Muscatine weekly journal. [volume] (Muscatine, Iowa) 185?-1890, 1859-05-27

separately. The Wild buffalo frequents
the salt-licks of Northwestern Ameli-
ca the wild animals in the central
parts of Southern A frica are sure
prey to the hunter who conceals him
self beside q salt-spriny; and our do
nestle cattle run peacefully to the hand
that offers them taste of this luxury.
From time immemorial it has been
known that without salt man would
miserably perish and among horrible
punishments, entailing certain death,
that Of feeding culprits on saltless
food, is said to have been practiced in
barbarous times. When Cook and
Foster landed in Otaheite, they aston
ished the natives who saw them eating
white powder with every morsel of
meat and every one remembers Man
fridays expressive reputation Of salt.
But the savages who ate 20 "white
powder" ate fish, and cooked their
flesh in sea- water, rich in salt. In
several parts of Africa men are sold
for salt ;; and on the gold coast it is
the most precious of all commodities.
On the coast Ct Sierra Leone a man
will sell his sister, his wife, or his child
for salt, not having learned the art Of
distilllng it from the sea.
ENGLISH NEEDLEs.-It is a WELL
known fact that the needles Of English
manufacture are decidedly superior to
those of any other country, and are
extensively used in every civilized part
of the globe. These needles are made
from the best steel wire, after being
cut of the proper length by shears that
will cut 100000 in ten hours-each
length being made into two needles.
They are Strengthened by Being passed
under heavy iron plate, and pointed
by grinding them on rapidly-revolv-
ing grindstone. They are ground dry,
in order to prevent rusting, causing
the air to be filled with silicious and
steel dust, which was formerly very in
furious to the lungs and eyes Of the
operatives, but the evil effects of which
are now prevented by powerful fan.
They are then cut in two, the heads
Aattened and the eyes pierced; after
the eye has been smoothed they ore
tempered on steel plates, and are sud-
denly plunged into cold water, which
makes them very hard and brittle.
The needles are then polished by long
friction with quartzose sand and some
oily substance.
The DEATH OF THE BELOVED
Death is mournful to all Of US, and at
all times. But when his dread wing
has been tapped over those with whom
we were linked by the tender ties of
love, or associated by the deep feelings
of natural affection, how mournful it
: is! And how mournful and how bit
ter it is to enter the darkened chamber,
and mark the awful change hat passed
over forms which, perchance, yesterday
moved gaily and happily down the great
stream Of life-to behold the lip, on
whose words we fingered, mute and still;
the heart, whose beatings were all in
unison with our own, mctionless and
calm the hand, with whose every touch
we were familiar, dull and heavy F; the
pulse, that swelled in warmth and free
dom, throbbing no more; the eye,
whose glance had often met our own,
glazed and fixed the smile, that once
Interpreted out slightest wish, departed ;
the brow cold the breath choked, and
the frame pressed in the Wondering
coffin, where the worms will feed upon
it, and where the cold, damp earth will
rot and decay it.
Mrs. MERRIFIELD ON "DREss"-
Fashion is the only tyrant agar st
} whom modern civilization has not car.
ried on crusade, and its power is still
as unlimited and despotic as ever it
was. From its dictates there is no
appeal health and decency are alike
offered up at the shrine Of this Moloch.
; At its command it's votaries melt under
fur boas in dog days, and freeze with
bare necks and arms, in lace dresses
and satin shoes, in January. Then,
such is it's caprice, that no sooner does
fashion become general, than, let its
merits or beauties be ever so great, it
: is changed for one which, perhaps, has
nothing but its novelty to recommend
| it. Like the bed Of Procrustus, fash
ions are compelled to suit every one.
The same fashion is adopted by the tall
: and the short, the stout and the slender,
the old and the young, with what effect
: we have daily opportunities of observ-
, ing.-.4rt Journal.
On! JERUSALEM! JERUSALEM =
The "city Of the great King" has not
, improved much in morals and manners
: since it was said of her, "Thou that
killest the prophets, and stonest them
7 that are sent unto thee,'' as would ap-
, pear by recent letter from MIR. Mar
> tin, Of the Utica IN. W Herald, who
is travelling in Palestine:
cit is very unhealthy at Jerusalem,
and the moral atmosphere is still worse.
I certainly never saw 50 quarrelsome a
, place in my life. Everybody seems to
be at war with everybody else. The
, Jews fight among each other like cats
! and dogs. The Greeks and Latins
! fight against each other with such fe-
t rocious violence that the Pacha is
compelled to interfere at every Easter
, time. Even the few Franks who tarry
=. there have caught the common rabies,
and oppose each other with all the ma
, Lightly Of devils.''