THE TWO PATHS—A PICTURE FOR BOYS 
The rising sun gilded the scene with his tirst red 
rays, makiug a srlory unlike anything we Lad ever 
before seen. In contrast to this calm and luxuriant 
beauty, but in perfect adaptation to the tropical 
clime, were hordes of monkeys, chattering and 
grinning on the trees, their little old, weazen faces 
looking like some, wierd spirits of another world. 
Alligators occasionally showed their green, slimy 
heads, a target for the revolvers ou board, which, 
byscores, peppered away at the reptiles, butiu vain. 
And so day after day, wc sailed slowly up this 
beautiful river, — some swingiug lazily in ham¬ 
mocks, some sitting on deck, in the evening hours, 
drinking in large draughts of this dreamy, tropical 
splendor. Twice the monotony was relieved by 
walkiug around the rapids, and at last we drew up 
at Castillo, an oid Spanish town of GO or 70 inhabi¬ 
tants. “Nevada.” 
®lu iravde* 
Written for Moore's Rural New-Yorker. 
THROUGH NICARAGUA. —No. II 
“No. no, no!" cried five-years Gny, 
“Nnrse, don’t, wash my face to-tlay.” 
“ Why. my boy, pray roll me why; 
Just because mamma'a away 1" 
“ When she went away," said Gny, 
“Yesterday, she kissed it over. 
Eyes and forehead, cheeks and chiu, 
And she said ’twas sweet as clover; 
Bat she cried hard, by-atid-by, 
And her face was very sad; 
So I'll keep these kis-es in, 
For I know 'twill make her glad. 
Just before she let me go, 
She put. the bigge.-t kisses here ; 
Then she cried and hugged me so, 
And whispered softly in my ear— 
‘Let these stay, my darling son, 
Until this short journey’s done.’ 
So mamma of course will come 
Back to-morrow u> our home, 
And these, every one, shall stay; 
Nurse, you shan't wash one awayl” 
Ah, I pity yon, boy Guy I 
Softer airs the mother sought, 
Only far away to die. 
You'll wait longer than you thought! 
For your journey, hapless Guy, 
Did your mother kiss you so, 
And her hundred-fold good-by 
Into Heaven with you will go. 
Not the stormy rains of life, 
Tears nor sweeping band of care, 
Lips of maiden nor of wife, 
Can remove the kisses there. 
[ Our Young Folks 
THE TRANSIT. 
All day long Tuesday, July 9th, we saw the 
wild waves as they broke with white foam, upon 
the shore at Greytowu, and our impatient spirits 
would hardly brook the delay before we could go 
over the bar. We amused ourselves as best we 
could, with watching the fish, which of every kind 
came swarming around the boat’s side, darting at 
every crumb or piece of bread that was thrown 
over. Some, too eager, were caught by the cruel 
hook, and drawn upon deck, but to be cut loose 
and thrown back again, sadder and wiser, no doubt, 
for their misplaced confidence. 
We saw several sharks, with their horny fins, and 
homed mouths agape, and one queer little fellow, 
which the chief engineer told ns was called the 
“Gruuter”—the significance of the name will 
appear. Their normal shape is round and fiat, like 
a wheel, but they are so constituted that if you 
gently tickle them on the side they will swell up 
and look like a round ball, and oil the time they 
will grunt like a self-satisfied pig. Whether these 
are facts of scientific observation or not, we are not 
aware, nevertheless they are credible. 
But even these novelties failed to interest us, 
after awhile, and we looked longingly shoreward. 
Not that we were weary of our good ship, bo 6tout 
and true, which had borne us so bravely over the 
tossing seas that we looked upon her with feelings 
akiu to love, and certaiuly with reverence, remem- 
beriug how skillfully her officers and men had 
passed every Island, steered clear of every rock and 
shoal, and at last, anchored us safely in the bay of 
San Juan (wan) del Norte. Bat not half of our 
journey was done, and we were anxious to behold 
the mysteries lying before. Besides, our hearts 
yearned to see aud feel and breathe the luxury of 
terra firma, and the sight of green leaves and bud¬ 
ding flowers awoke new thoughts of the old home 
we had left so far behind. 
And so the next morning, when the little boots 
came swarming around, manned by some half a 
dozeu swarthy natives in all stages of dress and uu- 
dress, we hailed them very gladly. The process of 
transferring ourselves and luggage from the Nevada 
into the lighters was ludicrous in the extreme. We 
of the first cabin were reserved for the last, and so 
rather maliciously stood upon deck, aud laughed at 
the unsteady steps, the slips and falls of those who 
But we knew our time would 
CHILDHOOD. 
