that portion of the State north of the Platte River. At the time the events which we are about to relate transpired, the railroad extended from Omaha to West Point, a distance of about eighty miles. The regular term of the District Court of Madison County was called for the latter part of August, and the Judge, district-attorney, and an attorney appointed to defend a prisoner under indictment, journeyed to West Point by rail, and there hired a team, driver, and wagon, to take them to Norfolk, the then county seat of Madi son County, a distance of nearly fifty miles. The roads were good, and they made fair progress until about noon, when they espied from the road a fine water-melon patch about twenty rods away. There was a cabin of a settler near by, and one of the party went to the cabin to nego tiate for some melons. Being unable to find the owner and being loth to forego sampling the melons, it was finally decided to "confiscate" a sufficient number to satisfy the demand. There upon all three went to the melon patch and each selected one or more. The district-attorney felt somewhat guilty, and taking his portion, he returned to the wagon at once. The Judge and the other party however scorned to be in haste. The Judge had a fine melon in each hand, and in a very dignified and leisurely manner was return ing to the wagon. He had not passed over much of the intervening space when the owner of the premises appeared on the -scene. He called to the Judge : " What the h—11 are you doing in my melon patch?" The Judge was somewhat taken aback, but replied : " We were passing along and saw the melons. We en deavored to find the owner, but being unable to do so, we concluded to appropriate a few and settle afterwards. We did not intend to steal your melons." "I see you didn't.'" replied the irate owner. Here was an embarrassing position, the Judge and prosecuting officer caught in the very act, and not likely to pacify the owner, who evidently wanted blood money. At this juncture the attorney appointed to defend the prisoner accused of a felony came forward and said : " I am , of , and this is Judge C.; that man at the wagon is , prosecuting attorney, and we are on our way to Norfolk, to hold court." To which the owner replied, with an oath : " I don't care who you are; you can't steal my melons." The matter was compromised
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by paying him fifty cents. The members of the party were sworn to secrecy, as it would not do to let a joke of that kind get out, but on their return to West Point the first man they met inquired : " What is the price of melons?"
LITERARY NOTES. B. O. Flower, the editor of the Arena, writes a strong paper in the October number, on the increase of the military spirit in the United States. On the question of militarism Mr. Flower is a Quaker, and he would like to see in our American Democracy a resort to arbitration and reason for the settlement of all domestic and foreign troubles. He belienes with Hosea Biglow, "As for war, I call it murder"; and he views the increase of militarism in our schools, and the multiplication of armories in our cities, as a discouraging sign that there still lurk depths of bar barism beneath the drama of civilization, even in America, and that, as Saint Beuve pointed out, we are but twenty-four hours from savagery and carnage. It is an interesting paper.
Among the topics of timely interest singled out for editorial comment in the " Progress of the World " of the October Review of Reviews, is the Elmira Reformatory system. The editor takes the ground that whether or not Superintendent Brockway has erred in certain details of administra tion, the signal services rendered by him in the building up of such an institution are not to be ig nored. Attention is called to the character of a large proportion of the young criminals with whom the Reformatory has to deal, and to the remarkable re cord of apparently permanent reformations.
The vigor with which Mrs. Deland brings her novel " Philip and his Wife" to an end gives un usual importance to the October Atlantic. " The Retrospect of an Octogenarian," by the Rev. Dr. George E. Ellis, stands second in the number, and will command the earnest attention of the many listeners Dr. Ellis won for himself long ago, not only as a clergyman but as an antiquarian. A paper of rare historical value is the Hon. Henry L. Dawes' "Recollections of Stanton under Johnson." It pre sents an intimate inside view of a period of, govern ment life at Washington which of course was quite without parallel, and can never lose its interest and significance. The short stories of the number are
