• 8be %t*nUt 
LETTERS FROM THE WEST.-NO, H. 
Another stage ride illustrated our pros¬ 
pective ; but it had one redeeming feature—three 
hours of daylight—and after one’s staging lias 
been confined to the night-time, this was not to 
be overlooked; and, anticipating quite a view of 
the adjoining country, I had put on a thin veil 
and an extra shawl to facilitate out-door obser¬ 
vations. 
Two o'clock, and the vehicle drew up, looking 
like a huge hearse, precisely. Nobody inside, 
thought I, as the driver jumped down from his 
box and slapped his hands back and forth to 
promote circulation. 
Unbuttoning the curtain disclosed four living 
mortals; two more crept in and then the insti¬ 
tution was hermetically sealed again. Jt was 
dark as night; hut finally one kindly ray after 
another crept in through the apertures, and we 
could discern the outlines of the several passen¬ 
gers. It is said the eye will adapt itself won¬ 
derfully to different degrees of light, that men 
confined in darkest caves have at length been 
able to see spiders on the walls of their cells. 
Our heavy Concord coach lumbered slowly 
along; the wind was blowing furiously, the cold 
grew more intense, and the railroad eighty miles 
distant. The night previous a coach had tipped 
over ou the same route and one man had broken 
his arm, This was as comforting a hit of truth 
as our minds would lay hold of whenever the 
stage or its contents lost their equilibrium. 
There were five men and one woman inside, 
which was better than if it bail been vice versa. 
Satchels were abundant, and 1 held on my lap 
the inevitable bandbox for seventy miles; the 
motherly tenderness thus engendered was quite 
incensed the next day on seeing a mail agent ap¬ 
parently aim his bag at its defenceless head, 
which almost threatened annihilation; but it 
proved an unyielding target much to the edifi¬ 
cation of the millinery within. 
-“Come what come may, 
Time and the hour outwear the longest day." 
And the same is true of the night: hour by 
hour it wore oil', interspersed w ith several stop¬ 
pages ami the same number of attempts at nap¬ 
ping. “ Let mo sleep,” says the Arctic traveler, 
as they find him fallen by tho roadside and be¬ 
numbed with cold. And the sensation is as sure 
a sequence of excessive cold as the proof of a 
problem its correct solution. 
Next day, when within ten miles of our desti¬ 
nation, four fresh, spirited horses were put 
before an unusually large sleigh, with a rough, 
wood-colored box, and our passengers, now- 
numbering nine, were disposed therein, each 
with his inseparable adjuncts, a satchel and 
trunk. The sleigh-ride was a delightful one, 
leading through oak openings, patches of hazel- 
bush, and beside productive fields, small houses 
built of logs when Eastern Iowa was on the 
frontier of the white settlements, and the more 
ambitious and commodious brick structures of a 
later day. Owing to the scarcity of building 
timber most of the houses are of brick. 
One can hardly realize how- much music there 
is in an engine whistle, nor how- delightful the 
sensation when the railway car’gcts under full 
motion, till they have lived for months Inland, 
or been packed into a dark, crowded stage, and 
dragged a day and a night over roads that are 
indescribably bad. 
At Keokuk, the Gate City, we rested from 
our travels. Like all the thrifty river towns, it 
is a place of business and importance. 
The poorer classes of Iowa are doing much 
better now than for several years past. Money 
is plenty and prices are high —the Shvloek* 
that have crowded them so closely heretofore 
are fast losing power. 
Tho public men of the State are mostly 
intelligent, liberal minded, and well educated— 
and, generally speaking, they have more polish 
and ease of manner than their wives. Going in 
when the country was new, tho latter being 
remote from society, have for years seen but 
little beyond tho cabin'Jn which they'lived and 
the family they were rearing. The husband 
sings to the world aud The wife to the nest. Tie 
labors for tho good of a new State, endeavoring 
to plant her foundations firm- foundations on 
which Jaw ami order, the’churoh and the school, 
may stand securely; and!it were not strange if 
sometimes his eye glanced away to higher posi¬ 
tions he might be needed to fill. She, with her 
woman's fealty, love and faith, toils for the pres¬ 
ent and the future, for the home and the State, 
although her sphere is a retired one and unsQcn; 
but in the after years her children rise up and 
call her blessed. 
