canned
ja winter and they all went down cellar
earned an old tin lantern with holes
lit to light the deacon to the cider bar
and the deacon’s wife had a taller
He to show ma the canned fruit. I
Bel to get ma not to go, ’cause ma is a
Bcucl of mine, but she said she anybody guessed
lie knew licr business. "When
ivs that they guess they know their
mi business, that settles it with me,
id I don’t try to argue with them.
fell, my chum and me sat there in the
pclion, and I stuffed a piece of red
Bile-cloth in my month to keep from
periling, litli his and my chum thumb held ho wouldn’t his nose
finger and so cider
fort right out. We could hear the
p in the pitcher, and then it stopped
pd pi the then deacon did, drank and then out of they the pitcher, drawed
pa
pe more cider, and ma and tlie des¬
k's wife were talking about how much
kar it took to can fruit, and the deacon
llil pa to help himself out of a crock of
ltd l*k cakes, and I heard the cover on the
■tin rattle, and just then I heard the
lantern rattle on the brick floor
(the Pdness,’ cellar, tlie said deacon ‘I said, stabbed,’ ‘Merciful and
yelled pa am and
■ ‘goodness sakes alive,’
to there was a lot of dish-pans on the
sirs begun to fall and they all tried ti >
” up the cellar stairs at once, and they
L over each other, and O, my, what a
F? smell came up to the kitchen from
k cellar. It was enough to kill any
fy Ra was the first to get to tie
r' the stairs, and he stuck his head
[pc- U, kitchen, and took a long breath is
‘whoosh ! Hennery, your pa
siek man.’ The deacon came
■ \ b and lie had run his head into a
slielf and broke.a glass jar of
^'-■■‘-•berries, -ml he said and ‘give they were all Earth’s over
“desert me air.
drear.’ Then ma and the
s wife came lip on a gallop, and
: *°oked tired. Pa began to peel off
f and vest and said he was going
I ;; bury them, and ma said he comil
: • too, and I asked the deacon if
^t notice a faint odor of sewer gas
from the cellar, and my chum
Bering smelled more to him as though
had crawled in the cellar and
• Well, you never saw a sicker
and I felt sorry for ma. But
“adide to see pa. He was mad.
' ia % g°t the house aired, and my
after slept cn the hay in the
y we had opened the outside
Y l0 °r so the animal could get out,
n ext morning I had the fever
S'ae^ajK] and I have pa and ma brought me
neck been firing quinine
ever since. Pa says it is
out it is getting up before da.v-
■3 JL vg % i Si. f m m is -•d $ 1 K E WEEKLY
VOLUME VI.
light in the morning and prowling around
a do farm doing chores before it is time to
eh.res, I don’t want any more farm.”
THE PLAGUE AT SEA.
Slnrtlin«r Incident that took Place on a
Merchant Steamer in Deep Water.
In the gray light of a July morning
we made a sail dead ahead, close upon
the outskirts of retreating night. In
twenty minutes we heard the report of
firearms from her deck and saw that her
flag was at lialf-mast in token of distress.
A murmur of excited sympathy ran
through the great throng upon 'the deck
of the steamer. There was another, of
disappointment, when the purser told us
it w r as a Spanish brig. It was as if we
had wasted out compassion—an impulse
natural to the Saxon breast, born of the
fierce blood of those who peered through
the stormy passes of the Alps into
the Elysian fields of Latin foes.
The steady throbbing of the screws
slackened and ceased as we closed upon
the quarter of the helpless brig. In a
light western air, she lay with topsails
backed and her jibs and spanker idly
swaying deck, to and fro. Four men were
on her and as we approached,
lowered a boat astern, hauled it slowly
alongside, and entering it left the ship.
she was apparently deserted. They
rowed painfully toward our steamer, and
we gathered on the port side where the
rope ladder had been hung, to catch the
first glimpse of their faces. This we
could not do; the four wore wide som
breros and bent to tbeir oars feebly
but persistently, never looking up.
