Democratic Sentinel, Volume 12, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 January 1889 — Page 6

GOD’S GOODNEBB. > * « BY JOHN DE 'VTITT. How bright the sunshine soeuis to b«, The soft, still air impresses me With awe, tor Him who lets me see Sucn love ana bouncy rare. My soul within me seem i to burn, 1 long ,o live ibac I may learn To try, and moke some sltgnc return For all my Father s card. Proud thoughts of self I’ll cast aside, Humility ill iry, not pride; i’ll take the Bible for my guide, And live for God and man. Yet, I am weak and I may fail, My efforts prove of no avail. And make me bitterly bewail That ever I began. Not so, oh! faithless soul. To-day God will provide for you a way Xf you'll out trust him and will pray l or help and mercy seek. His presence always is most felt When at the cross we've humoly knelt, Our pride all gone, with co.d lioarc melt, Ackuowledmg we re weak. He knew our weakness and he gave His best loved son that Ho might save Us, both from death and from the grave By conquering our worse foes. My obligation tuen’s extreme, His praise shall ever be my tliemo, To dwell with him my con tant dream, When death mine eyes shall close.

A TALE OF TERROR.

BY JAMES SEYMOUR.

Some years ago (said my friend, a real estate agent) I had an office on La Salle street, Chicago. To it came Mrs. Capel, whom I had known in Boston. She wanted a house. I had one on my list in Halsted street. Her family consisted of herself, a child between 6 and 7, and a servant. I rented the dwelling, but was astonished in about ten days to liud her back. She stated that a port.on of the promises which she did not require she had locked. By some supernatural cause the doors would fly open. She had heard some rumors iu the neighborhood that the house was haunted, but paid no attention to such superstitious gossip. Then she proceeded to tell the following singular story, which I will give in her own words: “One night as Margaret, the servant, and I went up stairs I saw the door at the head j i stood open. We went into the extension. All was quiet, the dust lay thick on the floor and tho spiders had spun the r webs across the wall, and ono huge mesh work lay directly across the narrow, crooked stairs that led downward. I remember thinking as we descended that it would be a terrible place for anyone to fall. At tho foot was a bit of cracked and broken Hugging, and as I looked at it I fancied involuntarily the dull, sickening thud of a heavy body thrown from above the stones. The thought was so re 1 that it madq me shudder in spite of myself, but I shook it off as unhealthy and morbid. We securely fastened both doors and I began to hope that we should be troubled by no more mvstenes. “On Saturday evening, wishing to finish a piece of work with which I was busy, I sent Margaret to put Alice to bed instead of goiug myself as usual. The room iu which I was sitting was not directly beneath my bed-ioom, and I fi d not hear the girl’s footsteps when she left the chamber tb come down. I noticed that she remained away for a longer time than common, but 1 supposed that the child had proved wakeful and difficult to get, tq sleep, and i thought little of her absenco. The souud of a heavy' fall on the stairs suddenly startled me. Bushing out I saw the door at their head again wide open, a blackness so dense that it seemed like a curtain, palpable to the touch, shut off all that might be beyond, and at the foot of the steps lay Margaret in a swoon. It was* the sound of her fall that I had heard. As I approached her I found that her consciousness was beginning to return, and, at the same instant, my ears caught a faint, soft rustle in the darkness above, and the dcor closed with a hard slam that resounded through the house. My foot was on.the lowest step. I would Lave reopened it in another second, but Margaret caught my dress. “ ‘For the love of God, don’t go,’ she whispered; ‘what you’ll see there isn’t what He meant should ever be,’ and she held me with a force of which I would not have believed her capable in her weakness. “ ‘Promise mo, promiso me,’ she whispered. And seeing that it was the only ’way to calm her, I promised not to attempt to enter the extension that night. “1 helped her into her own room, shocked at the state in which I found one usually so calm and self-controlled, and I passed the hours till daylight iu watching alternately with her and with Alice, who was restless and feverisfti and muttered to herself iu her sleep. Once more that night the door opened and 6hut with the same loud noise as before, but otherwise we were undisturbed. The strangeness of our situation did not frighten me. I felt myself mystified, defiant, enraged by the events which had taken place since I entered the house, and I was glad that Margaret did not seem inclined to speak or to tell me of the cause of her downfall. She did not close her eyes, but lay with her eyes fixed on the opposite wall. Toward dawn she suddenly broke the long silence by sayiDg, musingly: “ ‘We don’t know whafchas been done in the old time by them that lived here, nor what their punishment is.’ “ ‘Hush, hush!’ I answered, unwilling to encourage her talking, and to change the unwholesome current of her thoughts I drew aside the window-curtain. A faint, pallid light was already tingeing the east, the token of the coming day. The night seemed to calm the girl’s worn-out nerves. She drew a long, we ary sigh like a tired child, and in a few moments dropped into a deep sleep. When Alice awoke on Sunday morning she proved so feverish that I kept her in bed, and a question which she asked me in the course of the morning frightened me with the jdea that she muss be worse than I had thought her. “ ‘Mamma,’she asked, ‘who is the pretty young lady that stands sometimes m the door at the head of the stairs, and looks at me so with her great dark eyes? I kept thinking of her all the time; she seems so sad and.sor#owful that I can’t forget about her.’ “I supposed the child was light-headed from fever, and gave her some trifling gnawer. About ten o’clock, as I was passing through the upper hall, I saw that mysterious door swing back upon its hinges flat against the wall, exposing the palllike blackness of the evening before. I did not hesitate. Fortunately my feet were clad in slippers which muffled my - footfall, and, making as little noise as

