PERSONS AND THINGS.

A French paper calls Mrs. FrankLeslie the “empress of journalism.”

Victor Hugo is still considered thebest talker in Paris. But he is thepoorest listener. He is as deaf as apost.

Gov. Proctor Knott’s enemies arereminding him that his father’s graveis unraarksd byT either stone, fence orshrub.

Bob Toombs takes great delight, soa Georgia paper reports, in readingthe obituary notices of the originalAbolitionists.

Charles Francis Adams, Jr., lias is-sued a newr edition of his address en-titled “A College Fetich,” in whichhe argues against the study of the deadlanguages.

John Boyle O'Reilly says the bestlikness of Wendell Phillips waspainted 400 years ago by Leonardo daVinci, in his celebrated “Last Sup-per,” in the face of SimonPeter.

The Atlantic for March will con-1tain an article from the pen of Oliver:T. Morton, son of the late SenatorMorton, entitled “Presidential Nm-tions.” Mr. Morion is £3 years old,and is ndw a law- student at Indianapolis.

New York city has one church toevery 5,000 inhabitants.

A hotel at Niles-, Mich., is the prop-erty of John G. Saxe, the poet.

The movement in Germany for thebetter observance of Sunday is growing rapidly.

Milk is the only article thus farused with any success by physiciansin treating bright's disease.

Rendered frantic by want, a Vienna father said to his son: “Boy, 1cannot see you hungry and freezing;"and then he killed him.

A sheep herderat Heppnor, Oregon, ;stayed up all night on the hotel porch |because the proprietor refused to per-mit Mm to take the dog to bed withhim.

Andrew Koch is suing JonathanRamsdell, of Detroit, for SIO,OOO forbiting off one of his ears.\;l)i buque, lowa, will advertise itsattractionsas a city in several Easternnewspapers at regular rates.

The Chesapeake & Ohio Railroadhas put whistles on its locomotiveswhich can be heard thirteen miles.

James Salford, of Paterson, N. J.,killed himself because his wife on dy-ing left the $1,0()0 she had saved to asister.

A Polish womanat Chicopee. Mass.,applied for a three years’ license togel married, explaining that her hus-band in the old country was not coming over for three years.

Boston papers say that free soup isnot so’much sought after in that citythis winter as last, the demand at thesoup house since their opening lastmonth shewing a falling oft' of nearly400 gallons

One of the latest cheats is tobaccopaper. The stuff is such an exact irnStation of the natural tobacco leaf andis so well flavored that it takes a mag-nifying glass to detect the deception.Cigars made of this tobacco paperhave a good flavor, burn well andhold their white ashes firmly.

Lord Lyons, English Minister inParis, has never changed any of hisservants —of whom he has eight—-during his long residence in that city,and a correspondent states they es-teem it the greatest honor to havehim shake hands with them, whichlie does regularly every Christmasmorning.

Dog-racing is becoming a popularsport in Philadelphia. The distanceis from 100 to 500 yards; the dogsevince great interest in the compe-tition’and speculation is lively in thebetting ring.

Fifty cents a week is all that it costsJohn \V. Nisslcy, of Mount Carmel,Pa., who is 65 years old and weighs175 pounds, to live. His diet is drybread and hot water, and has been sofor the last seven years.

About two weeks ago the key to theBritish House of Commons was lost,and some anxiety in consequence pre-vailed, as the opening of Parliamentwas so near at band. A second keywas found afterward.

A beaver was captured near Negau-nee, Mich., last week, measuring 5feet 7 inches in length, saidto be thelargest ever taken in the upper penin-sula.

The Solid Muldoon thus relates howa Colorado conversation occurs:‘ Here the wretches fragment of con-science gets the bulge on Ins gall, andhe weakens.”

The Moorish Jews evaded the law jwhich forbids them to kindle a fire on |the Sabbath by putting their dinnerin a j ir and setting it in a hot oven |Fi day night. The di nnor consists of jsailed locust, very often, but it is hot. j

According to the Medical Record 1!;in surance tables show that a man who \abstains from alcohol has, at 20 years Iof ige, a chance of living 44.2 years;at ; , 3(5.5 years, at 40, 2*.* years. Anintemperate man's chance at 20 is 15.6years; at 30, 1.3,8, and 40, 11.(5.

