Decatur Democrat, Volume 35, Number 51, Decatur, Adams County, 11 March 1892 — Page 2

S rnuuvn * DECATUR, IND. M. BLACKBURN, • ■ - PCTLiaHRB. Tub travelers’ pocket fire escape is not, as popularly supposed, a testament. Our brick man-of-war at, the World’s Fair occupies a unique place among coast defenses. Rats' heads arc said to be the latest fashionable ornaments worn in London. This may Justlf rouse the ire of tcrrlers._ The Louisiana lottery cat, if killed in that State, promises to bob up in Arizona with the second of its nine lives. Mark Twain and the Bey of Tunis were both ill at the same time with influenza. Time was when the humorist could not afford such swell associations. Revolutionist Garza is a very short man, which is the trouble with all revolutionists. They invariably ' need more money to carry on their revolution. There seems to be a political banquet nearly nightly at this season. , Banquets having crow for the piece ( de’reslstance will not begin until after November. “SAMho of Posen” Curtis testified < in his own behalf, that he had been , acting twenty-five years and was < never arrested before. Most marvelous, indeed! It is said that Boston architects have been awarded the contract for , designing the Public Library. The Athens of America appears to have a classic "scoop.-' A man costumed as a steaming hot water bottle recently captured the grand prize for originality at a London masquerade. In all probability a woman suggested the idea. A man in Massachusetts claims to have discovered away of making artificial lightning. Presidential lightning that will always strike in the right place is more in demand. Modesty is a sweet and gentle virtue. yet in these days when you hear that a man hides his light under a bushel investigation generally shows that a thimble would have hid it just as well. ' An actor named Beerbohm is play- ' Ing “Hamlet” in New York. Milwaukee dees not naturally take to the Sh2.li’ B P flaj * oan drama, but? 11C WOUIG draw big houses in that beer-booming ' city. , One-third of the meat sold in ■ Paris is the flesh of horses and mules. ( When the American hog gets fairly . acquainted with the French capital , he wiN reform present arrangements. , , Tmc entire fire department of Rochester was called out to extin' guish the aurora borealis. It may be seen from this how small the average New Yorker believes this world to be. A young Canadian recently had enlargement of the brain, which caused '’imbecility. Dr. Hammond removed portions of the skull and the poor fellow is now recovering. We have heard of many causes for mental stupidity, but undue growth •f gray matter was not among them. If a stall-fed, haughty, self-satis-fied donkey, accustomed to looking down on ite fellow-donkeys, were suddenly gifted with the power of speech and no restraining influences were thrown around it, we imagine it would talk about as Ward McAllister talks. Ward McAllister has cut down his estimate of New York’s fashionable people from 400 to 150. Yet even this estimate is too liberal, and it is certain that only Mr. Allister’s superabundant modesty prevents his uttering his inmost opinion that there is really only one person of the highest breeding in New York. The University of Wisconsin has a notable acquisition in Prof. Ely, who leaves the Johns Hopkins University for the Western college. Dr. Ely is a painstaking student of political science and an authority upon taxation and municipal government. The time seems to be at hand when the Eastern colleges will have the architecture and the Western colleges the men.

Manufacturers of school furniture have organized a company with sufficient capital to control all the concerns engaged in business. These gentlemen protest that they have not formed a trust, but that they have come together for the purpose of reducing the cost of their goods and giving the people the benefit of thKr association. • It is not a trust, but -e- the capital of the gornpany is $2,000,000, and better profits afe-to.be guaranteed to every stockholder. A colored man^Gran ville Woods has made a successful invention, [ just now,attracting large attention in ' ” the East. It is in the method of supplying electrical energy in moving earsand trains. The cars, by his new system, will be applied with power tXtough wire brushes which make connections with ‘‘heads” from wAergrouod conducting lines- There

