276 
THE LADIES' FLORAL CABINET. 
‘•I haven't any disease to fit that medicine,” asserted 
Aristarchus confidently. 
“ Rochelle Powders,” proceeded the indefatigable 
Furguson— 
“ Well, I don't know: Cordelia gives that for a good 
many troubles, perhaps it is just what I need.” 
“ How do you take it?” inquired Furguson. 
“She puts one of the blue papers into one tumbler 
half-full of water, and a white one into another 
tumbler,” replied the patient. “Oh! Oh. dear! O—oh— 
I shall die before you get it ready.” 
Furguson bustled about and prepared the powders as 
directed, and brought them to the bedside. 
"O—oh!” groaned the unhappy Aristarchus. “I 
can t—O—h! hold my head up. O—h! 
“ No matter about your head, only open your mouth.” - 
said Furguson. cheerfully. 
Aristarchus did open his mouth, and gulped down the 
contents of one tumbler. “It don't taste natural,” said 
he. "but give me the other, quick!” and the second 
Tumbler followed the first. Then ensued an alarming 
commotion iu the internal regions of Aristarchus’ anat¬ 
omy, and a succession of heart-rending groans, and 
then he began to foam at the mouth. 
"Good Jerusalem!” exclaimed Furguson. “you’ve 
got the hydrophobia,” and he seized his unfortunate 
friend by the shoulders and shouted for help. The 
landlord, and a dozen guides and a few waiter-girls, and 
a score of understrappers rushed into the room, and 
were appealed to by Furguson to help hold Aristarchus 
down, although that much-enduring mortal was so 
•doubled up by pain and anguish that he could not have 
harmed a fly. Fortunately for the victim, there was a 
doctor staying at the house who had just returned from 
a fishing expedition, and he was called in. Ho first 
cleared the room of all except Furguson. and then pro¬ 
ceeded to examine into the patient’s condition. After a 
thorough examination, he asked Aristarchus if ho was 
subject to sick headaches. 
“ Never had one in my life,” replied Aristarchus. 
. “Well, that is what ails you now,” said the doctor, 
“but it has been aggravated by a most unusual com¬ 
plication of medicines.” 
“ Whiskey, bitters, Epsom Salts, Rochelle Powders 
and a sweat,” enumerated Furguson. “Jerusalem! I 
should be sick myself if I had taken all that! What 
contemptible fools some folks are 1” but he neglected to 
specify which folks. 
Then they telegraphed to me that I needn’t come, but 
of course I did not wait for a second telegram, and was 
already on the road. By the time Furguson had finished 
his narrative there was a pause in the dancing, and Aris¬ 
tarchus came to me, saying— 
“I’ll stop now, if you say so, Cordelia; or, if the thing 
is amusiug to you, I'll play for them awhile longer.” 
“ Just as you please,” I replied, calmly. “ I have only 
been traveling two days under great pressure of anxi¬ 
ety. and with little chance or inclination to eat or sleep. 
So I dare say I can keep up a little longer.” 
“Good gracious, Cordelia!” ejaculated my husband, 
“What a wretch I must be; I never thought of your 
being tired or hungry,” and he took me away to our 
own room and had a hot supper sent up, and even went 
so far as to help me dispose of it. 
Mbs. Sdsie A. Bisbee. 
-THE CAVERNS OF LURAY. 
I have no great fancy for undergrtpmd explorations, 
whether mines, salt pits, catacombs oKnatural caves, 
and I did not expect much but a weary 'groping about 
in the famous hole at Luray. But I was agreeably dis¬ 
appointed, and except in the great salt mines'et Berck- 
tesgaden in Austria, I have never spent so pleasant and 
profitable an hour and a half underground. Thisieems 
to be an age of cavernous wonders. They have'just 
-discovered a remarkable cave near Harper’s Ferry, a^d 
I shouldn’t wonder if Virginia were honey-combed wita 
these marvelous exploits which have been for ages pre¬ 
paring for this inquisitive, appreciative and scientific 
generation. 
The Luray Cave is in Page county, in a little cross 
valley between the Blue Ridge and Massanutton moun¬ 
tain. The valley is broken and uneven, the mountains 
are several miles distant, and the cave is in a low 
wooded hill that slightly breaks the general surface, 
about a mile and a half from the station and the small 
village of Luray. 
There is a house built over the entrance of the cave, 
where we found a keeper and guide in waiting, and 
photographs and polished specimens of the stalactites 
for sale at a good price. This formation cut trans¬ 
versely and polished, is semi-transparent, of a whity- 
yellowish color, and, with its darker rings, looks not un¬ 
like alabaster. Each person paid a dollar, was furnished 
with a tin sconce with lighted candles, and we de¬ 
scended a flight of moist steps some fifty feet through a 
narrow passage to the vestibule or entrance chamber, 
an irregular-shaped room thirty-five feet high, and of 
varying width, caused by the erratic jutting and retir¬ 
ing rocks, up to two hundred feet. No change of 
clothing was required for the exploration, as the cavern 
is fairly dry, and boards are laid in the muddy places, 
bridges over the chasms and high railed walks wherever 
necessary. The uniform temperature, summer and 
• winter, is 56 deg. The cavern covers several acres, but 
•J could not learn its superficial area. From the entrance 
apveral passages branch off, and the many chambers, 
hUIs and galleries are in a comparatively small area. 
Wa were walking and wondering for an hour and a 
halt, and I suppose walked about three miles, though 
occasionally retracing our steps. The scientists say 
that the geological date of the cave, though it is carved 
out of sild^an limestone, is considerably later than the 
close of tlie'^arboniferous period, and is not more an¬ 
cient probably than the formation of the Mammoth 
Cave and the Vyandotte. “ The history of its produc¬ 
tion is divided^ into two periods, its excavation and 
ornamentation. \rhe latter was produced wholly after, 
and perhaps, lon)gWcer, the chasm was finished. The 
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