An eastern traveler notes that in In-dia every one travels with bed andbaggage, and to see half a hundredHindos widly racing up and down aplatform, with their bedclothes intheir arms or wrapped around theirbodies, is exciting till constant repeti-tion wears off the edge of novelty.

When Thomas Avery, of Bethany,Pa,, was shoveling a snowdrift fromthe back part of his yaid he discovereo, buried iu the snow, a hen whichhad been missing ten days. The henhad packed the snow down and madea room the size of a bushel basket.Beyond the loss of flesh incident tothe long fast the hen was unharmed.

King Humbert has directed thathereafter, at state banquets and courtdinners, Italian wines, with theex-ception of champagne, shall he served,instead of foreign. His example hasbeen immediately followed by the ex-khedivo, Ismail Pasha, who gave adinner-party at his villa, iu Rome.

two weeks ago, where oulv Italianw ines were served.In the northeastern island of Terra

; del I uego, the Ia people, who inter-marry frequently with the more south-ern Yahguas, as they are called bvthe English missionaries, are the tall-est race on the globe, according to theFrench mission to Cape Horn report,presented to the academy ofscience,Paris, by Dr. Hahn. In stock andsp?ech these tall people appear closelyrelated to the Patagonians of the con-tinent..It is now several years since the

Great Eastern has made herselfcon-spicuous in any way, but 1884 prom-ises to see this far-funi'd vessel oncemore the wonder of a crowd of lands-men. She is to be used as a float-ing restaurant, at the Antwerp exposition.Col. T. S. Parks, of Parks'ferry, Ky.,had a flock of pet partridges that

came to the porch while the snowwas on the ground, twice a day to geltheir meal from him, and since thesnow has left they still linger aboutthe house.

Mrs. T. 8. C. Elder, of Crittendencounty. Ky., has in her possession apair ofgloves that were made in 1733.They were a part of her grandmoth-er's wedding toilet, and were the han-diwork of the bride .herself, she hav- jing made them out of the raw cot-ton.

All Indians on the Yokima, W. TANARUS.,reservation, over 20 and under 50years of age, are compelled to pay apoll tax of sl, for the support of theirlocal self-government. They havejustices, commissioners, etc.

What theSoudan is worth may begathered from the published statistics,according to which there are 15,000Christians and 40,000 Egyptians in theprovinces; 1.000 commercial housesowned by Europeans and 3,000 byEgyptians, and the import and ex-port trade is valued at 4113,000,000an-nually.

Fatal cases of trichinasia have justoccurred in Michigan and Indiana. Inboth instances German families werethe sufferers,and thevictims had beeneating uncooked swine flesh. Thepernicious habit of eating smoked orsalted pork without cooking it retain*its hold upon the Germans, notwith-standing the warnings of physiciansand tiie .frequent reports of diseaseand death resulting from the practice.It is thus habit to which the greatprevalence of trichiuasis in Germanyis to be attributed.

Geysers in the Flood.Wheeling Special.

A gentleman who has just arrivedby boat from Powatan, Ohio, reportsa startling flood phenomenon at thatpoint. Yesterday afternoon the in-mates of the house of Aaron Ramsey,of whom there were about sixty, allflood refugees, were startled by aloudreport up Captina Creek. On look-ing in the direction from whence thenoise came they saw about 300 yardsdistant wbat appeared to be a columnof smoke issuing from the ground. Aparty at once proceeded to the spotand found to their amazement that adense mass of sand, gravel, and mudwas issuing from a hole about twofeet in diameter, and rising toa heightof fifty or sixty feet, and often bysudden pulsation forty or fifty feethigher, accompanied by a terrific roar.The party looked on in awe fora time,but were soon put to flight by anothergeyser breaking through the groundjust in their midst and covering themwith mud, which it disgorged to agreater height than the first. The dis-charge was at first thought to be oc-casioned by natural gas, but all efl'ortsto detect its presence by tire or other-wise were futile. Hundreds of cur-ious people have already visited thespot.