Our captain hailed them impatiently—
dippings they only waved their hands between
of the oars. They were now
alongside, and the bow oarsman clutched
the ladder and began to climb to the
deck. Two others followed him, all
three hanging like spiders on the narrow
way, resting at every round. The most
intense excitement was visible in every
face that watched them from the steam
er's deck. Our captain hailed them
from the bridge, and as before each man
waved a hand in a mechanical way.
Then the captain came to the ladder
awaiting their coming. The fourth man
sa t still in the boat.,, but those who
noticed saw him bending forward as he
sat until the broad brim of his hat
touched the gunwale, and the black
locks of his hair showed from behind,
He seemed helpless, or asleep, hut at
traded little attention as the others
climbed closer to the deck,
At last the uppermost had his hand
upon the steamer’s rail; a few more steps
and he would be on deck. A hundred
hands were ready to aid him in what
seemed a task beyond his power. But and
the captain thrust them all away,
reaching forward lifted his hat from his
head. A general exclamation of horror
broke from our eager group. There,
not two feet from the rail, looked up the
visage of Death—a yellow, shrivelled
face, and eyes that burned with the
weak and cruel fire of wasting life.
Loi.g and matted hair and mustache
sweeping down made the picture beyond
fault. It was the look of the baser man,
after the divine and human elements of
his nature die away in hunger, thirst or
bodily distress, leaving in his useless
frame the reptile only, from whose
depths the strict Darwinians claim as
cent. An impulse of terrible sallow dread
seized all who looked into the
face, askant in all the fear of sudden death,
The captain motioned back the man.
He trembled like a leaf and spoke for
the first time:
“Piedad Cielos !”
“Que quiere Y. ?”
And the answer came in concert al
most “We from the.three: dying, ’
are senor.
“Of what!”
“We do not know.”
But the captain knew, and we shrank
if from flames at the words:
“They are dying of yellow fever.”
If we had doubted this, the next mo¬
ment would have proved his judgment
right. The man remaining in the boat
rose suddenly from his seat with a quick,
sharp cry, “Santo Dios !” and fell upon
his back dead.
The captain ordered the others back,
promising aid on board their brig. They
swore they never would return, and be¬
gan climbing with the haste of despera¬
tion. Never will I forget the struggle
that ensued. The leading Spaniard, rail,
clinging with both hands to the
held back by the broad hands of the
captain, seemed the active personifica¬
tion of the plague, doing battle with the
lives of all on board. He was like one
mad; he cursed and snapped his teeth,
filling the air with bitter oaths, drawing
his feet under him to the highest round
he could reach, and throwing all his
strength into a final effort. He made it,
and was thrust down again by the same
strong hands.. But his feet had been
drawn as close to his body so that they
slipped from beneath him—and for a
single instant he hung above the others.
Then he fell, striking the next man and
the third, ’ and carrying them with him
into ^ g ea . q^y sank like plummets, three
j u a momen t more there were but
broad llats floating upon the place of
their descent.
The captain consulted with his ffrst
officer, a well-thrown pig of iron crasiieu
through the bottom of the boat, and the
brig stood for an instant against its. disk
and*disappeared in the dazzling radiance
of its later rays.
In the Far West a man advertises for
a woman “to wash, iron and milk one or
two cows.” What does he want his cows
washed and ironed for ?
GA.. NOVEMBER 2. 18S3.
THE POTATO ROT.
A Scientific View of What Causes It* With a
few Hints as to What Should be Done.
[From the Scientific American.]
At the time of writing,the daily papers
contain telegraphic accounts of the great
destruction of the potato crop in vari¬
ous sections of the country. The dis¬
ease, judging from the descriptions, is
doubtless the one known as the ‘ 1 potato
rot.” This is not a new trouble, and
most of the older inhabitants can re¬
member the ravages of this pest in 1842
and again in 1844, when it spread over
Great Britain, Ireland, and the United
States, causing much distress to those
who make the potato the leading article
of food.