TWO PATHS IN LIFE 
These contrasted pictures furnish texts for a 
whole volume of sermons upon human life aud 
destiny. The Child stands at the parting of the 
ways, and he may run through m succession all 
the phases depicted in either series of portraits. 
The esseutial elements of either course of de¬ 
velopment lie alike in those smooth features. 
Which shall be actually realized, depends mostly 
upon the Lnfiuences brought to bear upon him 
from without. A few years of training in our 
schools upon the oue hand, or in the streets 
upon the other, will make all the difference, in 
the Youth, between the characters that stand 
opposed to each other in these opposite pic¬ 
tures. A youth of study and training in a few 
years moulds lineaments of the face iuto the re¬ 
semblance of the first picture of Manhood; 
while, by a law equally inevitable, idleness and 
dissipation bring out all the lower animal facul¬ 
ties, which reveal themseives in the depressed 
forehead, the hard eyebrow', the coarse mouth, 
aud the thickened ueck of the opposite picture. 
The short - boy, and row'dy, and blackleg, if 
he escapes the State Prisou and the gallows, 
passes, as he reaches the confines of Middle 
Age, into the drunken loafer, sneaking around 
the groe-sbop in the chance of securing a treat 
from some one who knew him in his flush days; 
while he who has chosen the other path, as he 
passes the “ mid-journey of life,” and slowly de¬ 
scends the slope toward Age, grows daily richer 
in the love and esteem of those around him; and 
in the bosom of the family that gathers about his 
hearth, lives over again his happy youth aud earn¬ 
est manhood. What a different picture is pre¬ 
sented in the fate of him who has chosen the 
returnless downward path, another aud almost 
the last stage of which is portrayed in the com¬ 
panion sketch, of Age. The shadows deepen a& 
he descends the hill of life. He hies been suc¬ 
cessively useless, a pest, and a burden to society, 
aud when lie dies there is not a soul to wish that 
his life had been prolonged. Two lives like 
these lie in possibility enfolded within every 
infant born into the world. 
Boys — Young Men — study the lesson, and 
heed its teachings! Look on this picture, then 
on that.—and you can easily decide which is the 
best path to pursue. 
TOUTH. 
YOUTH. 
fanott* ®«im 
MANHOOD. 
MANHOOD. 
You all know what pretty houses birds build to 
lay their eggs and raise their young in,—but did you 
ever know of a bird going to quite as much trouble 
just to make a play-house ? The bower-bird of Aus¬ 
tralia is not contented with the magnificent forests 
and orange groves it has to sport In, but it must go 
to work and make a house more to its mind. It 
does uot use it for a uest, nor has its uest ever yet 
been discovered. Oue would imagine, from its 
little ball-room, that the nest itself must be quite a 
fanciful affair. 
The first thing to be done in their little assembly- 
room is oue of the last in ordinary houses. Mrs. 
Bower puts down her carpet. It resembles a toler¬ 
able mat, woven of twigs and coarse grasses. Then 
other twigs are collected, and arching sides are ar¬ 
ranged, making a little alley, large enough to ac¬ 
commodate several friends at a time. Such romping 
and racing as goes on when Mrs. Bower makes a 
party. Up and dowu this curious hal! they chase 
each other, uttering a loud, full cry, which no doubt 
is meant for laughter. It is uo sort of protection 
from the weather, and as far as any one can see, it is 
good for nothing but to play iu. But as it has noth¬ 
ing else in the work! to do but to enjoy itself, it is 
very -well to make that the business of life. It is 
very different with boys aud girls, who have precious 
souls that must live forever, aud who have a work 
to do for God in this world. 
These little Bowers think quite as much of amuse¬ 
ment as some silly people wc have seen iu our lives. 
