Chapter V: Part 5

Catalogue of Clydesdale and Cleveland Bay horses. Imported and bred by the Door Prairie Live Stock Association, Door Village, La Porte, Ind.

* * * * *

REMEMBER _that_ $2.00 pays _for_ THE PRAIRIE FARMER _one year and, the subscriber gets a copy of_ THE PRAIRIE FARMER COUNTY MAP OF THE UNITED STATES, FREE! _This is the most liberal offer ever made by any first-class weekly agricultural paper in this country._

OUR YOUNG FOLKS.

THE CITY CAT.

He is gaunt and thin, with a ragged coat,
A scraggy tail, and a hunted look;
No songs of melody burst from his throat
As he seeks repose in some quiet nook--
A safe retreat from this world of sin,
And all of its boots and stones and that--
For the life of a cat is a life of din,
If he is a city cat.

He is grumpy and stumpy, and old and gray,
With a sleepy look in his lonely eye,
(The other he lost at a matinee--
Knocked out by a boot from a window high.)
Wherever he goes, he never knows--
Quarter or pause in the midnight spree,
For the life of a cat is a life of blows,
If he is a city cat.

He is pelted by boys if he stirs abroad,
He is chased by dogs if he dares to roam.
His grizzled bosom has never thawed
'Neath the kindly blare of the light of home.
His life's a perpetual warfare waged
On balcony, back yard fence, and flat;
For the life of a cat is a life outraged,
If he is a city cat.

The country cat is a different beast.
Petted, well-housed, demure, and sleek;
Three times a day he is called to feast,
And why should he not be quiet and meek?
No dreams of urchins, tin cans, and war,
Disturb his sensuous sleep on the mat;
Ah! cat life is a thing worth living for,
If he isn't a city cat.

And even when dead, the cat
With strident members uneasy lies
In some alley-way, and seems staring at
A coming foe with his wild wide eye,
Nobody owns him and nobody cares--
Another dead "Tom," and who mourns for that,
If he's only a city cat.

--_Providence Press._

AMUSING TRICKS.

THE FRUIT CANDLE.

Procure a good, large apple or turnip, and cut from it a piece of the shape to resemble the butt-end of a tallow candle; then from a nut of some kind--an almond is the best--whittle out a small peg of about the size and shape of a wick end. Stick the peg in the apple and you have a very fair representation of a candle. The wick you can light, and it will burn for at least a minute. In performing you should have your candle in a clean candlestick, show it plainly to the audience, and then put it into your mouth, taking care to blow it out, and munch it up. If you think best, you can blow the candle out and allow the wick to cool, and it will look, with its burned wick, so natural that even the sharpest eyes can not distinguish it from the genuine article.

Once, at a summer resort in Massachusetts, I made use of this candle with considerable effect. While performing a few parlor tricks to amuse some friends, I pretended to need a light. A confederate left the room, and soon returned with a lantern containing one of these apple counterfeits.

"Do you call that a candle?" I said.

"Certainly," he replied.

"Why, there is scarcely a mouthful."

"A mouthful? Rather a disagreeable mouthful, I guess."

"You have never been in Russia, I presume."

"Never."

"Then you don't know what is good."

"Good?"

"Yes, good. Why, candle ends, with the wick a little burned to give them a flavor, are delicious. They always serve them up before dinner in Russia as a kind of relish. It is considered bad taste in good society there to ask a friend to sit down to dinner without offering him this appetizer."

"The bad taste would be in the relish, I think."

"Not at all. Try a bit."

I took the candle out of the lantern, and extended it toward my confederate, who shrank back with disgust.

"Well," I said, "if you won't have it, I'll eat it myself." And so saying, I put it into my mouth and munched it up, amid the cries of surprise and horror of the assembled party. Two old maids insisted on looking into my mouth to see whether it was not concealed there.

Having soaked a piece of thread in common salt water, tie it to a small finger-ring. When you apply the flame of a candle to the thread it will burn to ashes and yet sustain the ring.

A DIFFICULT CIRCLE TO JUMP FROM.

Take a piece of chalk, and ask, if you make a circle, whether any boy standing in it thinks he can jump out of it. As soon as one proposes to do so, bring him into the center of the room, draw a circle with the chalk around his jacket, and say, "Now jump out of it!"

AN IMPOSSIBLE WALK.

Ask one young lady in the company whether she thinks, if she clasped her hands, she could walk out of the room. On her saying she could, request her to pass her arm round the leg of the table or piano, join her hands, and walk away.

THE HAT TRICK.

Fill a small glass with water, cover it with a hat, and profess your readiness to drink it without touching the hat. Put your head under the table, make a noise, as if drinking, rise, and wipe your lips. The company, thinking you have drunk the water, one of them will certainly take up the hat to see. As soon as the hat is removed, take up the glass and drink its contents. "There!" say you, "you see I have not touched the hat."

THE INCOMBUSTIBLE THREAD.

Wind some linen thread tightly round a smooth pebble, and secure the end; then, if you expose it to the flame of a lamp or candle, the thread will not burn; for the caloric (or heat) traverses the thread, without remaining in it, and attacks the stone. The same sort of trick may be performed with a poker, round which is evenly pasted a sheet of paper. You can poke the fire with it without burning the paper.

AN IMPOSSIBLE JUMP.

Take a ruler, or any other piece of wood, and ask whether, if you laid it down on the ground, any of the company could jump over it. Of course one or two will express their readiness to jump over so small an obstruction. Then lay the ruler on the ground, close against the wall, and tell them to try.

A DIFFICULT LOAD TO CARRY.

Take a piece of wood, such as a lucifer match, and say to one of the company, "How long do you think it would take you to carry this piece of wood into the next room?" "Half a minute." perhaps one will reply. "Well, try, then," say you; "carry it." You then cut off little pieces, and give them to him one by one. He will soon be tired of the experiment.

