Democratic Press, Volume 1, Number 15, Decatur, Adams County, 24 January 1895 — Page 7

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CHAPTER XII. Ladv Raymond had given her ball, her one bad of the season, and now thought it time to have something else: and, it being the end of June, her ladyship presently fixed on a strawberry tea. with a recital, or lecture, or concert, or-omethingof that nat re, by wav of food for the mind. Eventually a recital was on, the proper person for the same engaged, the ices, cakes, cream, and strawberries ordered. and two or three hundred invitations sent out. ‘‘l asked Bellenden yesterday,” announc d her son one morning, as the family sat in conclave. "1 say. mother. 1 think he has been rather neglected among us. for when 1 gave him the invitation, though I added that I did not think these sort of things were in his line, he laughed and said he w;.s far too proud o being invited to refuse.” “I am sure I should have imited him if I had ever t ought he would have cared to come,” said she. "But he never called on us till this summer, and I only took his doing so once to be beca se lie had taken Ethel in to dinner at 1* it/.wilbrahaius. ” “Perhaps it was,” said Cecil, significantly. "At all events," he added, after a pa se. "be is coming to the tea. and 1 shorn- say we might ask iom to dinner. Did \ou not say we hail a place vacant, that some one bad failed for Thursday?” "He would never come on so short a notice my dear." “I don t know about that. Judging from to-day. I should say he would. He does not go out bait so much as he used to do and it might happen he was disengaged. At all events he could not object to being asked.” It ended in his carrying off the note in his pocket, and the same evening saw it accepted. ‘ I really don’t know w’tiat has come over the fellow.” Cecil privately informed his mother. "It was no fancy of mine, he really did look delighted when he read your note, and said he would come sti aight away, without referring to his engagements or anything. 1 dare say he was engaged, b,t he s not the man to stick at that: he would find an excuse sharp enough if he wanted one: and he evidently meant to come to us. Do you think can it be Ethel? How long did she have of him? And did it strike you that he was taken with her? "( certainly observed that he went up to her as so -n as the gentlemen appeared after dinner. " replied her ladyship, "but we hail such a very short time in the drawing-room before we had to leave, and as Ethel said nothing. and we met so many people that Sa me evening at l ady Marion’s dance. J forgot all a! o t Sir Frederick Bellenden. He is a remarkably tine-look-jing man, and. I am told, popular in the [country. He is, I suppose, resf e tabie?” and she looked in juiringly at her Son, for the same idea was in troth their minds, and up to her lights lui ly Raymond was a good mother, and it wa a Sine qt anon with her that any applicant so- the hand of either daughter must be ’ res ectable.” S"Oh, I snould say particularly so.” rejoined Cecil. "I have ah been roaming inquiries about him once or twice lately. He lives now almost entirely upon his own place, and has gone in for being the country gentleman, and all that. He seemsquite dillerent faun what ho used to be in several ways: hardly cares enough far appearances. \ou know, whereas he used to be such a very great swell. He still goes to the same tailor, but his boots y 8-terday were simply disgraceful. Made by some village shoemakerdown atßelien en. I sho Id say.” ‘ And very right if they were,” sa ! d Lady Raymond, briskly. “A landed proprietor ought to encourage his own people. And he has stood for Parliament, too, I hear? Very right, very proi-‘r, I did not much care for him aaCapt. Bellenden. 1 own: he was too much the man of fashion for me. but eince he has. as you say. turned his attention to a more sensible and rational modi of life. why. there is no reason —no reason”—and she drew herself up emphatically, "why he should not conn to our house as often as ever he pleases.” Per: >aps it was in accordance with this conclusion that it was arranged to givß Bellenden the agreeable Ethel as his partner at the Thursday dinnerparty . Etl lel, if not strictly good-looking, was charming and accomplished enough, and had enough conversation, and presence, and deportment to make hes quite sui’rciently attractive, her mother felt, for any sensible man. especial ly for one who had now settled down on his own ■ states, and wa- not