Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1878-12-17

and horror were vanished from her feat
ures, which now wore a placid smile of
Q most heavenly expression, she lay
there like an angel. The old man
threw himself down weeping beside the
cof1in, and deep wonder, horror. and as
tonishment seized all the beholders.
The pastor found himself in duty
compelled to report this strange occur
renee to the Bishop of Zerland, and be-
fore he went for the purpose to Copen-
hagen, he requested his parishioners on
no account to mention what had oc-
Cured. The grave was again covered
up, and no one ventured again to speak
of the matter. In short time after
ward man of high rank arrived at the
village from the seat of government,
desired them to show him the grave,
and commended the PASTORS prudence
in preserving silence about the matter; !;
he ordered the whole affair to be kept as
private as possible, and threatened any
one who dared to speak on the subject
with the highest displeasure of the au-
thorities.
After the death of the pastor, among
his papers was found detailed account
of the transaction attached to the church
records. Some believed that it was in
some way connected with events>which
occurred in Russia, in the period be-
tween the death of Peter the Great and
that of the Empress Catherine. It is
hard, and, indeed, impossible, to satis
factorily explain this dark and myste-
rious occurrence; but the manner of the
Russian nobility of the highest rank,
and even of the Imperial family of that
period, render it probable that some of
them were concerned in this tragedy, of
which the victim is supposed to have
been Princess of CourIand, and the
principal actor a grandson of Peter the
Great.
WHAT EDISON SAYS OF HIS ELEC-
TRIO LIGHT.-A World reporter who
called on Edison on Wednesday of last
week found him in the reverse of ecsta-
cies over the intricacies of the English
patent laws, which he thinks must have
been invented by King Canute or some
other old fogy who did not know the
ward unbosomed himself to the reporter
in this, for him of late, unusually liberal
manner
II tell you what it is, I've got this
thing down fine now, and Pm getting
it down finer every day. At the begin
ming there were two problems to be
solved. One was the practicability of
the subdivision of the electric light, the
other was its economical adoption for
household and general purposes. Now,
I've got my lamp and I've got my sub
division. That is entirely settled. It
was necessary to subdivide the current
without any hitch and I've done it, I'm
calculating at present on the cost of the
light. Now, just within day or two
I've found way to concentrate the
light so that I've made an immense saw
ing. And this is entirely Independent OF
the amount of current supplied. I've
laid over the whole deck on that. My
eighty-horse power engine will give 480
lights. intended at first to have them
of fifteen candle power each, but now /
can have each one equal to twenty can
dies without extra cost The engine
will be running every hourin the twen-
ty four, but slowly when the lamps are
not lighted-it's an automatic cut off
engine, you know-and then, when one
lamp after another is lighted, the old
engine goes faster and faster, until,
buzz! she's off at her highest rate of
speed. And mark you there il to be no
waste of my current, for the engine is
so arranged that it will supply just the
amount of current called for by each
lamp, and when all the lights are turned
out the current stops of itself. Oh, it's
all plain enough aud simple enough
Then each one of these lights is going
to cost 81 95 a year. and gas-burner
giving about the same light costs SIS a
year. That's what Pm working on
now-the economy of the thing; for if
the electric light isn't cheap it's of no
value. I've got meter that tells how
much current is being used up, just as a
gasometer tells how much gas is con-
sumed. But am not going to be in a
hurry about this thing. I'm going to
get my system perfect, and then the gas
people will please take back seat"
Mr.. Edison has dropped all his many
species of phones for the present, and
is concentrating his time and money on
electric lighting.