eee eee eee NEW YORK, MARCH 26, 1877. OO emanate ik i kee Terms to Sulbscribers : One month, (postage sree) 25c. | One Year—1 copy (postage /ree)$3 TWO MONA: . os 5..0 cer ess 50c. AS 3, 0 t+ OCIS Calne sa ink hab 5 These Months ....;......- Toc. Pee SF RA aeeahe ieee 10 Ponrmonths......6.....- $1.00 We ieee ay RSD ene baa 4h 20 ALL LETrERS SHOULD BE ADDRESSED TO STREET & SMITH, Proprietors. AS, VF, BO nnd i Rose St.. N.Y. P.O. Box 4806 The Beggars of Paris, There can be no Christianity where there is no charity. We believe in casting bread upon tho waters, that we gain in every way by giving; that in acts of charity we are but paying a small por- tion of our eternal debt, and that although we may sometimes bestow upon the unworthy, it does not detract from the merit of the act. Some have, unawares, entertained angels! “Shut not thy purse-strings always against painted distress,” says Charles Lamb, ‘Act a charity sometimes. When a poor creature—outwardly and visibly such —comes before thee do not stay to inquire whether the ‘seven small children,’ in whose name he im- plores thy assistance, havo a veritable existence. Rake not into the bowels of unwelcome truth to saveahalf-penny. Itis good to believe him.” The deeds of charity, which we do will stay by us; it is an investment bearing compound interest, or, in other words, otir possessions aré wholly in our performances. We would like to recall to the reader’s mind the telling scene from Bunyan’s in- imitable allegory, where the shepherds led the Pil- grims to Mount Charity, and showed them a man who had a bundle of clothes before him out of which he cut garments for the poor who stood about him, yet his bundle of clothes was never less. But we sat down to write about the beggars of Paris. Asingular race of beings they are, these French beggars, apparentiy miserable wretches, who im- plore your charity at every street corner, and what is certainly very remarkable, with an authorization from the police prominently displayed upon their rags, like a porter’s license in this country. They are cunning creatures, even greater adepts in rogucry than those of Naples, which is saying very much, Often the mutilated objects who have just excited your pity and benevolence, return to their homes, throw their crutehes and bandages aside, thus accomplishing miraculous cures instantly! The lame walk with ease, the blind see, the one- armed have both limbs sound again, the hunch- back loses his deformity, and wooden legs are kicked into the corner! Rags disappear, giving place to decent and comfortable clothing, and bread and wine are not wanting. These are literal facts; we are drawing no fancy picture. A blind man was long placed against a certain wal! on the Boulevard Italien. A young woman in going to her daily occupation passed the spot regularly every morning, always giving the beggar a sou; but one day, through preoccupation or forgetful- ness, she gave him nothing. No sooner had she passed than the blind man called out: “Ha! you have forgotten me to-day, kind lady!” The charm was broken! Another instance was that of a poor ragged man who was similarly “afflicted,” and whose post had been for many months at the entrance of the Pont Neuf on the Cite side. Receiving a copper from a gentleman one day, he said: “My dear sir, couldn’t you give me another in place of this? It’sa Belgian sou, and won’t pass there!” On the Champs Elysees, for some two years, an old fellow was in the habit of seating himself with adog attached to a string. This man exclaimed constantly: “Pity the blind, if you please, pity the blind!” At length it was discovered that the beggar had as good sight as anybody, and he was taken before the commissary of police. “Why do you beg?” demanded the official, “you can see as well as any man.” “But, sir,” replied the audacious fellow, “I never said I was blind. I only cried pity the blind! and I meant my dog, whieh is as blind as a bat. Please examine him, sir.” The rascal’s wit saved him from punishment, and he was discharged with a simple warning. Not- withstanding the homily with which we commenced these brief remarks—sturdy beggars can bear stout denials. —_—_—__ re GETTING TO SLEEP. is there anything more distressing than sleep- kossness when you want to go to sleep, and feel that you ought to go to sleep, and that you must go to sleep anyway, and yot cannot? © You toss about from one side to the other, draw- ing your feet up, and stretching them down—put- ting your arms under the quilts, and outside them, lying first on your right side, and then on your left, changing occasionally to your back. The more you turn and twist, and the harder you try to go to sleep, the wider awake you become. Van fancy there is some trouble about the pillow, and youturn it over,and beat it up,and tuck the case smoothly under, arid put your head down carefully, but sleep does not come. ; Then you think perhaps the bed is too hard, and get up and _ pat it, and smooth out imaginary wrinkles, and shake the sheets, and go to bed again feeling sure that you can sleep now. But you were never more mistaken in your life. After you have had your eyes tightly shut for ten minutes,and have been growing more and more wakeful each moment, you bethink yourself of the numerous “recipes” you have read in the papers for promoting the performance of going to sleep. You begin and count six hundred. No success. Then you repeat the multiplication table as far as you know, but the result is the same. Then you go through with the ten commandments, and the burial service from the Book of Common Prayer, and “thirty days hath September”—and atill you are just as far from the wished-for result. Then you begin to repeat what poetry you can re- member, beginning with Longfellow’s ‘Psalm of Life,” and ending with Mother Goose’s “Hickory Dickory Dock, The mouse ran up the clock.” Then you roll your eyes in the sockets, and try to imagine that you see smoke issuing from your nos- trils, according to the prescribed formula, and you do a hundred other things equally absurd; but it is all labor lost. You toss out the weary night, and fall asleep just as the breakfast-bell rings, and vou are expected to make your appearance, fresh as the lark, to enter- tain company and makethings generally pleasant. The human will isa mighty power, and can build cities and move mountains; but