It happens that tho State oflicer is sent to 
Congress; be purposes^to scud for bis wife after 
lie lias become acclimated to ‘Washington life; 
but the longer he Is there the weaker his pur¬ 
pose grows. 1 le enjoys dim levees exceedingly; 
the class of widows and single ladies,—relatives 
generally of the various officials,—flatter, smile 
ami bang on his arm so.bewitehingly, that he 
thinks himself decidedly engaging, which is, 
quite likely, true. He contrasts the woman he 
left at home with those around him; ho knows 
that socially she would not appear to advantage 
among them; so she remains where she is, 
wears her plain dress and performs her daily 
routine as she has done for the past ten or fifteen 
years. 
Five hospitals at Keokuk care for the sick 
and wounded soldiers. Tho matrons are very 
obliging to visitors and strangers, at least. One 
poor follow especially attracted our attention; 
ho was suffering from a bayonet wound in the 
shoulder, but had fallen into ail unquiet sleep. 
“ J unny, is it you ? ” he said, starting up at our 
approach. “ Oh, 1 thought she’d come,” and 
his pale face fell heavily back on the pillow, and 
the words had such a disappointed, hopeless 
tone, so different, from when he said, “Jenny, 
is it you?” Jenny was his wife, and he had 
been expecting her every hour for the last two 
days. “I shall never see her again—too late, too 
late,” he murmured to himself, ami a look of 
utter sorrow overspread his face. Then his lips 
moved in prayer; poor fellow! he looked like 
tho chiseled stature of grief but for the sorrow¬ 
ful lifo that trembled on his features. Gradually 
the light came over them — Jesus had lent a 
pitying ear, the soldier’s Savior was not afar off. 
He died two hours after, and Jenny did not 
reaeli the hospital till night. Such arc the sad 
fortunes of war. 
More anon. m. j. c. 
-»«■♦ -- 
CHINESE FORTUNE-TELLERS. 
These men carry on their profession in the 
streets of tho city, wherever there is tlio least 
available space. A mat is spread on the ground 
with a stick at each corner, around which a 
strip of cloth is cast to form an inclosure for 
the fortune-teller and his hen — kept in a small 
bamboo cage. By his side is an open box con¬ 
taining a number of very small rolls of paper, 
with sentences or single characters written on 
them. In front of him is a large row of sixty 
or more small pustcboard envelopes, which 
also hold single characters, or divination sen¬ 
tences. A little board painted white, for writ¬ 
ing on, and the ink-stone and pencil, are at 
baud and ready for use. An inquirer who 
wishes to consult him squats down on his heels 
outside the inelosure, pays three cash (half a 
farthing,) and tells his story — stating what he 
wishes to know. He Is told to pick out a roll 
from the box, which having done, he hands it, 
to ttie man, who unrolls it and writes its con¬ 
tents on the board. The door of the cage is 
then opened, and the hen marches forward to 
the row of envelopes; after peering over them, 
inquisitively, she picks out oue and lets it fall 
to the ground. A few grains of rice are put 
into the cage, and she returns. Tho envelope 
is opened, and the contents are also written 
down; from these two inscriptions the con- 
suiter’s prospects are announced. The hen is 
regarded as {he arbiter of fate, incapable of 
moral motive in tlie selection of the roll, and 
is therefore supposed to give the decree of fate 
without the possibility of collusion or misinter¬ 
pretation of any kind. 
iifif, &c. 
NEW THINGS. 