jrossible, I stepped to the landing, mounted (he half a dozen stairs on Che opposite side, and advanced some paces iu the darkness along the. hallway of the extension, when I could touch with my hand the casing at the top of tho narrow, crooked stairway I have before mentioned. I paused, and, leauing against i the wall, turned so as to command a view of the door which I judged must still be open, since I had not heard it shut. Strangely enough, I could see nothing in any direction. I knew that a lamp was burning dimly in our upper hall, in a straight Hue from my standing place, but not a gleam penetrated to me. The darkness hung upon me like a corpoieal weight, and 1 gasped for breath w.th a sense of suffocation in its density. “I stood thus for some moments. I wished I had brought a light. The beating of my heart seemed like a companion in my solitude, and I remember laying my hand upon it to feel its pulsations. Then slowly, slowly, out of the thick air, there grew upon me a horror, on unspeakable, awful consciousness of the presence of the Invisible which froze my blood, and chilled my life at its core. My body seemed turned to stone. All its activity was piralyzed, and had I sought to turn and flee, i knew my musclss would have failed to do my bidding, and my feet havo sunk under me. I was powerless to open my lips. Only my mind was free as air to receive in every fiber this sense of unutterable terror for that instant. Fear held dominion over me. Fear, such as I had never dreamed of, ruled in every atom of my being. • The sound of the shutting of a door resounded iu my ears like an unexpected thing, a faint light flitted for an instant along the wall, and in its momentary gleam I saw a woman’s face, a wicked face, and a girl’s form, a shadow crouched at my side. The light was gone, but there still rung in my ears a long, low sob, like the cry of a lost soul, and the sickening noise of a fall on the stones below. “It must have been some time after this that Margaret found me sitting on our stairs below the closed door. How I came there Ido not know. She did not spe ik to me, for I think Bhe knew by my face what h id happened,, and sho followed her instinct in treating me much as I had treated her. As soon as any power of act.oa returned to me, I resolved upon quitt.ng the house instantly, and set about irepaiations for our departure with a feverish activity. 1 could not be easy so long as we remained in the building, and we s) ent the few days necossary for the epacking of the furniture at Leland’s Hotel, visiting the house as little as possible and never remaining over night. Margaret went to her mother’s to stay till she could recover from the shock to her nerves and be fit for work. ’’