The rotting of the potatoes is caused
by a microscopic fungus, Peronosporci
infestans, which infests the potato
plant. plant
By fungus is understood a of a
very low order, the more familiar mush¬ mem¬
bers of which are the toadstools,
rooms, mildews and moulds. Some of
the fungi live only on decaying organic
matter, and are comparatively hastening harmless;
in fact, are often helpful in
decay and preparing substances for fu¬
ture usefulness. Other species of fungi
are parasitic, growing upon living things.
The bread mould is a familiar illustra¬
tion of a small fungus which feeds upon
dead matter, while the potato rot fungus
is an equally striking example of one
thriving upon a living plant. The mil¬
dew of the grape, which has caused
great damage in many vineyards, They is a
close relative of the potato rot.
both belong to the same genus ( peron -
ospord), a genus which contains a large
number of species, and all are destruc¬
tive to the host plants.
The potato rot fungus consists through of long
filaments or threads, which grow
the substance of the potato rapid plant, decay. and
rob it of juices and induce a
The fungus usually makes its first ap¬
pearance upon tlie under side of the
leaves as frost-like pitches, soon causing
tlie foliage to curl and turn brown. This
frost-like appearance is dne to a multi¬
tude of spores which have formed upon
the ends of fungus threads protruding
from the breathing pores of the leaf.
There are many thousand stomata or
breathing pores to the square inch, and
a dozen or more threads may come out
at each opening. Each of these threads
forms branches, and each branch bears
a spore. This helps to give an idea of
the vast number of spores formed upon
a single affected leaf. These spores ger¬
minate quickly and in a peculiar man¬
ner-each spore provided giving rise to hair-like several
smaller spores with
appendages (cilia) by means of which
they move quickly around. This is a
most admirable provision for the rapid
and perfect spreading of the disease
when it has once “struck” a potato
■ field.
After the foliage has become affected
the disease passes into the stems and
down to the tubers, when the most de¬
structive work is done. Tlie farmer
should be on the watch for this fatal pest
of his potato field. Like most fungi this
Peronospora thrives best in warm, rainy
or “muggy” weather. In one of the
recent press reports it was stated that
the .decay was caused by the wet weather
which has prevailed The weather in many parts only of
the country, condition for the growth was of the a
rot favoring much the rains
plant, as popular development so as of the are
aids to tlie
various field crops. Weeks ago we pre¬
dicted, and with a great degree of cer¬
tainty, that potatoes would rot in many
sections. This came from a knowledge
of the nature of the rot and the conditions
which favor its development.
It has been shown that the disease is
first seen upon the leaves. When the
foliage begins to curl and turn brown,
tlie potatoes should be dug at once, and
in this prevent tlie fungus from reaching
the tubers. The potatoes should then
lie placed in a cool and dry place—the
conditions least favorable for the further
growth of the fungus should it be pres
ent. All affected tubers should be
thrown out and gathered with the vines
and burned. This destroys multitudes
of spores which might otherwise live
through the winter and be ready to pro¬
pagate the rot the following season.
There has been a great deal said about
“rot proof” varieties of potatoes, but
they probably do not exist. Some sorts
i) re more susceptible than others, prob
ably from constitutional offered weakness. England Many
prizes have been in for
the finding of tlie best sorts to withstand
the attacks of the rot fungus, bnt with¬
out any satisfactory caused results. by Knowing
that the disease is a parasitic
fungus, the rapid development of which
is favored by moist, warm weather, there
is little hope of finding a variety of po¬
tatoes so abnormal as to be “ rot pr /of.”
Doubling Up.
I ^ yerv slight error of fact or practice
wdl sometimes result iwn u ^masenousmis. ; n „ <= Pr ions mis.
take. Tins was recently illustrated m a
sotool _ in Nlw Yoik city, where a pupi.
vvho had been impressed with the force
and value of double letters, such as
,, double G ” in “fool,” “double e m
,, bee ^» e f c > was called upon to read
’ to early
t juch ; ug poenl exhortatory
***<■*—*•
“Up, up, Lucy ! the sun is in the sky: „...