ashamed to be seen in Fail Mall in boot-made by his o.vi* village shoemaker. It is impossible to say to what the indescribable pleasure she experienced in the mental i ontemplation of those boots can be attributed. They seemed to her to be a landmark in the young baronet's life, in them she felt she had something tangible, indisputable to point to, something to take hold of. They formed a distant line of demarcation between the past and present in her eyes. A man who could wear stout village boots, roughly toed and broadlv heeled, at his club, and up an > down St. James' and Piccadilly, must be, let who would gainsay it—a man of fiber: a n an of resolution and principle: a man. in short, worthy of herself, her fathily. and her daughter. She pre: ared for her Thursday din-ner-party with a sense of unwonted exfailarat on. Geraldine was to I e present at it. but not Mrs. Campbell, who was to take her granddaughter on to a very grand -reception at some foreign embassy,

and who < onsidered she would not le equal to more on one night. Granny had sometimes been a little overdone of late, and now husbanded her strength more ealousiy. She would, 1 she said. < all for Geraldine a little before 11 o’c oek. "And Cecil goes’with them,” said Lady I’avmond, informing her husband. "He has secured an invitation for hirrsolf, althojgn he could not get one for s. It is a pity the girl’s should not go, 1 must say, for it would have been such an excellent opportunity for them to have talked French, and they so seldom have that opportunity: b it, l owever. 1 am glad Cecil goes. Geraldine will not feel uncomfortable if she has him I dare say her French is poor enough! What advantages can she have had in tnat out-of-the-way place, you know?” "Humph.' Sheseemsto do uncommonly well without them,” retorted the old peer, with a knowing look. It struck him that if his wife should now be lamenting the few opport unities his daughter had for airing a language, the advantage of acquiring which had been so often dinned into his ears, ho hardly saw the force of herarguments. Here was her niece, whom he understood for he kept hisearsopen to be running the gauntlet as one of the acknow, edg ed beauties anu fortunes of the seasen, leing lamented over, moreover, for a deficiency which in all probability would never come to light. It was humorous, and Lord Raymond had more humor than any of his family. He saw the fun of the thing, and his eyes twinkled. "So ferry goes and they stay away,” he said: "well. 1 don’t suppo.-e it w>ll be much odds in the long run. You do not imagine the embassy is a desert land of France? If Jerry likes to spo t their lingo, the mo n seers t o doubt will lot her and pay her every com liment about it under the sun: but I warrant she needs none of it to help her along.’’ "My dear Raymond, not to speak French looks so shockingly ignorant.” “Which is worst? Not to speak it, or to speak it badly?” ‘"Really, I hardly know. Both are bad. ' "Well, 1 don't speak it at al!,and you, my dear, speak it abominably —even I can perceive that so now which of us is the most ’shockingly ignorant,’eh? I dare say little Geraldine could give us points equally,” added my lord, who was a bit of a bear, and who now went off chuckling over the snub so happily administered. His wife, however, turned to Cecil tor consolation. "I am very glad you are going to the foreign reception on Thursday,” she added: "but I do wish Cecil, you could have obtained an invitation for your sisters a so. You know what excellent linguists they are. and it is really a pity they should not have this opportunity fur showing it. Sir Frederick Bellenden is a good French scholar also. I remember hearing,” added she, carelessly, "He is not likely to be going, mother, ” “Is he not? But no doubt he could go if he chose, and If wo went, wo could give him a seat in our carriage, and all go comfortably together. You will, of course, accompany my mother and Geraldine.” "I do not think he would care to go,” responded Cecil, following her train of thought with acumen and sympathy. "But I will see what can be done. I will try to day. and if I succeed, I will take care Bellenden knows.” Then Lady Raymond went out and herself ordered hertur >ot and salmon, her whitebait, and larks, and tru lies, and w hat not for she was by no means too great a lady to Know anything cf such matters, and although she had been left behind to potter about the rooms, get the chimneys cleaned, and the carpets shaken, get the proper "spring