when it comes to apply itself to the getting of a nervous person to sieep it is powerless. Kats THORN. —>-o<<—_—___—_—_. QUACK MEDICINES are not favored by the apothe- caries of Germany, as they reduce thesale of other drugs, on which the profits are larger. A petition from the Apothecaries Union has been sent to the Federal Council, asking that quack medicines be officially examined before they are allowed to be sold. The quack nostrums on sale in the United tates are for the most part harmless preparations, as their makers wisely refrain from using injurious drugs, not wishing to kill profitable customers. It would be well, however, to have the so-caHed specifics analyzed, and the ingredients publicly an- nounced, to convince those who use them that they have been drenching their stomachs with com- pounds which possess no pewer for good, and often cause a lasting injury to the system. DECOYED. vv. M AITLAND. BY MISS Cc. V. ee really going away, Tom? Been refused, “Hardly. Notthat she wouldn’t do it, however; but that I haven’t been the fool to give her the op- portunity.” , here is enough suppressed passion in these words of careless, happy-go-lucky Tom Brandon to make his friend take his cigar from his mouth and stare at him, while his lips keep the round O in which the cigar leftthem. Hesays,slowly: “You don’t mean it, Brandon? You’re not in love, in dead earnest? I beg your pardon, in that case; my words were a mere jest.” The two men are pacing together in the moon- light, smoking,on the terrace under the library windows, They have made the turn, and come pace maait, betore the younger of the two answers iS triena. “I’m glad you spoke, Rashleigh; though after this we will let the subject rest. In earnest, yes. And in earnest when I say I would as readily think of following that will-o’-the-wisp on the edge of the marsh yonder, as of pursuing your good wife’s pretty friend, with any idea of catching her and making her wife of mine.” ; There is the faintest possible rustle at the library window ise above him,as he says this. Two brown gyes ana ut on him from between the parted cur- tains, and there is a stir of white muslin draperies, as the girl who has been sitting unseen at the win- dow draws away. She is turning to the door, when suddenly the anger in those dark eyes of hers breaks into a storm of passionate tears, and she flings herself dewn on the sofa, burying her face in the cushions. ; ; “‘Will-o’-the-whisp, indeed! So that is what he thinks of her! And he is going away.” 8he is sobbing so bitterly, lying there, that she does not hear steps that after a while enter the hall and come this way. It is only the music-room, this apartment where she is, and what more unlikely than that any one should come here now, 80 late, when there is no sound of music to draw them; for by ‘any hour” is meant Tom Brandon. Yetthe very next instant, Bessy has recognized that tread for his, and knows that he is yt thg door. Hor first impulse isto Stand up and rush out of the room, but the tell-tale moon is shining full on her, and she will haveto meet him face to face, to reach the door. He must notsee, He shall not see that she has been crying. And so she fling up one White arm across her eyes. She will lie so still, that he must think she has fallen asleep; or perhaps he may pass out of the room without seeing her. ‘ He comes in, and closes the door behi him. She can peer out at him from under the soft white screen her arm has madé, andshe sees that he goes straight to the mantel-piece, and takes up a pho- tograph there, which on her last visit the girl had left with her hostress-friend. ’ He comes straight to the wmdow with the picture, and stands there looking down at it in the moon- light, with sad, longing eyes. Then he proves his honesty rather doubtful by slipping the photograph into his breast-pocket, and is turning to go when in the movement he finds himself directly before the sofa, with its burden of white muslin and pink ribbons. : i He stands stiil. Yes, the girl was fallen asleep here in the moonlight. He would have turned away, but somehow the soft moonbeams have lit up the small face with such a tender loveliness. The half-bare dimpled arm is flung across the eyes, but the redlips——__ In spite of himself Tom Brandon is stooping. If he might touch them once, those sweet, red lips— just once, in farewell! And she will not know—she is so sound asleep! a He is stooping—nearer—when the sweet lips move. “Yes, Charley dear—Charley—”’ ; He winces, as if he had been struck a blow. ey!” Char- She is dreaming, then, of some other man. Dear Charley,” she murmurs again, with the sweetest intonation in the world. Why should she not? Tom Brandon does_ not stop toask himself that question. A sudden jeal- ous rage has seized on him. Whoever he may be, that unknown Charley, Tom Brandon steops down suddenly upon one knee, and stops the utterance of that name upon those lips. It is unpardonably impertinent, of course, but there is not verymuch anger in the brown eyes that suddenly open, very wide awake, and the arm which has been concealing them, somehow, when it falls, rests upon Brandon’s shoulder. Neither of them could have told how; but, somehow, when the two pairs of eyes met they understood each other without many words. “But, Bessy,” says Tom, a few moments later, when ane very wide awake now, has given him half her sofa, “who is this Charley you were dream- ing of just now? I shall not be jealous of him, since you have just promised to be my wife. But still I’d like to know who the fellowis? And, Bes- sy, I know you’re a little*will-o’-the-wisp, and have led many a man adance into the slough of despond, but if you could keep from dreaming of them, now——” She laughs, and shakes her pretty head at him. “Tt is all your fault!” she asserts. ‘I had been— yes, coying, Tom, because I had overheard you calling me names, igecee you did now. And [heard Se coming—I couldn’t let you find me in tears—so just crouched down here and pretended to be asleep. But I didn’t suppose, Mr. Brandon, you’d have been so very rude as to—to—kiss me; and when I spied what_you were going to do, I thought P’dsend you away angry with my Charley’—poor, eas, Le Mes, fellow! I never supposed you would——” I am afraid he does it again, for that sentence of Bessy’s is not finished. + @< —______. THE National