Democratic Sentinel, Volume 11, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 December 1887 — Page 7

® l)e Ikmocratir Sentinel RENSSELAER, INDIANA. J. W. McEWEN, - - - Publishee.

Robert Bonneb has retired from the New York Ledger, which will hereafter be conducted by his three sons. Mr. Bonner began work at the printer’s case in the office of the Hartford Courant forty-eight years ago, and purchased the New York Ledger in 1851. He is 64 years old. A Millerstown (O.) young man not long since wrote two postal cards on entirely different subjects. He then turned them over and addressed them, but by mistake placed the addresses on the wrong cards. The result was that the shirt-maker in Harrisburg got a polite invitation to take a carriage-ride in Huff Ward’s barouche, while the young man’s girl was made frantic by receiving the following: “Please send me a. sample of the stuff your shirts are made of.” The London Live-Stock Journal -says that in England conflicts between horses and bulls are not uncommon and are usually disastrous to the horses. .A fiery colt often chases cattle in the pasture, biting them as they run; but when he tackles a bull the latter usually won’t run, but charges the colt broadside and often kills him. Having • come off best once, the bull thereafter is apt to charge horses that are grazing quietly. It is never safe to leave any bull in a pasture with horses. A Minnesota office-seeker, after being disappointed by Gov. McGill, went home and told his wife about it, and gave his opinion of the Governor in unrevised language. His 5-year-old boy heard him, and that night the mother cautioned him never to use such language as his father had. “Is it always wicked to swear, mamma?” he asked. ~“Y-e-s. But God will forgive sins,” she said. Then* the boy kneeled and prayed: “Forgive me for all my sins, keep me while I sleep—and—d—n 'Gov. McGill.”

Teddy Wick, an expert barber in London, recently undertook to shave fifty persons in sixty minutes for a ■wager of $75 a side. He is said to have actually shaved seventy-seven in three seconds less than an hour, thus easily winning the stakes. He shaved twenty-one in the first fifteen minutes, fourteen in the second quarter-hour, nineteen in the third, and twenty-three in the last fourteen minutes and fiftythree seconds. Since this performance J. Filbrick, of the same city, has offered to back himself to beat the performance of Wick for a gold or silver medal. The American, Analyist warns the public against the use of the ordinary toilet soaps and towels found at hotels. It says some soaps are made of the •cheapest and nastiest materials, very ■ often rank and disgusting but for the odor with which they are disguised. Some of them, it says, act as an irritant upon the skin, and their application upon the delicate cuticles of babies and young children sometimes results in painful eruptions and running sores. It says that the towels used at hotels are not entirely freed from diseased germs by having been washed, and it advises its readers who travel to take a -cake of soap and their own towels with them.

Three years ago Mrs. George Winter, of Cincinnati, while eating, let slip a piece of bone down her windpipe. She suffered great agony, as it had lodged in one of her lungs. Hemorrhages succeeded each other in rapid • succession. Her coughing spells were continuous and wasted her from a robust woman to a mere skeleton. On a recent morning, as usual, Mrs. Winter awoke with a terrible spell of coughing, followed by a hemorrhage. Suddenly she felt a gradual rising pain on her left side. The stinging pain rose higher and higher, until all at once she felt a hard substance emerge from her throat and fill her mouth. Spitting it “Out upon the floor, like a revelation it struck her that this was the bone she had swallowed three years ago. A •closer examination proved that she had -discharged the bone. There is a story that is going around in the French papers about the Czar. While he was stopping recently in the Castle of Fredensborg he was fond •of taking little walks in the neighborhood. One day he was accosted by a beggar woman with a child in her arms. In pure Danish and in the roughest manner possible he told her to go