cleaning." in short, generally accomplish, so that her ladyship, having held high conference with the lesser luminary, willingly proceeded to do her part by no means an unpleasant one of driving about on a lovely June morning, ordering in all that was grateful to the eye, and tempting to the palate, from fishmonger, and poulterers. and fruiterers. Her mind was very busy, and her heart light that gladsome morning. She shook her head quite graciously at the persevering Hower girl’s, who would not be dissuaded from hovering round her carriage in hopes of a purchaser: she did not scold her coachman, who trundled her through some long, disagreeable, ana narrow streets, whereas she could herself have shown him a quicker and better route: she praised the freshness of the fish and flowers, the size of the pigeons, and plumpness of the poultry. Nothing came amiss to her. If only she eould be thus driving about, and stepping in and out of the shops, ordering her darling Ethel s tro sseau! Or. even dear Geraldine's-dear to her as a daughter already—as she was ready to assure Cecil at any moment when he should make known to her the crowning of his hopes ana her own. She would not more willingly exert herself for the one than for the other, for the daughter than for the neice. As for the young people themselves, every one hart but to see that Cecil and Geraldine were made for each ot her. From his boyhood her son had ,i ade Inchmar-w his second homeland how delight ul it would be for her dear mother, now in the decline of life, to have him come, and take up his abode there permanently, instead of having to undergo the anxietv and uncertainty of finding out who or what some other choice of Geraldine’s might prove to be. The risk was always so great when an heiress chose among her suitors. But such a man as Cecil! And such a favorite as he had always been of his grandmother’s. Could anything be more perfect'' Strange to say granny did not seo it so. She was fond of young Raymond, her only grandson, regarding him in the light of a dear, kind, useful boy, whom she could talk to or not. just as she choose: who could be left by himself in the drawing-room to wait if she were not inclined to come down to him at any time: whom she could dictate to on some points, and take counsel with on others: who was, in short, unimpeachable in the capacity in which he

at present stood—but she could not see him in any other. Least us all did eUo fancy his hanging his hat up permanently at Inchmarew, and her beautiful Gegaldire. the pride of her heart, the queen of the day, was going no further and faring no l etter than only her cousin, whom she might have ha I any moment of her life, and without budging an inch from her own doorstep. Not but what the boy was well enough, and had he been any one else, any one but the lad she had seen grow up thro gh all the stages ot petticoats and n rserydom. and aeket an 1 tro :- sera and scho ilbo.dom. sb" might have put up with him she wo Id have liked nerchildtobe 'my lady” yes. and she would not have minded some f the Campbell money passing into the Raymond hands: but but and the upshot was that she had hitherto declined to perceive an. hints and innuendoes thrown out u,ion the sub ect. Charlotte had thought her mo’her uncommonly dense at the first, but had latterly wondered whether there had not been some cause for the slight deafness, or absence of mind, or the like with which the old lady had parried her attempts. She was not altogether sorry that Geraldine was to come alone as she could do to her own aunt's house—on Thursday. < Jerald was to have Cecil’s arm to the dinner-table, of course. Cecil ha I not said a word when the paper with its lists of names and appropriations had been submitted for his approval: but she had understood, nevertheless, that all was right. And when it hail further come tolightthat by Lady Raymond s adjustment of her table. Geraldine would have on her other side a quietold gentleman, whose attention would certainly be fixed upon his plate during the greater portion of the meal. Cecil had still cheerfully sanctioned everything. But alas! for the "best laid schemes o’ mice and men!” Thursday came, and with it the appointed guests, save and except one a lady. A lady. and a somewhat inportant one, hud been detained by illness and poor Lady Raymond's face tell at least an inch as she stroie not to appear too much disconcerted on her own account, and sufficiently anxious on that of her friend. But it was hard work. Hero