TO TURN A GLASS OF WATER UPSIDE DOWN WITHOUT SPILLING ITS CONTENTS.

Fill a glass carefully, place a piece of paper on the top, place your hand on the paper, and tilt the glass round sharply, when it will be found that the pressure of the air upward on the paper will retain the water. The glass may then be held by the bottom.

Health and Home says: I want to tell you of something very funny to do, if you have a little brother or sister who does not mind dressing up and standing still for a few moments. My aunt showed me how to do it the other day, when sister Nelly had a birthday party. We took little brother Tommy out into the library and stood him upon a high wooden stool, and dressed him up very finely in mamma's clothes. The stool made him so full that the dress was of just the right length. Then Uncle Ned, telling him to stand straight and firm, carried him, stool and all, into the parlor. I wish you could have heard the girls and boys laugh! He had such a comical look--with his tall body and little round face--just like some of those French Parian figures. One little girl handed him a fan, and then it was too funny to see the tall lady fan herself affectedly with her very small, dimpled hands. All the boys and girls just shouted.--_Young People._

BRIGHT SAYINGS.

A writer in the School-Boy Magazine has gathered together the following dictionary words as defined by certain small people:

Bed time--Shut-eye time.

Dust--Mud with the juice squeezed out.

Fan--A thing to brush warm off with.

Fins--A fish's wings.

Ice--Water that staid out in the cold and went to sleep.

Nest-Egg--The egg that the old hen measures to make new ones.

Pig--A hog's little boy.

Salt--What makes your potato taste bad when you don't put any on.

Snoring--Letting off sleep.

Stars--The moon's eggs.

Wakefulness--Eyes all the time coming unbuttoned.

* * * * *

If you would have good health, go out in the sunshine. Sickness is worse than freckles.

* * * * *

HYPOCHONDRIA.

THE MYSTERIOUS ELEMENT IN THE MIND THAT AROUSES VAGUE APPREHENSIONS--WHAT ACTUALLY CAUSES IT.

The narrative below, by a prominent scientist, touches a subject of universal importance. Few people are free from the distressing evils which hypochondria brings. They come at all times and are fed by the very flame which they themselves start. They are a dread of coming derangement caused by present disorder and bring about more suicides than any other one thing. Their first approach should be carefully guarded.

_Editors Herald_:

It is seldom I appear in print and I should not do so now did
I not believe myself in possession of truths, the revelation
of which will prove of inestimable value to many who may see
these lines. Mine has been a trying experience. For many
years I was conscious of a want of nerve tone. My mind seemed
sluggish and I felt a certain falling off in my natural
condition of intellectual acuteness, activity, and vigor. I
presume this is the same way in which an innumerable number
of other people feel, who, like myself, are physically below
par, but like thousands of others I paid no attention to
these annoying troubles, attributing them to overwork, and
resorting to a glass of beer or a milk punch, which would for
the time invigorate and relieve my weariness.

After awhile the stimulants commenced to disagree with my
stomach, my weariness increased, and I was compelled to
resort to other means to find relief. If a physician is
suffering he invariably calls another physician to prescribe
for him, as he cannot see himself as he sees others; so I
called a physician, and he advised me to try a little
chemical food, or a bottle of hypophosphates. I took two or
three bottles of the chemical food with no apparent benefit.
My lassitude and indisposition seemed to increase, my food
distressed me. I suffered from neuralgic pains in different
parts of my body, my muscles became sore, my bowels were
constipated, and my prospects for recovery were not very
flattering. I stated my case to another physician, and he
advised me to take five to ten drops of Magende's solution of
morphine, two or three times a day, for the weakness and
distress in my stomach, and a blue pill every other night to
relieve the constipation. The morphine produced such a
deathly nausea that I could not take it, and the blue pill
failed to relieve my constipation.

In this condition I passed nearly a year, wholly unfit for
business, while the effort to think was irksome and painful.
My blood became impoverished, and I suffered from incapacity
with an appalling sense of misery and general apprehension of
coming evil. I passed sleepless nights and was troubled with
irregular action of the heart, a constantly feverish
condition, and the most excruciating tortures in my stomach,
living for days on rice water and gruel, and, indeed, the
digestive functions seemed to be entirely destroyed.

It was natural that while in this condition I should become
hypochondrical, and fearful suggestions of self-destruction
occasionally presented themselves. I experienced an
insatiable desire for sleep, but on retiring would lie awake
for a long time, tormented with troubled reflections, and
when at last I did fall into an uneasy slumber of short
duration, it was disturbed by horrid dreams. In this
condition I determined to take a trip to Europe, but in spite
of all the attentions of physicians and change of scene and
climate, I did not improve, and so returned home with no
earthly hope of ever again being able to leave the house.

Among the numerous friends that called on me was one who had
been afflicted somewhat similarly to myself, but who had been
restored to perfect health. Upon his earned recommendation I
began the same treatment he had employed but with little hope
of being benefited. At first, I experienced little, if any,
relief, except that it did not distress my stomach as other
remedies or even food had done. I continued its use, however,
and after the third bottle could see a marked change for the
better, and now after the fifteenth bottle I am happy to
state that I am again able to attend to my professional
duties. I sleep well, nothing distresses me that I eat, I go
from day to day without a feeling of weariness or pain,
indeed I am a well man, and wholly through the influence of
H.H. Warner & Co's Tippecanoe. I consider this remedy as
taking the highest possible rank in the treatment of all
diseases marked by debility, loss of appetite, and all other
symptoms of stomach and digestive disorders. It is
overwhelmingly superior to the tonics, bitters, and dyspepsia
cures of the day, and is certain to be so acknowledged by the
public universally. Thousands of people to-day are going to
premature graves with these serious diseases, that I have
above described, and to all such I would say: "Do not let
your good judgment be governed by your prejudices, but give
the above named remedy a fair and patient trial, and I
believe you will not only be rewarded by a perfect
restoration to health, but you will also be convinced that
the medical profession does not possess all the knowledge
there is embraced in medical science."