will no exposed wires.' A test made in New York was eminently successful. It is the first notable invention of a colored man in electrical engineering. A highly valuable contribution to the literature of the labor question in Chicago is thatof Inspector Schaack, who holds that most of the applicants for food and shelter at police stations are “professional trampsand bums.” The evidence upon which ho bases-this opinion is that when he went into a room where eight of the homeless and hungry , ones were congregated and told them that war had been declared against Chili and called for volunteers one man only responded. If the Inspector would discover how hasty he was drawing from this the generalization that his guests were tramps and “bums” ho might submit the same proposition to eighty of his well-fed bluecoats and see how many volunteers would respond. Sergeant Dunn, who is in charge of the signal service station in New York, is authority for the statement that the climate of this country is gradually changing, the winters in the North becoming milder and those in the South colder. The mean temperature in New York has gradually become higher in the last few years, and this when the summers have oeen cooler than for many years. Sergeant Dunn’s theory is that irrigation in the West has driven storms to the North, where they break across Canada and toward the St. Lawrence Gulf. This causes the air currents to come from the South to supply that displaced bv the rush of the storm, and produces a milder climate, in the Northern States. By the same reasoning he finds that these warm currents from the South leave a partial vacuum there which is supplied by the rush of cold air from the Northwest, carrying many storms into Kansas, Arkansas, and even Texas and the Southern States. * However correct Mr. Dunn’s theories may be. the facts are indisputable. There has been a gradual change in our climate. The growth of colleges in this country has been steady and so has been their patronage. In 1850 there were 8,837 students in the colleges of the country. In 1860 this number had been increased to 13,443; in 1870, to 16,339; in 1880, to 20,650, and in 1890 to 31,359. The number of college students per 100,000 population in 1890 was 115.7 in New England, 58.7 in the Middle States, 38 in the Southern States, 49.6 in the Central States, 31.4 in the Western States, and 44.2 in the Pacific States. These agures Show >hat there is a higher average of college students in the Pacific States than in either the Southern or Western States, and that New England has an average almost double that of the Middle States, and three times that of the Western and Southern States. But New England has drawn heavily from all sections of the country because of the excellence of her educational institutions. When the Chicago University is opened, with the greatest corps of professors to be found in the country, New England will lose much of this patronage to the West, and there will be great changes in the figures of the next census Success seems to be making Dr. Keeley mad. It is but a few weeks since he put forth the amazing explanation that he kept secret the components of his cure for inebriety because he held it in trus’u for the widows and orphans ruined by the whisky power. No sensible man denies Dr. Keeley’s right to profit by his own discovery, but to attempt to cover the methods of the sharp business man with a cloak of sham philanthropy is mere hypocrisy. Recently the Doctor stood before an audience of “graduates” of his institution and assured them that his nostrum was “the greatest blessing vouchsafed to man since the time of Noah.” After a little reflection he concluded to modify this boast, and added: “I will take that back;" 1 will say since the time of Christ.” There have been a good many discoveries of beneficial and merciful agents since the year 1, A. D. for instance, have lightened the load of pain of men and women very materially. However, the discoverers of th# i uses of the various-forms W anaesthetics did not “hold them in trust for widows and orphans, ” enjoving meantime mighty incomes annually from i the. secret.

One of Hum an tty's Trials. Men with little money have good appetites, as a rule. Rich men are apt to have stomachic complications that make life miserable. A wealthy man remarked recently: “When I was struggling for a footing on a very narrow and precarious salary, I could eat anything and eat it three or four times a day. Nothing was ever the matter with me. Now, when I havenot hing to do. but indulge my tastesr I fipd J have no tastes. I can’t eat rich food—) dare not drink wines. 1 can’t smoke. Jlivn at the best hotels, but have to live more frugally than 1 did when I was a junior clerk, because 1 can’t stand it. I follow the ; simplest kind of life. No, it Isn’t, the I want of physical, exercise—l run i around more now than I used to; and I I’m not.yet out, of the, prime of life. I It is a Curious thing that, weare given the cajmcity to Tnjoy when we are young; inexperienced, without sense and usually without money. When we are older, have made a fortune and a place and have brains and knowledge, we can’t enjoy anything,, A man preserves his silence by eav. i ing his speech. ,