I knew it Avould be useless to try and peisuade Mrs. Capel that all she had related was but tbe illusions of an overwrought imagination. I released her, thereiore, from the engagement, and determined to inspect the building for my own satisfaction. An old doctor who res dod on West Monroe stroet, in the neighborhood, to d me that the last perinaftent occupants of tLe house, before it began to bear so evil a roputatiox, had been two women, a mother and daughter. The mother, a widow, owned the place. She was a lierce-tempered, hard woman, who seemed possessed, as the gossips said, by a spirit of unnatural hatred toward her daughter, a girl with a ceitaiu sad beauty of her own, as the doctor described her to me, but not r ght in her mind. She Avas not an idiot, but “lacking,” the doctor termed it. As she grew into womanhood her mental deficiencies increased, and the mother, fiercely proud in her Avay, could not endure the spectacle of hor child’s misfo tune. She would have hidden her away from the Avorld, but the girl rebelled. There were taunts, quarrels, sometimes blows, between the two, and the mother, dofiant and furious, locked her daughter in the rear part of the building. Here the tragedy of her life played itself out, and here she Avas found one morning by the servant, Avho slept in a i enrol e attic, lying dead at the foot of the stairs. How she came by her death no one knew. There was nothing to directly criminate the mother, and the inquest that was held resulted in a verdict of “accidental death.” Tho mother herself died soon after, leaviug her property to a distant cousin, who reaped little benefit from the house, since it soon became impossible to let it. The doctor’s account seemed to lend weight to tbe statement of Mrs. Capel. I entirely disbelieve in the supernatural, and, after making an examination of the premises, was on the point of leat'ing, Avhen I noticed a panel in the open door that had a peculiar surface. As I stood Avatching it, Avhile night-shades were falling, the outlines of two figures became more and more visible. One was that of a middle-aged womau, with a hard, fierce face, while the other was that of a young girl in a crouchiug attitude. When the door was closed tne pnnel could not be seen except from the extension. I examined the frameAvork of the door, and found it lobe in a rickety condition. A gust of wind from a special quarter striking tho framework threAv the door sufficiently aslant to free the bolt from the clasp and allow the door to swing open into the hall, and reveal the painted panel. On subsequent inquiry, I found that the extension had at one time been occupied by an artist, Avho, doubtless, hearing of the tragedy as related by the doctor, had painted tho scene on the panel. I also discovered that tho artist had been making experiments Avith phosphorescent paint, and also with a paint that changed color at various degrees of temperature. I had the framework of the door repaired and the panel taken out, and since then no tenant has come to me with ghost stories. I have the panel at home in my parlor. In the dark, Avhen the weather is slightly damp, the two figures come out v.ery distinctly, but at times they are invisible. The luminous paint used is now quite common, but the artist who invented it has no idea of the supernatural sensation this early experiment made on the tenants of the Halsted Street Haunted House. “Remember to keep the Sabbath holy” should be impressed upon all. The folloAving lines of Sir Mathew Hale show that making it a day of rest if productive of good results: A Sabbath veil spent Brings a week of content And health for. the toils- ot to-morrow; But a Sabbath profaned. Whatsoe'er may be gained, la a certain forerunner of sorrow.

GREAT FIRES OF 1888.