Association of Fanciers, which re- cently convened at the Exposition building in Chi- cago, went beyond the fow/ purposes of its conven- tion, and held a baby show for the space of two days. Blonde, brunette, neither the one nor the other, eyes of all shades peculiar to that orb, noses of all ra- tional shapes, and many verging toward the un- reasonable, babies good and babies naughty, to the number of three hundred. One who was not there can hardly fancy the effect of a first sob and wail that, like the hooping-cough, went the rounds, and ended in a@ combined howl. Two handsomely-carved black walnut bedsteads, two solid silver cups, four gold ooins of $10 each, were awarded eight fashionable infantine competitors in this grand claim to beauty and health. Two hundred and hinety-two mammas were disap- pointed. The association profited by the exhibi- tion, as hundreds gratified their curiosity to gaze upon the little forest of “olive branches.” They were nice babies, and merited all the admiration they elicited, as well as the offering of confections, cakes, and fruits laid smilingly at their little feet. ——___—- & @~-____—__ OFFiIce OF THE New YoRE WEEKLY, Feb. 5th, 1877. Deak 81k: We are informed that you propose to pass a few months in California, with the view of preparing yourself to writea story of life and ad- venture on the Pacific coast. If our information is correct, we will be glad to have you place the story in our hands, when completed, for publication in the New Yorr Wrxrxy. Srreer & SMIrs. Horatio ALGER, JR. Pauace Hore, SAN FRANCIS00, Feb. 20. Messrs. Srreet & SmiTH: Your favor of the 6th inst.is athand. You are right in supposing that my visit tothe Pacific coast has been undertaken with the view of obtaining material for a story ill- ustrating life in California. The brief history of the Golden State is full of romance, and there are dozens of men in this city, now conspicuous ex- amples of business or professional success, who came here as penniless boys, but have conquered fortune by pluck and perseverance. I have in mind one whose real life was full of startling contrasts and excitinga dventures, which can hardly fail, if properly told, to captivate the attention of your young readers. I hace commenced the preparation of astory based upon his career, and will, accord- ing to your desire, place the story, when ¢om- ee in your hands, for publication in the New ORK WERELY. Yours faithfully, HORATIO ALGER, JR. Concert at the Union Ave. Baptist Church. Donavin’s Original Tennesseans, who are re- nowned as unapproachabie in their characteristic rendering of the slave songs of the South, will give a grand concert in the Union Avenue Baptist Church, Greenpoint, on Wednesday evening, March 14. This will bea most enjoyable entertainment; and, asitis forthe benefit of the Missionary So- ciety, a well-filled house should greet the artistic vocalists whose musical gems serve to recall South- ern life as it was years ago. A NEW story by the author of*'The Troublesome Twins,” will soon be commenced in the New Yorrz WEEFELY. It is astory which will please young and old, and mystify as well as delight. <<< THE NEW YORK WEESLY. THE BLACK HILLS. EDITORS OF THE NEw YORK WEEKLY: I have been a constant reader of your valuable paper for years, and have never missed a copy since January 1st, 1860, Knowing that you publish all sorts of information to your thousands of readers,I thought it advis- able to write youa short sketch about the Black Hills. I started for the Hills via Bioux City, Yank- ton, up the Missouri River to the Ponca Indian Agency, thence overland to the Hills. The distance is about 600 miles, and it took us forty-four days to make the trip from the 23d of February to April 9th. Every two or three days we were compelled to face a regular old-fashioned north-western “blizzerel.” The sand and snow would fairly blind you, and the cold would be intense. Then we were compelled togo intocamp, and stay there for three or four days at atime. ThetrainI was with consisted of 31 wagons and 160 men. When we arrived at Custer City, and heard the sawmill whistle, we all felt, as Mark Twain said, that we were in the land of civil- ization once more. Herethe companysplit. Some rons to Deadwood, but the most of them went back ome, They got disgusted with the country the first day or two that they were there. My partner and I cated on French Creek, nine miles from Custer ity, took uP a claim and had it recorded; exact cost one dollar, Mining claims are 300 feet long up or down the creek, as the case may be. After we had our Claim recorded we prospected and found good paying colors, Then we commenced to sluice, and in seven days work, eight hours a day, we took out seventy-five dollars in gold dust from surface diggings. The largest speck of gold was about the size of a small pea. There were some very good claims on this creek, but the only fault with it was that the bed rock was from thirty to forty feet deep, and nobody has ever found it to my certain know}l- edge. Let no tender tootyas the old miners call the new-comers, go out there with the idea that gold nuggets as big as hen’s 6 relying around loose. If they do they will be terribly disappointed. I would advise those that contemplate going this spring to look before they leap. It istrue that there is gold and quartz there and plenty of it, and some- ody is sure to find it, but the greater portion of 1086 that go there will Gome back home worse off than when they went, AG ,While Iwas in the Hille froti 200 to 300 men ar- rived every week, About one-third of them would locate claims and go to work, and the remainder would take the back track for home. If a manis doing well at home, stay there by all means, but ifa person is loafing around the streets doing nothing, then I By. to him, in the language of the late la- mented Horace Greeley, “go West, young man,” your chances are better to strike “luck” than they are at home, : But if a person stiliMsists on going, I will point out two routes to him—one by way of caveat: then by stage to the Hillis; the other is via Sioux City, Yankton and the Missouri River to Fort Pierre, thence to the Hills, 130 miles, while by the other route it is 260 miles from Cheyenne to Custer City. In Cheyenne they will tell you that their route is the nearest, but I have traveled both routes and find