was Mr. Le Masserer, their country member, a man of considerable standing, their own neighbor and ally, yet not one too intimately known—here was ho left in the lurch. A man with a temper and a dignity moreover, and worst of all, a man of whom Lord Raymond had a favor to ask. It was out of the question that he should be unprovided for, whoever was. And she had not a minute to consider, and here was her nusband signalling to her with raised eyebrows and portentous side glances, and at any moment the dinner might be anno need. She murmured one word in his ear. He nodded. Another whisper. Another acquiescing nod. The next instant it was “Mr. Le Masserer, will you take my daughter Ethel into dinner? We had hoped to have given you Lady Dawlish, but she has, unfortunately failed ius,” with the necessary explanation. So far. well: but, of course. Lady Dawlish's defaction could no more be permitted to bereave Fir Frederick Bellenden than Mr. Le Masserer. In a trice he had been coupled with Geraldine Campbell, and the unfortunate Cecil was seen to be the victim of the whole, the stranded solitary, the one who bad a real and . ust cause for uttering maledictions on her ladyship s complaint, her absence, and the havoc she had wrought. He cou’.d not even slip in on his cousin's other side. All the table had been disarranged when at last he got down, and the places on either side of Bellenden and his partner had been filled, and as neither of them had beard a word as to the cause of disarray, or indeed had been aware of any disarray at all, all having been so quietly and elegantly managed, each was now silently wondering why they had been so brought together? Bellenden conjectured that his hostess must be a sensible woman who would not throw her daughter at any one's head - Geraldine fancied it must be Cecil's doings. He was always speaking to her of Bellenden, and the more she showed that the sub ect was distasteful, the more would it seem as if he were impelled to pursue it. That he should have desired his mother to deliver her over for the next two hours to the sole society and entertainment of a man for whom he was aware she had once experienced a feeling which she would fain now have buried in oblivion, was strange, an 1 was hardly like Ce.'tl, invariably attentive, courteous, and obliging; but if it had been done from a desire on the part of the extremely well-mannered young gentleman that she should vindicate her own claim to an equal share of good-breeding by her deportment on so trying an occasion, she was ready to carry 0.. t his wishes. [TO BE CONTINUED.] Her Title Acknowledged. When Marshal Lefebvre was made Duke of Dantzic, the new duchess 1 who was the original of Sardou’s Mme, Sans-Gene) want to the Tuileries to thank the Empress Josephine. As Mme. la Marechale had not demanded an audience, the usher, accustomed to call her by that name, entered to take the orders of the chamberlain in waiting; he returned and addressed her: “Mme. la Marechale may enter.” The lady looked askance at him, but entered the salon, and the Empress, rising, advanced a few steps to meet her, saying, with engaging graciousness: “How is the Duchess of Dantzic?” La Marechale, instead of answering, winked intelligently, and then, turning toward the usher, who was in the act of shutting the door: “Hey, my boy,” said she, “what do you think of that;” Lost Her Money. Ouida is reported to be poor now. after a considerable career of extravagance. One who knows her says that “life without riches, perfumed boudoir, priceless bits of china, and the rest will seem almost a desert to her,” but for the present she is retrenching. She has sold her Italian palace and fittings, and his living quietly. Part of her large earnings has been lost in reckless sepculation.

REAL RUR AL READING WILL BE FOUND IN THIS DEPARTMENT. Black Knot, a Fungus Disease to Which Fruit Growers Should Give Attention — Clean and Secure Well House -Winter Bread-Raising: Box. Diseases in Gardens. The past season has been particularly favorable to the existence and spread as the lower forms of fungous parasites.

and also for these still lower forms which now go under the general name of bacterial diseases. Under this latter expression we are now to class a twig blight in the apple and quince. In tire blight in the pear and some of its allies, and, we believe, in similar cases connected other fruit* trees, the peculiar organism effects an entrance into a portion of the tissue

Sf ’'• • ’-'4 F U BLACK KNOT.