Perpetual Motion.—A Vermont Yankee, it is 
claimed, has invented a perpetual motion ma¬ 
chine, consisting of a wheel seven inches in 
diameter, to which are attached t welve arms at 
right angles, and to each arm a bail weighing 
half an ounce. These arms are all connected by 
twenty-four cords, two to each arm, and are so 
arranged that the falling of oue ball affects the 
other immediately behind it, and so on, appa¬ 
rently, till the maehino is worn out. 
Photographing moving Bodies. A Mr. Win¬ 
field, an English photographer, is said to excel 
all liis compeers hi the art; and he requires the 
sitter to move slightly, so that all the lines and 
boundaries of the form shall be modified and 
softened. It is said t hat by this means the rigid, 
ugly features of a photographic likeness are en¬ 
tirely removed. It is a great thing if he can 
make all photographic likenesses look well. 
.1 Mountain of Salt in Louisiana, —A corre¬ 
spondent of the Scientific American writes of a 
salt mountain discovered last August six miles 
west of New Iberia, Louisiana, from which the 
rebels were supplying themselves at the rate of 
about fiOO barrels per day. when our troops in¬ 
terfered. LI Is said the whole mountain is salt, 
with but little soil over it. 
Steel Kails for Railways.—AYo see it stated 
that the Pennsylvania Railroad Company are 
experimenting with steel rails, and steel-capped 
rails, which have been introduced in Europe. 
The first cost is much greater than that of iron 
rails, but it is claimed that in the end they are 
cheaper, that they are less liable to break, that 
better time can be made on them, and that the 
wear of the rolling stock is less. 
A Water-fall greater than .Yiagnnu— It is said 
that a scouting detachment of United States 
soldiers have discovered a water-fall in the 
valley of tho Snuke fork of tho Columbia river, 
by which the entire volume of this great river 
—larger than Niagara river—is precipitated over 
a precipice one hundred and ninety-eight feet 
high at a single solid leap. 
The Sic e of the Moon as ice. see it. —In a very 
interesting article in Harper’s Weekly , accom¬ 
panied with photographs of the moon, it is said 
“ many think that the moon appears as largo as 
a cartwheel, while almost all agree that, it is 
certainly as big as a plate. One is about as far 
from the truth as the other, the real size to the. 
naked eye being about that of a peppcr-coru. ♦ 
* * Ha pea is held up at the nearest distance 
of distinct vision—ten inches —between tho eye 
and the full moon, it will he found that the 
moon’s disk will be covered entirely by it. 
- ■ t ~ 
PARTICLES IN SNOW, 
G ALIGN an I refers to a paper read before the 
Paris Academy of Sciences by Mr. i’onchet, in 
relation to the snow of Alpine regions. Mr. 1\ 
stated that there is a material difference between 
the snow of the planes, that of the limit of 
eternal snow, and that of the highest points. In 
the plains and in the vicinity of our great towns, 
tho particles that predominate in tho snow are 
of organic origin, such as feeulu, crumbs of 
bread, threads of tho stuffs we wear, impalpable 
charcoal dust, traces of smoke, but very few 
mineral particles. 
Toward the limit of eternal snow, or in the 
lower region of the glaciers, the particles found 
are chiefly mineral, borrowed from the sur¬ 
rounding valleys, and mixed up with the re¬ 
mains of plants blown over from the surround¬ 
ing forests. Here there are no traces of our 
garments or food. Lastly, the snow on the 
summits of high mountains scarcely contains 
any extraneous particles. There are a few be¬ 
longing to the mineral kingdom, and carried up¬ 
wards by the wind from the surrounding valleys; 
but those of vegetable, or animal origin are ex¬ 
tremely rare, and M. l’oncliet states that he has 
never observed any eggs of insects in them. 
THE NATURE OF SCIENCE. 
Many persons entertain the most erroneous 
notions respecting the character of science. 