A.G. RICHARDS, M.D.,
468 Tremont street, Boston, Mass.

COMPILED CORRESPONDENCE.

E.B.F., Scotia, Neb., writes: The weather, so far this winter, has been extremely warm. No snow to exceed one inch since October. Cattle and hogs doing finely. Corn planted early is a good crop both as to quality and quantity, but late planted is soft. Wheat and oats were an extra good crop, wheat yielding from 25 to 35 bushels per acre, and oats from 50 to 75 bushels.

E.B.F.

* * * * *

Cobden, Ill., Jan. 6.--We have been through the coldest weather ever experienced here since weather records have been kept, which is twenty-five years or more. Yesterday morning the mercury reached 24 degrees below at my house, which is 200 feet higher than the village. Reports from lower situations run down to 26, 28, with one of 30. This is six degrees lower than the lowest record ever made here, which was twenty years ago, when on the 1st of January it marked 18 below at my house, with some other records two or three degrees lower. At that time peach orchards were badly killed. There can be no doubt that such is the case now. And if it has been proportionately cold north, I fear that the injury to all kinds of fruit trees must have been very serious.

PARRER EARLE.

* * * * *

Kane Co., Jan 7.--The weather has been intensely cold here since the 3d instant. The thermometer has been from 4 to 28 degs. below zero at 7 a.m., and from 2 to 16 degs. below at 2 p.m. The 5th was the coldest. The mercury dropped to 28 degs. below at sunrise; in some places 32 degs. below. On the 6th, 22 degs. below at 7 a.m.; at 12 m. 4 degs. below; at 5 p.m. 10 degs. below. Domestic animals were kept closely housed, except while being watered. Where they were exposed to the weather, they froze. We have not had such continued cold weather since January 1864, when for ten successive days it was intensely cold. Some farmers are short of coarse feed, and are shipping bran and middlings from Minneapolis, and corn from Kansas and Nebraska. Many farmers who were shipping milk to Chicago, are now taking it to the cheese factories. There has been an over supply of milk in the city. The dividends for October were from $1.16 to $1.25 per cwt.

J.P.B.

* * * * *

THE PRAIRIE FARMER

AND

YOUTH'S COMPANION

ONE YEAR, $3 FOR THE TWO.

It is not required that both papers be sent to one address, nor to the same post-office.

Address PRAIRIE FARMER PUB. Co., 150 Monroe Street, Chicago.

* * * * *

BREEDERS DIRECTORY.

The following list embraces the names of responsible and reliable Breeders in their line, and parties wishing to purchase or obtain information can feel assured that they will be honorably dealt with:

CATTLE.

Jersey.

Mills, Charles F.....................Springfield, Illinois

HORSES.

Clydesdales.

Mills, Charles F.....................Springfield, Illinois

SWINE.

Berkshire.

Mills, Charles F.....................Springfield, Illinois

Chester Whites.

W.A. Gilbert......................Wauwatosa Wis.

SHEEP.

Cotswold.

Mills, Charles F.....................Springfield, Illinois

* * * * *

LIVE STOCK, ETC.

Jerseys for Sale.

One heifer, 2 years old in May, due to calve in April. Heifer, 2 years in June, and due to calve in April. Cow, 4 years old, due to calve in May. Bull calf 5 months old, and one good yearling bull. Address

L.P. WHEELER. Quincy, Ill.

* * * * *

SCOTCH COLLIE

SHEPHERD PUPS,

--FROM--

IMPORTED AND TRAINED STOCK

--ALSO--

NEWFOUNDLAND PUPS AND RAT TERRIER PUPS.

Concise and practical printed instruction in Training young Shepherd Dogs, is given to buyers of Shepherd Puppies; or will be sent on receipt of 25 cents in postage stamps.

For Printed Circular, giving full particulars about Shepherd Dogs, enclose a 3-cent stamp, and address

N.H. PAAREN,

P.O. Box 326, CHICAGO. ILL.

* * * * *

HOUSE PLANS FOR EVERYBODY.

By S.B. REED, Architect.

One of the most popular Architectural books ever issued, giving a wide range of design from a dwelling costing $250 up to $8,000, and adapted to farm, village, and town residences. It gives an

ESTIMATE OF THE QUANTITY OF EVERY ARTICLE USED

In the construction, and probable cost of constructing any one of the buildings presented. Profusely illustrated. Price, postpaid, $1.50. Address

PRAIRIE FARMER PUBLISHING CO., Chicago

* * * * *

MAP

Of the United States and Canada, Printed in Colors, size 4x2-1/2 feet, also a copy of THE PRAIRIE FARMER for one year. Sent to any address for $2.00.

* * * * *

AGENTS

WANTED EVERYWHERE to solicit subscriptions for this paper. Write PRAIRIE FARMER PUBLISHING CO., Chicago, for particulars.

LITERATURE

THE WRONG PEW.

There's one who wrote in years gone by in clear and ringing rhyme--
A poet of an elder day and of a distant clime--
Who sang of mortal misery, of sufferers long and lorn,
"Man's inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn!"

The hand that held that golden pen--that golden tongue--is dust;
A dust that's dear to hearts that hold his homely truths in trust;
And you who read this simple tale of wrath, and ruth, and wrong,
May hear the echo of the sob that breaks upon my song!

I sat upon the Sabbath-day within the sacred fane,
The sunlight through the windows poured like rainbow-tinted rain;
While maids and matrons passing fair, and men of high degree,
All fashion's proudest votaries, knelt low on bended knee.

And there was one of stature tall, whose robe of silken sheen
Draped quiet grace and courtesy that might have shamed a queen,
Save only that her pallid face, and drooping, tear-dimmed eyes,
Looked like the Peri's, waiting by the gates of Paradise.