away and to be pretty quick about it. The poor woman, terrified, started off, but was followed by an officer. “Here, my good woman, ” said the officer, as he put some pieces of gold into her hand, “it is the Czar who sends you this, and he hopes that you will forgive his apparent rudeness of a moment ago. The fact is, he has just returned from a visit to his children, who have the scarlatina, and he was afraid that he might bring the contagion to your child, if he allowed you to approach his person. ” The aurora on the Yukon River, in Alaska, during the winter months is said to be very brilliant and remarkably beautiful. It commences in the early fall and lasts with more or less brilliancy throughout the long arctic winter. It generally commences at the setting of the sun, though in midwinter it has at times been so bright that it was visible at noon while the sun was shining brightly. The rays of light first shoot forth with a quick, quivering motion, are then gathered and form a great arch of fire spanning the heavens. It glows for an instant like a girdle of burnished gold; then, unfolding, great curtains of light drop forth. These royal mantles of orange, green, pink, rose, yellow, and crimson are suspended and waved between heaven and earth as with an invisible hand, and form a spectacle of extraordinary power.

A 9-year-old Eagleville (Conn.) boy was belated at Coventry, several miles from his home, the other night, and, being afraid to go home in the dark, put his Yankee wits to work. Pretty soon a doctor of the place was informed by a small boy that a well-known citizen of Eagleville was very ill with typhoid fever, and wanted him to come to him immediately. The doctor said he’d go after supper, and asked the lad to join hir-« at the table. The boy did so, and soon after was snugly tucked by the side of the doctor in his carriage and rolling homeward. When they arrived at the house of the alleged sick man, the boy scrambled out and the doctor followed and knocked at the door. The citizen himself, in usual health, opened it. He hadn’t been sick and hadn’t sent for the doctor. Then they looked for the boy. They couldn’t find him. He had his supper and ride home and was well out of the way. Caspar Spies, a wealthy New York merchant, is an uncle of August Spies, the anarchist editor who perished by the rope in Chicago. Speaking to a New York reporter about his nephew, Mr. Spies said: “August was always bright, and early showed considerable talent. He was an enthusiastic advocate of socialistic schemes. On his last visit to this house in February we had a talk after supper. He was very enthusiastic. I advised him to exercise caution, and not to mingle with the agitators of the kind of Most and others. He replied: ‘Uncle, if you knew how the people slave in the mines of Pennsylvania you would think differently. Working for starvation wages, and at the mercy of the company, they are worse than slaves.’ I told him that he might jeopardize his safety by going too far, to which he replied with some excitement: ‘I would willingly die in the cause of the working people.’ He was misguided, but his words were almost a prophecy. He was very excitable, quick and nervous, generous to a fault, willing to share his last penny with his friends, the working people. He would have made his mark had his energies been directed differently. He was too much occupied with his ideas to think of love affairs, and then his close relation to us would naturally be a barrier which he, with his ideas of strict right, would not ignore. If Herr Most had not come to this country,” continued Mr. Spies, “August would have been alive to-day. Most’s inflammatory ideas completely toojc possession of him. I could see the change myself, and remarked it to him. He was a peaceful propagandist at first. His life was devoted to his one idea and the maintenance of his family. The story of the love affair is as silly as it is untrue. ”

Too Large a Contract.

Invalid (engaging a companion)— Your duties will be very light. I shall expect you to attend to my small correspondence, drive with me occasionally, play the piano twice a week, and read the papers aloud. Applicant—Do you include the Sunday papers ? Invalid —Why, yes. Applicant—That settles it! I’ve had an oiler of marriage from a Mormon with four other wives and eighteen children. 1 think I’ll accept it. Goodmorning I— Puck.

A Column or Two of Chat About the Fair Daughters of Eve.

Together with a Few Notes on the Latest Styles in Feminine Attire. Let us consider the well-dressed woman in her home. If she is a careful and considerate dresser she will take as much pains with her house toilets as she will with those designed for the street. Not the earliest of breakfasts will bring her frowzy or shabby to the table; and just now, indeed, fashion prescribes a special corsage for breakfast gowns. The material may be almost anything of a simple nature, though wash goods are best, and of such material is the example shown in the first picture. The distinctive feature, as can be seen, is a semblance of the crossed handkerchief, something like those of our greatgrandmothers’ days. These may be of muslin and lace, as in the first figure, or of soft colored stuff, as convenient. The wedge of neck is left bare, the sleeves are above the wrists, the hair is dressed high from the neck, and it requires only a fresh, healthy, amiable wearer to be positively irresistible. The cut of itself should dedend considerably on the individuality of the woman.