DR. TALMAGE’S SERMON. CHRISTIANITY OFFERS REFUGE TO ALL. Ihe Faith orjMus I ■Likened to the Cod ar ot l«banon. In tha shade <d When Uranchaa Fowl ot Every Wln« Shall Dwelt _ Tha Tabernaola Pulpit. Dr. Talmage’s subloct was the refuge offered bv the Christian religion to people of all ages and,#i;ory variety of character. His textvaj#* Ezekiel xvii, 23, “A goodly cedar, and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing.” The cedar of Lebanon is a royal tree. It stands 6,000 toet above the level of the sea. A missionary counted the concentric circles and found one tree 3,500 years old—long rooted, broad branches, all the year in luxuriant foliage. The same branches that bent in the hurricane that Davtd saw sweeping over Lebanon rock to day over the head of the American traveler. This monarch of the forest, with its leafy lingers, plucks the honors of a thousand years and sprinkles them upon its own uplifted brow, as though some great hallelujah of Heaven had been planted upon Lebanon and it were rising up with all its long armed strength to take hold of the hills whence it came. Ob. what a fine place for birds to nest in! In hot days they come thither—the eagle, the dove, the swallow, the sparrow and the raven. There is to many of us a complete fascination in the structure and habits of birds. They seem not more of earth than Heaven—ever vacillating between the two. No wonder that Audubon, with hfs gun, tramped through all the American forests iu search of new specimens. Geologists have spent years in finding the track of a bird’s claw in the new red sandstone. There is enough of God’s architecture in a snipe’s bill or a grouse’s foot to confound all the universities. Musicians have, with clefs and bars, tried to catch the soufid ot the nightingale and robin. Among the first thing that a child notices is a swallow at the eaves, snd grandfather goes out with a handful of arumbs to feed the snowbirds. The Bible is full of ornithological allusions. The birds of the Bible are not dead and stuffed, like those of the museum, but living birds, with fluttering wings and plumage. “Behold the fowls of the ail,” savs Christ "Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence Till I bring thee down," exclaims Obadiah. “Gavest thou the goodly wings unto the peacocks?” says Job. David describes his desolation by saying. “I am like a pelican of the wilderness; I am like an owl of the desert; I watch and am as a sparrow alone upon the housetop.” “Yea, the stock in the Heaven knoweth her appointed time; and the turJe, and the crane, and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the Lord’’—so savs Jeremiah. Ezkie) in my text intimates that Christ is the cedar, and the people from all quarters are the birds that lodge among the branches. “It shall be a goodly cedar, and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing.” As in Ezekiel's time, so now—Christ is a goodly cedar, and to Him are flying all kinds of people—young and old, rich and poor, men high soaring as the eagle, those fierce as the raven, and those gentle as the dove. “All fowl of every wing.” First, the young may come. Us the eighteen hundred and ninety-two years that have passed since Christ came,about sixteen hundred have been wasted by the good in misdirected efforts. Until Robert Raikes came there was no organized effort for saving the young. We spend all our strength trying to bend old trees, when a little pressure would have been sufficient for the sapling. We let men go down to tbe very bottom of sin before we try to lift them up. It is a great deal easier to keep a train on the track than to get it on when it is off. The experienced reinsman checks the fiery steed at the first jump, for when he gets in full swing, the swift hoofs eliciting fire from the pavement and the bit between his teeth, his momentum is irresistible. It is said that the young must be allowed to sow their “wild oats.” I have noticed that those who sow their wild oats seldom try to raise any other kind of crop. There are two opposite destinies. It you arc goipg to Heaven, you had better take the” straight road, and not try to go to Boston by the way of New Orleans. What is to be the history at this multitude of young (people around me to-day? I will take you by the hand and show you a glorious sunrise. I will not whine about this thing, nor groan about it, but come, young men and maidens, Jesus wants you. His hand is love. His voice is music, His smile is Heaveq. Religion will put no handcuffs on your wrist, no hopples on your feet, no brand on your forehead. I went through the heaviest snowstorm I have ever known to see a dying girl. Her cheek on the pillow was white as the snow on the casement Her large, round eye had not lost any of its luster. Loved ones stood all around tbe bed trying to hold her back. Her mother could not give her up, and one nearer to her than either father or mother was frantic with grief. I said, “Fapny, how do you feel?" “Oh!” she said, “happy, happy! Mr. Talmage, tell all the young folks that religion will make them happy.” As I came ontof the rbom, louder than all the sobs and wailings of grief, I heard the clear, sweet, glad voice of the dying girl. “Good-night; we shall meet again on the other side of the river.” The next Sabbath we buried her. We brought white flowers and laid them Qn the coffin. There was in all that crowded church but one really happy and delighted face, and that was the face of Fanny. Ob, I wish that now my Lord Jesus Would go through this audience and take all these flowers of youth and garland them on bls brow. The cedar is a fit refuge for birds of brightest plumage and swiftest wing. Bee, they fly! they fly! “All fowl of every wing.” Again. I remark that tbe old may come. You say. “Suppose a man has to go on crutches; suppose he is blind; suppose he is deaf; suppose that nine-tenths of his life has been wasted." Then I answer: Come with crutches. Come, old men, blind and deaf, come to Jesus. If you would sweep your hand around before your blind eyes, the first thing you would touch would be the cross. It Is hard for an aged man or woman to have grown old without religion. Their taste is gone. The peach and the grape have lost their flavor —They say that somehow fruit does not taste as It used to. Their hearing gets defective, and they miss a great deal that is said in theft presence. Their friends have all gone and everybody seems so strange. The world seems to go away from them and th.ey are left all alone. They begin to feel in the way when yon come into the room where they are. and they move their chair nervously and say, “I hope. I am not In the way.” Alas! that father and mother should ever bo in the way. When you were sick and they sat up *ll night rocking you, singing to you, administering to you, did they think that you were in the way? Are you tired of the old people? Do you snap them up quick and sharp? You will be cursed to the bone tor your ingratitude and unkindness! Oh. it is hard to be old without re-