They think and speak of it as if it were some 
mysterious intellectual subtlety, revealed to the 
few and denied to the many. Such ideas may 
have come down from the olden times when all 
believed sincerely in mysterious powers com¬ 
municated through incantations and charms by 
deities and spirits who had power over “the 
earth, the water, the air, and fire.” The 
ancient alchemists and astrologers kept what 
they called “ science” secret, as something too 
sacred to be communicated to the mass of men; 
hence they taught favorite disciples only. Many 
of those old plodders in the paths of science 
were sincere in their peculiar views, but it 
must be admitted that too many of them em¬ 
ployed secret discoveries in chemistry for the 
purpose of astounding their unlearned fellow- 
men by their curious experiments, in order to 
obtain power over them. Astronomy, also, such 
as a superior knowledge of eclipses and the 
heavenly bodies, was employed in a sort of 
quack manuer to obtain power by foretelling 
events. Many of these impostors were very 
like the learned Irish prophet set forth in 
Hibernian verse, who knew every event before It 
happened, after it, took place. Science simply 
means knowledge of any subject—its nature aud 
operation; and whoever knows most or any 
branch of knowledge aud can apply it in the 
best manner, Is tho most scientific in that braueh. 
Knowledge means truth, as there can be no 
knowledge based upon fiction. A man, however, 
may perform u mechanical or chemical opera¬ 
tion in a very superior manner and yet not be 
scientific. A parrot can speak, but a parrot is 
not a linguist, nor has it any knowledge of the 
science of language. A man, to be scientific, 
should know “ the why aud the wherefore of the 
operations ho performs.” Mathematics Is a sci¬ 
ence, but great powers of calculation afford no 
evidence of scientific acquisition. Some indi¬ 
viduals, not much above the reach of idiocy, 
have been great calculators. Yet mathematics, 
as a science, requires a high grade of intellect 
and great persistency of mental effort to master. 
Science may ho said to be a collection of facts 
and experience accurately arranged and prop¬ 
erly understood. Chemistry, fowexample, is an 
art and a science, because it is a collection of the 
results of careful experiments. Geology is sim¬ 
ply a collection of facts carefully arranged. A 
theory is not a science; it is simply the explana¬ 
tion of phenomena. Every science has, accord¬ 
ing to Max Muller, first an empirical stage, in 
which facta are gathered and analyzed. After 
this they are classified or arranged, and accord¬ 
ing to the inductive method, theory explains the 
purpose or plan of the whole.— Sci. American. 
♦--- 
ENGRAVING WITH ACIDS. 
The effort, to engrave with acid has tailed 
heretofore, and been regarded by many as insur¬ 
mountable. It seems, however, that a French¬ 
man named Monsieur E. Viai., of Paris, has 
discovered a new process. Tho Scientific Ameri¬ 
can, in which we fiud the account, pronounces 
the invention “ one of the most beautiful that 
has ever been made. 
A drawing is made with a greasy ink on a 
steel plate, aud the plate is then plunged into a 
saturated solution of sulphate of copper con¬ 
taining 10 per cent, of nitric acid, By the ac¬ 
tion of the steel the copper is reduced from the 
sulphate, and all portions of the steel plate not 
protected by the ink are instantly covered with 
a ooatiug of metallic copper, which protects the 
steel from the action of the nitric acid. Tho 
acid soaks away the ink, and dissolves the steel, 
forming channels beneath the lines. But as the 
add soaks away the ink it U followed by the 
copper solution, and a coating of metallic copper 
is deposited within the lines protecting them 
from tho further action of the acid. As the 
copper is deposited first at tho edges of the 
lines, all action of the acids upon the sides of the 
channels is prevented, and as tho acid continues 
its work longest towards the middle of the line, 
the channels are made of * V ’ form, which is 
precisely the form desired by the engraver. 