They gather together just before the front and back 
door of their homes a great collection of shiuiug 
things, nice white pebbles, pretty sea shells, gay 
feathers, bits of ribbons, when they can steal any; 
even bright-colored rags, broken tobacco x>ipes, and 
any shining scraps of metal that they may chance to 
,ss are all the same 
MIDDLE LIFE, 
MIDDLE LIFE. 
first disembarked, 
come, and presume we were uo more graceful iu our 
efforts to keep “right side up with care,” than 
those who had gone before. Bonuets aud hats were 
smashed; babies were hastily thrown into the arms 
of greasy natives; timid women, who clung along¬ 
side, were soon taught the necessity of faith, for the 
rising swells dashed relentlessly over even the most 
delicate. Men of dignity, and men without dignity, 
came dowu ou a common footing here, which was 
no footing at all. Everybody tried to be graceful, 
aud succeeded iu being ridiculous ouly. After many 
haps and mishaps, however, we were all safely con¬ 
signed to the river steamer, which was lying inside 
the bar, and close to the town 
The Managua speedily set to work her solitary 
stern wheel, and wl lazily glided away from the far- 
famed city of Greytowo. There was little in this 
place to make us desirous of remaining, for indeed 
we saw no object of interest, save our own glorious 
banner, waving serenely over the headquarters of the 
American Consul. So we left the roar, aDd toss, aud 
restless ebb and flow of the old Atlantic, and pre¬ 
pared to enjoy our quiet trip up the San Juan (wan) 
river, a distance of 120 miles, to Lake Nicaragua. 
It were, in vain for a pen, such as mine, to attempt 
a description of the beauty and magnificence of the 
scenery along this most beautiful stream. And lan¬ 
guage would fail me to express,—even in a faint de¬ 
gree, the influence that thrilled my own heart, as 
we fioated along through this Paradise of nature. 
Nothing that I have ever read, or heard, or dreamed, 
of Oriental luxury and splendor, cau compare with 
the loveliness spread out here, iu the most lavish 
abundance. One feels as though he were in fairy 
land, aud Queen Mais were waving her magic wand 
from sunrise to sunset. Birds of richest plumage 
aud most musical song, play over and around us, 
making the air melodious with their wonderful trills. 
The beautiful mocking bird, so celebrated in song, 
sends ttute-like notes from almost every tree-top, 
and the sweet echoes far away make one think of the 
music of the spheres. Flowers, rare and beautiful, 
bloom along the river’s bank, twining and inter¬ 
twining amid the green leaves,— wooing ns to feast 
upon their tropical fragrance and splendor, Scarlet 
and yellow trumpet-blossoms hang dreamily down, 
almost to the water’s edge, as if seeking a reflection 
of their own loveliness; while purple clusters, as 
sweet as our own lilacs in early spring-time, crown 
green, luxuriant tree-tops with more thau regal 
diadems. Vines cling to the highest branches, and 
droop in heavy festoons over the river’s smooth 
surface, forming rare, beautiful bowers, that were 
fit haunts for fairy legions. Some, are so thick aud 
heavy as to look like waterfalls, aud as they sway to 
and fro lightly in the breeze yon can almost hear 
the rippling aud tinkling of the cascade. Trees of 
every description, unlike any I have ever seen in our 
cold Northland, tower majestically over the dense 
undergrowth of low palms, bananas and plantain. 
The stately trumpet-t ree, called in Spanish juarooma, 
(warooma,) rises symmetrically amid all the clinging 
vines and parasite growth of ages, aud greens its 
broad, beautiful leaves from January until December. 
So dense is this wail of foliage aud flowers,—so in¬ 
terlaced with vines and parasites,— that no avenue 
of escape were afiorded one who might be lost on 
the dreamy, tropical shore. Involuntarily we call 
to mind the words of the old song — 
“ Through tangled j nniper, beds of weeds, 
Through many a fen where the serpent feeds, 
And man never trod before.” 
They tell us that this luxuriance of leaf and flower 
prevails all the year round, so that one never looks 
upon uaked brauches, or dry, dead leaves. Tho sere 
and yellow leaf never comes here; aud they know 
nothing of the sweet, sad heart-aches that autumn 
brings to painter and poet. 
Next morning, upon going on deck, our eyes were 
greeted with a rare picture. I had seen resem¬ 
blances upon canvas, and thought them very beauti- 
I ful, but supposed the scene a creature of the artist’s 
9, imagination rather than a copy of anything real. 
in But here was the picture a reality,—a living, 
J glorious reality! Bight before us rose the San 
* Carlos Mountains, towering up like giants, eov- 
y ered with luxuriant fruits and flowers; aud high 
| upon their summit rested a soft, vapory cloud. 
Even as we looked, it broke, and the rain fell 
1 slowly and softly down, baptizing leaves aud bios- junks, and boats of every conceivable shape, color 
^ some with the blessing of new beauty and freshness, and size. 