that the Fort Pierre route is the cheapest and best. Yours, C. H. L. As AMERICANS now export meat in large quan- tities to Great Britain, it won’t do for Englishmen to indulge in their accustomed praise of “‘the roast beef of old England.” O"KEEFE’S MILLIONS. A few weeks ago the New York WEEELY contain- ed a paragraph in reference to a gentleman named O’Keefe, who died and left property to the value of $25,000,000. We have sinée met the following article in reference to the matter: A few weeks appeared in the New York Heraid ey ating that a cer- tain Adjutant General Charles rt O’Keefe, of the British army, havimg in Calcutta without heirs, his nearest of kin were invited to come for- ward and establish their claim to the colossal for- tune of $25,000,000 whieh the deceased soldier has left behind him. . On the 18th of last month there was published in the New York Heraida ment of a certain Mrs. Mary Ann Madden x n, Mass.. wherein she gare her reasons at length for supposing that she 6 one of the heirs, — In a fashionable restaurant not far from the St. Denis Hotel, Broadwa?: there is a smart, well- favored man of some thirty-eight summers, sery- ing as a waiter, His pape is Daniel W. O’Keefe; and, unless he told the beheKier that. he was, in fact, born at OCaleu se conversing with him ould a thayh ghtnot far from “dear, dirty Dublin,’ eeié claims to be one of the heirs of the dead mt general whose name he bears. This livi mber of the great O’Keefe y © Writer conversed yesterday claims that his father, Daniel O'Keefe—who, by the way, was born at home, and notin Calcutta—was an officer in the first pattalion: wenty-first regi- ment of Royal North British Fusiliers. He died in Calcutta while serving with his 1840. The brcther of Daniel, appears singular! yy ugh, ta red the same regi- ment while it lay in « atta, and in the year 1840. After the death of his father, the New York O’Keefe —let us call him—returmed home from Calcutta, where he had gone to see the light, and settled with his mother, two brothers, and two sisters at ublin. Here he went to sehool with his brothers and sisters, just as an ordinary boy might have done, and nothing of a nd stirring nature is recorded of him un urteenth year, at which age he enli mer in the same regiment and battalion to which his father had once belonged, for, it seems, the eres portion of the O'Keefe family had, for reasons best known to themselves, determined to belong to no other regi- ment in the service than the First battalion of the Twenty-first North British Fusiliers. It was in 1854 that young O’Keefe took to rattle the thunder- ing drum as his trade, and.he continued at this noisy occupation until the year 1862, when he left the service. Now, the theory of the Irish-American branch of the family is that the late Adjutant Gen- eral Charles Robert O’Keefe was none other than the brother of the dead officer, Daniel O’Keeffe, and, consequently, uncle, to the gentleman who is at present employed in Broadway. True, the con- necting chain of evidence does not.as yet appear to be overwhelmingly convincing in. his favor, but he expects to soon establish in full his right to the millions of yellow dross that in far-off Calcutta await the coming of the rightful heir. Our O'Keefe, on this side of the ocean, says that he has a brother who is an inspector of the Dublin city police foree, stationed at Ladd’s Lane, and that this active ser- vant of the British government has gone over to London “‘to see about it.” _ Of course the present O’Keefe utterly ignores the idea of a person with such an unlikely name as Madden having anything whatever to do with the hoards of wealth accumulated by the dead O’Keefe. —New York Herald, March 1. a To Corresvondents. 3@- GOSSIP WITH READERS AND CONTRIBUTORS.— Student.—Columbus, in his first voyage, sighted Jand at 2.4. M., of Friday, October 12, 1492, and at sunrise the boats were lowerea and he was rowed to the shore. Columbus was the first to step on the beach, and named the island, (one of the Bahmaas,) San Salvador. G. O. 8.—This young gentleman writes us at some length in re- ply to certain strictures of ours on Byron, and our defense of Pope. We cannot find room for his entire letter, but in justice to him we must give the substance of what he has tosay concern- ing Byron. He says: “Byron may deserve all the epithets which you have applied to him, except perhaps Atheist, which he can not have beeu, or he would never have compared Gibbons and Voltaire to the Titans ot old as assailing Heaven again. ‘Piling thoughts which would call down thunder and flame from Heaven, if Heaven could feign do more than smiie.’ (See ‘Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage,’ Canto ITI, stanza cv.) But I shall not attempt to defend Byron. I know that he was not agood man, and am far trom admiring him. I wish toexplain myseif fully in regard to what I said in my last letter concerning his try. You seem to have misap- prehended me. It might be safely inferred that ninety-nine out ef a hundred boys of my age who opined that Byron was the best of modern poets, admired him for his licentiousness alone, and that his Don Juan formed the great centre of attraction for all their encomiastic praise. But it is not thus with me. I agree with Johnson who has written in one of his essays to the effect that those are thoroughly depraved and base creatures who draw vol- uptuous and libidinous pictures for the sake of inflaming the passions of others. Therefore, it is not Byron’s immoral con- ceptions which I uphold and praise. I admire in his writings what istruly great. As a writer of life-like and beautiful de- scriptions I consider him as second to none, and asa writer ot the sublime and beautiful I would place him next to Shakespeare and Milton. In his description in ‘Don Juan’ of Lambro, the pi- rate’s return home is one of the most pleasing and beautiful pic- tures which could be drawn. I can find nothing to compare with it in any other poet. His poem called ‘The Destruction oi Sen- nacherib’? is wonderfully told, and containgno fiaw to mar its beauty. Every line has something remarkable in it; while one sets forth some exalted image; another gives a beautiful com- parison. Childe Harold is replete with fine descriptions. What could be more grand than his picture of the Coliseum at Rome. “““A ruin—yet what ruin? from its mass Walls, palaces, half-cities, have been reared: Yet oft the enormous skeleton ye pass, And marvel where the spoil could have appeared. Hath it indeed deen plunder’d. or but clear’d? Alas! developed, opens the decay; When the colossal fabric’s form is neared, : It will not bear the brightness of the day, Which streams too much on all the years man have reft away, “But when the rising moon begins to climb Tts See ota arch, and gently pauses there; When the stars twinkle through the loops of time, And the low night breeze waves along the air, The gariand-torest which the gray walls wear, Like laurels on the bald first Cesar’s head; When the light shines serene, but doth not glare, Then in this magic circle raise the dead: Heroes have trod this spot—’tis on their dust ye tread.’ “A few stanzas before these two given is tound his admirable description of the ‘Dying Gladiator.’ I have not the space to quote it. Here is what I call a sublime passage: “*He who ascends to mountain tops, shall find The loftiest peaks most wrapt in clouds and snow; He who surpasses or subdues mankind Must look down on the hate of those below ; Though high above the aun of glory giow, And far beneath the earth and ocean spread, Round him are icy rocks, and loudly blow Contending tempests on his naked head, And thus reward the toils which to those summits }ed.’ “Another fine stanza is in Canto III, same poem: ***Once more upon the waters! yet once more! And the waves bound beneath me as a steed That knows his rider. Welcome to their rear! Swift be their guidance, wheresoe’er it lead! Though the strained mast should quiver as a reed, And the rent canyas fluttering strew the gak, 8till must I on; for I am as a weed Flung from the rock, on ocean’s foam, to sail Where’er the surge may sweep, the tempest breath prevail.’ “There are hundreds of stanzas of majestic verse like these scattered throughout his works, which are in no degree tinctured with his misanthropic ideas. If I had the time and space I would quote from Canto II, ‘Childe Harold’ seven stanzas be- ginning with stanza XXII, but I think that, as it 1s, I have given ‘ou a sufficient number of examples to illustrate what I tind to 44 great in Byron’s poetry. Byron was the greatest exponent of the noble ‘Ottava Rema’ verse. ser used it for his ‘Faer:e Queen ;’ then Beattie, Thomson, and Southey dabbied in it, but as soon as Byron adopted it ‘‘ ‘Within that circle none durst walk but he.’ @ryden’s saying of the Shakespeare style.) Butitis now late, and although I have much to say on different topics, I will be obliged to bring this letter to a close.” We have nota word ot fault to find with this. It meets our views exactly. We yield to noone in our admiration of Byron’s enius, It is his er eieees only to which we object. If we had the room we would publish your letter entire, for it is well worth it. It is but justice to say that we are surpri at the erudition and research displayed in it.’ It is wondertul for a youth of your not regard Pope as a plegiarist in the fullest sense of that term. Shakespeare was accused of plagiarism, and not without some shadow of truth, for he quotes from the Bible without credit, in not only one but half a dozen instances, almost literally. You are fortunate in being able to read the ancient authors in their own languages, but how many others are so bleased? It is safe to Bay that ninety-nine out of every hundred would never have had the benefit of Pope’s stolen ideas if he had ngt translated them into English. We have never read Pope carefully and were not aware of the existence of such poems as ‘January and May” or “The Wife of Bath,” but if they are what you represent thet to be, we can only say that two wrongs do not that the fact does not at all excuse Byron, U. P. W.—' What 1s sweet oii manufactured from? What is the postage on a letter to Australia? How far is it to Rio de Jeneiro? When is the Permanent Exhibstion to be opened ? What will the ‘Dog Detective” cost ?” ist. Sweet oil is the same as olive oil, It is expressed from the fruit by first crushing it, and then putting the pulpin sacks and subjecting it to a gentle pressure. The first oil extracted is the purest, and is called vir- in salad oil. 2. The postage on a letter to Australia (except New uth Wales and Queensiand,) via San , is five cents; to the places named in parenthesis, twelve cents. By British mail, via Southampton, the rate is fifteen cents. 3d. The distance from New York to Rio de Janeiro is 5,920 miles. The time for the opening of the Permanent Exhibition in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, has not been fixed. As indicated by the title, it is pro: to be kept m ior alltime, 5th. Neither of the puz- suggested can be done. 6th. The papers containing the "Dog Detective” will cost 72 cents.. It will be issued in book form by G. W. Carleton & Co., in a shorttime. 7th. We cannot deter- mine what the coins are, nor their yalue, which varies. 8th. See “Knowledge Box.” Anmious Subscriber writes: “I have a patent on a certain article, which is imported in large quantities from Holland. The patent was taken out in the year 1869, and is the sole one for the United States. I have lately discovered that a party in New York manufactures this article, and claims it to be imported, although I am positive that it isnot. I have mever worked the patent on account of the scarcity infunds. Now, the question I wish to ask is this: Am I entitled to any part of the proceeds from the sale of this article, and will the Jaw support me in ary action I may take on the ground of infringement of patent ? may as well add, that Iam the only one who knows the secret of it, although many profess to know it, and the article they manu- facture is very inferior stuff. To a man with sufficient means and energy, it is truly asinecure.” We could answer your ques- tion more definitely if we knew what was the nature of the article patented. Ifit isa preparation of drugs or chemicals, the patent will protect you in the name, but you cannot prevent a person from compounding the same article and selling it under a different name. If it is a mechanical contrivance, the patent will not only protect you from manufacture, sale, or use, but will prohibit the sale of the foreign article. Wm, P. writes: “I have been a reader of the NEw YorK WEEKLY for the past five years, and I wanta little good advice. Iam a young man of twenty-two, and would like to get married. T have been acquainted with a young lady for the last six months, and have taken her to theaters, balls, and parties, but she seems to flirt too much with other young men. ow, whatamlI to do to win her, and also break her of these habits? She is very pretty, and has got lots of money, and I must win her, for I am so much in love with her that I am not able to attend to business —have not been able to work for the last five weeks?” We con- fess that we are hardly able to advise in so serious a case as this 1s represen to be. The proper thing to do seems to be to go to the young lady, make a confession of Jove and ask her to be- come your wife. Jf she declines your suit, to restore you to your normal condition, a course of low diet and cold baths may prove effectual. If not—well, try the blue glass treatment. Ignorance.