The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1875-03-27

and multitudinOuS AOtcl ulSCOmf0rts, seem
10 be the rage AS Il winter resort this yea
=, Miss Constance f. Woolson, IN the Apr
Harper's, by way of contrast, gives us a do
lightful narrative of q tour among the mour
tains of Western North Carolina. Some O
the grandest scenery she describes is in Bur
. combc county, which, she tells U.S.
Was named from Colonel Buncombc,
gallant officer of the Revolution; over tn
door of the family mansion once stood thi
legend,
} ITO Buncombc Hall
d Welcome all"
: 1t was a congressional representative Of this
mountain neighborhood who made himsel
and his district immortal by "only talking t'
> Buncombe" Close upon this information
came the fact that in 1871 Buncombc took thu
! first premium for tobacco at the Virgins
State Fair, surprising even the celebrated
I yield OF the Danvillc region Buncombe ap
Piles were giants of their kind, weighing from
i twenty-five to thirty ounces, and measuring
fourteen and sixteen inches in circumference
Il was not surprised at this, having seen the
men who eat them.) The Catawba grape orr
l ginated in Buncombe, on Cane Creek, q
branch of the French Broad. In the sur
rounding region there are sixty mountain
peaks more than six thousand feet high, and
thirty.nne over five thousand feet.
went on with the climate, and discovered
that while in New England two hundred and
fifty out of every thousand deaths are from
consumption, in Minnesota one hundred and
fifty, and in Florida fifty, here, even with an
almost total lack OF luxuries, the proportion
was only thirty in the thousand.
The narrative abounds in numerous char
acter sketches, for which North Carolina fur
nishcs abundant rich material.
Hon. David A. Wells continues in this
number the First Century Series, contributing
an able and comprehensive review OF our
country's progress during the century in
manufactures.
Prof Chas. Rau commences very impor.
tant series of papers on "The Stone Age in
Europe" being a resume OF the revelations of
geology as to the prehistoric ages Of Europe.
The theory that this world, from the time it
was first projected from the sun supcrheated
vaporous mass, has been constantly growing
colder, and will continue on SO until the whole
becomes frozen mass IS shaken by Mr.. Rau,
who shows that while undoubtedly the earth
was once much warmer than it is now, it was
also, at one time, much colder. During the
tertiary perion Palms grew in Switzerland
and high California pine trees in Iceland !;
but toward the end of that period,
A change in the physical condition of the
earth was effected by a general refrigeration,
which, of course, exerted a powerful and
modifying influence on the organic beings
then in existence Under the influence of
various causes not yet sufficiently recognized
large portions of Europe, Asia and America
became covered with huge masses of ice,
while the lower lands of the continents were
flooded by glacial waters. This remarkable
change constituted an epoch of extremely
long duration, until at length the glaciers
melted, and milder temperature was gradn-
ally restored. Land and water were al that
time somewhat differently distributed over
Europe; the Baltic, for instance, is supposed
to have communicated with the White Sea
and the Sea of Kara, and England perhaps
was still connected with the main land OF
Europe, and Denmark and Norway Many
curious phenomena, such rs the transporta-
ton of boulders and the formation Of loess,
are connected with this sOCalled GidciW Pc
riOd.
If the present winter is accepted as an in.
dicaton that we are approaching another
glacial period" there IS at least hope for
another mild season beyond.
While the Hon S. S. Cox is one Of the most
sensible, as well as most able and incOrrup.
tible members of our national Legislature,
he is also we'll known as the best humorist in
t house. 1t will not be surprising, there
fore, to find that one OF the most interesting
papers ever published in Harpcr's is that on
American Humor in the April number by the
witty congressman referred to. The article
is Enthusiastically illustrated, and must be
read entire to be appreciated. Only one point
in it we make a note of Mr.. Cox combats
the common notion that fat men are always
humorous. lie says;
The analogies OF nature are pressed into the
service of this oleaginouS theory. Tom Hood
is quoted wnelc he says OF the Australian soil
that 1t is SO fat that, tickle II with hoe, anu
it will laugh with harvest But tun and fat
do not necessarily 90 together Moisture OF
the muscles anu layers OF lard have no more
to do with humOr than meat has with man.
by one turn of his tread.mill' The beasts
that feed most are the dullest. We must re-
ject, then, the adipose theory If we are to
Judge of "a mans jollIty by the iuciness OF his
body, one would think an American to be the
jOlllest OF mortals, for his salivary glands are
IN perpetual lux.
James Parton continues his series of pa
pers on caricatures, dealing this month with
caricatures of the Reformation, teeming
age for proper subjects. Edward Rowland
has fine paper ON Michael Angelo; the seri.
ais, The Rape of the Camp" and Miss An.
gel are continued; there are several capital
short'stores, poems by half dozen different
writers; Easy Chair, Scientific Record, &c
sciibner's.
In the April Scribner, which, as usual, Is