What is it moves that jeweled throng of dainty worshippers?
Their hearts have probed the cruel wrong that rankles sore in hers;
For she who sat beside her there--ah, heart of hardest stone!
Swept forth with stern and haughty stare, and left her there alone.

Then one, God bless her woman's heart! the loveliest woman there,
Stepped down the aisle with stately tread, and calm and steadfast air;
With gentle voice, and tender eyes distilling heaven's own dew,
She whispered to the shrinking girl, "I've room, my friend, for you."

I think earth's sorest sinners need a judge less stern than they
Who wear their ermine clasped across a breast of common clay!
I think heaven's loveliest angels come among us circling down,
To bear the cruel earthly cross, and then regain the crown.

Alas! alas! for paltry pride arrayed in rich attire,
And woe is me for priestly praise which is our heart's desire!
Would we could seek, like pilgrims gray, beside that sunlit sea,
The simple faith that lit the shores of sacred Galilee!

Sometimes it seems that ages past our souls have sojourned here;
But God's great angel guards the gate and stands beside the bier;
For when some mystic touch awakes the chords of memory,
His awful hand holds down the note, and clasps the quivering key.

Bend low, bend low the lofty brow and bring the sack-cloth gown;
Throw dust and ashes on our heads, and through the sinful town;
I think the green earth grows more gray, beneath its golden sun,
Because the good God sits in heaven, and sees such evil done.

--_Edward Renaud._

YIK KEE.

After father died some ten years ago, I found, that for three years we had been living on credit. I was eighteen, strong and well, but did not know how to work. In the little back room of the New York tenement house (by the way, the landlady seized my clothes for our rent) I considered my future. I had inherited a great faith in relatives, from my father, so I wrote to seven. I received six polite notes, telling me to go to work, and the following letter:

JONESBORO, COLORADO--JACKSON'S RANCH.

Dear Nell.--I'm your cousin Jack. Your father once give me
money to come out West. I've took up land, got a comfortable
home, no style or frills, but good folks to live with and
healthy grub. I've got the best wife you ever see and seven
fine youngsters. The city ain't no place for a friendless
girl. Wife wants you to come. She'll be a mother to you. Come
right off. I'll meet you at Denver.

Jack.

Inclosed was a check sufficient to defray expenses; so I started. Denver was then only a large town and the depot a barn-like structure. I got out of the cars and stood bewildered among all the emigrants and their bundles. Some one touched me on the shoulder--a roughly-dressed, broad-shouldered man with long, blonde beard and big blue eyes.

"Are you Nell?" he said.

"Yes; and you're Cousin Jack."

"I knew you," he said, as he led the way, "by your black clothes an' sorrerful look, an' them big blue eyes, like yer father's as two peas. We'll git the shader outer 'em when we get home. Yer father was a mighty good man. Bless yer dear heart, don't let them tears come. This 'ere's a dry country, we don't waste no water."

Comforting me in his kind, rough way, he reached his team, a big green wagon, drawn by two wild-looking steeds which I afterward knew to be bronchos. A fat, blonde boy, about twelve, held the reins.

"That's Ted," said Cousin Jack. "Ted, this is Miss Nell, yer cousin; give her a hug." The fat boy solemnly obeyed.

After this he seemed to have a special claim on my affections because he met me first. Jack's wife was a jolly, plump woman, with brown eyes and curly hair. She always had a baby in her arms and another at her heels. She adored Jack. I never knew them to have a quarrel. I soon grew to love the life at the ranch. I liked the big, half-finished house, its untidyness and comfort--its pleasant, healthy atmosphere. I loved the children, the household pets--Shep, the sagacious dog; Thad, the clever cat; the hens and sheep; the horses Dolly, Dot, and Daisy, that did the plowing, and the marketing at Denver, twelve miles away, and were so gentle and kind we used to ride them without saddle or bridle. I learned that cattle grew fat on the dry-looking grass and gave the best of milk. I learned to love the broad plains and the glorious sunsets, and to watch the distant bands of Indians with half fear, half interest. I helped Cousin Mary, sewed and cooked, kept the house and children neat, and lifted many burdens from her weary shoulders. We were so happy. The children and I took long walks over the plains, and Ted and I took many rides on Dolly and Dot, and in the long winter evenings I told the children stories. Occasionally Harry White came over to visit us from his ranch five miles away. He lived with his old mother; he and Jack were dear friends. Harry needed a wife, Jack used to say, winking at me.

One day Jack went to Denver for supplies. He went alone, and coming home later than usual, Ted and I and baby Mame went out to meet him. Jack looked sober and guilty, and seemed ill at ease. If he ever drank, I should have thought him intoxicated. In the wagon was a queer-shaped heap under a horse-blanket. I was sure it moved. When we got behind the barn Jack said, sheepishly, avoiding my eye.

"Well, Ted, I calkerlate I've got su'thing in that there waggin that 'ul astonish yer marm."

Little Mame pulled the blanket off the heap; she had been peeping under it all the while she was in the back of the wagon. There lay a human being. Such an object; short and squat, dressed in a queer blue blouse with flowing sleeves, wide trousers and queer wooden shoes. He had small, black eyes, a shaven poll, from which depended a long thin queue. His countenance was battered and bruised, his clothes torn and bloody.

"There was a row down to Denver," said Jack; "the Christian folks stove in these 'ere heathen's winders, tore their houses down, an' killed half on 'em. I cleared out soon as I could. When I got half way home I heard a noise back o' me, and out crawled this thing. I was so dumfounded I couldn't speak. He thought I was going ter send him back, an' he fell ter cryin' an' jabberin' in that yap of his, an' clingin' onter my han' an' kissin' of it. It sorter turned my stomach. I told him ter set down, give him some crackers ter eat, covered him up an' told him he could live with me. What do you s'pose marm'll say?"