—‘What event does the Mardi Gras festival com- memorate, and who participates in the celebration ?”? The Mar- di Gras festival which takes place annually in our Southern cities on Shrove Tuesday, the day before the commencement of Lent, is an outgrowth of the carnival which takes place in Paris and the principal Spanish and _ Italian cities at the same season. In the European cities the festival extends over several days or weeks, concluding with a grand procession and masquerade, in which the participants wear grotesque costumes of every con- ceivable form, and masks. After poremns the street, the masks repair for the night to the various masked balls ot every descrip- tion. In this country the festival consists of merely the proces- sion and masquerade on the day eee: Ash Wednesday. It was first celebrated in this country in New Orleans, by the French residents and creoles, but forthe past few years the festival’has been observed in Memphis, Cincinnati, and other cities where the climate will permit out-door testivities early in the season. The literal meaning of Mardi Gras is fat Tuesday. 4M. Winter.—“'Can you inform me where I can obtain a book or paper on the Cherokee language ?”” There is a weekly paper (English and Cherokee) published at Tahlequah, Indian Territo- ry. Wedonot know the name of the journal, but a letter ad- dressed to the postmaster, enclosing one for the editor, will reach its destination. The Cherokee language is the only one having an alphabet, which was invented by Geo Guess, a half-breed, about fifty years ago. Books of elementary instruc- tion are published by the press of the territory. Daisy E.—We commend your desire to try and lift a portion of the burden of support from the shoulders of your parents, but we will be candid with you, and therefore suggest that you will best accomplish it through some other channel than writing for the press or preparing for the stage. No more uncertain or un- remunerative vocations could be selected, even were you fitted by education to fill either position, which you are not, as your letter indicates. Asa milliner, dressmaker, or any other occu- pation within your reach, you will earn dollars where you would not gain dimes in the former. : Willie M. writes: ‘Can you give me any information in regard to the offer of the Australian government to furnish men with employment, with passage there at reduced rates ?’? The goy- ernment of New South Wales, desirous of securing a number of men to work upon a projected railway, have authorized R. W. Cameron & Co., ot 23 South William street, this city, to provide for shipment of men of the right sort, who are to be charged $40 for the passage to Sydney. The first load, consisting of 99 men, sailed on Saturday, Feb. 3, and others are to follow as the men are secured. Joe and Jack.—The best advice we can offer is, that you go to the part of the country in which you wish to settle, hire out as farm hands, or employ yourselfin some other way in which you can gain subsistence, until you can fix on a place which meets your requirements, and then go to the nearest land office, and take the preliminary steps to acquire a title under the Home- stead law. The act does not apply to Texas, the public lands there belonging to the State. A Reader.—Precious metals found on private property belong to the owner of the land. On Government land, the finder may stake out his claim, and make the proper record, which gives him precedence over all other claimants A work on mining, metallurgy and assaying, with digest of mining laws, will be furnished for $3. make a right, and G. G.—The word “limited,” applied to firms and corporations, has various meanings. It applies to the number of shares and also to the duration of time tor which the copartnership is agreed upon, It also applies to the amount for which a partner is hable. For instance he puts in $10,000, and his liability for the debts of the concern is limited to that amount. Frea. R. Hamiiton.—“Ts there any paper or magazine that gives the fashions for gentlemen?” The Tailors’? Monthly Review is the only periodical of that character. The subscription price is $5 per year. Each number has a fashion plate with it, and twice a i a large colored plate, Single copies cost 50 cents, Send full address te NEW YORK WEEKLY Purchasing Agency, f. T.—Will you please inform me to whom and where I must- apply for a situation as light-house. keeper, and what is the sal- ary ?? Appointments as light-house keepers are made by the light-house board, under the supervision of the Treasury De- pestnses Address a letter to the chairman of that board, mithsonian Institute, Washington D.C. The pay ranges from $160 to $1,000 per year, Anzious Reader.—‘‘Will the lately published popular story, ‘The Bitter Atonement,’ be published in bookform? What will the papers cost? I think itthe best story I ever read in the New YORK WEEKLY.” Ist. The story named will be issued in book form, but no definite announcement can be made as to time, as we have several other works prepared for the press. 2d. The papers will cost $1.44, J. H, W.—“What part of the worki’s population are Roman Catholics, Greek or Eastern Church, Protestants and Moham- medans ?? The population of.the world is estimated at about 1,380,000,000, of which 200,000,000 are Roman Catholics, 110,000,000 Protestants, 80,000,000 Greek Catholics, 165,000,000 Mohammedans, 7,000,000 Jews, 360,000,000 Buddhists, 260,000,000 other Asiatic re- jigions, and the balance, about 200,000,000, pagans. Sudscriber.