THE WORK OF THE FLAMES IN THE UNITED STATES. A Decrease in the Louses Over Last Tear of 830,000,000—Statistics of General Interest—The Great Conflagrations and When They Occurred. The losses by fire in the United States for 1888 were not as large as they were for the previous year. The detailed lLt of fires where the lo~' in each case was §IOO,OOO and upward is as follows: JANUARY. 2. Fire at New York City.. $ 100,OX) 2. Fire atSalida, Col 200,000 2. Fire at Hicksville, Tenn 100,000 2. Stevens & Brace s iron works, Kansas City. Mo 100,000 4. Los ADgeles (t al.l Furniture Works 200,000 5. Navigation Building, Brooklyn Navy Yard 200,000 6. Union Depot, Atchison, Kan 125,000 7. Cross’ pulp mills, Franklin Falls, N. H 100,000 7. Dale Block, Chicago, 11l 175,000 8. Berry Bros. Mercantile Company’s store, Abilene, Kas 125,000 10. Swart Block, Chicago, 11l j 150,000 11. Fire in Lowell, Mass.. j 100,000 13. Fire in Indianapolis, Ind ; 750,000 14. Missouri Pacific B. R. roundhouse, Fort Worth, Tex I 100,0'X) 15. Fire in New York City J. 150,000 17. Beaupre, Keogh & Davis’ grocery, St. Paul, Minn 7. 363,000 17. Commissary Building, Ft. McKinney, Wyo i. 100,000 20. Fire in Pittsburg, Pa ~ 100,000 22. Holyoke, Mass., Envelope Company’s Mills .’ 825,000 23. Fire in Philadelphia, Pa. 1,500,000 24. Fire in Newark, O 200,000 25. Barber & Co.’s thread mill, Allentown, Pa 300,000 28. Board of 'Trade Building, Peoria, 111, 150,000 28. Fire in Pittsburg, Pa 295,000 28. Fire in Malone, N. Y 200,000 30. Fire in New York City 1,500,000 FEBRUARY. 1. Fire In Buffalo, N. Y $1,200,000 1. Fire in Charles > on, 8. C 100,000 4. Fire in St. Louis, Mo 155,000 13. Fire in St. Paul, Minn 330,000 15. Fire in Elmira. N. Y 175,000 15. Fire in Providence, K. 1 350,000 15. Collins Paper Mills, Wiibraham, Mass 250,000 17. Fire in Westerly, B. 1 150,000 18. Rogers & Sheldon s Iron-Works, Bridgewater, Mass 100,000 IP. Lebanon Mills, Pawtucket, B. 1.... 100,000 19. Fire in Pro vidence, B. 1 250,000 24. Fire in Pittsburg, Pa 100,000 26. Fire in Buffalo, N. Y 400,000 27. Deaf and Dumb Asylum, Fulton, Mo 500,000 28. Union Square Theater, etc., New York 330,000 MARCH. , 1. Powell, Wenigman & Smith’s cigar factory, New York..., $ 750,000 1. Fire in Sutter Creek, Cal 150,000 2. Fenecke & Co. 's candy factory, Milwaukee, Wls 200,000 2. Brown Bros, paper works, Detroit, Mich 150,000 3. Marguerita Winery, Fresno, Ca 1.... 200,0 X) 5. Fire in New York. 100,000 8. Duden & Co.’s laee works, New York 10),000 13. Fire In Columbus, Ohio 156,000 13. Grand DeXoar Plow Works, Diiou, 111 100,000 15. Fire in Milwaukee, Wis 340,000 15. Fire in Philadelphia, Pa 340,000 16. Fire in New York 100,000 16. Santa Fe round house, Cleburne,

