ple—our friends and neighbors, and the community of which we form a part,-are trying to do the best they can; and in hours of good temper and health life wears a bright and sunny aspect.

Let

Much of the friction which makes the machinery of living move rough and discordant is caused by things too petty to be noticed if we were in our normal condition. The hasty word spoken in petulance may be explained, forgiven and forgotten. But the letter written in an ebullition of wounded feeling is a fact tangible, not to be condoned. There it lies with a certain permanence about it. You have sent it to a friend, who, reading it half a dozen times, will each time find it more cruel and incisive than before. ters once written and sent away cannot be recalled. You cannot be sure that your friend (or enemy) will burn them. Hidden in bureau drawers or in compartments of desks, folded up in portfolios, locked in boxes, they will' it may be, flash up again in sudden feud and fire, months after you have ceased to think of the folly which incited them, or the folly which penned them. Never write an angry letter, or write a letter when you are angry.

All heated feeling seeks the superlative as an outlet, and superlatives are apt to be dangerous. So long as we cling to the positive in speech, we are pretty safe.

We all need to be cautioned against undue haste in speech, but mothers most of all. It is so easy to misunderstand a child; so easy to grieve a little person who is forbidden to answer back; so easy to leave a picture of yourself in the plastic memory, which will be photographed there for the remainder of life, and of which you would in coming days be ashamed.— Mastery.

RARE AND CURIOUS BIRDS' NESTS.

FROM

BY PROF. THOMAS G. GENTRY.

ROM time immemorial, it has been the current popular belief that birds of the same species never varied their style of architecture, but constructed the same form of nest, and out of the same materials as their remotest progenitors did, instinct being the principle by which they were guided. This opinion, though long since exploded by science, is still, I am sorry to say, entertained by those who should know better. An examination of nests from different and widely separated localities affords evidence sufficient to convince the most skeptical of persons of its erroneousness. The most marked differ ences will be noticeable in the composing materials, as these will be found to vary with the environment, and in a wider degree in the nests of some, than in those of other, species. Even the configuration, which is less prone to change, is often influenced by the circumstances of position and latitude.

Among the thrushes, the robin is the most addicted to variation, and this is not wholly confined to the constituents of his usually mud-plastered domicile, but is frequently to be observed in the arrangement thereof, and in the contour and position as well. In Southern New Jersey, where low marshy woods abound on the outskirts of towns and villages, robins

build nests which contrast most markedly with what we are accustomed to see in more northern localities. The great masses of a grayish-green fibrous lichen, which hang from tree and shrub in those sylvan marshes, are freely utilized by them, and its very nature to mat, when pressed together, precludes the necessity of using mud.

In the summer of 1877 my attention was directed to a nest of this species which was built upon a railroad embankment. The ground had an inclination of forty-five degrees. To one not conversant with the facts, such a position for a structure of the kind these birds are known to make, would appear impossible. Difficult as the task must seem to be, when viewed from a human standpoint of judging of the builders' capabilities, it was nevertheless accomplished, and in this wise: A semi-circular wall of mud, some three inches in height, was, after much labor, erected, and within the cavity thus formed was placed a coarse, substantial and bulky fabric.

ers.

Few birds are less regardful of position than the wren. In June, 1882, near the town of Thornbury, Pa., a pair of wrens selected the space in a stationary block over a sheave in a derrick, as a site for a home, and therein deposited their favorite sticks and feathA similar structure had occupied the same spot the previous year, and a brood of young ones raised. These nests, in the elements of composition, differed not from the typical form. It is their strange and anomalous situation, rather than anything else, that excites our interest and astonishment. The materials of the nest were so dexterously arranged as not to interfere with the revolution of the wheel. The entrance to the nest was on the side facing the rope that moved the pulley. The opposite side could have been used for this purpose, and doubtless with less danger to life or limb, but a preference seems to have been shown for the other. Why this was so remained an unsolved problem for some time; but when each bird was seen to alight upon the rope at the top of the derrick and ride down to the nest, the reason became apparent. Never did linnet enjoy the rocking twig with half the zest that these eccentric creatures did their ride adown the rope. A hundred times a day, when the necessity arose, they treated themselves to the same pleasure, the rope moving at the rate of thirty-five feet in a second of time. Six days out of seven, from morning until night, they had the benefit of this mode of conveyance, and nothing occurred to disturb their peace and harmony. In due time a family of happy, rollicking children were raised, and the nest in the derrick deserted.

