Democratic Sentinel, Volume 11, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 January 1888 — A PLEASANT EVENT. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

A PLEASANT EVENT.

Alt English engineer proposes "by •means of electricity to condense the solicfcp&rt of smoke, and send the solidified portion back to the furnace. Miss Helen C. Smith, daughter of ex-Governor Smith, of Vermont, has taken the degree of M. P. at the St. Albans Cooking College. M. P. in this •case is said to stand for Master of Pies. 'Tdrner Sewall, who has lived near Richmond, Ky., for the eighty-seven years of his life, would be a very vigorous man but for the malignant cancer that is killing him. Two years ago he walked two miles from home, split 125 rails, and returned two hours before sundown. For forty years he averaged 4,000 rails a year. He has fourteen living children and three dead.

The colored children of Oxford, 'Ohio, have always had public schools separate from the white children’s schools, but this year they refused to attend them, and insisted upon going to the same schools that the white • children attended. They were refused admission, and brought an action against the school authorities, which has just been decided in favor of the negroes:

Thomas Wadham, a veteran Northern Pacific engineer, whose death took place recently at Brainerd, Minn., was not only one of the oldest locomotive engineers in the United States, but his life was a connecting link between the railroading of Stephenson’s time and that of the present day. He was employed in the machine shops at Bristol when Stephenson’s “Rocket” made its . successful trip over the Liverpool and Manchester road, and a few years later he had an engine of his own on the Great Western road. He came to America aboHt thirty years ago.

TBnEconomista Mexicano, in speaking of a new species of silk, the cultivation of which has been undertaken in Yucatan, says it is the product of the wild silkworm, bombyx pysdii, which is closely allied to the domestic silkworm, and that the silk on the cocoons is elastic and of an excellent quality, though rather uncertain in color,, varying from white to pale brown. It presents a peculiar difficulty," however, in being covered with a gum which is not easy to dissolve. Tbe government of the State of Yucatan is -making experiments with a view to utilizing this wild silk.

The people of Syracuse, N. Y., are indignant over Gen. E. W. Leavenworth’s will. It ostensibly left to the city $500,000 for park improvements, public fountains, monuments, and a seminary for young women 1 , besides bequests to Yale, Hamilton and Syracuse colleges and to a number of dependents. It is said the property is so entailed as to make-ihe bequests practically delusive and of no avail. Consequently many pledges publicly made by the deceased are violated. Parks and avenues were named in his honor with the understanding that he was to contribute to their beautification.

Tberb are hopeful signs of a growing democratic spirit in Engl and, and one of the signs is this paragraph from the British Weekly: “Our bloated towns are responsible for much of the trouble between classes; they are, unhappily, the cause of that unchristian representation of the Master—a mission-hall, maintained by the rich for the poor, because distance and mutual shyness make it well-nigh impossible for them to sit together and kneel together in their Father’s house. Sad is the burlesque of our great uniting gospel, none the less so that many of the most zealous are spending themselves in home-mission work. Well might *r. Landels ask if the haughtiness and disgrace of worldly society have any part or place in the church. We should all know that they have not; but we have mission-halls. ” Wolves had committed so many -depredations among the sheep and hogs of Grafit, Pendleton and Randolph counties, up among the Alleghenies, that a grand wolf hunt was organized recently among the farmers. Over 106 armed men and twice as many dogs surrounded the big laurel thicket, which extended iff a straight line not less than ten miles. Men were sent into the thicket from five different points early in the morning to stir up the game, which they did very success-

fully, for before night twenty-seven wolves, one panther, three black bears and three catamounts were bagged by the crowd which kept guard on the outer rim of the laurel undergrowth. A second attempt to corral the wolves with 200 or 300 hunters will be made shortly.

The late Mrs. John Jacob Astor, next to the late Catherine Wolfe, was New York’s most philanthropic woman. Her personal income was about SIOO,OOO a year, and nearly the whole of it was spent for the welfare of others. Her husband’s enormous wealth made her free to do as she pleased with her own, and what pleased her most was to relieve distress, either by direct aid to the needy or by liberal gifts to the more worthy charitable societies and institutions. The Children’s Aid Society was her favorite among these, and a large part of its revenue was contributed by her. The chief object of this society is to gather up the waifs of the streets, educate them in its free schools, where they also get food and clothing, and give them a fair chance to grow up decently. Mrs. Astor took a deep interest in this work, and one of the society’s schools was supported entirely by her. She also gave money generously to other charities, as well as in a private and personal way. Probably the most liberal of her gifts was a donation of $200,000 to the new Skin and Cancer Hospital, which promises to become one of the most beneficial institutions in New York.