and then sends Its influence in the form of a ferment throughout the whole structure above the point attacked. Black knot is a fungous disease that is spreading rapidly throughout the country, and fruit growers should begin to take active measures toward eradicating it. All twigs and branches of cherry and plum trees which are affected should be cut off and burned as soon as these knots are discovered. Trees that have been neglected until badly infested should be cut down and burned at once. Feeding Corn Fodder. In a recent bulletin of the Maryland Experiment Station attention is called to the fact that the butts of the coni fodder are very nearly as digestible as the tops and leaves. The waste in feeding long fodder is considerable, but the idea that only the tops and leaves were valuable has been exploded by the experiments at this and other stations. At this time of the year when fodder Is valuable, it is quite important that farmers should realize the real value of every part of the cornstalks. The cutting of fodder is intended to save waste more than to make it more digestible, although the latter process may also be somewhat helped by the operation. In bulletin 104, of the North Carolina Station, tin loss occasioned by pulling corn fodder and leaving the stalks to rot in the field Is treated at considerable length. The simplest way, it says, to get the most food out of the corn plant, is to cut close to the ground. As far back as March, 1893, the Maryland Station published a bulletin on the same subject, in which it says that “an ordinary corn crop produces more dry matter and more digestible matter from an acre than a good crop of clover or timothy hay, the digestible matter in the fodder alone being found to be equal to the digestible matter in two tons of either clover or timothy hay. The corn fodder from one acre is worth more for feeding purposes, when properly prepared, than the corn ears from one acre.” Clean and Secure Well House. The advautages of a tight, well-made well house are so many that it is a wonder that so few are seen upon the farms of the land. They shelter the pump and make its period of usefulness much longer than where it is exposed to the weather, and they especially aid in keeping the pump from freezing in a® , ih m M A WELL-PBOTECTED PUMP. winter. Moreover, where cattle or horses are watered at such a pump, they oftentimes set their noses into such contact with the spout that one’s pleasure in drawing drinking water from the same channel is lessened, to say the least. Such a house as is shown in the illustration, witch is reproduced from the American Agriculturist, is inexpensive. but capable of serving its purpose admirably. It is just large enough to inclose the platform of the jpump. and is constructed of matched [boarding, nailed upon a light frame, Jwo-by-two stuff being sufficiently stout for this purpose. A trough is located joutside, which keeps the pump, and the platform of the pump, entirely out of reach of cattle or horses. Spraying Apple Trees, The so-called apple-scab is one of the serious pests of Amerken orchards, not only because it causes misshapen and undeveloped fruit, but because the affected trees suffer from defective foliage. When it is remembered that the fruit-buds of one year are all started the year before, the necessity for healthy foliage every year is apparent, and it is plain that the fungus should be kept from trees on the off years, as well as on the bearing years. We have often given accounts of the effectiveness of the Bordeaux mixture against ■this disease, but it is a matter which ■every one ought to understand. Some late experiments made at the Agricultural College of Missouri seem to show that the weaker solutions were about

as effective as the stronger ones, and that the first spraying should lie given very early, and be followed by at least three others. The second crop of scab, which appears on late apples, like the Jennetings, seems in this case to have been entirely prevented by’ spraying.— Garden and Forest. To Make Beeswax. After the combs have been put through an extractor or crushed and strained through a thin cloth, the wax is put in a copper or porcelain-lined kettle with cold water enough to cover it. and boiled for haif an hour or longer, if it seems necessary. When the wax is taken from the stove It is strained and poured in a vessel previously dipped in cold water. To make a round cake of beeswax, pour the melted wax in a bowl that has been dipped in cold water. When cold it may be easily removed if the bowl was dipped jn cold water. To make wax sheets, use a board three-eighths of an inch thick, dampened with warm water, then dipped in the melted wax two or three times. The board is next put in water to cool a little while, after which it is taken out, the edges trimmed with a sharp knife and two sheets of wax peeled off. To make these wax sheets the wax must not be too hot, or it will crack.