The members of the court at Romehave been thrown into ecstaciesof ad-miration by the excellent manner inwhich the Prince of Naples passedhis school examination the other day.The King and (jaeen and a numberof personages were present, and theyall professed to he as much astonish-

i ed at the ability displayed by the in-j fant prodigy as were the doctors in

| the temple at Jerusalem. The childhad been carefully crammed for the

i ordeal. Sensible people, according to, the Loudon Truth, are of the opinionI that he is kept far too eloiely to his

i tasks, and that if his brain continuesj to be so hardly worked there will beI very little brain left by the time he iseighteen.

Now York’* Champion Mean Man.New York W jrld.

Little Mary Cary, eleven years old.of 37 Poplar streetBrooklyn, was sentto purchase some tea by her motherat a store on Fulton street yesterday.She had a $2 hill in her hand, and asshe crossed Henry street she was stop-ped by a cross-eyed man about thirtyyears of age, who said:

“Little girl, ain’tyou afraid someof the bad boys will taka that moneyaway from you? Let me wrap it in apiece of paper.”

Mary gave the man the bill and hereturned her a piece of paper foldedup. When she arrived at the store shediscovered that the bill was gone.

A huge crystal throne has just beenmanufactured in England for an In-dian rajah. Some idea of the elabor-ate workmanship which has been em-ployed in the construction may begained from the fact that the finals ofthe legs are each cut into 321 mathe-matically accuratefacets. Wood andiron are used to some extent to makethe throne substantial, but all suchparts are covered with glass and hid-den. The cushions and hangings areof crimson velvet, and altogether therajah is destined to possess a gorgeousand probably a very uncomfortableseat.

_

A San Antonia, Tex,, lath, has be-come affected with the old-time quail-eating fever, and is now performingthe thirty days’ fast for a prize of a

[ diamond ring.

A IIHUM IT IN V ( AVE.

Forly-fonr 1car. of 1,1tf I’assed In4'mti|>lrlr Solitude.

PhiladelphiaPress.Austin Sheldon, the famous Pike

County hermit, has abandoned hiscave in the mountains and returnedto his birthplace in Connecticut tospend the remainder of his days. Formany years “Old Sheldon, the her-mit," has been one of the cnribsitiesof this region, and his cave has beenvisited by thousands of people.

Ho was born ai Sixmiysiae, Conn.,in 1802, and is, consequently, in his82d year. In his boyhood he learnedthe blacksmith's trade, and. arrivingat man's estate, was married to acomely, respectable young woman,who became insane shortly after theirunion, Sheldon put his wife in a pri-vate asylum, where he supported heruntil site died. In 1840 he came toPennsylvania, where he expected toengage in stock-raising, but he fellinto the hands of some of the wildland agents who infest this region,and they relieved him of all his cashand deeded him a tract of wild land,in Lehman Township, that was notworth tan cents an acre. When She!don saw how he had been swindledout of his hard-earned money lieraved like a madman and partly losthis reason. He took up his abode in acave on the premises, and there he hasremained ever ,since, desiring no human companionship until within thelast few years. In 1878 he becameenamored of a pretty girl living notmany miles from his subterraneanhome, and asked her to marry him.She indignantly refused, and herparents forbade him to come neartheir house. Since that time the oldmin has been thinking of returningto Connecticut, and when a few daysago his sister, a woman 80 years ofage—his only living relative cameto see him, she induced him to aecoin-paay her to Sunny-side, where she hasn comfortable home.

FORTY-FOVR VEAlis IN A ( AVK.When, in 1877, the writer first visi-

ted the hermit’s ceve the recluse wasa most horrible looking object, al-though since than his appearance hasaltered for the bolter, lie is as deafas a post, and those who desire toquestion him are obliged to do so inwriting. The cave in which he spentforty-four years i 12x14 feet, with agravel floor. The furniture consistsof four blocks of wood, which servethe purpose of table and chairs, andone old rocking-chair in which hesleeps. He has not slept in a bed forforty-three years, lie says. He hasabout half an acre of ground whichhe calls his garden, and in it he growsa little corn and a fewpotatoes. Uponthese vegetables and upon fruit, driedroots, and such game and lish as hecan trap the old man has lived fornearly half a century.