Texas 110,000 18. Green dyeing house, Pawtucket, B 1 100,000 18. Fire in Jacksonville, Fla 125,000 22. Schmidt’s sash and door factory, Milwaukee. Wis 100,000 29. Paint shop, C., B. & Q. It. K., Aurora, 11l 175,000 29. Coburn Shuttle Co.’s mill, Lowell, Mass 200,000 29. Davie & Hankins’block, Chicago,lll. 300,000 APRIL. 4. Fire in Potsdam, N. Y SIOO,OOO 5. Fire in Amesbury, Mass 800,tOO 6. Ha v wood chair factory, Fitchburg, Mass 150,000 8. Buell woolen mills, St. Joseph, Mo. 110,000 9. State Normal School, Terre Haute, Ind 225,003 9. Fire in Travers, Fiji 180,000 12. Wood reaper-works, Youngstown, O. 250,000 12. Leader and Dispatch Building, Binghamton, N. Y _. 150,0C0 13. Fire in New York 100,000 15. Fresinus’brewery,New Haven,Conn 150,000 16. City brewery, Pepria, 11l 10.,000 16. Fire in Owensboro, Ky 15 ,000 18. Fire in Palo Altb, Cal 100,C00 20, Eau Claire (W4s.) sash and door works 100,000 23. Fire at Stock Yards, Chicago, 111.... 100,000 23. Fire in Winona, Miss 250,0C0 25. Chemical paint mills, Natick, Mass. 150,000 25. Delaware iron works, New York.... 100,000 25. Edison electric-light works, FaJi River, Mass 153,009 23. Firo in Central City, Dak 175,05) 26. Atlantic machine works, Boston, Mass 150,000 26. Fire in New York 123,000 29. Stoner’s dry-goods house, Williamsburg, N. Y 250,000 30. Fire in Brooklyn, N. Y 25J.0C0 MAY. 3. Fire in Big Rapids, Mich $ 120,000 5. Fire in Milan, Ohio 115,0u0 5. Fire in Sandersvi'ile, Ga 100,000 7. Lombard, Ayer & Co.’s lumberyards, Jersey City, N. J 700,000 10. St. 1 aul’s Cathedral, Buffalo, N. Y. 263,000 11. Fire in Hot Springs, Ark ~ 100,000 11. Woodaidb's Casket Works, Owosso, Mich 100,000 12. Disston Saw Factory, Tacony, Pa. 300,000 14. Fire in Goldendale, W. T 157,000 15. Dearborn Manufacturing Works, Chicago, 11l 125,000 16. Fire in Atlanta, Ga 100,000 18. Fire in Pelouse City, W. T 250,003 18. Fire in Philadelphia, Pa 100,000 26. Fire in South Pittsburgh, Tenn 200,003 29. Fire in Bellefonte, Pa 203,003 31. St. Paul Knitting Works, St. Paul, Minn 100,000 31. Fire in Selma, Cal 100,030 JUNK. 6. Fire in Burlington, Vt $200,000 8. Atlas Paper Mills, Appleton, Wis.. 150,000 10. Fire in Norway, Mich 220,000 12. Fire in Indianapolis, Ind 100,000 14. Lead works, Salem, Mass 125,030 18. Fire in Dubois, Pa 1,000!000 19. Champion Drill Works, Binghamton, N. Y 100,OCO 23. Fire in Holbrook, Ariz 200,000 25. Fire in New York 280,000 27. Fire in Fort Apache, Ariz IOO^OOI 27. Gaus& Son’s planing-mill,St.Louis. 100,000 27. Mexican Railroad ireight depot, El Paso. Tex 200,000 28. Fire in Reading, Pa 103,000 29. Tasker Ironworks, Newcastle, Del. 150,000 JULY. 1. Fire in Brainerd, Minn SIOO,OOO 2. Reading (Pa.) Hardware Works 475,000 2. Fire in Flagstaff, Ari 100,COO 5. Fire in Marysville, Cal 170,000 6. Fire in New York 150,000 6. Fire in Warren. Pa 100,000 9. Fire in Danville, Va 150,000 10. Fire in Suisin, Ca 1 400,000 11. Fire in Alpena, Mich 400,000 12. Lake Shore roundhouse, Ashtabula, 0 259,000 14. Whitelaw Reid's residence, White' Plains, N. Y....- 250.000 16. Electric light plant, New Orleans, La 100,000 17. Dunn breaker, Scranton, Pa 100,000 18. Julius Bauer’s piano house, Chicago, 11l 200,000 20. Steamer P. Way, Newark, N. J..... 100,000 23. Fire in Roslyn, W. T 600,000 24. Krippendorf, Dittman & Co.’s shoe factory, Cincinnati, O i. 300,000 31. Bussman & Co.’s grocery house, Mansfield. 0 i 120.000 AUGUST. 1. Fire in Suffolk, Va $ 400,000 3. Little & Croft’s lumber mills, Evansville, Ind 100,000 5. R. J. Francis’ plaDing milln, New York 175,000 8. Fire in East Saginaw, Mich 150,000 8. Fire in Macon, Mo 100,000 9. Fire in Chattanooga, Tenn 400,000 9. Wells College, Aurora, N. Y 20u,0Q0 10. Tennessee Brewery, Memphis,Tenn. 150,000 11. Fire in Fresno, Cal .. 200,000 14. Convent of the Sacred Heart, New York 1,000,000

