Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1873-10-02
St}istellaueuns &eadiug.
ANOTHER STORY OF ssBEAU HICKMAN

| Once Beau went over to New Ork and put
up at the St. Nicholas. knowing the rules of
the house. he went early on Monday morning,
and, as was customary, on Saturday received
his bill. Watching until no one was in the
Office but a rather innocent looking clerk,
Beau went up with the bill in his hand, and,
in towering rage, demanded to know if it
was the custom of the house to insult its guests
by presuming they would not pay when they
left, and sending bills like that-throwing his
on the desk. The clerk explained, and, mis-
taking Beau for the famous Pennsylvania
Congressman, John Hickman, apologized, as
sured him no ofense was meant, and that he
could pay when he went away. Beau was
molli6ed, and presented the clerk with fifty
cent cigar. Before the next week was out,
on Friday, Hickman asked General William
Bailey, of Louisiana, whom he knew very
we'll, and who was stopping at the house, to
loan him $500 for one hour. The General
did so, and Beau, getting $500 note, walked
into the office of the St. Nicholas, and offered
to pay his bill. Of course the clerk could not
readily change so large a note, and Hickman,
remarking that he was going to stay, and the
bill could be paid any time, passed up stairs,
and handing Bailey the note, thanked him
cordially for the loan Of the money. No bill
was sent him the next Saturday, nor the next:
He was now in the fourth week of his board
at the St. Nicholas, and, as his arrears were
becoming large, the clerk felt it his duty to
call the attention of the proprietor to the mat
ter. He spoke of Beau as the "Hon. Mr..
Hickman" but the proprietor, on examining
the register, recognized the name of "R. l..
Hickman" as that of the famous Washington
"dead.beat." He cursed the clerk for his
stupidity but cursing would not square the
ledger, and, sending for Beau, he made him
the following proposition: "Hckman, if you
will 20 over the street and beat the Metropol-
itan out of months board, you can come
back here and we will dead-head you for an
other month" Beau accepted the offer, and,
when his month was out, he took his baggage,
hired fine carriage at the expense of the St.
Nicholas, and, driving round the square,
pulled up in front and registered at the Me-
tropolitan, taking a room on the second. floor,
with parlor and bath attached. Every few
days he stepped over to the St. Nicholas to
tell the proprietor he was getting on nicely at
the Metropolitan, and would smoke cigar at
the expense of the St. Nicholas. He worried
throug ii month without pay, and then there
was row at the Metropolitan. Knowing the
hostility between the two hotels, Beau mildly
suggested to the Metropolitan man that, if it
would be any qualification to him, he would
20 over and beat the St. Nicholas out of a
months board. Leland jumped at the offer,
and Beau, by little arrangement got the
promise of second months board at the
Metropolitan on condition that he would beat
the other fellow. Calling a carriage, he
drove round the square again, and put up at
the St. Nicholas and, when the month was
up, once more passed over the street and
stopped at the Metropolitan for thirty days.
CLIMBING PERcH.-Fish in English rivers
do not, as rule, climb up trees, but it seems
that such practice prevails among certain
fish in India, which occasionally, by mounting
the trunks Of trees on river banks are ena-
bled, not only to see the surrounding country,
but obtain mouthful of fresh air as a pleas
ant relief from the muddy waters which form
their natural home. In the appendix to the
twentieth report of the science and art de-
partment, just issued, will be found an inter-
esting account by DR.. G. E. Dobson, staff
surgeon, Calcutta, of the climbing perch of
India, two specimens of which he forwarded
to the gardens of the Royal geological society
of Ireland, being the first of the kind which
ever reached Europe alive. These fish, it
seems have large cavities in the skull, on each
side, above the bronchial chamber, which con-
tain the greatly expanded, foliated, pharyn-
geal bones. These bones serve as air-recepta-
cles, and from them it is supplied to the bron-
chial fringes and when all the contained air
has been deoxygenated, the whole is rejected
through the gill-openings, and rises in large
bubbles usually passing upward, when it has
reached the bottom, from the gill.openings.
The whole thing is done so rapidly that it is
impossible to say whether the air taken in by
the mouth displaces the used.up air in the
supra bronchial cavities, or if the used-up air
be first displaced, the vacuum being filled by
fresh air entering through the mouth. The
muddy rivers of India necessitate such pro-
vision of nature, for pure water breathers
could not pass, through the gills, water filled
with gritty particles. The "climbing perch"
have obtained their name from the circum-
stance of their having been frequently found
on the trunks of palm trees on the margins of
rivers, which, by means of their highly erect
lie scales, they wriggle on to a temporary
resting place, where, to escape for time, the
tremendous impetus of a torrent swollen by
the tropical rains.-PaN Mall Gazette
BETTER THAN CAp1rAL.-The man whose
statements may always be taken without ques-
tion, whose promises are made never to 90 un-
fulfilled, whose verbal agreements are as good
as written contracts, whose integrity is of
more value in his own eyes than any mere for