AM 
'JUatring fox ttix goraig," 
COATS-OF-ARMS. 
It may have occurred to some of my young 
friends to wonder how those .astonishing devices, 
coats-of-arms, originated. Usually the history Is 
curious. One of those laborious, plodding Ger¬ 
man students. Dr. Grasse, has been delving Into 
this peculiar lore with interesting results. I pro¬ 
pose to tell you of some of them. 
Many of you have road and reading, remem¬ 
bered, during the relga ot Napoleon III, accounts 
of the beautiful Princess Metternlch, who was a 
warm friend ot the Empress Eugenie. Her hus¬ 
band was the Austrian ambassador near the I m- 
perlal Court, and was a very proud person, but 
his family tree was a not uncommon sapling in 
the beginning. His ancestor was a plain Cap. 
tain at the Court of Henry II, and his name was 
simply Metier. The emperor had the greatest 
confidence In this captain of his bodyguard, and 
thereby awakened the envy of certain counters, 
who, Imitating the favorite's handwriting, wrote 
a treasonable letter* and contrived to let this fall, 
as It by accident, In the emperor’s way. The 
stratagem failed, for Henry had no sooner read it 
than he quietly put it aside, with the words “0 
Mfitter nichtl" (No, not Metier!) On the captain’s 
entrance he was greeted by all present with the 
emperor’s exclamation, which, with the slightest 
alteration, Is repeated In the family name, 
This was the beginning of his fortune. He 
presently acquired property which was added to 
by hts successors, until to-day the family Is one 
of the richest and most powerful In the Austro- 
Hungarian Empire. The famous Joanlsberger 
wine grows on the Metternleht estates, and so 
highly is it esteemed that a present of a few 
dozen bottles is considered a great honor. 
The family of Andrassy, whose name has of late 
eenso conspicuously before the world, owes Its 
ms to a tournament heidatGrau by 8t. Stephen 
the year 1000 , when he was crowned king ot 
ungary. A foreign knight had unhorsed many 
ompetltors, and showed himself somewhat la¬ 
ment In consequence, when a Magyar, of Scy¬ 
thian descent, named Andoras, challenged him to 
mortal combat. The challenge having been ac¬ 
cepted, Andoras, In the presence of the whole 
assembly, severed the head and right shoulder of 
his heavily-armed adversary from the body with 
a single blow. On account of this exploit he was 
allowed to bear on his shield a man in armor, 
placed between two lions, erect,who held a crown. 
Through his subsequent marriage he became 
founder of the Audrassey family In aU Its 
branches. The story is told, however, In another 
way, with especial reference to a crest represent¬ 
ing a Magyar brandishing a sabre. When, we 
read, St. Stephen was crowned at Stuhlwolssen- 
burglu llOu (file), a strange knight came to him 
oomplalnlng that a lady betrothed to him had 
fled, and was now la the queen's ir.au. 1 be king 
promised to repair the wrong If the plaint was 
just; but learned from the lady, Elsbeth of Khne- 
nau, that her relatives, treating her as an orphan, 
had assigned her against her will to Willibald.of 
Lundenburg, the complaining stranger, to escape 
from whose elutches she had fled to the protec¬ 
tion ot the queen, having bestowed her affections 
upon auother. This was the Magyar noble An¬ 
doras, who had seen Elsbeth at the court ot Ba¬ 
varia, while the queen resided there. To settle 
the dispute, the klug adopted the ordinary ex¬ 
pedient of a judicial combat, which took place on 
the following day, when Andoras smote off the 
head and the right hand of his opponent. He 
was rewarded with the hand of Elobeih, and was 
appointed governor ot Transly vanla. Of three 
sous, the Issue of his marriage, only one survived, 
the founder of the house ot Andrassey. 
-*•-*->- 
KIDNAPPING A SLOTH. 
When I first went to live at Larangelras, which 
Is a suburb or Rio de Janeiro, one of my especial 
pets was a young sloth. Rather a curious ravor- 
ite, you may Bay; but the fact was, that 1 had 
heard several travelers deny the possibility of 
rearing a Bloth to recognize and become familiar 
with you, and 1 had a fancy to try the experiment 
tor myself. 
At first (as might be expected) my native friends 
made great fun of the idea, and were always ask¬ 
ing how my pupil was getting on, and whelher I 
had not better send him to school, now that he 
was getting too Dig for a private tutor. However, 
I stuck to my own way, and In course of time the 
beast got to know me quite well. Many a time, 
when 1 was sitting reading In the garden, under 
the shade of my favorite palm-tree, I would be 
startled by feeling a huge hairy paw passed In¬ 
quiringly along the back of my neck, and, turning 
round, find myself face to face with Ssnhor Mcl* 
hado, as I had named him, la compliment to a 
very take-lt-easy neighbor of mine. 