Before me is a curious nest of the swamp blackbird. This is a rather bulky affair for the species, and was found built in top of a cluster of cat-tails. It is firmly made of broad grasses, and securely fastened to the stems of the reeds, some eight in number, by the same kind of material that enters into its composition.

Icterus spurius, of the sub-family of orioles, constructs. a truly characteristic nest, pouch-shaped in form, and either pensile or built upon a branch. Soft and flexible grasses, neatly and compactly woven together, constitute its outer fabric, while within there may

exist wool, either vegetable or animal, or a lining of fine grasses mixed with horse-hairs. The handsomest nest I have ever seen was found by Richard Christ, in the vicinity of Nazareth, Pa., in the season of 1883. It is of the usual size, being five inches in height, and three in external diameter, but different from the typical form in the materials of composition. Instead of the leaves of grasses, which one naturally expects to see in such a structure, this was exclusively built of the stems and heads of a species of gramineous plant remarkable for its golden brightness in a state of dryness.

A more remarkable nest of this oriole was found built upon a few small branches of a maple, at an elevation of nearly thirty feet from the ground. It is a double affair, composed of long, flexible grasses, and securely fastened to its support. The larger nest is inversely sub-conical, while the smaller, which is joined to the other by ribbons of grass, is somewhat similarly shaped, but less compact in structure. A circular opening, one inch in diameter, is a noticeable feature of the latter. That this additional structure served some purpose cannot be questioned. I am inclined to think that it was constructed with the view of accomodating either parent while the other was sitting. The aperture alluded to served, doubtless, for the head of the non-sitting bird, who, from this position, looking away from the main building, could, like a sentry upon an outpost, detect with comparative ease and readiness the approach of enemies.

But nothing can exceed in beauty and cosiness the nest of a female Baltimore oriole in my possession. It was built under peculiar circumstances, the author being a prisoner, having been taken from the parental home when quite a fledgeling. A male companion was captured at or about the same time. The birds are the property of Dr. Detwiler, of Easton, Pa., and are a source of pleasure to this elderly gentleman in his leisure moments. Though becoming quite tame under the careful and kindly management of their keeper, the female manifesting greater familiarity than her associate, it never occurred to the Doctor that either would become so accustomed to the situation as to evince a desire to build. When alone, he allowed them the freedom of his studio, in or out of season. One lovely June morning in 1883, the outside world being full of joy and life and sunshine, he threw open the door of their cage, aud settled himself for reading. Hardly had he read a dozen lines when he felt something pulling at his hair; on looking up he descried the offender flying towards a distant part of the room with something in her bill that resembled a hair. When the Doctor had resumed his reading, she stole cautiously forward, seized another hair, and was off in a twinkling. Permitting these liberties for a while, and noticeing that bits of strings were, when placed in positions to be seen, as much the objects of interest as the hairs of his head, he was not slow in divining the motive which led to this strange and unexpected proceeding. Convinced by actions as significant as words themselves could be, he at once entered into the idea of his little feathered friend, and began to look about for a room where she might carry out her plan for the future, free from human interference. In a short time a place was

found in the attic, which he fitted up, furnishing it with a large branch for a perch, and with the necessary materials, in the shape of new white strings, for nest building. The female now entered into her voluntarily imposed task with the most determined zeal and alacrity, and at the end of a week had constructed a domicile which her wild, untamed prototypes of the fields and the roadsides would strive in vain to excel.

In Eastern Pennsylvania rare, curious nests of the Acadian flycatcher are often found. Such a one was discovered by the writer in June, 1882. It was placed upon the forked branch of a small red oak. The dried blossoms of the hickory, which are the sole materials of the ordinary structure in this latitude, were here altogether wanting. In lieu thereof, long fibres of the inner bark of some herbaceous plant were substituted. These were compactly modeled into a shallow, saucer-like cavity, from which depended a gradually tapering train of the same substance, for nearly twelve inches.

A pair of kingbirds once took a fancy to an old apple-tree that stood a few yards from the writer's Germantown home. It was certainly not a place of quiet and retirement. Scores of noisy children daily resorted to its shelter for coolness and pastime, but the birds were not uneasy. They had fixed their minds upon the spot, and build they did. The nost was placed upon a forked branch just out of reach of the urchins. It was a curious affair. Roots of various kinds constituted the bulk of the fabric; but, as its completion was near at hand, the opportune discovery of a bunch of carpet rags was hailed with delight, and they were promptly adjusted to the outside, a number of ends being allowed to depend from the margin and bottom, for a distance of fourteen inches, whether for ornament or protection I cannot say, but I am half inclined to believe that the latter was the object uppermost in the minds of the builders, for, looking from below at the nest, it seemed merely a mass of rags that had been thrown into the crotch and become lodged.