—Ladies’ Home Journal. For Winter Bread-Raising. There are few housekeepers in the colder latitudes who have not experienced much trouble In securing a proper rising in yeast bread on cold Bights. The usual resource is a place for the dough behind the sitting room stove. If the lire is quite warm the raising process is cither unduly hastened or a tough crust is formed over the dough, while if the tire goes out, as it frequently does, the dough is found in the morning entirely unrisen. A device for se« curing a constant and even heat about the dough is shown in the illustration, which represents a box, one side of which is a closely fitting door, within which is a shelf and a perpendicular partition, with an open space both above and below it. In one side are placed the dishes containing dough K .- r’ 7 * .IO ' .ilb.i .li - BREAD-RAISING BOX. and in the other a stone jug of hot water, the heat from which will rise and pass over the partition down around the dough, under the partition and so around the circuit again. A heavy blanket thrown over the box will aid in keeping the heat in. Wintering Idle Horses. There are a great many horses that have little to do this winter. With most men who keep a horse this will be regarded as a condition when poor, innutritions food that will barely sustain life may bo given without loss. This is a double mistake. The idle horse ought to be exercised daily, if he is brought out and driven a mile or two and back for nothing else than thf exercise. Then he must have the kind of feed that will make muscle. It is impossible to save muscle through the winter. Inaction makes it not merely flabby, but also wastes some of its substance. Two or three weeks' feeding and exercise after a winter of laziness will not fit either horse or man to do good work in the spring. At Least One Pound a Day. A good butter cow should produce at least one pound of butter per day. There are hundreds of cows which produce double the quantity, but where a farmer has a herd lie can just as easily procure a pound of butter from each cow as not, provided he will raise his calves and breed for butter producing qualities. Breeders of pure-bred stock would not keep a cow in the herd that even produced so small a quantity ot butter as a pound a day. Notes. J. D. Hazen, of Leona, Doniphan County, is said to be the largest grower of apples in Northern Kansas. From an orchard of eighty acres he sold 16,520 bushels of apples this year for 86,940. In keeping apples the thermometer should be used. Heat destroys more than does cold. The cellar should be kept as near 30 degrees as possible. The object should be to avoid alternate freezing and thawing, as changes cause more damage than anything else. An artery of the horse can usually be felt where it crosses the curve of the lower jaw, or in the bony ridge above the eye. It should beat forty times e minute. If more rapid, hard and full. It indicates fever or inflammation; if slow, brain disease; if irregular, heart trouble. There is a wide range between good dairy cows and the average. The average cows in the United States make 130 pounds of butter per year, while the good dairy cow yields from 350 to 400 pounds. There are whole dairy herds that make 400 pounds per cow annually. The horse trots faster with a pneumatis tire, not only because he has less weight to draw, but because there is lost that vibration which is usually carried along tlie shafts to the horse's body. These vibrations weary his muscles and hamper his movements to a considerable extent. The Government of the United States took a hand in road building for the first forty years of its existence. The Cumberland pike, crossing the States of Maryland. Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and extending to Illinois, costing over 86,000,000, was the work of the general Government.

INDIANA LEGISLATURE. Monday the Legislature got fairly started into the work of the session. Thefollowing bills were introduced m the Senate: For the establishment of "The Indiana School for Unfortunate Children.” The bill is strongly recommended by the State Board of < lianties. and especially by Secretary Bicknell, who has giten the subject much study. The purpose of the bill is to collect the unfortunate children that are lodged in the poor-houses of the State, educate them and secure their adoption into good families. Senator Wishard introduced a bill repealing the legislative apportionment act of two years ago. Thij is intended as paving the w ay lor the enactment of an apportionment law in place of the present one. Senator Baker introduced a bill to prevent the pollution of the lakes and streams oftheState. It is aimed at the strawboard and other factories w hich, during the last few years, have killed ail the fish in the Mississinowa, Wabash, and Whitewater Rivers. The penalty imposed is a fine of from two to five hundred dollars. Senator Haggard introduced a bill providing for the appointment of a commission of three members to canvass and report upon the practicability of constructing a ship canal from Lake Michigan to the head w aters of navigation on the Wabash. Other bills were introduced as follows: Providing for two cents a mile on all railroads; providing for the appointment of humane inspectors; requiring insurance companies to keep a certain sum of money on deposit in the State to be taxed; limiting the charge of companies that operate stock-yards within three miles of a city; amending the voluntary associations act by striking out the section under which the Roby