and nothing better coming. If there be any here who have gone far on without Christ, I address you deferentially. You have found this a tough world for old people. Alaa! to have aches and pains, and no Christ to sooth them. I want to give you a cine bettor than that you lean on. It is the cane that the Bible speaks pt when It says, “Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." I want to give you better spectacles than those you now look through. It Is the spiritual eyesight of divine grace. Christ will not think that you are In the way. Does your head tremble with the palsy of old age? Lay it on Christ’s bosom. Do you feel lonely now that your companions and children are gone? I think Christ has them. They are safe In His keeping. Very soon Ho will take you where they are. I take hold of your arm and try to lead yon to a place where you can put down all yoqy burden. Go with me. Only a little whilq longer and your sight will come again, aiid your hearing will coma again, and with the strength of an immortal athldte you will step on the pavement of Heaven. No crutches in Heavon.no sleepless nights In Heaven, no cross looks for old people. Dwelling there for ages, no one will say, “Father, yon know nothing about this; step back; you are in the way!” Oh, how many dear old folks Jesus has put to sleep! How sweetly He their eyes! How gently folded their arms! How He has put His hand on their silent hearts and said: “Rest now, tired pilgrim. It is all over. The tears .will never start again. Hush! Hush!" So He gives His beloved sleep. I think the most beautiful object on earth Is an old Christian—the hair white, not with the frosts of winter, but the blossoms ot the tree of life. 1 never feel sorry for a Christian old man. Why teel sorry for those upon whom the glories of the eternal world are about to burst? They are going to the goodly cedar. Though their wings are heavy with age, God shall renew their strength lllft the eagle, and they shall make their nest in the cedar. "All fowl of every wing.” Again, the very bad, the outrageously sinful, may come. Men talk of the grace of God as though it were so many yards long and so many yards deep. People point to the dying thief as an encouragement to the sinner. How much better it would be to point to our own case and say, “If God saved us He can save anybody ” There may be those here who never had one earnest word said to them about their souls. Consider me as putting my hand on your shoulder and looking in ytour eye. God has been good to you. You ask, "How do you know that? IHe has been very hard on me.” “Where ! did you come from?” “Home.” “Then you have a home. Have you ever thanked God for your home? Have you children?” “Yes.” “Have you ever thanked God for your children? Who keeps them safe? Were you ever sick?” “Yes ” "Who made you well? Have you been fed every day? Who feed you? Put your hand on your pulse. Who makes it throb’ Listen to the respiration of ■jour lungs. Who helps you breathe? Have you a Bible in the house, spreading before you the future life? Who gave you that Bible?” Oh, it has been a story of voodnesaand mercy all the way through. You have been one of God’s pet children. Who fondled you and caressed you and loved you? And when you went astray and wanted to come back, did He ever refuse? I know of a father who, after his son cue# back the fourth time, said. “No; I forgave you three times, but I will never forgive you again.” And the son went off and died. But God takes back Hltl children the thousandth time as cheerfully as the first As easily as with mv handkerchief I strike the dust off a book, God