Surprise, which soon gave away to
hilarity, was occasioned when the pupil
read the line: “Double up, Lucy ! the
sun is in the sky!” thus giving it a
significance by no means contemplated
by the poet.
TEE JOKER'S BUDGET.
WHAT WE FIND IN THE HUMOROUS
PAPERS.
AS BAD AS AN EXTRA SESSION.
“What makes you look so serious this
morning ?” asked Gus DeSmith of Col.
Gilhooly. enough make three such
“I’ve got to
men as me look serious. You know that
fine pointer dog I paid seventy-five dol¬
lars for ?”
“ Yes, I’ve seen him. He’s a splendid
animal.”
“Well, I am going to lose him. He
has all the symptoms of hydrophobia.
I think I’ll take him out and shoot him
as soon as I go home.”
“What does he do?”
“He don’t do anything. He lies
around in a listless sort of a way; and
the worst of it is, he won’t touch drop water. of
You can’t make him drink a
water.”
“Is that all? Why, Colonel, some of
tlie leading citizens of Austin have got
those very symptoms. Before you de¬
stroy a seventy-five-dollar dog, you had
better wait and see how some of these
prominent gentlemen, who can’t be
made to drink water, turn out. If
everybody who prefers beer and whisky
to water, and who don’t want to work,
is going to have hydrophobia, we of are it
about to have a lively old time
here in Austin. By Jove, it will be
equal to an extra session of the Legisla¬
ture .”—Texas Siftings.
WHY HE GOT MARRIED.
A capitalist of this city, who does
business on Woodward avenue, was sit¬
ting in his office the other day, when the
door opened and an unkempt, poverty
stricken man, who hail once been in his
employ, entered, hat in hand.
“How do you do, Michael ? Giad to
see pleasantly. you,” said “How his does former the employer, world
use
you ?”
“Badly, sorr; badly. I’m that poor
as you see, sorr. I haven’t a dacent suit
of clothes, nor a ruff to cover my head,
sorr.”
“That’s hard luck, Michael,” said the
gentleman; “have you no friends?”
“Sorr® a wan, sorr; but I’m going to
have one,” answered the man. “I’ve
made up my moind and I kum to con¬
sult you about it. Oi’m goin’ to be mar¬
ried, sorr.”
“Married, man ! Why, you haven’t
anything to get married with, have
yon?” “No has she, sorr.”
more
“Then why not wait until yon are bet¬
ter situated ?”
“An’ where would be the sinse in
waitin’, sorr. I’m going to get mar¬
ried on purpose so I’ll have something of
me own, sorr. ”—Detroit Post.
BLIGHTED ANTICIPATIONS.
A colored man o’er whose head about
seventy summers had passed, was quietly
but earnestly wrestling with a water¬
melon near the market, when he was
disturbed by the appearance of a small
boy of his color. The boy sat down on
a box and looked grudgingly at the
melon, and the old man looked up at him
and queried: I reckons I could give
“Young man, hab plenty
you half dis mellyou an’
left.”
“Thanks, uncle.”
“But I shan’t do it, kase it might be
de spilin’ of ye. In do fust place, de
law am plain an’ cl’ar on de p’int dat
what I leave behind goes to my nateral
heirs. In de second place, a pusson
withont antieipashuu mus’ be dreffully
onhappy. As de case now stands you
anticipate. You anticipate dat half dis
yere mellvon will stuff me full an’ I’ll
have to leave all de rest. You antici¬
pate dat I’ll git choked on de seeds, or
git sun- struck, or be ’tacked by dis^ipears de colie.