—Popular actors and actresses are enabled to make their own terms with photographers in regard to sitting for their pictures. If of sufficient popularity to warrant a large sale, the photographer will not only be glad to take the picture, but will present them with a certain number of copies for their own use. By applying to an artist who makes theatrical celebrities a spe- cialty you will doubtless be able to make favorable terms. Sam Patch, Jr.—ist. The ‘“Magician’s Own Book” contains over 1,000 tricks and puzzles, aiso methods ot writing m cipher. We will furnish it for $1.50. 2d. A small job press,512 by 71-2 ae inside of chase, will cost $25. 3d, See ‘Knowledge Ox. C. Huber.—Which city, Louisville or Cincinnati, received the aes = during 1876?” We can ascertain only by writing to ne P, both cities. this department, under head ‘To Purchasing Agency Cor- respondents.” age, and yet we must reiterate what we said betore, that we can- : ee — meme A Piug,—ist. We do not know whether the Morse telegraph is used in Australia. 2d. The fare from New York to Melbourne, first-clas passage, is $366—$136 to San Francisco and $220 thence to Melbourne. Emigrant rate and steerage is about half the above. 3d. Address a letter to Signal Bureau, Washington, D. C., for information in regard to situation in that department. Hernson.—ist. There is 9 penalty for writing on the outside of aletter “If not calsed for return to,” &c. 2d. We cannot tell ou what the coin is. 3d. Street & Smith publish, beside the BW YORK WEEKLY, the Boys of the World, $2.50 per year, and the Mammoth Monthly Reader, a large eight-page paper, 75 cents per year. A. £,—‘Ts there any place in this city where a young man can learn todrum? Are there any books which will teach me ro Apply to the drum major of any one ot the regimental drum corps. Many of them have classes of instruction. Books will not aid you. J. F. Clifton.—The managers of the varioug lines of Sound steamers do not take apprentices to learn to or pilots. or not. e engineers We cannot say whether the Pilot Commissioners do You may learn by applying at the office in South street. _A. H,—We do not know the address of the Asbury Park Asso- ec in this city. A letter addressed to the postmaster at As- bury Park, Monmouth Co., N. J., will probably elicit the desired information, Ola Reader,—‘‘What is the population of New York city, and the pronunciation of Sardanapalus?” ist. The lation of New York city, by the census of 1875, was 1,046,087, "2, Sarda- napalus is pronounced Sar-da-na-pa-lus, John N. E.—\st. The English lan is the official and com- mercial language of Australia. Sa. See reply to ‘Willie M.,” last weck, Dawler.—. ly to the Academy of Design, Fourth avenue and Twenty-third street. dirs. W, L. F.—We sympathize with you, and have piaced the advertisement in our columns. Tecumseh Chief—Ist. See reply to “Martha” in No. 18 24, See “Etiquette Department.’ Louis Hoxie.—The papers containing ‘“‘A Terrible Secret,” will cost $1.74. . Rusk.—Consult a lawyer, stating all the circumstanees of the case. J. West.—We willsend you a pamphlet on ventriloquism fifteen cents. “ ” sad Maldon.—The papers are out of print. R. R. J.—We have no idea of the meaning of the initials. The salowiny MSS. have been accepted: “The Reason,” ‘Lar gess.”” “Phe following will appear in the Mammoth Monthly Reader: “Our Old Attic Floor,” ‘Strike the Harp,” “Lines to Fred,”’ “The Last Meeting,” “The Musician’s Daughter,’ “Yes,” “A Birthday Monody,” “Heroes,” “The Magic Hour,” “All Saints’ Day,” “The Lining of the Cloud,” ‘A Woman’s Work,” ‘“Or- The tollowing are respectfully destined: “Broken- Alice,” “Wyoming Mary,’ ‘‘Love’s Victory,” ‘“Memo- ries,” ‘“‘Vanderbilt’s Universal Epitaph,’ “‘Burning of the Brook- lyn Theater,” “Clarice,” ‘‘A Terrible Keepsake,” “Straw,” “Do- Joroso, the Spanish Beauty,” “The Rescued Child,” -““My Jesus I Adore,” Gone,” “Hope,” “Bunshine,” “Two Boys’ Adventures.” TO PURCHASING AGENOY CORRESPONDENTS. In response to the queries of our correspondents who send né address, we give the prices at which the tollowing articles may be procured through the Nsw YORK WBEKLY Purchasing Aremt cy: “Ball-room Guide and Complete Dancing Master,” $1; Ollen- dorff’s ‘New Method of Learning French,” $1.25; key to ditto, $1; “American Hoyle,” $2; musical box, six tunes, to $112; Bryant & Stratton’s Counting-House pone $8.75; Nutt alls Standard Pronouncing ionary, $1; Johnson’s Diction- ary, cents; American Letter Writer, 40 cents; “New Realy Reckoner,” 40 cents. ‘ ETIQUETTE. Corinne writes: “Please to inform me about these questions and I shall be greatly obliged. If a young man carries on a cor- respondenee for two years with a young lady who resides in the same city as he does, and at the same time comes home from church with me and altogether pays me particular attention, am I to suppose he thinks a great deal ot her, but desires to keep it quiet? Now do you think it advisable to request him to discon- tinue his visits and forbid him seeing me home, or shall I keep up his acquaintance? Is it the custom for a young man to wait at the church door for a young lady and then see her home ? The gentleman repeating this several times and being an old ac- quaintance, do you think it would be indelicate to ask him to ac- company you the next Sunday f” Ist. We think if a gentleman corresponds with one young lady, if the correspondence is un- derstood to be legitimate, and he has given her to understand that he wishes her to consider herself engaged to him, we do not think it honorable for him to pay particular attention to any other lady, let his motives be what they may. It you are his friend and an acquaintance of the young lady's as well, we think for you to allow him to occasionally accompany you home from church perfectly proper, providing you do so with the knowledge of the lady in question.. 