"Oh! Cousin Jack," I said, "of course, she will not care. Your home is a refuge for all the wretched and unfortunate."

"Now don't, Nell," he said, turning as red as a rose, and busying himself about the harness. The Celestial looked at us solemnly: Mame toddled up to him. He looked at her curiously, but did not move.

"Get out, John," said Jack, "you needn't be scared no more; we're to home."

He got out stiffly, and, to my surprise, turned and lifted the baby down. She caught his pig-tail, and pulled it in wild delight. He seemed grieved when I took her away. When Jack told Mary, the good soul found a thousand reasons why he should stay, and hurried to make him a bed in the attic. The Celestial did not say much, but when Jack called him "John," he smiled a sad smile.

"Melican man callee John. Hump. Yik Kee."

So with due consideration for his feelings we addressed him as Yik Kee. He was of great use. He helped take care of the children, did the washing (Mary did not fancy his method of sprinkling clothes) and helped Jack on the farm. We made him one of the family. He was always pleasant and smiling, but was a man of few words.

Cousin Jack added much to his income by trading in hides. Ranchmen living at a distance sold their hides to him and Jack sold them to traders who came around at certain times in the year. Harry White was a partner in the business. He used to go on a sort of round-up and visit the ranches all over the country. The cattle of the ranchmen roamed in vast herds over the plains, protected only by the brand of the owner. Cattle stealing was frequently practiced. Offenders in this respect were shown no mercy. They were convicted, tried, and executed only in the court of Judge Lynch. I never blamed the ranchmen for this; it was impossible to guard the herds in the vast area over which they traversed, and the cattle must be protected in some way. Gil Mead was a wealthy ranchman, who lived about ten miles from us. He owned the largest herd of cattle on the plains. They were branded with the vowels of his name. E.A., which could be recognized anywhere. He always shipped his cattle East to his brother in Chicago. I feared the man. He was tall and gaunt, with deep-set black eyes and low forehead. His home was unhappy; his wife cross and ugly, and his children wild and unruly. This made him more than commonly disagreeable.

I think it was in the fall of '74 that Harry White brought the big load of hides to Jack. Both were much pleased at the bargain they made. Harry gave glowing accounts of a new customer--a ranchman from Chicago, who had taken up an abandoned homestead. He had purchased many cattle from his cousin, Gil Mead, and hoped to rival him in the number and quality of his herd. Jack packed the hides away to keep till December, when we expected the dealer.

One afternoon, not long after this, Gil Mead rode up to the house, looking very agreeable and pleasant. A couple of strangers, also ranchmen, were with him. They wanted to look at the hides, one of the men being a trader, Gil said. Jack was in Denver, so Yik Kee and I went to the barn with them. They looked the hides over carefully, and conversed in low tones, Gil with a suppressed oath. Finally they thanked us courteously and took their leave.

"Hump; no goodee," said Yik Kee, but he wouldn't say any more.

At five that evening, when we were at supper, a crowd of twenty-five or thirty men rode up on horseback. Jack came out and met them, inviting them in to take supper, in his generous, hospitable way. They wanted him to go to Denver with them, there was to be a meeting there of importance to ranchmen. The meeting would be at eight. They had brought with them an extra horse for Jack. Mary looked around for Yik Kee to help her, but he had mysteriously disappeared.

I faintly remembered seeing his white, horrified face peering around the barn at the horses. I noted the visitors ate little--the food seemed to choke them. Some of them watched Mary and the baby in a queer sort of way. When Jack, as was his custom, kissed his wife and babies good-by, one of the visitors, an oldish man, coughed huskily, and said: "Blest if I kin stan' this." They all rode off, Jack the merriest of all, waving his hat till he was out of sight.

When we were clearing up the unusual quantity of dishes, Yik Kee appeared at the end window and beckoned me. I followed him out. Ted was with him. Behind the barn were the three horses saddled. Shep was with them, released from confinement, where he had been secured from following his master.

"Foller 'em," said Ted in an excited whisper. "Yik's afraid they're up to something."

"What is it, Yik?" I said, sternly. "No fooling now."

For answer he twisted his long pig-tail around his neck, tying it under his left ear in a significant manner.

"Hump, he hangee; stealee cow."

"Oh, Mary," I sobbed, remembering Gil Mead's visit, and his strange actions, and dimly seeing what Yik Kee meant, "I must tell Mary," I said, wildly.

"Hump, no," said Yik Kee. "Yellee sick," and he closed his eyes in a die-away sort of manner. "Go now--too latee."

We mounted.

"Mother'll think we're gone to ride," said Ted, as we galloped over the plains. He was deathly pale, poor little fellow, but he sat erect and firm. I saw his father's big Colt's revolver sticking out of his pocket. He was a determined boy. Even in my despair, in my wild hope that I could save Jack by begging on my knees, that I could cling to him, that they would have to kill me first, I could not help a smile at the comical figure Yik Kee presented on horseback. His loose garments flapped in the wind, his long pig-tail flew out behind, and he bobbed up and down like a kernel of corn in a corn-hopper.

It was a soft, warm night, lighted only by the pale young moon and the twinkling stars. We rode as fast as our horses could gallop. Shep was close at our heels. Way ahead, when we reached the top of a little hill, we saw the crowd of horsemen. They were riding toward Denver. We galloped on with renewed zeal. They turned into a cross road leading to Mead's ranch. On this road was a bridge over Dry Gulch, which was in the spring a roaring torrent. Beyond the bridge, across the fields, was the hay-stack of Mead, where was stored sufficient to feed his domestic cattle through the winter. We at last reached the turn in the road. They were three miles in advance, riding rapidly. Yik Kee stopped at the turn. "Hump! Can't catchee. Hangee at bridge. You goee!" He turned his horse and sped across the field, deserting us basely.