There is now living in Schodnck, N. Y,, a farmer, 
65 years of age, who has never voted at any town, 
couuty, state, or national electiou, and who will 
doubtless be believed iu bis assertion that he never 
will. Many years ago he belonged to a church iu 
that town, but believing himself to have been 
wronged by the church authorities, in a contro¬ 
versy as to the title of some land claimed by him, 
he has never since entered the church, nor attended 
a funeral, nor come within sound of a minister’s 
voice while discharging auy spiritual duty. In early 
life he could read and write without trouble; but 
for many years past he has labored under a peculiar 
mental difficulty, which the piously iuelined will 
doubtless regard as a corollary of his quarrel with 
the church. 
He can read the Bible and understand each word 
instantly upon seeing it,—but upon passing to the 
next word he instantly forgets that which precedes 
it, and thus the sentence absolutely fails to convey 
an idea to his mind any more than the miscella¬ 
neous jumble of the same words without regard to 
the construction of the sentence. He can write a 
letter without difficulty,—but after it is finished, 
although he can read the words of which it is com¬ 
posed, his forgetfulness renders him incapable of 
telling what he has written. He transacts business 
and holds conversations upon various subjects, and 
in all other respects is considered a man of fair 
memory. He is a person of good moral character, 
and practices the golden rule of doingfunto others 
as he would have others do unto him. In his travels, 
if he finds a farmer’s fence down, he stops and puts 
it up, unless there should be too much of it down, 
in which event he notifies the owner. Altogether, 
his case preseuts aspects which may be regarded as 
curious mental phenomena. 
The human voice, when its utterances are clearly 
articulated, and it is supplied with good lungs, will 
fill 400,000 cubic feet of air, provided they be in¬ 
closed iu a proper manner, and the voice placed 
and directed advantageously. This space would be 
represented by a hall 125 fee; ’.‘eg by SO feet wide, 
and 40 feet high. The same i ■ ce singing cau fill 
with equal facility 600,000 cubic feet. When siug- 
iug, the vowels are principally used, because it is 
necessary to dwell upon a note, and we cannot pro¬ 
long a consonant. In speakiug, however, we de- 
peud for articulation on the cousouauts, but their 
short, percussive sound does uot travel. When we 
shout, or in open air speaking, which partakes of 
shouting, we prolong the vowels, drawing the sylla¬ 
bles at each word; bat what we gain iu sound is 
lost iu clearness of articulation; expression is 
lost in monotony, because its fineness depends 
on the infinite variety of which the consonant is 
capable and bestows on the vowel. Two thousand 
voices singing or speaking together travel no fur¬ 
ther than one voice. They may fill a certain area 
more completely with that intricacy of waves 
which, when very troublesome, we call a din, but 
each voice exerts its own influence on the ah’ ac¬ 
cording to its power, aud dies away within certain 
limits. A second voice acts independently, and 
produces its own separate effect, not fortifying the 
first, but distinct from it; and so with any number 
of voices—say ten thousand—shouting together; if 
a single trumpeter were placed among them, tho 
notes of his trumpet would be heard clearly at a 
distance where the Babel of voices would have ex¬ 
pired iu a murmur. Yet among the din produced 
by the ten thousand the notes of the trumpet 
would be inaudible. To illustrate this theory more 
clearly, it is plain that two thousand persons cannot 
throw stones further thau one person. It is true 
that the air within certain limits will be more full 
of atones, but they will all come to the ground 
within a limited area .—Fall Mall Gazette, 
espy in their travels. Gold and bra: 
to them. If the gold was dull aud the brass bright, 
they would much prefer the latter.— Schoolmate. 
COLORING A MEERSCHAUM. 
Frederick Kemp writes from the silver mines of 
Montana to the Herald of Health, giving the follow¬ 
ing hint iu reference to a cure for bald-headedness: 
“ A friend of mine who had the misfortune to be 
bald-headed, knowing that there is a wonderful in¬ 
vigorating power in the sun’s rays, last spring 
threw away his hat, and worked in the gulch all 
spring, summer and fall bareheaded, and also for 
the first few days at midday. For a few days the 
rays of the hot sun on his head were almost unen¬ 
durable ; after that time he experienced uo uneasi¬ 
ness whatever. The result was that in the fall he 
had a good head of hair. And in this experiment 
he was not alone—several of his acquaintances who 
were bald-headed having followed the same plan, 
they were all fortunate enough to experience the 
same result.” The editor adds that a similar case 
once came under his own observation, and professes 
to have no doubt that “the exposure of the skin 
to air and sunshiue, uuder proper circumstances, 
stimulates it to a healthy action, and with it those 
glands upon which the growth of the hair depends.’ 