These reminders, I must confess, generally 
meant getting a bit of sugarcaue or a sup of 
molasses, for he was a shocking “ sweet-tooth.” 
When we sat eating our sugarcane on the veran¬ 
da, in the cool or the evening, he used to come 
for his piece as regularly as the clock struck; and 
whenever he had misbehaved hims . if, I used to 
punish him by giving him none. Having got 
his education to this point, I began to think 
whether 1 could not oarry It further still, when 
lo) one fine morning my pet was nowhere to be 
found. 
This discovery was not made till after 1 had 
started for the clt 7 as usual; but my black re¬ 
tainers were naturally dismayed at a catastrophe, 
the whole blame of which would evidently tall 
upon them. Moreover, the garden being entirely 
surrounded by a high w&U, and all the trees 
standing well back from It, It was difficult to Im¬ 
agine how he could have got out. The whole 
affair had quite an air of witchcraft; and (as is 
v 
k 
l. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
JULY 6 
wont to be the ease In a public crisis) a great deal 
was said, and nothing done. 
Now, it happened that this same difficulty of 
getting out was Mr. Sloth's special grievance; 
for, although one might have thought that long 
walks were not tn»>ch In his line, he had a great 
hankering to know what lay on the other side of 
that wall. And so, one morning, as If on purpose 
to gratlty him, while he was sitting disconsolate 
upon a projecting bougb, there came sliding up 
over the top of the wall, right towards him, the 
end of a pole, long, strong, and well-smoothed as 
heart of sloth could wish. 
Slowly and heavily, one after another, the huge 
clumsy paws fastened upon this unexpecd wind- 
rail. But, alas! for the poor beast, he had no 
sooner trusted himself to his now perch than he 
discovered that there was a black man In ambush 
underneath It; and before he could collect his 
scattered Ideas, he found himself whisked up and 
marched away down the street, to the cry of 
"Preguiea t boa prttffuicaj Quem guer comprar /” 
(Sloth ! good sloth 1 Who’ll buy 7) 
Meanwhile I, little dreaming of what had be¬ 
fallen my poor favorite, was riding leisurely along 
the great road leading from the suburb of L uan- 
gelras to tue city, when l suddenly discovered 
that 1 had forgotten some papers which I warned. 
To save time, I went back by a short cut through 
some of the by-streets, aud It was just as well 
that I did, for I suddenly encountered a sloth tied 
by his claws to a pole, and looking very much 
ashamed ot himself; and In this disconsolate 
captive I recognized, to my no smalt amazement, 
my own cherished pupil, Seuhor Melhado 1 
in an Instant I was off my horse, and pounced 
upon the thief, who loudly protested his Inno¬ 
cence. A crowd gathered, and there was a great 
hue-and-cry; but my recognition of the sloth— 
and, better still, hts recognition ot me —carried 
the day, and my black friend, seeing the case 
going against him, abandoned the booty and took 
to his heels. The delight of my household at the 
prodigal’s return may be Imagined; and I think 
the lesson must have done him good, for he never 
broke bounds agi la. D. Kek. 
—--—- 
A JAPANESE NEWSPAPER. 
Turning over the leaves of a diminutive blue- 
book of uo particular Interest, we Ugbted upon a 
translation of the six hundred and thirty-third 
number of the Yokohama Dally News, published 
on the 30Mi day, 3d month, Pth year of Meljt, 30th 
day of 2d month of Solar Calendar; that la to say, 
Tbusday, February 30 th, 1873. The date Is not of 
the best, but the contents of the paper have lost 
none of their savor by keeping. 
Compared with more familiar Journals, our Jap¬ 
anese newspaper Is but lightly laden. Imme¬ 
diately after the date conies the announcement: 
“ Weather fine. Thermometer at hood, fllty-two 
degrees.” This is followed by an official com mu id¬ 
eation from lnouye, vice-minister of the treasury, 
sewing forth the number aud description of the 
ships at anchor In the bay of Yokohama, the 
amount of customs receipts for the preceding 
day, the rates of exchange, and a notification 
that the Budget of News, the Dally Intelligence 
Association News, and the Yokohama Dally 
News, being conductive, “ bo It la ever so slight a 
degree," to energy and progress, by furnishing 
correct Information about home and foreign 
affairs, It la ordered that these Journals be for¬ 
warded dally to every .ten and ken —city and dis¬ 
trict—In the empire. 