Rev. Dr. Nourse, of Washington, has been tellrng a new Lincoln story. It was to the effect that the President was very much annoyed by the persistence of a certain member of Congress named Jerry Smith, who haunted him continually wherever he went with applications for office on the part of his constituents. One day a delegation of clergymen called upon Mr. Lincoln to pay their respects, and one of them asked him if he ever sought counsel and guidance from the Lord during that time of his great responsibility and anxiety. “Yes,” replied Mr. Lincoln, “I pray every night before I retire. I think of the hundreds of thousands of soldiers camped in the South, the boys in blue as well as the boys in gray, and I pray that the one may be supported in their efforts to preserve the Union and the other shown the error of their unholy strife. I think of the thousands of deserted homes in the North, of the thousands of weeping women and fatherless children, and I pray God to give them strength to bear their bereavements, and the wisdom to see that their husbands, sons, and fathers have died fighting for the right. I think of my responsibility, and pray for strength and wisdom. Then I look under the bed, and, finding that Jerry Smith is not therewith an application for office, I thank the Lord for it, turn out the light, lock the door, jump in between the sheets, and go to sleep instantly.”

The Senate contains twenty-three members, almost one-third of the whole number, who have been members of the House, while the House contains only three ex-Senators, Norwood of Georgia, Whitthorne of Tennessee, and Biickalew of Pennsylvania, and of these Mr. Whitthorne was only a Senator for a few months by appointment by the Governor. The Senate contains twelve gentlemen who have been the Governors of their States, namely: Harris and Bate, of Tennessee; Barry, of Arkansas; Brown and Colquitt, of Georgia; Coke, of Texas; Cullom, of Illinois; Davis, of Minnesota; Hawley, of Connecticut; Hampton, of South Carolina; Stanford, of California; and Yance, of North Carolina. The House contains only five ex-Governors, namely: Gear, of Iowa; Stewart, of Vermont; Dingley, of Maine; Long, of Massachusetts; and McCreary, of Kentucky. The only ex-Cabine£ officer in the House is Mr. Go3', of West Virginia, who spent about three months as Secretary of the Navy in the Cabinet of Mr. Hayes. The‘Senate contains five ex-Cabinet officers, namely: Don Cameron, who was one of Grant’s Secretaries of War,; Evarts, who was Secretary of State; Sherman, who was Secretary of the Treasury in the Hayes Cabinet; Teller, who was Secretary of the Interior; and Chandler, who was Secretary of the Navy in Mr. Arthur’s Cabinet. There are four regular clergymen in the House to offset seven physicians. The seven veterans of the Mexican war in the Fiftieth Congress are Senators Colquitt, of Georgia; George, of Mississippi; and Bate, of Tennessee; and Representatives Forney, of Alabama; Hovey, of Indiana; Rice, of Minnesota; and Hare, of Texas.

W. W. Corcoran, the Washington Philanthropist, Celebrates His Ninetieth Birthday. (Washington special.] William W. Corcoran, the well-known phiianthropist/celebrated his 90th birthday mi Tuesday, Dee. 27. The occasion was remembered by his friends, who made the day a continuous reception, accompanying their visits by beautiful floral offerings or gifts snitablo for the event Mr. Corcoran received his callers seated in a largo rolling-chair drawn np by the baywindow of the library, the walls and vaulted ceiling of which are of oak, decked here and there with colors from the stained glass of the window through which streamed the bright sunlight. On the lapel of his coat

Mr. Corcoran wore his favorite flowers—a Jacqueminot rosebud and several odorous clove pinks. With a pleasant greeting for each and oil, the courteous, white-haired philanthropist sat there surrounded by his family and friends. In response to the customary inquiry for his health, Mr. Corcoran looked np smiling at his caller as he answered that he was feeling unusually well, cheerily adding, “And many degrees from being a dead man yet.” Ctn a large table in the center of the room, with a dozen or more baskets of flowers of every variety, was a large blue vase filled with Jacqueminot and Mareschal Niel roses. Among these rested a square visiting card, on one side of which was engraved “Mrs. Cleveland,” the reverse bearing, in her handwriting:^ “For Dear Mr. Corcoran. On this day which completes 90 beantifnl years. With loving wishes, Frances F. Cleveland. “Dec. 27, 1887.” Among the distinguished callers daring the day was Mr. Corcoran’s long-time friend and contemporary, George Bancroft, the historian, who enjoyed a lengthy chat. After Mr. Bancroft’s departure, the latter’s habit of taking horseback rides was spoken of, and Mr. Corcoran said he used to enjoy horseback riding, bnt he had been tumble to take that kind of exercise for twelve years. “I think,” he went on “that Mr. Bancroft is too old to ride on horseback, and I tell him so, but I believe that he does not agree with me.” And Mr. Corcoran laughed as if he was not at all offended at his old friend’s independence.