We rode on, Ted and I. He was pale and still; my cheeks were burning. We neared the bridge. The high mound of earth before us hid us from sight. We stopped our horses and listened. The men had lighted torches, some were preparing a rough gallows under the bridge; two were uncoiling rope; some held the horses of the others beyond the bridge. The men were masked now, and I could see by the lighted torches that this number was increased. Jack was very white and sad, but he showed no fear.

"I am innocent, gentlemen," he said, slowly, "but I refuse to tell you of whom I bought the hides."

I understood him. Could Harry White be a cattle thief? I felt as if I were going mad.

"What shall we do?" whispered Ted, cocking his revolver?

Suddenly a bright red light illuminated the heavens, followed by clouds of black smoke and a queer crackling noise. A yell from the men--Gil Mead's voice above the rest. The hay-stack was on fire. It seemed to me in the gale around it that I could see a foreign-looking human vanishing across the plain.

The men mounted their horses, Gil Mead at the head, and set off across the fields at a mad gallop. They must save the stack. They left Jack, bound hand and foot, and guarded by one man.

Shep, the wonderful dog, had kept by us until now, slinking in the dark shadows. Now, gliding sidewise and still, he reached the man on guard whose back was to us, and with no warning growl caught him by the throat with strong white teeth that could choak a coyote in a second. The man, who was in a sitting posture, fell back with a groan. Ted struck him over the head with the butt of the revolver, and pulled off the dog. I cut Jack's bonds with a knife. He looked at us wonderingly and staggered to his feet.

"Never mind how we came, Jack," I said; "quick, mount the horse beyond the bridge, and ride to Denver for your life. They will not harm a woman and child."

"Harry White," he muttered, the loyal soul that even now could think of another's danger.

"I will tell him."

"No, no; not of this--only say, if he stole the cattle, to fly the country. They will find out, sooner or later."

He galloped down the road. Ted and I mounted, calling off Shep, who sat on his haunches watching the unconscious man, and then we, too, sped down the road. The hay-stack was giving out great columns of black smoke, but the fire was dead.

Ahead of us was a riderless horse, Dolly, who greeted her master with a joyful whinny. Where was Yik Kee? Then Dot, my horse, shied from the road at a recumbent black figure. It was the indomitable Yik Kee, who had crawled all the way from the stack on his stomach, so that he could not be seen, after lying in the ditch till the blaze had faded out. "Hump! no catchee Chinee; heap sore," he said, laconically rubbing his stomach.

He mounted Dolly, and we rode on to White's ranch. Harry rushed out at the sound of horses' feet, at midnight. There, under the twinkling stars I looked into his eyes, and I told him the whole story. He showed no guilt, but only said we must stay the night at his ranch, for the men would come back to Jack's for him, and then mounting his fleet colt rode off down the road. I comforted his mother as best I could. At day-break we rode home.

Mary was in a wild state of alarm. Where had we been? Where was Jack? and how cruel we were to leave her alone. She said that at one o'clock three masked men had come to the house and searched it and the premises, and had not molested her or the children, only asking where Jack was, very sternly and sharply.

At noon Jack, Harry, the sheriff, and a party of armed men from Denver rode up, stopping only a moment to tell me they would be back at night. I dared not tell Mary, and she worried all the afternoon at their strange conduct. At night Jack and Harry came home, looking tired but happy. Then Jack told Mary, and she clung to him as though she could never let him go.

It seemed the pleasing ranchman from Chicago was one of a band of cattle thieves. He sold the hides to Harry, who, honest and open himself, was slow to suspect wrong dealings in others. The sheriff had caught the men skinning a cow that belonged to Mead, and had captured the gang and taken them to Denver.

The men concerned in the attempt to lynch Jack were sincerely sorry. Their regrets would not have availed much, however, if they had succeeded in their purpose. They gave each of the children ten acres of land; they gave Ted sixty-five, and me, whom they pleased to consider very plucky, one hundred and fifty acres. I felt rich enough, and time has made it very valuable land. The man on guard was our warmest admirer. He thought Ted, Shep, and I wonders of courage. He said when I came down on the bridge with the open knife, he thought his last hour had come.

Gil Mead committed suicide not long after this. He was always queer. No one ever knew that Yik Kee set the stack afire. I tell you Jack rewarded the faithful fellow--gave him a good farm, taught him to work it, and built him a house. The funniest thing was Yik Kee had a wife and three queer little children back in China, and Jack sent for them, and Yik Kee and his family are as happy as they can be. The children play with Jack's (he has twelve now) and get along finely together.

In '75 I married Harry White, which, I suppose, was foreseen from the beginning--at least, Jack says anybody could have seen it. The most serene and satisfied face at the wedding was that of the Celestial. In my inner consciousness, notwithstanding he is a "heathen Chinee," I have the conviction that as great a hero as is seen in modern times is the man of few words, Yik Kee.--_The Continent._

HUMOROUS

"A LEEDLE MISTAKES."

"I see all how it vhas now," observed Jacob Handonder, as he came out.

"Oh, you do! You are the man who got drunk and raised a fuss on a street car?"

"I vhas der man, and I tell you how it vhas. You see, I vhas tight. I took too much beer."

"Can a saloon-keeper take too much beer?"

"Vhell, maype I vhas seek. I shtart to go home. Vhen der sthreet car comes along I pelief it vhas my house. I got in und look all aroundt, but I doan' see Katarina. I call out for der shildrens, und eferybody laughs at me. Maype dot makes me madt, und der drifer calls a boliceman, und I vhas galloped down here."

"So it wasn't your home?"

"Not oxactly. It vhas a leedle mistake."

"It'll cost you $5."

"Vheel, dot ain't so bad. I pay him oop und go home to preakfast."

"Be careful next time."

"Oh, I vill dot. Next time I vhas tight I go home on some shtreets midout cars. If I take some ice-wagon for my house I pelief I got cooled off pooty queek."