As at least one and a half of the tour pages of 
the moderate-sized sheet are devoted to adver¬ 
tisements, the editor of the Yokohama Dally 
News has very little space at his disposal for 
chronicling the events of the day. We find only 
one Incident recorded In its columns, but that Is 
a strange one. A Japanese boat In distress be¬ 
ing sighted off O'Shlma by a British steamer, the 
captain put his ship about- and picked up the six 
occupants of the boat, just in time to save them 
from drowning. One ot the rescued Japanese, 
who appeared more dead than alive, had his whole 
body so scorched and Inflamed, that his shirt was 
sticking to his flesh, and could not be peeled off 
him. Upon the captain questioning his com¬ 
panions, they stated that, as their boat was run¬ 
ning before the wind about noon, this man aud 
another were sitting facing each other, when, all 
of asudden, a hash of lightning struck the boat, 
stunning the scorched man, while the one oppo¬ 
site him was hit right, In the head by the light¬ 
ning, smashed into little bits, and disappeared in 
the sea. “ Foreigners" IS the editorial comment. 
,f have a contrivance for warding off lightning 
strokes, not only at aea, where there Is no shelter 
at hand, but also on every one of their houses. 
Therefore, our countrymen should adopt this 
system without delay; If this is done, we shall 
have no more loss of life and destruction ot 
houses by lightning, such as have heretofore 
been frequent.” 
Our journalist gives us a better taste of his 
quality, when he deals with a bit of social scan¬ 
dal, airing his morality In quaint fashion, as he 
relates the story of a fraU dame, the course of 
whose love ran anythlug but smoothly: “ Near 
the Imadohrldge, In Asakusa, Yoklyo, t here was 
a restaurant known as the Zumelro, the pro¬ 
prietress of which was named O’Klku. This lady, 
though fully forty years of age, la uncommonly 
handsome, and of very attractive manners. She 
Is, however, of a fickle disposition, and tome years 
ago was free of her favors to the play-actor, 8u- 
wamuro DosbIio, In consequence ot which she lost 
her lawful husband, and brought confusion on 
the household. SlUl she paid but Utile regard to 
censure of the world; and, about four years ago, 
the pair started off to tEsaka. Intending to become 
man and wife. Ar she had slipped away ft om 
home on the aly, the lady was followed, and was 
overtaken and brought back by the pursuers 
when they had got as far as Sogayekl, ThuB 
their Intercourse waB Interrupted for that time. 
But wlthln-the last year or so they drew together 
again; and as love brooks no denial, the lady 
called in her go-between, and arrangements were 
made for the marriage. However, on tbe very 
bight before, a fire broke out In her house, and it 
together with four or five houses adjoining, was 
burned to tbe ground. In consequence, the bildal 
preparations have had to be postponed. It Is said 
that O’Klku cares very little either for her own or 
her neighbors’ losses by the fire, hut that, she is 
inconsolable because the mischance has marred 
her nuptials. 
As regards the tender passion between the 
sexes. It were useless to enter upon the question 
of wisdom or folly. Just as In old times, so now, 
the cleverer the man the greater fool he makes 
himself; but when women like tbe O’Klku, whose 
brows are beginning to wrinkle with age, forget-, 
for the sake of a young spark, their family and 
household ties. Heaven visits them either with a 
fire, as In this case, or with some other calamity. 
As for Dossho, his family cognomen of Edder- 
burnhouse is only too likely to be changed Into 
Wed-her-burnt-house. Surely a man ought to 
guard against so scathing a fire as that*” 
The Dally News complains that lottery-boxes, 
called “your fortune," are allowed to be placed 
outside fanes and temples, out, or which a num¬ 
bered stick Is shaken, and a ticket marked with 
the same number, foretelling good or bad luck, 
sold to the devotee; while close at hand stands a 
fortune-reader, prepared to explain the drift- of 
the lot, who, by talking confidentially about life 
and death, so frightens Ignorant folk that he can 
extort money from them at his pleasure. “Un¬ 
less these fellows," says the Dally News, “are 
put down by the government, It Is not likely that 
t-hla superstftlous abuse will cease.” “ Such Im¬ 
proper things as fortune-telling and saying pray¬ 
ers ought, as a matter of course, to be sup¬ 
pressed.” 
IJttgler. 
ENIGMA OF GENERALS. 
I am composed of 96 letters: 
My 48, 2, 17, 35, 18, 19, 5, 46, 1, 63 a Confederate 
general. 
My 33, 7, 10, 13, 14, 68, 59, 8, 20 a Union general. 
My 3, 28,47, 36, 04, 11, 89, 16, 23, 21 a Confederate 
general. 