24. A gentleman being at church, and seeing a ety acquaintance there, if she is unattended by any other escort, he may wait at the door of the church and ask to accompany her home. i ady may ask a gentleman friend to accompany her to church if he isa visitor at her house, or a stranger in the place, but to ask him for no other reason than because he has several times waited to accompany her home would not be a proper excuse for her doing s0. Madaline C. writes: “Having long been a constant reader of the New YORK WEEKLY, I thought I would ask you a few ques- tions, which if you would answer would oblige me very much. I amayoung ladyeighteen years of age,and while away visiting last summer I made the acquaintance of agentleman whom I like very much. He asked my permission to write to me, and I gave it. I waited a long time, and then thinking he wanted me to write first, wrote to him. 1 wrote even a third time, yet neyer received an answer to either of the letters. Have you amy idea - why he does not write, and if it would be right or proper te write again to him?” ist. When the gentleman asked permission to - write to you and you gave it, there was no impropriety in your writing to let him know when you reached your home. We think he showed a lack of good breeding in not answering your letter. We do not think ra should write again, or that you should haye written a second letter without having received an answer to first. 2d. Upon being introduced to a gentieman, it is not necessary to say anything unless it should be some one of whom you have heard much talk and have had a wish to make his ae- quaintance, then you may express meee P eat haying th opportunity of being presented tohim. Should you be jeit to . department at Washington, or to the postmasters of Constant Reader, R. Gordon, and Frank Osbern.—See emi of entertain him after the introduction, you may talk upon the ordinary topics of the day. Some gentlemen are not ort wo entertain, always having something pleasant to relate. A. D.—‘Will you please oblige a reader of the NEw YorK WEEKLY by answering the following questions: Would it be proper for a Jady to give a gentleman a present of a pair of cuff buttous on his birthday, when he has only been going to see her for five months, and has never made her any present, but has taken her to places of amusement and to church? Is it improp- er for a Jady to allow a gentleman to kiss her? Is a, lady to con- sider ——— a suitor for her hand from the fact that he comes home from church every Sunday, and then takes her to church n in the evening, and goes to different places of amusement during the week? Do you not think from his ac tions he thinks something of her?” ‘Ist. It is not considered etiquette for a lady to make presents to a gentleman unlese he has first made her a present, in which case there would be no impropriety for her to return the compliment by giving him a a birthday, Christmas, or New Year present. 24. ft is improp- er for a lady to allow a gentleman to kiss her, unless they are betrothed, or near relatives. 3d. A lady should not consider a entieman a suitor for her hand unless he asks her to become is wife. We should think the gentleman was fond of the lady’s =e ifhe sought her companionship in preference to other ies. Dan Duplex writes: ‘Please do me the kindness to inform me through the columns of your very valuable paper whether, when a gentleman obtains permisson from a lady to pay his addresses to her, it would be in conformity to etiquette for him to call on her twice a week at first?’ Whena gentleman gains permis- sion to visit a lady, if he does so, with a view to making her his wife, he may call upon her twice a week or even oftener, with all propriety, but should he merely seek to visit her because he finds her society agreeable, and ause she will go out with him to places of amusement, he has no right to visit her twice a week or even every week, as that will lead peopie to believe he is keeping steady company with the young lady. VY. C.—Ist. If you are having a traveling suit made, have it of some one of the neutral tints, either of cashmere or of silk, and wear it,during the ceremony. Do not wear black for a bridal dress. 2d. Usually when a gentieman becomes engaged to a lady he makes her a present of some kind. A ring 1s considered the most euid a ioe gift, and is considered an engagement ring; but should a lover fail to give his intended wife a ring she need not think less of him, or consider that he loves her Jess for the omission. L. Q. C. writes: “Please answer the following questions through the columns of your paper. ist. In sending wedding cards, where there are widowed daughters at home, is it necessary to send to each and every one seperately? 2d. Is it correct to send cards with two names on the envelope? When sending wed- ding cards to a tamily, the members that are considered as being in society, should each receive a card. Except to a gentleman and wife there should not be other names upon the envelope, Bee asks: ‘Is it proper to ask a young gentleman to call and see you when he only comes to see your father on business?” A young lady could not with propriety ask the gentleman to call upon her when his acquaintance is merely one of business with her father. If he wishes to visit her personally he will ask per- mission of her, or of her father te pay his addresses to the daughter, Arkansas Jack.—There was no impropriety in your shaking hands with the lady. Your friendship for her husband was enough to warrant you that cordiality. We think the lady, when she toid her husband that it was not proper or polite for a single gentleman to shake hands with a married lady, must have cone 80 merely to teaze you. Excitement and Fun for the Boys, TELECRAPH TOM. A great story, founded on fact, entitled “Tenn GRAPH Tom, the A.D. T. Boy,” has just been com> menced in the Boys of the Worid, now ready. It is astirring narrative, fuil of dramatic incidents, and the youthful hero is aliving character, well known, at least by reputation, to thousands of the Amer- ican District Telegraph Boys throughout the country. The scene is laid ‘in the city of New York, and many interesting phases of life in the metropolis are described with masterly vigor by the popular author, Jonn A. Mack. All who admire a well-written story should pro- cure the Boys of the World, and read the stirring story of “Telegraph Tom.” —_+2<«—____—_- Mrs. VicTor’s new story is almost ready for pub- lication. It is fully equal to her charming story of “Who Owned the Jewels,” and its perusal will be a rare treat to the multitudinous admirers of this universally appreciated author. A definite an- nouncement of its publication will soon appear. So 7m, A 6s tenes