SHARPER THAN A RAZOR.

A long-waisted man, with the nose of a fox and an eye full of speculation, walked up to a second-hand clothier, in Buffalo, the other day, and said:

"See that overcoat hanging out down there?"

"Of course."

"Well, I've taken a fancy to it. It's rather cheeky to ask you to go down there, but I'll make it an object; I won't give but $8 for the coat, but I'll give you $1 to buy it for me. You are also a Jew and know how to beat him down. Here are $9."

The dealer took the money and started off, and in five minutes was back with the coat.

"Good!" chuckled the other. "I reckoned you'd lay him out. How much did you make for your share?"

"Vhell, ash dot is my branch shore, and I only ask six dollar fur de goat, I was about tree dollar ahead."

A COMING DIVIDEND.

Last fall, when a would-be purchaser of railroad stock called upon Russell Sage and asked him regarding the outlook of certain stock, Mr. Sage replied:

"Splendid idea! That stock is certain to raise fifteen per cent."

"Upon what do you base your calculations?"

"Upon the immense crops to be moved along that line."

The other day the same gentleman again interviewed Mr. Sage regarding the same stock, and the great financier replied:

"Best outlook in the world for that stock! Certain to advance fifteen per cent."

"Do you base your calculations upon last fall's crops?"

"No, sir; it's going to be an open winter, and the line will save enough in snow-plows to declare a dividend of five per cent."

* * * * *

At a party: Merchant--"Ah! How d'do, Mr. Blank? How is your paper coming out? I read it daily. By the way, you are getting up a report of this grand assembly, I suppose?" Editor--"No. By the way, how is your store coming on? My cook buys a good deal of you. You are here drumming up custom, I suppose?"

* * * * *

"Yes," said Mrs. Towers, as she expatiated upon the beauties of her flower-garden, "I have given it great care, and if you come over in a week or two, I expect to be able to show you some beautiful scarlet pneumonias."

* * * * *

THE PRAIRIE FARMER

AND

YOUTH'S COMPANION

ONE YEAR, $3 FOR THE TWO.

It is not required that both papers be sent to one address, nor to the same post-office.

Address Prairie Farmer Pub Co.,

150 Monroe Street. Chicago.

* * * * *

ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD.

The elegant equipment of coaches and sleepers being added to its various through routes is gaining it many friends. Its patrons fear no accidents. Its perfect track of steel, and solid road-bed, are a guarantee against them.

* * * * *

MEDICAL.

DISEASE CURED

Without Medicine.

_A Valuable Discovery for supplying Magnetism to the Human System. Electricity and Magnetism utilized as never before for Healing the Sick._

THE MAGNETON APPLIANCE CO.'s

MAGNETIC KIDNEY BELT!

FOR MEN IS

WARRANTED TO CURE Or Money Refunded, the following diseases without medicine:--Pain in the Back, Hips, Head, or Limbs, Nervous Debility, Lumbago, General Debility, Rheumatism, Paralysis, Neuralgia, Sciatica, Diseases of the Kidneys, Spinal Diseases, Torpid Liver, GOUT SEMINAL EMISSIONS, IMPOTENCY, ASTHMA, HEART DISEASE, DYSPEPSIA, CONSTIPATION, ERYSIPELAS, INDIGESTION, HERNIA OR RUPTURE, CATARRH, PILES, EPILEPSY, DUMB AGUE, ETC.

When any debility of the GENERATIVE ORGANS occurs, LOST VITALITY, LACK OF NERVE FORCE AND VIGOR, WASTING WEAKNESS, and all those Diseases of a personal nature, from whatever cause, the continuous stream of Magnetism permeating through the parts, must restore them to a healthy action. There is no mistake about this appliance.

TO THE LADIES:--If you are afflicted with LAME BACK, WEAKNESS OF THE SPINE, FALLING OF THE WOMB, LEUCORRHOEA, CHRONIC INFLAMMATION AND ULCERATION OF THE WOMB, INCIDENTAL HEMORRHAGE OR FLOODING, PAINFUL, SUPPRESSED, AND IRREGULAR MENSTRUATION, BARRENNESS, AND CHANGE OF LIFE, THIS IS THE BEST APPLIANCE AND CURATIVE AGENT KNOWN.

For all forms of FEMALE DIFFICULTIES it is unsurpassed by anything before invented, both as a curative agent and as a source of power and vitalization.

Price of either Belt with Magnetic Insoles, $10, sent by express C.O.D., and examination allowed, or by mail on receipt of price. In ordering send measure of waist, and size of shoe. Remittance can be made in currency, sent in letter at our risk.

The Magneton Garments are adapted to all ages, are worn over the under-clothing (NOT NEXT TO THE BODY LIKE THE MANY GALVANIC AND ELECTRIC HUMBUGS ADVERTISED SO EXTENSIVELY), and should be taken off at night. They hold their POWER FOREVER, and are worn at all seasons of the year.

Send stamp for the "New Departure in Medical treatment WITHOUT MEDICINE," with thousands of testimonials.

THE MAGNETON APPLIANCE CO., 218 STATE STREET. CHICAGO, ILL.

Note.--Send one dollar in postage stamps or currency (in letter at our risk) with size of shoe usually worn, and try a pair of our Magnetic Insoles, and be convinced of the power residing in our other Magnetic Appliances. Positively no cold feet when they are worn, or money refunded.

* * * * *

Self Cure Free

Nervous Debility Lost Manhood Weakness and Decay

A favorite prescription of a noted specialist (now retired.) Druggists can fill it. Address

DR. WARD & CO., LOUISIANA, MO.

* * * * *

SCALES.

U.S. STANDARD SCALES, MANUFACTURED EXPRESSLY FOR THE PRAIRIE FARMER

_Every Scale Guaranteed by the Manufacturers, and by Us, to be Perfect, and to give the Purchaser Satisfaction._

The PRAIRIE FARMER Sent Two Years Free

To any person ordering either size Wagon Scale at prices given below.