My 67, 88, 91, 74, 28 , 4, 77, 25 a Union general. 
My 86, 34,48, 30, i, 22 ,44, 16 , 49, 50 a Confederate 
general. 
My 38, 70, 24, 62, 93, 90, 68 a Union general. 
My 43, 12, 6, 31, 9, 76, 81 a Confederate general. 
My 10,37, 63, 33, 40, 84, 75, 47 a Union general. 
My 86, 51, 65, 64, 69 a Union general. 
My 27, 82. 60 , is, 41, 39, 62, 3,13 a Confederate gen¬ 
eral. 
My 29, 73, 1, oi, 80, 89 a Union general. 
My 42, 82, 83, 77 a Confederate general. 
My 06 , 85, os, 89, 92, 20 , 71 a Confederate general. 
My 46, 87, 74, 67, 60 a sort of shell. 
My 73, 95, 73, 94, 55 a masticator. 
My 79, 72, 10 a pronoun. 
My whole defines religion. 
tar - Answer In two weeks. Floridian. 
ENIGMA. 
I was there with good Eve ’mongst her fruits and 
her grass, 
And with old Tubal Cain when he molded his 
brass; 
And I saw the rude cross on which Christ hung 
to die, 
Nor was far from the tomb where so many did 
hie. 
1 have silled the rough ocean, and crossed the 
wide plain, 
And have climbed the high mountains where men 
seek for gain. 
Quite at home with the prince In his purple and 
gold, 
And enjoy with the vulgar his squalor and cold. 
I’ve always loved women far more than the men, 
So tell me this riddle as soon as you can. 
nr- Answer in two weeks. E. S. Hulin. 
■ »♦«- 
FRACTIONAL PUZZLE. 
1. Onb tenth of strawberry. 2. One-quarter 
of date. 3. One-fifth of lemon. 4. One-sixth of 
squash. 6, One-fifth of prune. 6. One-seventh of 
apricot. 7. One-eighth of plautain. 8. One-sixth 
of damson. Take one from each and form a fruit. 
ra f * Answer In two weeks. May. 
- M l-— 
HOUR-GLASS PUZZLE, 
l. Northern. 2 . A city of New England. 3. A 
town of Long Island. 4. To bury. 6. Possessive 
case of a pronoun, fl. A consonant. 7. Overtook. 
8. An ante-room. 9. The Blessed Virgin. 10. A 
town of Vermont. 11. A man worth several mil¬ 
lions. Centrals form a town of Vermont. 
tr Answer In two weeks. Little one. 
■-» » » 
PUZZLER ANSWERS.—June 22. 
Hidden APTA url.— 1, Garter; 2, Pinafore i 3. Bib ; 
4, Belt: 5, Bash , U. Kullle: 7, Sandal; 8, Pannier : 9, 
Cuff; 10, Dolman ; 11. SlilrL; 12. Shoe: 13, boot: 14, 
Slippers 16,Smoolt; 16,Shift; 17,Chemise: IS, Socks; 
19, Spencer; 20, Stomacher i 21, Drawers: 24, Sarpltue: 
23, Suspenders ; 24, Polonaise*; 25, RediiiROte. 
CROSS word ENIGMA.—Henry W. Longfellow. 
Bidden Names —1, Rosa; 2, Mahol: 3, Kvo; 4, 
Aun; 5, Irene; 6, Emma; 7, Kate; 8, Bertha; 9, Ella; 
10. Carrie. 
Classical Double Acrostic. -Initials, Leverna; 
finals, .Nemesis. 
Transposition — 
The warm summer rain 
Comes trickling down the wludow pane, 
Bursting the buds of the climbing rose ; 
Welcome summer rain. 
athfj) tailing 
t 
WORDS OF STRENGTH. 
BY SCHILLER. 
There are three lessons I would write— 
Three words as with a burning pen, 
In tracings of eternal light, 
Upon the heartB of men. 
Have hope. Though clouds environ now, 
And gladness liideB her face in scorn, 
Put thou tbe shadow from thy brow— 
No night but hath its morn. 
Have faith. Where'er thy bark is driven— 
Tbe calm's disport, the tempest’s mirth— 
Know this—God rates the hosts of Heaven, 
The inhabitants of earth. 
Have love. Not love alone for one, 
But man as man thy brother call, 
And scatter like the circling sun 
Thy charities on all. 
Thus grave those lessons on thy soul— 
Hope, Faith and I,ove—and thou shalt find 
Strength when life's surges rudest roll, 
Light when thou olBe were blind. 
♦ « •- 
“ROCK OF AGES.” 