An exceedingly slender woman can wear what may be called fat clothes. A neglige for her room can be effectively made, for instance, of creamwhite woolen canvas, with rows of silk ribbon run into “pulled” places wherever any trimming can be used. Now that it is going to be cooler she can have a wrapper of surah silk and white nun’s veiling. The lining is of thin delaine, the outer surface of blue surah, and between the two there is a layer of cotton wadding basted securely to the lining all over. Then up and down the front and about the loose sleeves and collar it is tacked through and through, at intervals of three inches, just as a comfortable is made. A coarse needle threaded with stout linen is passed through the whole thing, and a bunch of fine pearl-edged satin ribbon, for running into lace, is tied securely in tufting to the front in rows and going around the neck and sleeves several times. It is an exquisite thing, so soft, and so sweet, for an ounce or so of violet sachet powder scattered upon the cotton perfumes the robe like a spring morning. Of course, none but the Sarah Bernhardts of women can indulge in such wadded gowns. The unfortunate possessors of avoirdupois can not have tufted dresses unless they wish to look stuffed. But there are plenty of slim women who can be perfect loves of comfort and beauty in this charming kind of gown. When the fashionable woman garbs herself for the reception of afternoon or evening callers, she also sees to it that her maid-servant is not less faultlessly attired. Caps and aprons are in vogue, and the dresses are oftenest calico or gingham, woolen being generally forbidden and silk not to be thought of. A neat thing in servants is shown in the next picture. The costume of the lady is a model in India silk and embossed satin. Of the wearer a friend said to the writer:

“The way she gets her dresses is this: She goes to her dressmaker now and then, I should say about every two months, and tells her what she wants. She requires a ball dress, a street costume, a morning gown for the house, and a dress for church. She has no idea what she wants in a single instance when she goes there—l mean as to goods, or cut, or what not She looks over the dresses then on hand, those under way, or those ready to send out to customers. She likes the goods in one, the front drapery of

EARLY MORNING.

another, and the back of a third, and she has all these things combined. To my taste she always improves on anything the dressmaker has or suggests; in fact, she is a born dressma er herself, and the dressmakers here and abroad know it, and never fail to profit in their business by one of her visits.

She is apt to spend a day over each dress, and thus she gives up the better part of one week in eight at her dressmaker’s. She figures closely on every item in the make-up of a dress —far more closely than I, who have to be careful, and. yet she makes no appearance of haggling over prices. When I ask her what site wants of a fourth walking dress or a third ball dress, she replies: ‘What else have I to do with myself or my money ? ’ I pity her from the bottom of my heart, for she would be happ er if she had a family or a specialty; but, ah! that’s a chapter by itself, and not half so interesting as this one either. She has saved me a great deal of money in buying, and can shop for me better than I can myself. This is an instinct with her. She does not seem to care how much she spends, but wants the worth of her money every time. She buys hats unceasingly, all the time. She sees a pretty hat in a horse-car or the theater, and it gives her a hint for a prettier one, or she will combine two hats that she sees in the street” Girls are nowhere lovelier than in the simple, neat, pretty gowns now worn

MISTRESS AND MAID.

by them at home. Oddities of drapery are indulged in, and decorations that are as gay as the flowers that have become so popular in the boudoirs of the human bud. But all the posies are not what they seem. So perfect do artificial flowers come this season, that the stores have them bewilderingly on sale. Shoppers can’t get away from the counter where .they can buy splendid bunches of “jack” roses, and tlie perfection of pinks, if not the pinks of perfection. A huge, splendid bouquet can be bought for a dollar that will last all winter. Ten ladies were gathered in one store recently, selecting spray after spray for home decorations. Halls covered with these flowers are certainly prettier than those decorated with gaudy fans or Japanese trappings. This winter will be one of triumph for artificial flowers. Two better home costumes for young girls than those here illustrated cannot be found in town. They contain a variety of good suggestions which any dressmaker, professional or amateur,