2-Ton Wagon or Farm Scale (Platform 6 x 12 feet), $35; 3-Ton (7 x 13), $45; 5-Ton (8 x 14), $55. Beam Box, Brass Beam, Iron Levers, Steel Bearings, and full directions for setting up.

THE PRAIRIE FARMER SENT 1 YEAR FREE!

To any person ordering either of the following Scales, at prices named below.

The Housekeeper's Scale--$4.00

Weighing accurately from 1/4 oz. to 25 lbs. This is also a valuable Scale for Offices for Weighing Mail Matter. Tin Scoop, 50c. extra; Brass 75c. extra.

The Family Scale--$7.00.

Weighs from 1/4 oz. to 240 lbs. Small articles weighed in Scoop, large ones on Platform. Size of Platform, 10-1/2 x 13-1/2 in.

The Prairie Farmer Scale--$10.00

Weighs from 2 oz. to 320 lbs. Size of Platform 14 x 19 inches. A convenient Scale for Small Farmers, Dairymen, etc.

Platform Scales--4 Sizes. 400 lbs., $15; 600 lbs., $20; 900 lbs., $24; 1,200 lbs., $28; Wheels and Axles, $2 extra.

In ordering, give the Price and Description given above. All Scales Boxed and Delivered at Depot in Chicago. Give full shipping directions. Send money by Draft on Chicago or New York Post Office Order or Registered Letter. Address

THE PRAIRIE FARMER PUBLISHING COMPANY, CHICAGO, ILL.

* * * * *

MISCELLANEOUS

THE STANDARD REMINGTON TYPE-WRITER is acknowledged to be the only rapid and reliable writing machine. It has no rival. These machines are used for transcribing and general correspondence in every part of the globe, doing their work in almost every language. Any young man or woman of ordinary ability, having a practical knowledge of the use of this machine may find constant and remunerative employment. All machines and supplies, furnished by us, warranted. Satisfaction guaranteed or money refunded. Send for circulars. WYCKOFF, SEAMANS & BENEDICT, 38 East Madison St, Chicago, Ill.

* * * * *

Send for Catalogue and Prices.

ATLAS ENGINE WORKS

INDIANAPOLIS, IND., U.S.A.

MANUFACTURERS OF

STEAM ENGINES AND BOILERS.

CARRY ENGINES and BOILERS IN STOCK for IMMEDIATE DELIVERY

* * * * *

SEEDS

ALBERT DICKINSON,

Dealer in Timothy, Clover, Flax, Hungarian, Millet, Red Top, Blue Grass, Lawn Grass, Orchard Grass, Bird Seeds, &c.

POPCORN.

Warehouses { 115, 117 & 119 Kinzie St. OFFICE. 115 KINZIE ST.,
{ 104, 106, 108, & 110 Michigan St. CHICAGO, ILL.

GENERAL NEWS.

Gen. Butler is now out of office.

A verdict of not guilty was rendered in the Emma Bond case.

St. Petersburg, Russia, is in a panic over recent acts of the Nihilists.

Two wolves have lately been killed in the vicinity of Douglas Park, Chicago.

Another effort is soon to be made in Congress to reinstate Fitz John Porter.

Brokers in Dubuque have offered $330,000 cash for the B.F. Allen Homestead.

At Winnipeg on Thursday of last week the mercury was 45 degrees below zero.

Albert E. Kent, of San Francisco, gives $25,000 for a chemical laboratory at Yale College.

Judge McCrary, of the Supreme Court, has resigned, and accepted a position as a railway attorney.

The Government of China has ordered the construction of two more torpedo boats at the German port of Stettin.

St. Louis had many fires last week. There were nine outbreaks within forty-eight hours. The firemen were completely worn out.

There were 319 failures in the United States last week--the largest number yet recorded within the same number of days.

There was strong talk at Hillsboro of lynching the discharged prisoners in the Emma Bond case, but better counsel prevailed.

Governor Stoneman presided at a meeting in San Francisco, where arrangements were made to hold a world's exposition in 1887.

The mercury at Charleston, S.C., was 13 degrees below zero January 4th. Through New England the weather was extremely cold.

Mary, the seventeenth wife of the late Brigham Young, died at Salt Lake City Saturday from blood poisoning. She has fourteen survivors.

A pie made of tainted meat caused the poisoning of sixteen boarders and three Sisters at a convent in Montreal. Two of the former are dangerously ill.

It is announced from Paris that the French government is intending to sell the railways owned by the Republic. The Rothschilds stand ready to purchase them.

By a railroad accident near Fort Dodge, on Wednesday last, three persons were killed and several wounded. Among the killed was Mrs. J.H. South, of Bureau Co., Ills.

Mrs. Holcomb, daughter of the murdered millionaire Crouch, of Michigan, has committed suicide. There is some suspicion that she knew something about the murder.

A nihilist proclamation has been issued threatening the Czar. There is much anxiety at Gatschina palace. It is now said the Czar's injury in the shoulder the other day was caused by a bullet.

The United States Consul General at Cairo reports the deaths by the cholera epidemic at from 65,000 to 70,000. A member of the international tribunal says there are still from one to three fatal cases each day.

The Gould system of railroads is about to establish a telegraph school at St. Louis, with a view not only to educating operators, but of selecting pupils from the acclimated people along the Southwestern lines.

The Catholic convent at Belleville, Ill., took fire from the furnace Saturday evening, and in an hour was reduced to ashes. Sixty pupils made desperate efforts to escape, some of them leaping from the windows. Twenty-seven lives were lost.

The Secretary of State at Springfield has issued papers of incorporation to Col. Wood's museum, at Chicago, with a capital stock of $100,000. The Colonel is said to have secured a lease of his old stand on Randolph street, and the Olympic Theatre.