As de meilyon gradually won’t de
you'll anticipate dat I gnaw
rinds werry olus. As de rinds disappear
you’ll console yerself I wid de de fack seeds dat de in
seeds am left. As wrap up
my handkerchief you’ll reckon on lickin’
de' bo’d whar’ de meilyon was cut an’
eaten, but if I lif ’ up dat bo’d an’ gin ye
a whack on de back ye’ll anticipate
better dan to crowd in whar ye ain’t
wanted. Now you skip !”—M. Quad.
CARRIED IT THROUGH.
“ Talk about my war record,” said an
Arkansaw orator at a political meeting.
“ My wai‘ record is a part of the Sjate’s
history. Why, gentlemen, I carried the
last confederate flag through this town.”
“ Yes,” replied a bystander, “ for I was
here at the time.”
“ Thank you for your fortunate recol
lection,” gratefully exclaimed the ora
tor. “It is pleasant to know that there
still lives some men who move aside
envy and testify to the courage of
their fellow beings. As I say, gentle¬
men, my war record is part of the State’s
history, for the gentleman here will tell
you that I carried the last confederate
flag through the town. who had
“ That’s a fact,” said the man
witnessed the performance. “ He car¬
ried the last confederate flag through blamed
this town, and he carried it so
fast you couldn’t have told whether it
was a union Jack or a small-pox warn¬
ing .”—Arkansaw Traveler.
An Irish lawyer having addressed the
Court as “gentlemen instead of yer
brother of toe bar LJnnded°him U of hri
error. He immediately arose and apol
ogized thus: “May it plase the Court,
in the hate of debate I called yer honors
KS-SS
NUMBER 32.
THE POOR MARRIED MAN.
He boarded the St. Clair river boat
yesterday morning with his wife and
five children, and the family were not
yet seated when he began:
“Now, Sarah, I’ll bet fifty dollars you
forgot to hook that wood-shed door.”
“Mercy on me, so I did !” shegasped.
“Just as I expected—just exactly;
we’ll get home to find the house cleaned
out or in ashes. Never mind, though,
it would serve us just right!”
The boat had not yet started when
one of the boys, with who insisted on some deck
gymnastics a chair, fell to the
and set up a great squall.
“Broke both arms or I’m a sinner !”
shouted the father. “I told you he’d
do it if we let him come along, and now
he’s a cripple for life!”
It was, however, discovered that the
youngster had sustained nothing more
serious than a skinned nose, and peace
was restored and continued until the
wife suddenly discovered that she had
lost her watch.
“Of course—of course !” growled the
husband. “There goes one hundred
and twenty-five dollars of my hard earn¬
ings ! I knew you’d have it stolen before
you bad gone a rod !”
“But perhaps I left it on the bureau.”
“Well, it will be lugged off before
night, just the same. Serves you just
right for bulldozing me a whole month
to make this infernal excursion. What
ails that woman’s baby ?”
“I declare if it hasn’t got the whoop
ing-cough course—of 1” and not
“Of course, one
of children had it. ‘ Yen’ll
your ever hands for the
have business on your
next six weeks. ”
The next half hour passed peacefully
enough. Then somebody observed that
a man whose gaze was fixed on the
water probably contemplated suicide.
“I expected nothing else !” exclaimed
the disconsolate husband, “but maybe
he will listen to reason.”
Going over to the stranger he laid a
hand on his shoulder and brusquely in¬
quired “Sir, : do to jump into the
lake?” you mean
“Yes, sir,” was the reply as the man
looked up.
“Just so—exactly—I suspected as
much. You’ll utter a yell as you go
over and kick up all the bobbery you
can, I suppose.”
“Yes, sir.”
young’un Andmy wife will faint Injun away and I’ll every give
howl like an !
you a dollar to go over on the sly.”
“No, sir; not for $1,000.”
“Haven’t you any feelings for a man
who has had steamboats and fish and
rivers and lakes and flats pounded intc
him for three months ?”
“None, sir.”
“And won’t.” won’t $5 bribe you?”
“It
“Then go ahead with your oration and
death yell ! Make all the fuss you will!