The common ruby-throated humming-bird of the eastern half of the United States is known to make a nest which is not easily imitated by another species. Nests have been found by the writer, formed of the yellowish wool of the undeveloped fronds of the fern, and others of red shoddy-the refuse of some woolen factory-instead of the soft down of the seeds of the poplar. But the most remarkable structure of all was found in Germantown, in the summer of 1883. It was saddled upon the horizontal bough of a white oak, and is peculiar from the nature of the inner fabric. This is a brown woolly substance plucked from a species of fungus, possibly a Sphæria, which for softness and pliability is admirably suited for nest-building. Nothing of the kind, I think, has ever been recorded.

The greatest man is he who chooses right with the most invincible resolution.-Seneca.

The greatest of faults, I should say, is to be con scious of none.—Carlyle.

INDIAN RIGHTS AND WRONGS.

AT this time when there are mutterings of discon

tent on the part of certain Indians who have been peaceably inclined of late, it is well to consider the information we have on good authorities as to the real condition of things in the threatened district. The Indian Rights Association, of which Mr. Herbert Welsh is the leading spirit, has been formed in this city as its headquarters, with local branches in other cities and states, to disseminate a knowledge of the actual condition of the Indians, their number, their needs and their possibilities. From those who have long been engaged in charitable and religious work among the Indians, good men and women of all creeds, Mr. Welsh has received hearty support. At a recent meeting of the newly formed Indian Rights Association of Newport, R. I., the principal speaker was General Armstrong, of the Indian School at Hampton, Va., a man who has given himself unreservedly to the education and improvement of the Indians entrusted to him, being a colleague in this with Captain Pratt at Carlisle, who began with the Modocs, and has now representatives of the wildest and most savage tribes of the Northwest at his school. General Fry, of the United States army, was present at the meeting—a representative of the best type of the army so honorably famous in such officers as General Crook, General Terry, Captain Bourke, who with many others, are the men best suited to be entrusted with the charge of the Indians, so as to rescue them from the present unsatisfactory dependence on political appointments. The Indian Rights Association proclaim their mission to be the securing to the Indians the rights of individual citizens, by abolishing their tribal relations, their independent sovereignty, and their exemption from laws and the conditions of white citizenship.

General Armstrong says there are 260,000 Indians in the United States now; of these 15,000 are east of the Mississippi, of the rest a large body of civilized Indians live in the Indian Territory, but even there the land is held by the old tenure in community and without individual ownership, free from taxes, and the civilization is a mere shell. The fighting tribes are the Pueblo Indians, thought to be the oldest and purest of all our aborigines, with well marked traces of their Asiatic descent; the Apaches of Arizona, a crafty and murderous set, needing the sharp hand of the military to keep them in subjection; the Navajoes, who are increasing in number, the Jews of the Indian race, enterprising and energetic, and the Sioux of the Northwest, brave and hardy. The great defects of the present system are mainly these: If the Indians are quiet the white men crowd in on them, and the agent must choose between being honest, poor and helpless, or untrustworthy, corrupt and the curse instead of the safety of both white and red men. Once defeated in battle, the Indians come under the severe but just and uniform rule of the soldiery, and such of them, old or young, as are brought to Hampton or Carlisle, become amenable to education and are eager for it. The present troubles are traceable to abuses which even General Sheridan and the War

Department can only alleviate, and not extirpate, for the case rests with. Congress, and legislative action for the Indians is always delayed and postponed until the mischief of a costly Indian war compels some activity in committees, and commands some time in the House and Senate. The Indian Rights Association is organized for the purpose of awakening in the people of the United States such correctly instructed public sentiment as will force upon the Congressional representatives in Washington the necessity of giving heed to the counsel of those who have studied Indian affairs from the standpoint of disinterested good-will, and can demonstrate the justice and reason of what they ask the government to do.-Philadelphia Ledger.

CURRENT EVENTS.

-The private funeral services of General Grant took place at Mt. McGregor, on 3d day of this week, and the body was then removed to Albany. After lying "in state" there and in New York, the interment will take place at Riverside Park, (above Central Park, on the Hudson on this date, 8th instant, with an extensive civil and military procession through the streets of New York.

-In Westminster Abbey, London, on 3d day, a funeral service was held, at which many Americans attended, and the Abbey was crowded. A sermon was preached by Canon Farrar.

-Heavy rains, especially one on the 3d inst, have relieved the draught in the neighborhood of Philadelphia very completely. On that day, a hurricane on the Delaware river did serious damage at Camden and in this city, causing the loss of six lives, and the injury of about one hundred persons.