Ill the old nu t hod it was necessary to remove 
the plate from the bath as soon as the finest lines 
were etched, and to cover these parts with wax 
to prevent tho further action of the acid; and 
the plate required to be removed as many times 
as there were variations of shade in the engrav¬ 
ing, But by M. Vial’s process the copper is 
deposited first in the finest lines, while tho ac¬ 
tion of tin* acid continues longest in those which 
are widest. Thus the depth of the engraving is 
proportioned exactly to the breadth and thick¬ 
ness of the ink-mark, and this by a single 
immersion of the plate in the bath. Tho pro¬ 
cess occupies but live minutes. The copper is 
removed by ammonia before the plate is used 
for printing. 
Old engravings may he reproduced by this 
process by transferring the picture to the steel 
plate, or the design may be first drawn upon 
paper and then transferred.” 
»»+■ | 
He who find# what he wants, or makes what 
I he wants, is a god. 
THE CARE OF TEETH. 
The People,'s Dental Journal contains an 
editorial on this subject, from which wo make 
the following extract: 
“ The decay of the teeth is the result of ex¬ 
ternal agents, corroding and dissolving out the 
limy portion of their structure. In other words, 
the decay of the teeth is from chemical causes, 
acting from without, and not from any disease 
from within, as many suppose. With this view, 
what would be the most efficient means of pre¬ 
serving the teeth from decay ? Clearly, positive 
and unqualified cleanliness of the parts, is the 
rational means to be adopted. To accomplish 
this, a thorough and careful use of the tooth¬ 
brush and tooth-pick after each meal, or, at 
least once each day, is indispensable. No other 
agents can be made as efficient. The friction of 
the brush removes all deleterious matter from 
under the free edges of the gums, and from the 
exposed surfaces of the teeth, whilst the tooth¬ 
pick (one made from a common goosequill is 
always the best) can be readily insinuated be¬ 
tween the teeth, to remove any particles of food 
remaining, which, if left, will decompose and 
generate an acid which unites with the lime 
of the tooth, and breaks down ita structure. 
But, says one, I know a person, sixty years 
old, who seldom, if ever, brushes his teeth; and 
yet they are perfectly sound. Very likely what 
you say may be true. We have seen similar 
cases, but whenever they occur, they are found 
in individuals who have remarkably firm and 
well organized teeth, and the secretions of 
whose mouths are normal, not only from de¬ 
structive agents, but calculated to neutralize 
whatever acids may be generated by tho decom¬ 
position of food lodged between and around the 
teeth. 
It is often asked at how early age ought the 
teeth to be cleansed. You might, with as much 
propriety, ask the physician how soon the child 
ought to be cared for in order to insure good 
health. We answer, as soon as they arc ex- 
I>osed to the action of external influences, which 
is as soon as they make their appearance. If 
parents would pay attention to this simple but 
highly important practice of frequent and thor¬ 
ough cleansing of their children’s teeth, and 
would accustom them to the habit of cleansing 
them for themselves as soon as they are old 
enough, as carefully as they do the habit of 
keeping their face and hands cleau, much un¬ 
necessary suffering would be prevented, and 
their bills with the dentist would he much 
smaller." 
Ux th fjffiinij. 
Written for the Rural New-Yorker. 
GEOGRAPHICAL ENIGMA 
I am composed of SI letters. 
My it. 11, *20.15. 38, 33,13 is a lake la North America. 
My 35, 3, 33, 7, 30, 30, 28, 4, H is a city in Michigan. 
My 36,28, 38, 38, 31 Is a village in New York. 
My 13, 0, 1, 83,16, 37, 31 is a city in Wisconsin. 
My 5, SO, 82, 8 is oue of the United States. 
My 38, 31,17, 10, 2. 28,16, 89, 32,11,1U, 13 is a town in 
Virginia. 
My 6, S, 10, 3,10,15,16 is a town in Massachusetts. 
My whole is very good advice. 
Columbus, Mich., 1864. Martin Brainerd. 
t3T Answer in two weeks. 
--- 
For Moore’s Rural New-Yorker. 
DECAPITATIONS. 
Behead an island and leave a part of the body. 
Behead a capital of one of the Middle States and 
leave a preposition. 