will wipe out all your sins. .There are hospitals for “incurables.” When men are hopelessly sick, they are sent there. Thank God! there is no hospital for spiritual incurables. Though you had the worst leprosy that ever struck a soul, your flesh shall come again like the flesh of a little child. Oh, this mercy of God! lam told it Is an ocean. Then I plaee on it four swift sailing craft, with compass and charts and choice rigging and skillful navigators, and I tell them to launch away and discover for me the extent of this ocean. That craft puts out in one direction, and sails to the north; this craft to the south; this to the east; this to the west. They crowd on all their canvas and sail 10,000 years, and one day come up to the harbor of Heaven, and I shout to them from the beech, “Have you found the shore?” and they answer, “No shore to God’s mercy!” Swift angels, dispatched from the throne, attempt to go across it For a million years they fly and fly, but they come back and fold their wings at the foot of the throne and cry, “No shore! no shore to God's mercy!” Mercy! Mercy! Mercy! I sing it I preach it. I pray it. Here I find a man bound band and foot to the devil, but with one stroke Os the hammer of God’s truth the chains fell off and he is free forever. Mercy! Mercy! Mercy! There is no depth it cannot fathom; there is no height It cannot scale; there is no Infinity it cannot compass. I take my stand under this goodly cedar and see the flocks flying thither. They are torn with the shot of temptation and. wounded and sick and scarred. Some fought with iron beak; some once feasted on carcasses; some were fierce of eye and cruel ot talon, but they came, flock after flock—“ All fowl of every wing.” Again, all the dying will find their nest in this goodly cedar. It is cruel to destroy a bird's nest, but death does not hesitate to destroy one. There was a beautiful nest in the next street Lovingly the parents brooded over it There were two or. three little robins in the nest,, The scarlet fever thrust its hands into the nest, and the birds are gone. Only those are safe who have their nests in the goodly cedar. They have over them "the feathers of the Almighty.” Oh, to have those soft, warm, eternal wings stretched over us! Let the storms beat and the branches of the cedar toss on the wind—no danger. When a storm comes, you can see the birds flying to the woods. Ere the storm of death comes down, let us fly to the goodly cedar. Os what great varieties Heaven will be made up. There come men who once were hard and cruel and desperate in wickedness, yet now, soft and changed by grace, they come Into glory, “All fowl of every wing.” And here they come, the children who were reared in loving home circles flocking through the gates of life, “All fowl of every wing.” These were white and came from northern homos; these were black and ascended from southern plantations; these were copper colored and went up from Indian reservations—“AH fowl of every wing.” So God gathers’them up. It is astonishing how easy It a ’ otxl 8001 enter Heaven. A prominent business man in Philadelphia went home one afternoon, lay down on the lounge and said, “It is time for me to go,” He was very aged. His daughter said to him. “Are you sick?” He said: “No; but it is time for me to go. Haye John put it in two of the morning papers, that my friends may know that lam gone. Goodby; and as quick as that God had taken him. It is easy to go when the time comes. There are no ropes thrown out to pull us ashore; there are'no ladders let down to pull us up. Christ comes and takes os by the hand and says, "You have had