BUDS AND BLOSSOMS.

can readily utilize. Novelty ia aimed at in some house dresses. A Boston woman, lately returned from Europe, brings a reception gown that must have two hundred little brown birds fastening a rose-colored crepe upon a skirt of white silk. A circlet of these little feathered creatures is intended for the head. j “I believe it would be a good dress for a character to wear at a costume ball,” said its owner; “only I wouldn’t know what to call it. What would yoil say for a name?” “Cruelty to animals,” replied the friend. Certainly the first thought 'that crosses one’s mind at seeing this dress is one of horror at the slaughter of those poor little creatures, that a gown might be trimmed with their bodies. Almost every year some such costume turns up, and it fires the inventive genius of many a silly girl.— Chicago Ledger.

Gloves. Excellent qualities of English walking gloves of fine dogskin, to wear with street dressss this winter, are fastened smoothly over the wrists with four large gilt buttons. There are black kid bands at the top of the glove. They are made with piquestiched seams, and embroidered on the backs with heavy chain-stitching. Dark mahogany, terra-cotta, tan, dark laurel-moss, olive green, and golden brown are the most fashionable shades. Warm winter gloves are manufactured of finest Saxony cashmere, with very long Jersey wrists that cling closely to the arms. These are shown in dark cloth shades, in jix and eight button lengths.

LAMAR’S REPORT.