Behead a river of South Carolina and leave a place on 
which we travel. 
Behead a river in Georgia and leave what we are 
sending to the soldiers. 
Behead a river of Illinois and leave a kind of wood. 
Behead a mountain in California, and leave a part 
of the head. 
Behead a river in Ireland and leave a girl's name. 
Behead a cape of the British isles and leave a kind of 
food. 
Behead another cape of the British isles and leave 
what we could not live without. 
Behead a country aud leave what we are all subject 
to. 
Behead a city iu France and leave what is necessary 
for each and all. 
Lo Roy, N. Y., 1S64. Vina E. Moore. 
cr Answer in two weeks. 
CHARADE 
I'm a word of one syllable. Look you for me 
Mid Niagara's roar; in tho turbulent sea: 
Where the winds and the waters are wildest at play, 
And iliug off their laughter in volumes of spray. 
I'm a noun of five letters; but throw oue aside 
I'm a verb; with the noun I’m no longer allied. 
I’m a grave, solemn verb; nay, I truly might say, 
Those who follow my precept do nothing but pray. 
But again; let two letters be dropped there’s a change: 
As a noun—and by no means a grave one—I range. 
Now I'm here; now I'm there; seen by night and by 
day, 
For in short. I’m a beam, or a flash, or a ray 
Thus a verb and two tiouns packed together you see, 
In a word of one syllable. What can it be? 
Or* Answer lu two weeks. 
-- 
ANSWERS TO ENIGMAS, Ac., IN No. 739. 
Answer to Miscellaneous Enigma:—All things uu 
supported fall to the ground. 
Answer to Anagram 
Mid pleasure, plenty, and success, 
Freely we take iVom Him who lends; 
We boast the blessings we possess, 
Yet .-carrel v thank the One who semis. 
But let affliction pour its smart, 
How s.xin wo quail beneath the rod! 
With shattered pride, and prostrate heart, 
We see the long forgotten God. 
Li t Him hut -mite us. soon we bleed, 
And tremble like a fragile reed; 
Then do we Irani, and own, and feel, 
The power that wounds alone can heal. 
Twas thus with me; the desert taught 
Lessons with bitter truth replete, 
They chastened sorely, but they brought 
My spirit to its Maker’s feet. 
M&iuq tax ihz tgcimg. 
“THE LITTLE LOVERS.” 
“ Little Boy sailor, with jacket of blue, 
Foad hearts at home have been thinking of you; 
Dreaming the long nights, and thinking all day, 
Of a darling Boy-sailor, while he waB away; 
And when tho ship sail'd away, oh! how they cried, 
Mother and sister, and—some one beside.” 
“ Lear little Golden hair, I will tell thee 
What I saw, what I heard, on tteMeep sea 
As I sat. all alone, on tho mast high, 
A sea-maldcn, sighing and swimming, came by; 
Combing her tangled and silken-green hair, 
Thus she sang sweetly, that sea maiden fair: 
“ ‘Little Boy-sailor, with jacket of blue, 
Mother and sister arc thinking of yon, 
He, too, foi^ets not, where'er he may roam, 
Mother and sister, and sweet, sweet home; 
Bnt a something makes little Boy-sailor’s eyes dim, 
When he’s thinking of some one—who’s thinking of 
him,’ 
“8o she pass’d swimming, and swimming she saDg; 
And in mine ears the sweet music still rang; 
And I felt on the mast, ns I sat all alone, 
Millions of tiny threads over me thrown. 
Threads by the silk worm In Fairyland spun— 
I felt them all over, hut couldn’t see one; 
Bnt I knew that the magic web only could be 
Thrown by kind Fairies across the wide sea, 
To bind little Golden-hair closer to me.” 
THE CUNNING BOY. 
