4AW, tO 
MOORE’S RURAL WEW-YORK.EB. 
SOMETHING ABOUT ICEBERGS. 
The growth and origin of Icebergs forms a 
very interest ing study. They are originally 
formed on the land; at, present in those 
desolate regions which surround the poles 
of the earth. There was a time, according 
to geologists, when a good share of the 
North American continent was covered 
with a layer of ico of a fabulous depth, 
which, like a slow-moving river, flowed 
toward the equator. Those who have stud- 
ice in the North Paeitio Ocean, and some 
thirty odd vessels were lost. The fleet,, owing 
to the mild weather which prevailed, had 
sailed too far North. A change took place 
in the currents of air and water and the ice 
closed in about, the vessels. 
The beauty and wonders of the iceberg 
region are magnificent and marvelous. The 
ico assumes many fantastic shapes, and at 
times presents all the colors of the rainbow. 
Sometimes a white bear floats out to sea on 
an iceberg, and sometimes a passing vessel 
will fire a cannon ball into one which has 
been almost honey-combed by the sun, 
when it falls to pieces with a tremendous 
crash. This is often done by order of the 
©nr Storji-Mlflr. 
1* L 
BEFORE AND AFTER. 
A THRILLING ROMANCE OF THE 
WAR FOR TnE UNION. 
Written Expressly for Moore's Rnrnl New-Yorker, 
BY TWO WELL-KNOWN AUTHOHS. 
[Continued from pane 42, last No.] 
tl. Sunshine and Sorrow. 
“ Wiiat are you doing here, Hannibal?” 
said Margaret, suddenly reining in her 
tiny piece of paper and tearing it into bits! 
And then tenderly pressing the ebony hand 
of her companion; “ Whatever should I do 
without you, Hannibal?” 
“ lluimo, Sunshine; ’spec havo berry 
lonesome time! But 'member this, honey, 
when you gets to thinking on such subjects, 
they ftint in no way profitable. Death 
come like tief in the night; but be no tief, 
he best of friends, and there's no kind o’ 
use keeping wake all night to watch which 
way do old fellow get in. 'Most, ebery body 
disremembers dls—dat the fruit of do spirit 
is joy. Christians have a right, to joy; and 
deyalnt no Christians widout de joy; and 
when folks strain der eyes to look far away 
T2 CCAPINGt V Ft, O iM! T : , 33 IC; EBERGS. 
ied this, matter claim that the tops of the 
White Mountains, in New Hampshire, give 
evidence of having been scratched by huge 
cakes of ice and boulders which flouted on 
the top of the frozen river. Hills, rocks 
and mountains in the West, which face to¬ 
wards the North, show similar signs. Hap¬ 
pily for us, the earth has undergone, changes 
since that day, and the vast ice river, which 
once crept over the land, has here melted 
away, and is now confined to the regions of 
perpetual snow. 
The interior of Greenland is covered with 
ice and snow to a great depth, hundreds, if 
not thousands of feet, the result of years of 
storms which have fallen, so far as we know, 
ever since the clouds showered down snow 
and nti n. The light si inw falls on the top wb i le 
that lower down gradually turns into ice. 
This vast mass is constantly moving towards 
the water, and when it reaches the edge of 
the land it tumbles over into the sea, break¬ 
ing off in immense fragments, which form 
the beautiful icebergs of the illustration in 
this number of the Rural New-Yorker. 
Usually about one-third of an iceberg ap¬ 
pears above the water, so that if there are 
one hundred feet in the air, two hundred 
feet sink in the sea. After having broken 
off from the ice river on the land, the ice¬ 
bergs are moved about in the water by the 
winds and currents. Our illustration repre¬ 
sents a ship in danger of being crushed by 
the. icebergs. An attempt is being made by 
the men in the rowboats to tow it out to 
open water. A few months ago the whaling 
fleet from New England was caught by the 
captains of ocean steamers, for the amuse- j 
ment of their passengers. Ships which take 
the Northern passage, to Europe from New 
I oi k, frequently pass icebergs which have 
floated down from the Arctic Ocean. It, is 
seldom an iceberg gets so far south as the 
coast of the United States. 
•-- . 