Splatter around in the water as long as
you possibly family when can, and fix down your eyes for the on
my i you go other kind
last time I never had any
of luck, and I’m going down to the
saloon and get drunk preparatory to a
biler explosion ! Good-by, old feller;
serves me right, I don’t complain.”
When he was helped ashore at the flats
lie was weak in the knees and limber in
his spirit. Gathering his family around
him he counted:
“Seven, eight, nine, ten, ’lezen, twelve.
Why bless my stars ! I had five children
when we left Detroit, an’ now I’ve got
ten ! J.uss my luck—juss zi ’spectea !
Los’ watch—whooping-cough—suicide— jus’
ten children—whoop ! Sherves me
rize !”—Detroit Free Press.
WANTS TO HEAR.
“Why do you mutter that <vay when
yon read?” asked a man of an old negro
who sat mumbling over a sah newspaper. ?”
“How ought 1 to read,
“Why, read without moving your
lips.” “What good would dat sorter readin’
do me, fur I couldn’t heali it ? When I
reads I wanster read so I kin heah what
I’se readin’ ’bout.”
FIVE CENTS’ WORTH OF AMBITION.
Asleepy-looking boy of fifteen entered
a drug store the other day and looked
around in a dreamy manner. clerk him,
“Well, sir,” said the to
gazing at him inquiringly.
“Hey?” I do you?”
“What can for
“Oh !” drawled the boy, as if recol¬
lecting his errand. ‘ ‘a man sent me to
have this perscription filled,” and lie
drew from his pocket a piece of paper,
which he handed to the clerk.
“Give this boy five cents’worth of am
bition,” was tlie request contained in
the note.
The druggist thought the boy needed
something to stir him up and adminis¬
tered a dose of salts.
Those Figs. —A Nebraska thief de¬
votes his time entirely to the larceny of
hogs, and with great success. He goes
forth by night armed with a long stick,
to which a sponge is fastened, and a
bottle of chloroform. The porcine anaesthetic vic¬
tim is lulled to rest by the
and then borne silently away. The
other night one of the slumbering hogs
roiled out of the thief’s wagon. A‘kind
hearted farmer who came along the road
assisted the thief to load up again, h amid
profuse thanks. When the inner
reached home he discovered that the pig
was from his own sty.
notice that almost every
boarding-house is broken out all over
with mottoes worked with perforated
paper. The one most appreciated lay
the luckless wight compelled to live m
A LIST OF SURPRISES.
What Volcanoes Hr ve Done to Startle
AC'uriious List.
For a volcano once supposed to be in¬
active, Vesuvius has prepared some
lively surprises for the dwellers in its
neighborhood. Its latest surprise has
been to shake up a railroad and destroy
several houses. The people of Hercu¬
laneum and Pompeii thought Vesuvius
extinct until one day it proved in a very
thorough manner that it could still be
roused to activity. Since then no one
has been deceived by its quietude.
Other volcanoes besides Vesuvius have
from time to time indulged in what
seems to be the general volcanic pro¬
pensity of creating surprises. Thus no
one would expect to have a mass of rock
of some 3,000 cubic feet suddenly de¬
scend upon them from the sky. But
people living nine miles from Cotopaxi
were on one occasion treated to such a
surprise. The Carthaginians, when they
set out against Syracuse, were not pre¬
pared to cross the fiery river which, to
their surprise, intercepted their maroh
at Mount AStna. They had no boats
with which to cross it.
The great eruption of Tomboro sur¬
prised people for some 970 miles around,
the distance at which the force of the
explosion was heard. They wondered
what was the matter until they learned
of the eruption from one of the twenty
six persons who were saved out of a popu
tation of 12,000.
Surprises of another kind, fearful del¬
uges, are the first indications in many
South Americau districts that volcanoes
whose peaks are in the region of perpet¬
ual snow have suddenly become active,
the deluges being caused by the melting
of great masses of snow.
It must also be a surprise of a beauti
fnl, though fearful kind, to see a fiery
fountain play to a height of seven hun¬
dred feet from the side of a mountain.
