The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1881-06-16

sionaries in the Territory, maintained at
an annual cost of $685. the Congre-
gationalists are spending $4,000 in new
school-houses and churches, the Metho-
dists have twenty missionaries on the
ground, and other denominations are
represented. These tremendous on
slaughts have melted the Mormons to
renewed zeal.
Mann Lord, resident of Friendship,
N. Y, is q man who has undergone
more suffering than is usually allotted
to man. For several years past Mr..
Lord has been victim of rheumatism,
and he has fingered along on the banks
OF death with one foot in the grave for
long time. For about three years he
has been blind, deaf and speechless.
Before he became speechless he used to
moan and plead for death to relieve
him from his agony. He is so deformed
that the only position which he now
rests in, or in fact survives, is sitting
one, with his head between his knees,
nearly meeting his feet. It is strange
that some people have to endure so
much suffering, while young men are
often cut down and taken from us in
their best and apparently healthiest
days.
A Detroit mich. doctor, who has vac
cinated over 500 persons, reports many
odd experiences with subjects under
the lancet. Not more than two men
out of ten have it done in straightfor-
ward way. They hesitate, make in
quiries, and postpone it a few days.
One insisted upon being strapped fast
to his chair while the operation was
performed. Another wanted to take
chloroform. A negro was one day seen
to walk past the office several times,
and the doctor finally stepped to the
door and asked him if he wanted to be
vaccinated. "'Deed, sab, dat's what
cum for" he replied, "but de VERY
minnit 1 turned dat corner de blamed
thing quit achingp AS a rule the men,
when they feel the lancet, cry "Woosh!"
or Thunder!" The women cry
couch !" generally, but now and then
one screams ooh, Lcrdyl" Children
have to be fattered, coaxed or scared
into submission.
Details of the fate of that portion of
the Flatters expedition which remained
in the Sahara under the command of
Sergeant Pobequin present scene Of
unsurpassed horror. The natives hav-
ing stolen all the camels which bore the
water, the twenty-nine men made their
way afoot to the caravan route in hope
of meeting with succor. But no caravan
came in sight. Without either food OF
| drink the men endured unspeakable
agonies for time, but were at last
driven to the fearful resort of cannibal-
ism. Fifteen men were devoured in
turn, Pobequin being the fifteenth.
Then help came. A caravan arrived
and provided the half-insane survivors
with small supply of food and water,
but only in return for money. When
at last they were rescued by the Me-
harris from Uargla, only twelve of them
remained alive, and their minds and
bodies were almost fatally wrecked by
the hardships they had undergone.
Herr Heinrich Waldner, we'll known
as the author of an exhaustive volume
| on the ferns of Central Europe, has
made an interesting contribution to the
! literature OF sun spots in their relation
to good and bad vintages. He has con-
structed series of tables showing that
the minimum of the sun spots CORE
spends with the good years, the maxi
mum Of the sun spots with the wet and
bad years, when great foundations and
hailstorms have occurred. Thus the
years 1910, 1923, 1884, 1874, 1856, 1867
and 1876, in which the sun was almost
entirely clear from spots, concur ex-
actly or nearly with those years of this
century which have been most famous
as the good wine years, namely, 1911,
1922, 1884, 1916, 1857, 1868 and 1875.
Herr Waldner calculates that the next
exceptionally good year will be 1887 or
1888. The wine growers of Switzerland
have afforded an opportunity for doc
tors to disagree by inviting Professor
Rudolf Wolf, director of the Zurich
observatory, to give his opinion of
Herr Waldner's theory and prediction.
That the Russian peasantry are not
wholly unreasonable in their present
wish for agrarian reform, one example
out of many will suffice to show. A
peasant in one of the eastern provinces,
whose crops had failed, having with diff
ficulty maintained his household dur
ing the winter, found himself absolutely
without resources in the spring. After
vainly asking help from his neighbors,
he at length applied to a wealthy money
lender who had more than once profted
by his distress. and offered to work for
him during the whole summer as COM
mon laborer. The other named q sum
so far below even the meager market
rate of twenty cents day, that the peas
ant saw at once that it would barely
suffice to keep his wife and children
from starvation, leaving absolutely
nothing for himself. "Have pity upon
me, your honor" he pleaded; :" / must
starve if you won't give me more than
that" "Starve, then, and be cursed
to you," retorted the heartless usurer;
"it's no affair of mine" Driven to des-
peration, the poor fellow sat down at
his hard-hearted employers door and
cut his own throat.
An extensive and novel form of land
lordism has been established in Iowa.
Mr.. Close, representing some English
capitalists, bought 10000 acres of land,
divided it into farms of 160 acres each,
brought tenants from England and now
has it all under tillage. "Our system, u
Mr.. Close says, sis not to hold virgin
land on the chance of rise in value
| but, by building houses and plowine