He has an old Bible which he readsevery day, and he can quote chapterafter chapter with wonderful accuracy. For thirty-six years the old mannever shaved or had his hair cut. Hewore curious-looking clothes, whichbe kept fastened to his person withhickory “withes” secured about hiswaist ll* never wore a hat. For hisdefense against wild beasts ho carrieda long knife, sharp as a razor, whichhe made by grinding down an old (lie.Ho never read a newspaper since hecame to Pike county; never heard ofihe civil war and never heard of Lin-coln or Grant. He asked who theywere and what they did, one day lastsummer.

HAIR BREADTH ESCAPES.The old man's hair-breadih escapes

from death have been numerous. In1870 the horrible forest fires thatswept over Pike County surroundedhis cave, and lie only escaped fromroasting alive by blocking up the en-trance with stones ani remaining aprisoner until the fierceness of theflames abated. Ho hot was the cave,where he remained thirty-six hours,that his vegetables wore made unfit toeat. On another occasion he wassnowed under, and for a week livedon crackers, sassafras root, and melt-ed snow. Once while gatheringchestnuts he fell from the tree andbroke six of his ribs, and, crawling tohis cave, remained there withoutmedical assistance until the brokenbones were healed His escapes fromwild beasts and snakes would fill avolume.

The old man is believed to haveamassed a considerable sum of mon-ey. Visitors to his cave generallygave him a douceur, and his incomefrom the sale of furs and game wasconsiderable. As he never boughtanything but crackers, cheese andsugar, he certainly must have savedmoney.

How Some Writers Write.Albany Argus.

Most writers have a curiosity as re-gards their fellow-workers. It is aFeeling likely shared by the generalpublic, who find themselves wondering at times how certain writers accomplish their work, the hours theydevote to it, and the time they findbast fitted for it. The appearance ofrnanuscrqrt and the style of cbirography come in for their share of in-terest. Thackeray is credited withgiving up the early morning hours tonutting his thoughts on paper, andI lie remainder of the day to collectingthem. He wrote so many words aminute, so many pagesan hour, andno believer in moods. He had nosympathy with the theory that a mancan write better at onetime than an-other, and declared that the best in-spiration was a piece of shoemaker'swax in the writer's chair.

Most of the shining lights in litera-ture, past and present,are distinguish-ed for most illegible bane!writing, amark of genius which seems to hetheir pride, since they have beenknown to refer with evident satisfact-ion to the fact that only certain prin-ters can set up their copy, and thatthey themselves have been unable toread it until the subject had been sug-

‘ gested.Among the novelists of to-day the

women are apparently the more care-ful as to the neatness and legibility oftheir MSS. Mrs. Frances HodgsonBurnett is a precise writer, putting in-

to her stories just so many hundredsof words, telling Iter publishers theexact number beforehand Miss Lou-ise Alcott affects a back hand style,making' her letters clearly and putt ingwords far apart, so li at they arc easilyread. Miss Fletcher, “Kismet's”author, writes so evenly and distinct-ly that her pages have the appearanceoi being engraved, and are suggestiveof much rewriting and care.

The copy of Jean Ingelovr showsuncertain, almost childish characters,traced on an unruled surface. NoraPerry inclines to violet ink, and hasa [lowing, extremely graceful hand-writing, together with a habit ofscenting her paper. Mis A. H. T.Whitney has an Italian stylo of chirograpny, and scrawls but a fewwords in a line neither easy to readnor pretty to look at. ElizabethStuartPhelps writes with the tremuloushand of an ajed woman, and Lucylaii corn's writing looks as if the handthn’ wielded (he pen was old and slitf.“ Jennie .Tuns" (Mrs. Croly) writeseasily and legibly, as does also “(JraceGreenwood" (Mrs. Lippincolti. Em-ily Faithful writes m an English,masculine hand. Mrs. Julia WardHowe wastes no time on shading herletters, and has a way of putting pecu-liar twists to them that look funnyand yet don’t make them illegible.Mrs, Celia Thaxter is always carefulto leave a margin to the left of herpage, but writes a back hand, and isapt to run off the sheet to to the right.Mrs. Mary Booth, of Harpers Bazar,writes unevenly, but easily. Mrs.Louise Chandler Moulton isthe modelwriter, punctuates, capitalises and par-agraphs with the utmost exactness.Once, at a New York press dinnes,George William Curtis proposed herhealth, as the contributor who fur-nishedjperfect copy. Mrs. Lucy StoneBlackwell, of tho Women’s Journal,is said to jot down her ideas on what-ever ki ml of pa pi r is handiest oldenvelopes or circulars in a hand-