14. Fire in Peoria. HL *50,000 19. Shipper Agricultural Works, San Francisco, Cal 100,000 21. Niedlinger A Schmidt’s malt-housa, Rondout. N. Y. 100,000 22. Betgiff's Brewery, Fort Wane. Ind.. ICO.OOO 23. Whiting's paper mill, Menas ha, Wis 100,000 28. Klein A Co.’s stocking factory, Cincinnati, Ohio 100,000 SEPTEMBER. Z Fire in Baltimore, Md 81,000,000 4. Klauben & Levi’s grocery house, San Diego, Cal 345,000 5. Fire in Baker City, Ore 200,000 9. lire in San Francisco, Cal 1,000,000 9. Fire in Wilmington, Del 100,000 13. Grand Opera House. Syracuse, N. Y'. 300,000 13. Fire in Junction City, Kas 125,000 13. Fire in Huntington, N. Y 100,009 14. Fire in Washburn, Wis". 100,000 15. National Flouring Mills, Cleveland, Ohio 125,000 15. Fire In Spokane Falls, W. T , 100,000 17. Fire in Paducah, Ky 200,000 22. Elias Brewery, New York 950,000 27. Fire in Canton, Dak . 100,000 27. Fire in Wabasha, Minn 117,000 28. Fire in Romeo, Wis 135,000 28. Ohio Falls Tannery, Louisville, Ky. 105,000 30. Conway Sash & Blind Factory, Milwaukee.... 125,000 30. Armada Flour Mills, Toledo, Ohio.. 100,000 OCTOBER. I. Ohio Valley Foundry, Bellaire, 0...$ 125,000 & Quinn’s dry-goods store, Little Bock, Ark 100,000 9. Schoenemann’a packing-house, Chicago 125,000 11. Standard Oil Works, Greenpoint, L. I 250,000 14. Fire in Winona, Miss 150,000 16. Pentacook Club House, New York.. 150,009 17. Standard Oil Works, Duluth, Minn. 130,000 22. Keeth & Co.’s furniture works, Troy, n.;y .. 100,000 31. Fire in Los Angeles, Cal 100,000 NOVEMBER. 1. Highland Hall, Highland Park, 111.. $ 100,000 4. Monticello Seminary, Godfrey, 111.. 200,000 5. Fire in Macon. Ga. 125,000 8. Indiana Paper Mills, South Bend, Ind 200,000 9. Wellauer s grocery house, Milwaukee. Wis „ IOO.COO 10. Rochester (N. Y.) Steam Gauge Works 225,000 11. Fire in San Francisco, Cal 100,000 13. Fire in New York 500,000 13. Wheeler Elevator, Buffalo, N. Y.... 160,000 13. Fire in Carlisle, Pa 100,000 18. Fire in Little Bock, Ark 100,000 19. Doris Mansion, St. Louis, Mo 100,000 22. Fire in Pocomoke City, Md 500,000 23. Electric Light Works, Fort Wayne, Ind 300,000 23! Fire in Eureka Springs, Ark 290,000 23. Fire in New Orleans, La 100,000 27. Judson Institute, Marion, A1a...... 100,000 DECEMBER. 1. Armour A Cudahy packing-house, Omaha, Neb... $ 100,000 3. Fire in Jonesvilie. Tenn 100,000 4. Hackley & Hume’s lumber yards, Muskegon, Mich 150,0>0 4. Fire in New Orleans, La 120,000 5. Wood, Jenks & Co.’s lumber-yard, Cleveland, Ohio 115,000 5. Cortlandt Wagon Works, Cortlandt, N. Y 211,000 7. Fire in New York 250,000 8. Globe Iron Works, Cleveland, Ohio. 10.1,000 9. Normal School, Lock Haven, Pa.... 15 ),COO 13. Fire In Savannah. Ga 200,000 15. Fire in St. Louis, Mo. :. 160,000 22. Strobel A Co.’s picture-frame works, Cincinnati, O 100,000 23. P. Lennox's morocco factory, Lynn, Mass 250,000 24. Baxter Court Office Building, Nashville, Tenn 100,000 25. Fire in Marblehead, Mass 8(k),000 25. Fire in Cincinnati, 0 300,000 SUMMARY. January $7,810,000 October $ 1,330,000 February 4,490,000 November ... 3,810,000 March 3,799,030 December.... 3,301,000 April 4*360,000 May 3,130,000 Total $47,479,000 June 3,025,000 Total 1887.. 65,158,000 July 3,905,000 Total 1886.. 40,024,000 August 3,675,000 Total 1885.. 32,466,500 September.... 5,387,000 The entire fire losses in the United States, adding those under $109,000 in each case, will reach less than SIOO,OOO 0 M), an compared with about $130,000,000 in 1887 and $115,000,000 in 1886.