Athletic Association was formed: abolishing the death penalty; providing for the removal of habitual drimkards to institutions that practice the Keeley cure; providing for a license of S6O for wholesaliti A igarettes. and a license of $25 for the retJuling of the same; placing all the insane hospitals under the management of one board. Thf. much-mooted question of calling a constitutional convention took definite shape in the House Tuesday, when a resolution was offered and referred to a committee calling attention to the necessity ot radical changes in the organic law of the State, and asking that a proposition be submitted to the people at the next election for the assembling of such a convention. The resolution provides for the appointment of a committee of five from each house, who shall draw a call for such convention and report not later than Feb. 4. An amendment was also proposed to the constitution which would make a radical change in respect to the election of senators and representatives to whom it alone relates. It provides that the State Senate shall consist of sixty members instead of fifty as at present,.and the sixty members shall be elected from twenty’llistriots, out only tw o senators of the same political painty shall be chosen at the one time for the same district. The scheme is practically minority representation in the Senate, and under its operations the minority party would have one-third of the members. Each county is to have representatives in the House ranging from one to six, according to population, thus making a body of about 130 members, Speaker Adams announced his committees, the list of chairmanships is as follows: Elections, Crozier; ways and means, Allen; judiciary, Robinson: courts, Lambert; banks. Elliott; education, Adams of Parke; prison, south, Landy; claims, Terhune: trust lands. Thomas: fees and salaries. Van Arsdell: sinking fund, Lloyd; rights and privileges,Pettit; railroads,Hamrick; manufactures and commerce, Vonnegut: county and township business, Ross; agriculture. Becker; benevolent and scientific institutions. Remy; temperance, Nicholson: mileage and accounts, Narker; corporations, Merritt; canals, Howe; public expenditures, Harris: federal relations, Willoughby; city of Indianapois, Leedy; cities and towns, Holloway; roads, McCray; statistics, I.aidlaw; insurance, McBeth; printing. Harrison of Elkhart; reformatory institutions, Moore; drains and dikes, Jackson; labor, O'Brien; congressional apportionment, Statesman; legislative apportionment. Newhouse. The following bills were introduced in House Wednesday: To prohibit the location of a saloon within one mile of a State or National Soldiers’ Home: to erect permanent meridian lines at county seats; to regulate the laying of gas and steam pipes across and along public highways; providing for the relief of soldiers and sailors confined in the poorhouses of the State; requiring insurance companies to publish their annual statements in two papers of each county where they do business: providing penalties for the receiving of monies in State banks when such banks arc known to be insolvent; to prevent corruption in elections and to limit the expenses of candidates; regulating charges for natural gas; to amend the election law by doing away with the printing of sample ballots. The following is a summary of the bills introduced in the House: A bill prohibiting the shipment of woodcock from the State; providing for the abolition of the office of natural gas inspector; forbidding the preference of creditors by insolvent debtors, and providing for the seltleinent of their estate; to place employes of the State institutions under civil-service regulations; prescribing the manner of electing officials in cities under 35,000 inhabitants; to legalize the acts of notaries public; to destroy noxious weeds on public highways; to compel street railroad companies in cities over 100,000 to pay 15 per cent, of gross receipts into the city treasury: concerning the reclamation of lands and the location of ditches; to amend the election law, providing for beginning of terms ot trustees and assessors elected in 1X94: to protect rights of employes; to regulate travel on public highways: to provide for the wellbeing of street ear employes by compelling use of vestibules in winter months; providing for licensing and examing stationary engineers; Regulating tha sale of intoxicating liquors; amending an act concerning interest and usury, limiting the rate of interest to 6 per cent.; To clear the public highways of obnoxious weeds. The Senate Thursday killed the bill which recommended the abolition of capital punishment, after a short discussion. Quite a lively time was had in the House and several hours were passed in the discussion oi the proposition to reduce the salaries of the employes, but the measure failed to pass and there will be reduction. Among the numerous bills recommended by the House committees for passage w’ere various insurance measures, and one providing for boilr. inspection. The feature of the day was the introduction of the Nicholson saloon bill, one ot the most rigid measures that has been presented to the General Assembly for years. The Senate was in session but a slior) tune Friday.