the cheek, and the rod rose of health whitens into the Illy of immorta purity and gladness? When autumn comes and the giant of the woods smites his anvil aud the leafy sparks fly on the autumnal gale, then there will bo thousands of birds gathering in the tree at tho corner of the field, just before departing to warmer dimes, aud they will call and sing until tbe branches drop with the melody. There is a better clime for us, aud by and bv wo shall migrate. We gather In tho branches of the goodly cedar, In preparation for departure. Yon heard our voices in the opening song; you will hoar them in tho closing song—voices good, voices bad, voices happy, voices distressful—“ All fowl of every wing." By and by we shall be gone. If all this audience Is saved, as I hope they will be, I see them entering into life. Some have bad It hard; some have bad it easy. Some wore some were dull. Some were rocked by pious parentage; others have had their Infantile cheeks scalded with tho tears of woe. Some crawled, as it wore, Into the kingdom on their handsf nd knees, and some seemed to enter in chariots of flaming fire. Those fell from a ship’s mast; these were crushed in a mining disaster. They are God’s singing birds now. No gun of huntsman shall shoot them down. They gather on' the trees of life and fold their wings on tho branches, aud far away from frosts and winds and night they sing until the hills are flooded with Joy, and the sklos drop music, and the arches of pearl send back the echoes —"All fowl of every wing. Behold the saints, beloved of God, Washed a r e their robes in Jesus' mood. Brighter than angels, lo! they shine, Their glories splendid aud sublime. Through tribulation great they camo; They bore the cross and scorned the shame; Now, iu the heavenly temple blest. With God they dwel,; on Him they rest. While everlasting ages roll Eternal love shall feast then* souL And scenes of bliss, forever new Rise in succession to their view. Don Pedro’s limbs are incased in tight-fitting white silk, white satin low cut shoes, embroidered in gold and gems, cover the feet; white satin tunio reaching to the knees, belted and embroidered with bands of gold, pearls and diamonds. From the shoulders depends the train, several yards long. In this the silky pile of emerald green velvet, with its golden, sheeny, satin lining, is perfection, and scattered in rich profusion over the surface is the imperial arms traced in heavy goldthread embroidery. It seemed to be literally sprinkled with glittering diamond points, and the round cape (pelerine shaped) that covered his shoulders and cheat nearly to the waist crowned the effect completely. Thin is the most rare and wonderful part of the royal court costume, being made entirely from the breast feathers of the famous South American bird called t<he “soucano." These plumes are a vividly bright orange color, fine as silk ana glossy as satin, overlaying each other until they seem to be the veritable skin of the bird himself. It is said that it takes one hundred birds to furnish sufficient feathers to cover this part of the dress. Over this feathered cape was flung a costly necklace of diamonds and emeralds of immense size, and close around the throat was tied a rich lace cravat, with wrist-falls to match. The crown was weighted with gems;, great diamonds inserted in the bands of gold, interspersed with emeralds and rubies and pearls, incased a cap of velvet that seemed to press heavily on the royal head. The scepter was gold, higher than himself, and tipped with epiblems. The sword, passed through the belt, was completely studded with pearls and diamonds. I observed that our monarch’s hands were incased, as were his feet and limbs, in woven silk, and the famous signet ring was outside of the glove.— Cor. Boston Transcript. The largest vessels employed in the coral fishery on the Italian coast are of about fourteen tons, and employ a dozen hands. They have to work night and day, the men relieving each other every six hours. They fish from March to October, and their food consists chiefly of macaroni and biscuit. Each boat makes from 300 to 900 pounds, according to its size. The coral is usually found attached to rocks, never in mud, nor in muddy waters. The coral rock is formed of different species of madrepores. Sometimes it is also found attached to shell and other marine objects. It spreads out its branches in all directions, attaining a height of about a foot and the thickness of about an inch. This mode of fishing coral is very primitive and might be improved with advantage. A frame, consisting of two bars of wood or iron, about fifteen feet in length, placed across each other, is weighted in the middle .with a large stone. This frame is hung with tangles of hemp and nets, one of which is attached to each of the four extremities of the crossbar frame. This is then let down by means of a thick rope onto the coral bed and is dragged backward and forward till the coral branches are entangled in it. The rope is then attached to a windlass, and the frame is thus brought heavily ,to the surface. Precious coral varies in color from a deep red to a pale pink. It is also sometimes marbled black and white; and there is even black and white coral. Red coral was once the most esteemed; now a.delicate pink is the most valued. The finest pink coral is worth from S4OO to S6OO per ounce, while ordinary red coral may be had for $lO per ounce. ■— The question of the electric nature of cyclones is a question of fact, and cannot be determined by balancing opinions. Facts alone can decide, by proving or disproving that cyclones are caused by electricity. I maintain that not only cyclones, but all the phenomena of the atmosphere, are electric in their nature and character. The facts upon which I strongly rely and adduce to prove the electrical nature of cyclones cannot be stated here, for they are too voluminous. The substance, however, is briefly as follows: Aluminous or fiery cloud-spout is seen to descend from the clouds, which is met by a flash from the earth where the spout touches. Simultaneous with the flash everything free at the point struck explodes into fragments, is carried clean away, and generally hurled into the clouds through the vortex, Likewise, whenever an electric discharge takes place, ozone in stifling quantities ap--1 pears with the flash. Combustibles are ‘ set on fire in the buildings struck, and destroyed. Flashes ' tone from the ' furniture in the houses, and sparks from ’ the walls, like from an emery wheel. After night the tornado-cloud is invafi--1 ably luminous —often hot perceived in the day-time -and a wave-like flame on , the earth confronts the cloud-spout as it , sweeps forward on the surface of the I *1 'interpret these tacts to sav that this i and Be hXce k Giat the* whois