THE PUBLIC PRINTER.

Numerous Candidates for Mr. Bened'cl's —Mereditli Believed lo Be the Man. [Washington special to Detroit Free Press.] The position of Government Printer is one of the most important places that tho new President has to fill. The Public Printer has charge of about 2,500 omployes and superintends the expenditure of OA T er $2,000,000 per annum. ’The office lias important duties and extensive patronage.

The Public Printer himself receives a salary of $4,500, and his principal assistants from SI,BOO to $3,600 per annum, He has fifteen or twenty g rod places at his disposal and hundreds of subordinate ones. The woods arc full of men who aspire to succeed Mr Benedict. Col. W. M. Meredith, of Chicago, is apparently the most formidable candidate for the position now in tho field. He Avas formerly a member of the Seventeenth Indiana Regiment, which was commanded by Gen. Harrison during tho rebellion. He was a candidate for the position of Public Printer in 1881, Avhen Sterling P. Rounds Avas nominated. Among the names on his petition was that of Benjamin Harrison, then just entering upon his term as Senator. Col. Meredith’s friends naturally figure that Harrison’s influence ought to be a little more valuable this year than it Avas when he got left seven years ago. Col. Meredith is receiving the indorsement of the Typographical Unions all over, the country, has strong political backing, and it is generally conceded that his chances are first-class. [lf'rom the Decatur (Ill.) Labor Bulletin.] The announcement of the friends of Col. William M. Meredith that they will urge upon Gem . Harrison his appointment as Public Printer has met with a warm response from many of the leading labor organizations of the country. The Colonel is a master in the profession, both ns a business and as an art. Ho was a printer and a soldier by inheritance as well as bv practice.

A Burned Steamer.

The steamer Bristol, of the Old Colony line, was burned at her dock at Newport, R. 1., and is a total loss. She was from New York, landed all her freight and her Fall River and Boston passengers, aod they departed at the usual time for their destination. There were left on board the steamer only a few passengers and their baggage. The passengers had harrow escapes. Insurance, $300,000, which will cover the lose.