The Secretary of the interior o» Land Grant Abuses—lndemnity Lands Restored. How the Honest Settler Has Been Defrauded by Agents of Subsidized Railroads. One of the moat important features of Secretary Lamar’s annual ieport is tne jortion relating v> the adjustments of railroad land grant*. He saj. •: • Shortly after my appointment to the position I now have the h >nor to hold, and as I became somewhit familiar with the public land system, its organization, and the workings thereof, I became mote and more impressed with the fact that the public domain was being diverted fn m its legitimate purpose and converted to objects, the inevitable effect of which was repugnant to the entire theory on which the land system Was baaed. Apart from the methods of illegal appropriation of the public domain, effected through the perversion of the several laws for acquiring titre thereto, I became convinced that the administration of the congressional grants to wagon and rail roads had given rise to enormous abuses. Congress had not only made grants which in some instances exceeded in extent the area of half a dozen of the largest and most populous States of the Union, but in addition provided that any losses of lands within the granted limits should be satisfied by selections of lands within other and adjoining limits, thus nearly doubling the area of the original grant. “Under these acts the Land Department had withdrawn from public appropriation not only the granted limits as required by law, but also the lands within the indemnity limits, at the request of the grantee companies. Thus enormous quantities of the public lands were held in reservation to await the convenience of the respective corporations in the construction of their roads, the selections of their lands, and the uncertain adjustments of the grants by the department. "This land-grant legislation was certainly not in harmony with the theory pf a distribution of the public domain among the people, and gave up to capitalists as a basis for traffic and speculation and gigantic financial schemes what wae by the original policy of the Government designed to be homes for an industrious and thrifty people, the abodes of domestic happiness, and virtue, and patriotism. Notwithstanding these indemnity withdrawals were made exclusively for the interests of the companies, tew of them, if any, constructed their roads within the time prescribed in the granting act as an express condition on which the grant was made. Maps of "probable," "general,” “designated,” and “definite" routes of said roads were filed with rapidity in the department, and withdrawals thereunder asked and almost invaria. bly granted, until tire public land, Status and Territories, was gridironed over with railroad, granted and indemnity, limits; and in many instances the limits of one road overlapping and conflicting with other roads in the most bewildering manner, so that the settler seeking a home could scarcely find a desirable location that was not claimed by some one—or, perhaps, two or three—of the many roods to which grants of land had been mode by Congress. “Nor was this all, Though the desired tract might not be apparently covered by a railroad location, the settler would hardly select it before the agents of the corporations would set up a claim to it, or to the right to occupy or denude it under the right-of-way and construction privileges conferred by the granting act. Thus the settler, ignorant of his legal rights, and with no one to advise him with respect to either the law or the facts, would for the sake of peace and home readily consent to purchase the land from the company. In this way these corporations, in addition to the lands granted to them, have claimed, sold and received the price of a great deal of other land to which they had neither legal nor moral right, nor the shadow of either. “The confrsion, hardship and impositions practiced upon the settlers were greatly increased by tne bold scheme of the corporation agents where withdrawals wore made of lands to which the legal title of the companies had not attached, and which afterward remained in the same condition for years through the failure of Congress to make the necessary appropriations for the surveys. “Years have elapsed since many of the grants have been made, and other years since the withdrawals. Home of the companies have constructed the Entire line of their roads, others fragmentary portions only, and others again none at all; but the withdrawals of the lands were no less effective as a barrier against the settlers in the one case than in the other. It mattered not what might be his equities acquired by years of toil upon what he’ believed to be a part of the national domain. It was declared by the highest judicial tribunal, as expounded by tbo highest law officers of the executive, that a withdrawal once made by competent authority was legal and effective to exclude all from intrusion within its limits. “After years of waiting Congress had failed to empower the department to make the necessary stirveys whereby some of the grants might be adjusted and no immediate prospect of such surveys was in sight. But a law was passed March 3, 1887 [24 Htates, Ififi', whereby the Secretary of the Interior was ‘directed to immediately adjust each of the railroad land grants made by Congress to aid In the construction of railroads. “With an earnest desire to obey the mandate of Congress to give to the corporations their every right under the laws, and at the same time to follow the directions given by you to see that ample protection should be extended to settlers and those seeking to make settlement on the public lands (a matter which had been so long and so utterly overshadowed), I entered upon a most careful consideration of the whole subject of the history and law relating to land grants* and concluded that if the department was clothed w th authority to make indemnity withdrawals, as had been done in so many instances, the exercise of that authority was a matter entirely within sound discretion and not a matter of legal obligation in any respect; that the same sound discretion, which in the interest of the companies justified said withdrawals, now demanded peremptorily in the public interest a speedy revocation of • the same; and that the most effective way of expediting an adjustment of the land grants, and doing exact justice to the companies, guarding and promoting the interests of the settlers also, was to permit the public to enter into competition with the companies in the selection of lands heretofore withdrawn for indemnity purposes. “Accordingly, on May 93. 1887, with your approval, rules were laid upon the different companies for whose benefit withdrawals had been made to show cause by a certa n day why said withdrawals should not be revoked. Some of the companies failed to show cause; others filed answers assenting to the revocation, as they had received satisfaction of the grant either in full or as far as possible; others assented on condition that lands covered hy selections already made should be excepted from the order of revocation, and other companies objected to the order of revocation as illegal and a violation of chartered rights. Briefs were filed and oral arguments accorded to the counsel of such companies as detired to be beard, all of which were fully and carefully Considered, as was due to the importance of the questions and magnitude of the interests involved, and on Au-'. 13, 1887, my views were fully expressed in a decision rendered in the case of the Atlantic & Pacific railroad company, which, by answer and argument, raised nearly all the objections that were presented in part only by a num er of other companies. I send herewith a copy of the whole text of that opinion, in which these objections were answered seriatim. “Two days the orders withdrawing the lands wituin the indemnity limits and reserving the same from settlement were revoked, and the lands restored to the public domain and to settlement—firt-t, in the cases of two companies which had not answers d ; second, fn those which answered and assented ; and third, in the cases ot the companies which set up defenses coming w.thin the rulings in the foregoing opinion. “In the congressional grants to the following railroad companies : The Hastings & Dakota, the St. Paul 4 Northern Pacific, the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba, the St. Paul & Sioux City, the Sioux City and St. Paul ■nd the Winona & St. Peter, it is provided that upon filing the maps designating the routes of said roads and branches it shall be the duty of the secretary of the interior to withdraw from market the lands embraced within the provisions of the act making the grant In consequence of this provision these roads were osndtted from the orders of restoration.