Boys, here is a “ queer fish,” very different from 
any yon ever caught. This unique fish is from the 
China Seas, and the first of the kind ever brought 
to this country. It seems to be of the same species 
as the skate, or ray fish, but is a distinct variety. It 
is not described iu any book of natural history that 
we have seen; bat its head is so peculiar that it 
alone woaid prevent a classification among the fiat 
fish that we are acquainted with. It was brought 
to this country iu the ship Meteor, and was pre¬ 
sented by the mate of the ship to Mr. Burroughs, 
who gave it to Mr. H. Foster of Troy, New York, 
in whose possession it died. Tho illustration is 
taken from a photograph. 
A legal “stone” is 14 pounds in England, and 
16 pounds in Holland. A fathom, 6 feet, is derived 
from the height of a full grown man. A hand, iu 
horse measure, is 4 inches. An Irish mile is 2,240 
yards; a Scotch mile is 1,9S4; a German, 1,606; a 
Turkish, 1,6-6. An acre is 1,840 square yards, a foot 
and 3J>£ iuches each way. A square mile 1,760 yards 
each way, contains 640 acres. The human body con¬ 
sists of 240 bones, 9 kinds of articulation or join¬ 
ings, 100 cartilages or ligameuts, 400 muscles or 
tendons, and 100 nerves, besides blood, arteries, 
veins, Ac. Potatoes planted below 3 feet do not 
vegetate; at 1 foot they grow thickest; and at 2 feet 
A clergyman says:—“I one day passed by a 
blacksmith’s shop, in which I saw the son of a lady 
of my acquaintance smokiug a pipe. I went to his 
mother and told her what I had seen, and she very 
indignantly told me I must be mistaken. I said, “ I 
know your son as well os I know you, and if 1 had 
not been certain that it was he, I should not have 
called on you." She still persisted that I was mis¬ 
taken, and was evidently annoyed at my interference. 
“Some two years afterwards, she called on tne, 
and begged that I would try and do something for 
her son, saying, “ He smokos and drinks, and does 
everything else that is bad, and my heart is almost 
broken,” 
“ Some two years ago,” 1 said, “ I told you what 
I feared,and then something might have been done; 
but these habits are now confirmed. I will, how¬ 
ever, do anything in my power.” But I found it 
was in vain. Iu the course of a few years he blew 
out his brains, and left bis widow mother inconsol¬ 
able at his destruction of both body’and soul.” 
Time Does It.— Time has a wonderful power in 
taking the conceit out of persons. When a young 
man first emerges from the schools and enters upon 
the career of life, it is painfully amusing to witness 
his self-sufficiency—he would have all the world to 
understand that he has “ learned out"—that he is 
master of all knowledge, aud cau unravel all mys¬ 
teries. But as he grows older, he grows wiser, he 
learns that he knows a great deal less than he sup- 
posed he did, aud by the time he reaches to three 
score years, he is prepared to adopt as his own the 
sentiment of John Wesley:—“When 1 was young 
I was sure of everything; iu a few years, having 
been mistaken a thousand times, I was not half as 
sure of most things as I was before. At present I 
am hardly sure of anything but what God has re 
vealed to man.” 
Incarnate Laziness. —We have a sloth on board, 
the most fascinating of all our pets to me—not cer¬ 
tainly for bis ehanns, but for his oddities. I am 
never tired of watching him, he looks so deliciously 
lazy. His head sunk in his arms, his whole attitude 
lax aud iudifferent, he seems to ask only for rest. 
If you push him, or if, as often happens, a passer¬ 
by gives him a smart tap to arouse him, he lift> bis 
head and drops his arms so 6lowly, so deliberately, 
that they hardly seem to move, raises his heavy eye¬ 
lids, and lets his large eyes rest upon your face for a 
moment with appealing, hopeless indolence; then 
the lids fall softly, the head droops, the arms fold 
heavy about it, and be collapses again into absolute 
repose. This mute remonstrance is the nearest ap 
proach to activity I have seen in him.— Agassiz. 
A Wonderful City.— One of the most wonder¬ 
ful cities in the world is Bankok, the capital of 
Siam. On either side of the wide, majestic stream, 
moored iu regular streets and alleys, extending as 
far as the eye can roach, are upwards of seventy 
thousand neat little houses, each house Uoatiug ou 
a compact raft of bamboos; and the whole inter- 