-A tremendous rain storm visited Chicago on the 2d inst., the fall during the twelve hours ending at midnight, being 5.58 inches.

-Rain storms, doing much damage, have occurred in Maryland. They were especially severe in the western section of the State, and great damage was done by submergence of the crops and washouts in the railroads. Near Boonsboro a man was killed by lightning. The latest reports indicate that the damage in the State will reach $150,000. A tornado in Cecil county leveled houses, mills and bridges.

-General Sheridan has returned to Washington from the Indian Territory. He had an interview with the President on the 2d inst., but declines to make public the tenor of his report on the Cheyenne question.

-At Raymond, Mississippi, W. R. Farr, white, convicted of marrying Sarah Williams, colored, was sentenced to the penitentiary for nine years. The woman was also convicted and sentenced to the penitentiary for three years.

The deaths in this city last week numbered 575, which was 120 less than during the previous week and 121 more than during the corresponding period last year. The city is free from any unusual diseases.

-A census of the Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indians, just taken by Inspector Armstrong, shows the population of those tribes to be 2167 and 1207 respectively. They had been drawing rations for ten years for 3769 and 2198 members respectively.

-It is announced that the general elections for members of the English Parliament will take place in the third week in November. Mr. Gladstone, it is expected will take the stump in Midlothian, (Edinburgh), of which he is representative in the House, in the preceding month.

-A furious rain and hail storm in Sargent county, Dakota, on the evening of the 2d inst., damaged 2000 acres of wheat.

-Monday was the hottest day ever experienced in the San Joaquin Valley, California, the thermometer at Merced registering 114 degrees in the shade.

-The British bark John Gibson, from Cienfuegos, arrived at the Delaware Breakwater the night of the 3d inst., with yellow fever on board. Her captain died at sea and one man was sick.

-The disputes between England and Russia over the Afghan frontier have not been fully settled; they now hinge upon the possession of the Zulficar Pass.

-Cholera has again appeared at Marseilles. It continues very bad in Spain. On Third-day(4th inst.), there were reported 3718 new cases and 1501 deaths.

NEWS AND OTHER GLEANINGS.

-Over 3000 women are employed in the railroad offices of Austria. They get from $15 to $30 a month. Nearly all of them are widows of men who have died in the railroad service.

-The Panama Canal directors have asked the French Government to sanction a new issue of 500,000,000 francs worth of bonds. Premier Brisson opposes the demand, on the ground that there is a deficit in the budget.

-There is a feeling of universal satisfaction among the Cheyenne Indians at the action of the President in appointing a new agent from the army to take charge of their affairs, and his proclamation ordering the removal of the cattlemen has practically removed the discontent.

-A despatch from Washington to the N Y. Post states: The State Department is believed to be in possession of more information than it has permitted to be made public about the Congo country. There is reason to suppose that our Government has been advised of facts iu connection with the management of Congo affairs by the Belgian Association which corroborates many of the details of the sensational despatch recently cabled from London. It is known from several sources that before any one enters the service of the Free States of the Congo he is required to sign an obligation, and to give bond that he will under no circumstances disclose to any one any information relative to the country or to the affairs of the company. Copies of these contracts, which have been guarded in Europe with great care, are known to be in this country. The latest official and private information received here indicates very clearly that the representations which were made on behalf of the •Congo Association at the Berlin Conference were, to say the least, of the most extravagant character.

-The following letter, written by General Grant, two weeks before his death, was found secreted in his robe, enveloped, sealed, and addressed to his wife:

"Look after our dear children and direct them in the paths of rectitude. It would distress me far more to think that one of them could depart from an honorable, upright and virtuous life than it would to know that they were prostrated on a bed of sickness, from which they were never to arise alive. They have never given us any cause for alarm on their account, and I earnestly pray they never will.

"With these few injunctions and the knowledge I have of your love and affection, and of the dutiful affection of all our children, I bid you a final farewell, until we meet in another and, I trust, a better world. You will find this on my person after my demise.

(6 Mount McGregor, July 9, 1885.”

-Nearly a million copies of the penny edition of the revised New Testament have been sold in England.

-A Belgian manufacturer named Rey, who employs 3,000 people, retains 3 per cent. of their wages and agrees to provide a physician when they are taken ill. While unable to work from illness, the employe gets half pay and a supply of food, if necessary. If a workman dies his widow gets a pension of one-third of his wages if he had been in the works for ten years, and one-half the wages if over ten years. A pension for life is given to all invalids who have been fifteen years in his employ.