WASHINGTON LETTER. money thrown away on PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. Uncle Sam’e Publication. Scattered to the Four Wliide—Wbat the Chairmen of Che Two Printing Committee* Hay on the BuhJeot—Kuak Him a Little Boom. Waite In Printing.

ENATOR MANDERson, Chairman of the 'Senate Committee on Printing, according to our Washington correspondent, said the other day: “Congressmen have a right to sell the documents supplied s»to them if they Bwish to. There is “no law to forbid it. f The publications in P question are their -personal property lland under no olr- [• eumstances could the government re-

1 A Ui

plevln them. If members choose to dispose of them to second-hand dealers or other persons there is nothing to prevent them from doing so. It is true that the books and other printed matter are given them for the purpose of distribution, so that there is what might bo called an implied trust, which they are in honor bound to fulfill; but Congress can not legislate on the question. “That these documents are recognized as being the personal property of the Senator or Representative is conclu-

«ft»

sively shown by the fact that any of them which remain to the credit of a Congress man are. turned over not toil his successor but to i his estate. My belief is that the selling of such publica-

tions by a member senator mandkrsow. of the National Legislature to secondhand dealers has been a very rare occurrence. Os course it is a very common thing for Congressmen to exchange such merchandise among themselves. For example, I represent an agricultural State. I have use for many more agricultural reports than are allotted to my share. Accordingly, I go to my friend Gen. Bingham of Philadelphia. He hasn’t a farmer in his constituency. I say to him, ‘Bingham, can you let me have a couple of hundred agricultural reports in exchange for the same number of so and so,’ mentioning some document which he requires. He readily assents, and so the matter is arranged conveniently for us both." Chairman Richardson of the House committee on printing thinks that there is plenty of room for reform in the distribution of public documents. Said he: “There are at present 1,000,000 volumes of undistributed documents in the basement of the Capitol. Many of these books, according to the statements of dealers, are worth from sls to $25 each on account of their rarity or for other reasons. The accumulation has been made chiefly from the overflow of the library of Congress and from publications dispensed with and thrown out from tho committee rooms. For many years those volumes have been rotting away, rats lending not a little assistance . to their destruction. Now they are to be distributed among the Congressmen pro rata for their constituents. “There are many ways in which public documents are wasted. A publication is distributed by members of the' House. The same publication is distributed by Senators. The department from which tho publication emanated distributes it also. In addition, the document bureau in the Department of tho Interior seattors it broadcast. Thus it has happened that in a single year 86,000 volumes have been returned to the document bureau by libraries which had already received copies of the same book from other sources. Os each publication the House of Representatives receives a certain number, which is divided up among the members. After each one has received his share, there is necessarily a fraction left over, which remains in the hands of the superintendent of the folding-room. During the last year these fractions amounted to 48,000 volumes. These goto swell the useless stock on hand. A friend

TO THZ JCWK SHOP.

of mine told me that on one occasion he had seen in the cellar of a second-hand dealer 30,000 copies of government reports, a large partof them In bags which had never been opened, containing the unbroken quotas of Congressmen. As an example of a small but expensive swindle I may mention the case of one man who wrote to at least a hundred Congressmen asking each one as a personal favor for a copy, of the recently published book on the horse, Issued by the Department of Agriculture. It Is a very costly work. He got forty copies by this ingenious plan, which has doubtless been often tried with success. Is it surprising that Mr. Ames, Superintendent of the Document Bureau, should have declared recently that any private business which was managed on such vicious principles as those which govern the present method of distributing public documents would be doomed to almost immediate bankruptcy?” Others express opinions similar t» those of the gentlemen quoted, and it is quite evident that a reform in this pari ticular would be acceptable. , I find that, one very great source of , waste in public printing Is found In the reckless manner of distributing Government publications which has prevailed. They are scattered broadcast where they are not wanted, so that ' thousands upon thousands of them every 1 year are sold to dealers in waste paper 1 all over the country without having been L taken from their wrappers. Volumes of statistics; compiled at enormous exi pense, excite the wonder and dismay of > bucolic constituents, and learned essays on “Tertiary Insects” or other equally i abstruse subjects astonish the untutored. . residents of city slums. The private . secretary of a Western Senator spoke i the other day of having seen a pile of census reports five feet high in a ooun- ’ try barber shop not long ago. The ton--1 serial artist In charge was using them for shaving paper, The method of printing the publica--1 tlons of the United States Government l has gone through a vary interesting proi . cetfs of evolution. In the days of the > Continental Congress it was all done by the publishers of newspapers, under dii reetion of the Secretary of that body. first (Jonffrcss under tne v/onst*** I with orricrliiiz eai'h bill or

