Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1848-08-31

ing now IN both hands this weapon, with
peculiar and rapid whrl, which gave it an
uncomfortable impetus, the earl let fall the
crushing blow; at the first stroke, cut RICH.
in the centre, rolled the helm; at the Sc
cond through all the woven mail (cleft a.
sunder, as if the slightes. fagree work of
the goldsmith shone the blade, and great
fragment of the stone'itself came tumbling
to the sod.
The Normans stood aghast, and Williams
face was pale as the shattered stone. The
great duke felt even his matchless dissimu-
iation fail him; nor, unused to the special
practice and craft which the axe required,
could he have pretended, despite physical
strength superior even to Herold's, to rival
blows that seemed to him more than mortal.
"Llves there any other man in the wide
world, whose arm could have wrought that
feal?' exclaimed Bruce, the ancestor of the
famous Scot.
"Nay," said Harold simply, cat least tbir-
ty thousand such men have ] left at home
But this was bu. the stroke of an idle vanity.
and strength becomes ten-fcld in a good
cause"
The duke heard, and fearful lest he should
betray his sense of the latent meaning
couched under his guests words, he hastily
mu'tered forth reluctant compliment and
praise, while Fitzosborne, De Bohun, and
other chiefs more genuinely knightly, gave
way 10 unstrained admiration.
The SPIDERS THREAD.-That any crea-
ture could be found to fabricate a net, not
less ingenious than that of the fisherman, for
the capture of its prey; that it shoulds fix
it in the right place, and then patiently avail.
the result, is proceeding so strange that,
five did not see it done daily before our
eyes by the common house-spider and gar
Iden-spider, it would seem wonderful
But how much is our wonder increased
when we think of the complex fabric of
each single thread, and then of The mathe-
NAUTICAL precision and rapidity with which,
in certain cases, the net itself is constructed;
and to add to all this, as example Of the
wonders which the most common things
exhibit when carefully examined, the net
of the garden-spider consists of two distinct
kinds Of silk. The threads forming the con-
centric circles are composed of silk much
mSre elastic than that of the rays, and are
studded over with minute globuIes of Wis
cid gum, sufficiently adhesive to retain any
unwary fly which comes in contact with it,
A net of average dimensions is estimated by
Mr.. Black wall to contain 1880 of these
globules, and large net of fourteen or six
teen inches in diameter, 100000; and vet
such net will be completed by one species
(Eperian poclIca) in about forty minutes on
an average, if no interruption occurs
Cool PROCEEDINGS OF THE ORIENTAL
LADIEs.-During The hottest months, when
the thermometer is often at the height of l20
degrees Fahrenheit, the ladies wear a silken
garment and slippers but no stockings. AT
night it is the custom to sleep on the ter
race, at the top Of the house, in the open air,
the ladies, the men, the children, and the do
mestics, having each their separate terraces
Strange as it may sound, it is by no means
an uncommon practice with the ladies' in
Bagdad, in the months Of July and August.
10 steep their night clothes in cold water,
which is slung up for this purpose, in skins,
in order TO keep it as cool as possible. Hav-
ing done this they put them on wringing
vet, and again retire to their beds of palm
branches, to enjoy refreshing slumbers. N Of
wi'hslanding this practice, Rheumatism is
rarely heard of in that country.
MAJOR NoAH.-This veteran of the press
manifesls the same spirit and vivacily in his
editorials that he did five and twenty years
ago. He has usually over his editorial head
about quarter of a column of answers 'to
correspondents many of which are quite
spicy. Here is one of them:
"Clarissa H. begs to know our age. How
is it that ladies take greater interest in the
fate of old fellows than they do of young?
We have no particular objection to telling
our age. We are ten years younger than
Mr.. Richie, Of the Washington Union, and
he is the most sprighsly, active, and exlraor-
binary man of his years in the country. We
are younger than Mr.. Van Buren,, who has
not We, arrived at the years of discretion."
MADAM MALAPRoP herself, in the misap-
plica,ion of language, hardly exceeded a GER
tain Deacon l., of Maine, who, speak
ing the other day of his early years remark
ed that although he was boy when the
American Revolution commenced, yet he
remembered all about ii, having received his
information from his father, who was savarm
Hbertine = The same man one day called
upon lawyer, in great anger, to get him to
commence suit against nelghbor. The
lawyer advised him to try once more TO