I writing awkward and unformed, withmany erasures and paragraph marks.

Among the men, Wm. D. Howells’writing is cramped and irregular.Henry James writes firmly, withheavy ink, his letters looking asthough made with a quill, T. B. Aid-rich writes so hastily that hischarac-tens seem but half formed. M. Twain’spenmanship is business like and perfectly plain, but ho often uses a typewriter. Hr. Haines’ writing is exceedingly neat; he does it with ease andrapidity, and George Parsons Lathropsends copy to the printer that, though

; rather nervously written, is correct-ly punctuated and has all the printer's marks added.

LOTE AT FIRST SIGHT.\ Kotinniro ol the \\ Urn Ohio

Wni >ot bo cl low n* It 1b low,Louisville Ijttttr in New Orleans Tiwir*

I)#*mooraIWhile speaking of romances and

beauty, I have an authentic accountof how a notsd LouisTille belle firstmet her husband, which sounds morelike action than matterof fact. About35 years ago the landing of a steam-boat carrying passengers was consider-ed a social event of some importance,not only because this was the chiefmode of travel where navigation madeit possible, but because the superbboats that then plied up and downtin- Mississippi were floating palaces,and carried on board constantly themost brilliant crowds of society peo-ple. The time spent on the waterwas passed in dancing, feasting andflirting, and on the occasion of whichI am speaking an unusually gay anddistinguished party were on theirway to St. Louis. The party includedsome of th most famous beaux of theday, and the belle of the trip was awell-known Louisville beauty.

It seems that the Louisville girlreached her destination fancy free.For, as the boat drew up to the land-ing and the crowd on the shore surg-ed down to the water’s edge to securea glimpse of the newcomers, Miss

became absorbed in watching themovements of a gentleman by thegangway. He was tall and elegantlooking and strictly handsome. Miss

aid not know his name, nor ifhe were benedict or bachelor, butconviction suddenly seized her, and,turning to a companion, she said, irn-presiirely: “There (pointing out thegentleman in question i stands theman whom I will marry.’ In an in- \credibly short period of time she did jmarry lurn, but the cream of the storylies in the fact that he had made a ,precisely similar remark in regard to |heron first beholding the fair Lmi 'villian as she stood, surrounded by .her admirers, on the steamer.

(Quickest Courtship on Record.NVw York Mercury.

“The quickest courtship on record,” jremarked mi old resident, “was thatof Dr. Nick McDowell, who, driving;along the street in his buggy one day,saw a beautiful girl standing at awindow. He immediately stoppedand hitched his horse, rang the bell,inquired the lady’s name, was usheredinto the parlor, announced bis own■name, said be was pleased with herappearance, and wished to marry herat once. Nothing but the knowledgethat she was in the presence of thecelebrated physician kept her fromfainting. To her plea of surprise atthis unexpected announcement heonly replied, ‘Now or never.’ Whenshe asked to lake a week to consider,he said, T am going down the streetto attend a critical case, ami have notime to spare right now.’ ‘Give me aday then?’ Til tell you what I’ll do.When 1 am through with this profes-sional visit I’ll drive around and get apreacher. If you’ve made up yourmind by that time, all right!’ and heleft her breathless and unable to ar-

ticulate another word. When hereturned they were quietly married."

The Lord Mayor of Handwitch Eng-land, followed his eloping daughter toAustin, Texas. A deteciive employed

' fur the purpose, decoyed the young! husband otf ona hunt, and the father

jpersuaded his daughter to pack her| trunk, and they quietly left for

j home.

STAND AND Dill.lVF.U STOKIPS.

The