it was decided to give the job out to tie lowest bidder, furnishing the paperto the contractor. Under this system tha cost of tho printing for both Henirte and House during a session wait not over $3,000. J 1 President Jefferson departed from previous custom by sending a messag# in writing to Congress, with pany documents. Mhen printed thO “message and documents" made a volume of 100 pages, and 500 copies war# printed at a cost of $521. Mr. Bayard of Delaware thought this very extravagant and insisted that 150 coplee were enough. It is interesting to nato that the “message and documents of the , j Fiftieth Congress made a volume of von pages, of which wore printed 45,00 u copies, at a cost of $17,000. In 1819 Congress passed a joint resolution providing that a Congressional Printer should be elected by ballot. The place thus became a political plum, and the cost of tho public P r ' n ’“’ff mediately jumped from $17,000 to $29,000 per session, where it remained for ten years. It was subsequently ascertained that the profits of the Congressional Printer under this arrangement were about 55 per cent., being secured largely by “tricks of the trade.” In 1840 an investigation disclosed the fact that the profits of tho printers employed during the seven previous years had been nearly $67,000 per annum. This disclosure produced a sensation. , ■ In 1852 an act was passed providing for the appointment of a Superintendent of Public Printing, who should supervise the printers elected by ballot. This made things worse than ever. Politicians without practical knowledge of printing secured tho job and farmed it out to others at a percentage of the receipts. The party in power selected the man with a definite understanding to the effect that he should devote specified sums out of his profits to partisan purposes. In some cases six times a fair rate was paid for certain work, given out secretly, the plunder thus secured ing distributed among persons of iaflooence." Cornelius Weddell, who did much of the'public printing fora long period, contributed SIOO,OOO for political purposes in four years, paying besides to the elected printers of the Senate and House, whose contracts were sublet I to him, $200,000. In 1852 a maeter printer contracted to do all the post- I office printing for 93 per cent, off the old ‘ price allowed, or 7 cents on the dollar. This seems hardly credible, yet it is I true. In 1867 Congress abolished the I office of superintendent of public printing and created the post of Congression- I al Printer, to which the title of Public Printer was attached. The Public Print- I er is appointed by the President, with the consent of the Senate. At present I the printing and binding of Congress I alone costs about $1,100,000 yearly, the I department appropriations for similar purposes aggregating considerable over j a million dollars more. Fears Kidnaper*. T “Mrs. Grover Cleveland lives in dally j fear that little Ruth will be kidnaped,” I said a Washington confidante of the ex- II President's popular wife to me. Con-, I tinuing, she said: “Mrs. Cleveland, as II you and all who are acquainted with her II

i w; *y* 4>r I MRB. CLEVELAND AND RCTH. S

know, is not of a nervous, apprehensive B temperament. On the contrary, she has B a sound, well-shaped head, full of com- B mon sense. And she is as brave a young B woman as I ever knew. I don't know B just what reason she has to fear such an B awful thing. She has never told me. B But I know she must have some goodJß reason for It or she would not fear It. B She is very watchful of ‘The Child of B the Democracy,' and anybody who con- M templates kidnaping her will have to ex-B erclse a shrewdness not yet equaled byß any fellow of his infamous class. Theß little one is seldom out of Mrs. Cleve-B land’s sight. When she is, the trusted of servants watch over her detectives are within call.” B “Does Mr. Cleveland share his wife'aM fear?* “No; at least he professes not to so. But he would do that even if hegß feared such an event more than Cleveland, just to quiet her. He theless approves of all the extraordinarjß| safeguards that are thrown around Ruthjß Ho is very fond of her, and comes neareiß| deserving the name of doting pupa any father of my acquaintance. It hard to think that anybody would be sdß heartless as to steal Ruth. What a Ben-S| sation it would cause if she were naped! The whole nation would rise t<B| chase the scoundrel down. But I think there will boa cause for such chase, although I must confess thaßg Mrs. Cleveland’s fears make, me a uneasy.” r Kwik for President. Jerry Rusk for President is the latoaßß thing in the political line in

ton. Uncle Jerrßg doesn’t know i'Ma and has not beoß| even consultecßg but a number <Bg the Itopublicaßi Senators havßj: agreed to take üßffi the farmer statefßl| man from WieooißH > sin at the i t ime and Hominaßgg '' him if they swing en o u gBN votes to do They are not gßgj ing to beom

JSRRY RUSK.

nor elect delegates for him on the braeßH band principle, but they mean to taIHH good care that the delegates under th<BH control shall be brought into line at critical juncture in the conventton.4 BH Many other names have been caBB ' vassed among the Senators, among th«B ’ being McKinley, Allison, Alger aße£ Judge Gresham. For a time the IrBB named was in high favor, and an effrß , was made to ascertain through some Bfe Gresham's friends if he was favorableßHl the plan. The reply was not of an dß| couraging nature, it, being in subetmjfß j ’ that Gresham was not, a candidate," B|| did not desire to have his name used BB •- the office in any shape or form. - B Creeds’ll Boom. CHKEOE now claims about 4,000 p<BO pie, and business is very active theßß This camp appears to be building upßgg a permanent foundation — Denver Tim The wonderful developments at CIBW , pie Creek bring one peculiar They are of gold. A material increjßß i in the product of gold would be of natß|sß benefit, to silver. It would tend to ajBB the cry which has been made with W'WS much effect that it, is impractioableßi£& fix a permanent, ratio between the iBWI £^“J‘ enth ® P h dUOt the "W