Mark Abrahams was, in his own opinion 
particularly, a very cunning boy. His mother 
w:is a poor woman, who, in her little garden on 
the outskirts of the city, raised some vegetables, 
and then took them to market to sell for a liv¬ 
ing. But out of this little business she contrived 
to pay for the schooling of her son, whom she 
was anxious to furnish with at least a tolerable 
education. Mark, however, considered going to 
school merely as a tiresome, tyrannical affair, 
contrived to relieve parents of the trouble of 
their children at home, and to furnish school¬ 
masters with salaries, and with an excuse for 
displaying their domineering tempers. Rather 
than go to school, Mark preferred a thousand 
times to be at play, or even to be doing nothing 
at all. Of course, as such boys always do, he 
thought of playing truant; but, done in the or¬ 
dinary w ay, this had some serious drawbacks 
upon ita pleasures. 
There was Mark’s cousin, Joe Connor, who 
played truant one day, and for a few hours’ 
frolic, got severely whipped, first by the teacher, 
and then bv his father when he went home, be¬ 
sides being disgraced before the whole schooL 
But Mark was too cunning to manage matters 
so awkwardly as that. He used to carry to the 
teacher about every other day, and sometimes 
oftener, pretended messages from his mother, 
requesting that he should be excused from 
school, in order to help her to gather her vege¬ 
tables, or carry them to market, though he 
scarcely ever did anything of the kind for his 
poor mother, partly because she did not wish to 
deprive him of the benefits of schooling, and 
partly because he always appeared so sulky and 
unwilling, when required to assist, that she dis¬ 
liked to asked him to do so. Sometimes he pre¬ 
tended to the teacher, for a whole week together, 
that liis mother was sick with the rheumatism, 
and that he was, in consequence, obliged to stay 
at home; aud during this time, while his mother 
supposed him to be attending school, he was 
playing aud going upon pleasure-jaunts with 
boys of the very worst character. Oh! how 
cunning did he consider himself thus to outwit 
both his mother and the teacher, and never be 
discovered! 
So Mark grew up to be a mau, with scarcely a 
particle of education; for during so many inter¬ 
vals of idleness, he forgot the little which he. 
had learned when in school. As soon as he was 
old enough, his mother put him to learn a trade; 
but disliking so much hard work, he ran away 
and went to sea. He fouud, however, that a 
common sailor's life is by no means one of indo¬ 
lence and amusement, and he could hope to be 
nothing more than a common sailor, as he was 
too grossly ignorant to discharge higher duties. 
Meanwhile liis cousin, Joe Connor, had taken 
warning by his double whipping, given up play¬ 
ing truant, and acquired quite a good education. 
Being now a man, he had set up, on his own 
account, a mercantile business, which, though 
small at first, increased rapidly, aud he soon 
found himself able to employ a clerk. Just at 
this time Mark returned from sea after a three- 
years’ voyage, and his cousin expressed a will¬ 
ingness to take him into his counting-house, and 
give him an interest in tho business; but how 
could the duties of a clerk be discharged by a 
man utterly without education? Mark now 
perceived just how eunuing he had been while 
playing truant from school, and he felt his igno¬ 
rance most keenly. Angry with himself and 
every one else, he hastened away from home 
again, and went to California iu search of an 
easy way of becoming rich. Among the first 
things which attracted his attention there were 
the gaming-tables. This seemed to be just what 
he wanted—a way of making money which re¬ 
quired neither education uor hard work! He 
commenced playing at once, meeting with very 
good fortune, as he considered it, and in a single 
evening won several thousand dollars from one 
man. This man was one of the desperate char¬ 
acters so common in those regions, and enraged 
at his loss, ho started up, draw a bowie-knife, 
and plunged it Into the heart of Mark, who in¬ 
stantly fell dead. This was the end of the cun¬ 
ning boy, who ruined himself while he imagined 
that he was only deceiving others, and after 
having lived to taste the full bitterness of 
self-contempt, died at last "as the fooldietli.”— 
Intelligencer. 
Effects of Sorrow.— By sorrow of the 
heart the spirit is broken.— David. 