The hymn beginning, 
*’ Rock of Ages, Cleft for me," 
may well he esteemed one of the brightest gems 
of Christaln psalmody. 
It Is a grand tone that nerves and strengthens 
faith, that, associates the sublime Imagery of the 
nebrew Scriptures with the all-protecting love 
ot Christ, and that has consoled thousands of 
Christians in the dying hour. 
Augustus Montague Toplady, the author was 
born at Earn ham, Surrey, England, In 1740. His 
father fell at the battle or Carlhagena, and he 
was brought up In charge of an exemplary and 
pious mother. Ue was educated at the West¬ 
minister school. 
At the age of sixteen, Toplady chanced to go 
into a barn at an obscure place, called Codymaln, 
Ireland, to hear an Illiterate layman preach. The 
sermon made upon him an unexpected Impres¬ 
sion and led to his Immediate conversion. He 
thus speaks of this Interesting experience In hts 
diary : “ That sweet text. ‘ Ye who were some¬ 
times afar off are made nigh by the blood of 
Christ.' was particularly delightful and refresh¬ 
ing to my soul. Strange that I, who had so long 
been under the means of grace In England, 
should be brought nigh to Ged In an obscure part 
of Ireland, amidst a handful of God’s people met 
together In a barn, and under tbe ministry of one 
who could scarcely spell hla name. The excel¬ 
lency of such power must be of God and cannot 
be of men,” 
He bee ims a minister of the church of England, 
maintained the Calvlnlstlc doctrines In opposition 
to the Wesleys, and preached and wrote with 
self-consuming zeal. The only blemish of his 
high character was heated language and Intol¬ 
erance In controversy. 
In the year 1775 his health began to fall. It was 
evident that the sword was too sharp for the 
scabbard. His physical energies were being de¬ 
stroyed by the fiery ardor of soul that over-taxed 
them. His physician commanded him to go to 
London. Here a new field opened before him, 
and he became pastor of the French Calvinist 
Reformed Church 
On the year of bis settlement In London, he 
published In the Gospel Magazine an article, en¬ 
titled “Questions and Answers Relative to the 
National Debt," In which he adverts to the debt 
of sin, and shows how mulildudlnous are the sins 
of mankind. By numerical calculations, he ex¬ 
hibits the enormity of the debt of the redeemed 
soul, which Christ has canceled, and impresses 
the readers with the transcendent love and value 
of Christ’s atonement. With these thoughts 
growing like a vision In his mind, he then added • 
Rook of tterca, cleft for me, 
JAR mu hide myself in thee; 
Let the water amt the blood. 
From thy riven side which flowed, 
Be of sin the double cure. 
Cleanse uie from its guilt aud power. 
Not the labor of my bauds 
8 an fulfill thy laws’ demands ; 
mild my zeal no respite know, 
Could my tears for ever flow, 
All lor «tn could not atone, 
Thou must save, aud then alone. 
Nothin* in my hand I briiiR. 
Simply to thy cross 1 Clin* : 
Naked, come to thee for dress, 
Helpless, look to thee lor Trace ; 
Foul, I to the fountain fly; 
Wash me. Saviour, or 1 ala 
Whilst I draw this flee tin* breath, 
When my eyestrioRs break in death; 
When t soar through tracts unknown, 
Bee thee on t.hy judgment throne, 
Rock of ages cleft for me. 
Let me hide myself m thee, 
The above Is the original version, from which 
It will be seen that the by inn In common use has 
been greatly transposed and altered. 
It was composed In Toplady’s last years, when 
he already felt that he was beginning to lose his 
hold on life, and that his feet were already swod- 
ing on celestial altitudes. Home two years after¬ 
wards. when he was yet but thlrty-hve years of 
age, the full time of his departure came, aud he 
found the prayer lu the lost stanza of this hymn 
fully and BweetJy auswered In the revelation of 
Divine love to his soul. He seemed to walk in 
Bulah, to breathe immortal airs and to hear the 
tuning of unseeu harps, and by faith to discover 
what the Rrotomartyr saw and the Revelator 
described. 
“ Your pulse," said the doctor, “ Is becoming 
weaker.” 
“ That Is a good sign." said Toplady, “ that my 
death la fast approaching, and I can add that ray 
heart beats every day stronger aud stronger for 
glory.” 
as tils end drew Immediately near, tears of joy 
filled hla eyes, before which already seemoa to 
puss visions of Paradise, and he exclaimed ; ’* It 
will nut be long before God takes me, for no mor¬ 
tal can live after the glories God has manifested 
to my bouI.”— Story of the Hymn Vy American 
Tract Society. 