SERPENT SKINS UTILIZED. 
Prescott tells us that the Aztecs made 
their war-drums of serpent skin; but we 
were not aware, until very recently, that 
any of our modern leather had such a snaky 
origin. An exchange states that a single 
establishment in Boston, last year, tanned 
fifty anaconda skins for boot leather. The 
boots are valued at fifty dollars a pair. The 
largest of these skins was forty feet in 
length. The tanning processes were simi¬ 
lar to those in the manufacture of alligator 
leather, the product being a very beauti¬ 
ful and highly finished quality of leather, 
glossy, mottled, pliable, and exceedingly 
durable. 
- - -»-»■»- 
Frankness. — Be frank with the world. 
Frankness is the chi Id of honesty and cour¬ 
age. If a friend asks you a favor you should 
grant it, if it is reasonable; if it is not, tell 
him plainly why you cannot. You will 
wrong him and wrong yourself by equivo¬ 
cation of any kind. Never do a wrong thing 
to make a friend or keep one. The man who 
requires you to do so is dearly purchased 
and at a sacrifice. Deal kindly and firmly 
with all men, and jmu will find it the policy 
which wears best. 
horse, as she caught sight of her old favorite. 
‘•Just, waiting for missus,” lie replied, his 
ebony face breaking up into the rarest of 
smiles. 
‘‘For me, Hannibal?” queried Mar¬ 
garet. 
“ For old Hannibal’s Sunshine!” said 
the faithful man, catching her dexterous¬ 
ly as she attempted to slip from her seat 
on the horse’s back. 14 And where is de 
flower going so early in de day? Why, bress 
her heart! sh>- is as pale as a lily.” 
“ Wiiat made you think I should come 
down here this morning?” inquired the 
you ng lady, so interested for the moment in 
the analytical and metaphysical part of the 
business that she lost sight, entirely of poor 
Jake. 
“ Didn’t 1 know Jake was bound for a 
licking ?” 
“Well?” smiled Margaret, the truth 
flashing over her at once. 
“ Well, didn’t Hannibal know Sunshine 
no stand that, any how?” 
“ But I might not have heard of it; what 
then?” 
“ Hannibal’s faith equal to that emerg¬ 
ency. bress de Lord! But where is de chile 
bound to?” 
“Down to Haskell’s, to tell him that 
father has concluded not to have Jake pun¬ 
ished.” 
“Needn’t go step farther! Hero’s the 
order; Hannibal neber deliver noting of 
this kind in a hurry. Hitch him!” 
“ Was there ever such a dear old darling 
as you are?” said Margaret, seizing the 
in de future, to spy out de t roubles and de 
separations that are scattered round in eb- 
cry body’s path, den joy is jea as much out 
oti ile case as summer would be widout do 
green leaves and de posies.” 
“ And you mean by this. Hannibal, that 
all my worry about the future, all my ner¬ 
vousness in regard to t he condition of the 
country, and the hundred other things that 
tend to make me low-spirited, and anxious, 
are not only unreasonable and foolish, but 
actually unchristian.” 
“Dat am spressed most buful, littl«- Run- 
shine, and hit do nail on de head ebery 
time! About do only ting dat. obor troubles 
Hannibal, of any count, is the wonderment 
in his own mind whether or no after do 
Lord hub called him to Ids udder home he 
won’t he too old to learn much. A hun¬ 
dred tousaiul tings come into dls old head 
cbery day, dat Hannibal could no more 
put into shape dan he could make his old 
wool brack as it. used to bo. One ting, ’tho, 
Hannihal has made his mind up to, and 
dat is, dar is nufltn made to waste, and d® 
man dat hab de thot.s, he he brack or be he 
white, must havo dem idees, what you call 
it Sunshine, dem idees?” 
“ Educated?”—suggested Margaret. 
“ Dat,s it;” laughed Hannibal. “ Sunshine 
knows how to spress every ting; so she’H 
have de more time for singing psalms when 
she lands on dc totherside.” 
Margaret laughed a bright, rollicking, 
joyous laugh, in which Hannibal joined 
with remarkable gusto. 
“ Nobody understan J Hannibal,- Vcpt 