WHERE GOOD-HUMOR WON

How a. Drummer Who Kept His Wits and Bin-Temper Made a Sa e. “It is great Han for me,” said et prominent New York business man the other day, “to recall my early experience on the road in the capacity of a commercial drummer. I remember striking a small village up the Hudson, shortly after starting out. During the evening at the hotel I got into conversation with two or three natives of the village who were standing around the office, and, as is quite customary with young and inexpeiienced drummers, I began to refer rather boastfully »o the; achievements I had made in the way of sales. The natives seemed to re-, ; ceive everything in good faith, and one of them proposed as a test of my abil-1 ity as a salesman that I should! go to a store in the village! and sell the propri tor thereof, who! loudly proclaimed his antipathy to alii drummers, a bill of goods. My pride was touched, and I readily agreed to ; do it, and agreed also to Avager $5 on the result. Five minutes afterward found me with my grip-sack in my hand on my way to the store that had been' referred to, and before I could plan any campaign I w T as inside the place. It was an ordinary village store, and, as the time I speak of was in the middle of the winter, there was a red-hot stove in the middle of the floor, and a dozen loungers were sitting in a circle about it. Knowing, as they did, the prejudices of the proprietor with reject to commercial men, my entrance was greeted Avith significant smiles and nudges and winks, and whispered comment passed around the circle. I didn’t mind this, hut went up at once to the man who stood behind the counter, avlio answered the description that had been given to me of the proprietor of the store, and handed him my card. “He took the card, and, without looking at it, slowly tore it into two or lliree dozen pieces and scattered it on the floor. The action was followed by a roar of laughter from the circle around tlie stove. But I was not to be beaten yet. “ ‘You shouldn’t do that,’ I said, very quietly; ‘don’t you know that those cards cost money ?’ “The proprietor glared at me for a moment, and then, turning to a young clerk, who stood behind the counter a few feet aAvay, he said: ‘Give this, young man 5 cents to pay for that card.’ “This grim sally brought another explosion of laughter from the circle around the stove, and a dozen pair of eyes looked over me curiously to see hoAv I would take the rebuff. I didn’t take it at all. I took up my card case a second time, and selecting another card, offered it to the proprietor. This made him mad, and he began to swear. “ ‘What do you mean, you impudent young dog, by handing me another card?’ And.lie brought his hand down with a good deal of force on the counter. “ ‘Oh,’ I replied, ‘I always give two cards for 5 cents. ’ “This rather turned the laugh on him, and after a moment he joined in the laughter, and, taking the card, read it. “ ‘l’ll talk with you a moment, ’ he said, ‘if you’ll come back in the store here.’ “You may be sure I went back. He told me that he had been buying teas and spices from one house for a long time, and that he was perfectly satisfied with the fashion in Avliich they served him. He believed that he got the loAvest prices, and he didn’t care to change. I asked him what prices he paid for various articles in my repertory, and told him, what I sincerely believed, that if he didn’t keep posted from contact with various representatives of the trade, it was quite improbable that he got the lowest figures. He told me what he Avas paying, and I showed him that I could sell the same goods at loAver prices, and finally came away with an order. I Avon the wager of $5 at the hotel, and the firm down in New York, whose representatives had called on this man in previous seasons Avithout success, sent me an encouraging letter. ”

A Fine Taste in Tea.

Mr, Guy Maine, the Chinese lecturer, related the following instance in regard to Chinese tea driuking. He said that when he was a boy about 11 years old he lived with his father, who was a little near-sighted, in a cottage in the southern part of China. One day he was cleaning out his father's tea kettle and could not get all the tea leaves out, so he put his hand in the kett!e. About a half hour afterward his father called for his tea, which Guy took to him and returned to work. Shortly the old gentleman called him again and asked him if he did not tell him never to put his hand in the tea kettle. “Well,” said Guy, “I did not know whether my father was peeking through the keyhole watching me or not. So I let three weeks pass when 1 knew mv father was out on business, and I again put my hand in the tea kettle. That evening I was called to answer the question whjch was asked me several weeks before, But you may rest assured from that time to this I have never put my hand in any tea kettle.” —New York Evening Sun.

How Money Accumulates.

In Mulhall's “Balance Sheet of the World” the interesting fact is noted that “every day that the sun rises upon the American people it sees an addition of $2,500,000 to the accumulation of wealth in the United States, which is equal to o fie-third of the daily accumulation of all mankind outside of thev United States.”