Such a fountain on Manna Loa in 1852
was a magnificent illustration of volcanic
fissure, the pressure of lava at the crater
being relieved at this new outlet. The
cracks often seen on volcanoes, which
form dikes radiating from the centre,
are created in this manner. Small ex¬
tra craters, volcanoes on volcanoes,
which gradually become cone shaped,
are found along these fissures.
Another surprise. There is no flame
in volcanic eruptions, as is generally rep¬
resented most graphically in chromos.
The supposititious flames are simply a
reflection of the lava on the cloud of
ashes and cinders. How great a volume
of the latter is ejected can be we 11 under¬
stood when it is stated that enough
ashes and cinders were ejected during
the Tomboro eruption to cover the whole
of Germany two feet deep.
The islands which have occasionally
surprised the inhabitants along the
coast of the Mediterranean by appearing
suddenly under their very eyes are the
results of volcanic action. But probably
the greatest surprise connected with this
subject is the formation of volcanoes. A
volcano is originally nothing but a hole
in the ground, formed often at no eleva¬
tion by the swelling and breaking of an
earth bubble. The mountain which,
springs up around this opening is formed
by accumulations of successive eruptions.
The great ago of volcanoes which, like
Mauna Loa and Mount TEtna, are 14,000
and 11,000 feet high, *an be readily ap¬
preciated from this fact, and from the
further fact that jEtna had attained al¬
most its present height when it was
observed by Greek writers 2,500 years
ago. volcano is magnifi¬
A a furnace on a
cent scale, the lava which it ejects being
molten rock. This rock is so thoroughly
fused by some volcanoes that the lava is
as thin as honey, and flows with a ve¬
locity of fifteen miles an hour. Some¬
times it is spun out in long, glassy
threads by the action of bursting gaa
bubbles.
While there are two kinds of eruptions,
the quiet and explosive, there are many
theories regarding the Many heat which think fuses that
the rocks into lava.
the interior of the earth is in a liquid
condition, but the better opinion seems
to be that the lava occurs in subterranean
lakes. But the theorists agree that the
proximate cause of volcanic eruption is
the contact of \rater with molten rock.
A Chinese Visitor.
The United States steamer Richmond
when at Shanghai, China, was visited
by Li Hung Chang, an official of great
power. The visit was in return for ona
paid the official by the officers of the
steamer. An officer, in writing of tho
visit, says:
“He came to tlie landing with a body¬
guard of about 200 men, a large number
of whom were horsemen; for they about lined
each side of the street two
blocks. We finally gave him a drill, at
which he was delighted, ashore and when said ho
left the vessel on file way he
that he shouU be very much pleased
to send to the Admiral, for the use of
the men, a slight token of his esteem
and of his appreciation of the efforts to
entertain him on board that day. In a
short time orders upon the grocers and
market-men began to come off, and when
they ha/1 finished we found that hia
‘slight token’ consisted of—12 live
sheep; 2 bullocks; 200 fowl; 1,000 pounds
of bananas; 1,000 poi nds of fruit; 8 cases
of English beer, in pints (8 dozen each
case): 8 cases of English beer, in claret quarts
(4 dozen each case); 8 cases of (I
dozen quarts in each case).
“The men of the Richmond said that
they Chinaman would be very glad to have a
like that come onboard every
day.”
“Did I ever tell you about Pinch, the
shoemaker?” askedFqjg. “No? Well,
he got shut into a little, dark closet in
his shop—spring-lock, you know—no
air—couldn’t live long, ;■ ;ou know. The
boys heard of it, rushe: 1 in, pried open
the door; but, alas! pool man—” “Was
he dead?” cried a half-d >zeu men. “Not
dead, but he was breabhing his last—
that is to say, he had it mth him.” The
fellows felt like booting Fogg; but as he
hs a strapping fellow, they awl kept still,
t a welt one of th sse days. Fel
tot Hke to bo ooled tot w»j.
