Nappanee Advance-News, Volume 1, Number 33, Nappanee, Elkhart County, 6 November 1879 — Page 1

§ke Mmmt Meekly Mews,

VOLUME I.

gNptff fS#lg Issued Every Thursday BY A. B. SMITH, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR, ,• 4-*AT—-NAPPANEE, - INDIANA. TERMS OF SURSCRIFTIOM, One copy one year fl 00 One copy six month* 50 One copy three months 85 HrPftyable in advance. RATES OF ADVERT ISTWG. One column one year |OS 00 One-half column one year 85 00 One-quarter column one year 20 00 One column three months 20 00 One-half column three months 12 00 One-quarter column three months 7 00 Business Cards, five lines or less, $5 per year. Local notices, live cents Der line for each insertion. Advertisements to be settled monthly. BUSINESS DIRECTORY. STUCKMAN & McKIBBEN, PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS, Nappanee, Ind. Office three miles cast and' one mile north of Nappanee. near Stumptown. We respectfully reJiuest our friends to make calls early in the inornng when the nature of the case will permit. Offlco hours from 8 to 10 a. m. JOSEPH K. JULIEN, M. D., NAPPANEE, IND. Office corner Main and Market streets, Second floor. Prompt attention given to all caHs.- Patients will please call as early in the morning as possible. C. H. SCHWARTZ, PHVS-iCIAN AND SURGEON, c,Nappanee, Ind. Office and residence on South Clark street. All calls promptly attended to both day or night. Office hours from oto 0 a. in., and from 7 to 0 p. m. L. E. MILLER, Homceopatiiic physician, Nappanee, Ind. Office and residence one mile east oi town. All" calls promptly attended to. In 2 J. M. PAXSON, M.D., IND., Offlco on Main street, opposite the Drug Store. Prompt attention given to all calls, day or night. n33-tf PROF. STONE BREAKER, Veterinary physician, Wakarusa, Ind. Will attend to all calls promptly. Consultation free. The Professor visits Nappanee every Monday afternoon. No cure no pay. nSS-tf M. E. BRICKER, Homoeopathic physician, LockeJ). Professional calls responded to at aflnjoursSf day or night. Diseases of women and children a specialty. Diseases of a private character strictly confidential. / *\ H. T. MONTCOMERY, M. D. PHYSICIAN AND SURGEON, / Wakarusa, Ind. Office hours—7 to 9 o’clock a. lfi.; 7to 9 o'clock p. m. J M. M. Latta, C. C. Sparklin. LATTA A BPARKLIN, PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS, Goshen, Ind. We respectfully request our friends to make calls early in the morning when the nature of the case will permit. By doing ho we will be able to give them more prompt attention than otherwise pqsggflo. Office hours from 8 to 10 a. m. I. H. HALL, ATTORNEY AT law, Notary Public and Deputy Prosecuting Attorney. All claims left with me will receive prompt at- * tention. Nappanee, Ind. W- F. PEDDYCORD, JUSTICE OF TnE PEACE, Collection and Insurance Agent, Nappanee, Ind. Will-give prompt attention to all business that bn intrusted to his care. Office in The News Banning, nominee* of Public Square. NAPPANEE HOTEL, e> 9 Nappanee, ind. Fred D. Richmond, Proprietor. The Nappanee is tho only first-class house in the city. The best of accommodations at uniformfly low rates. Good Bample Rooms. Headquarters or Commercial Travelers. nl BURNS & KREIDER 9 Manufacturers of all kinds of WOOD PUMPS, Nappanee, Ind. Repairing promptly attended to. All work warranted. Wheat, Corn, Oats and Meat taken in exchange for work. UNION HOUBE, Milford junction, ind. John Burns, Proprietor. The Union is a first-class house on the crossing of the B. &O. and C., W. & M. Railroads. Also 1 a good Livery in connection. n8 SAMUEL ROSENFELD, Manufacturer of and wholesale AND RETAIL DEALER IN CIGARS AND TOBACCO. Smokers' articles kept constantly on hand. Orders promptly attended to. Bremen, Ind. Milton B. Groves. Wm. E. Groves. GROVES BROS., pROPK’B OF MILFORD MARBLE WORKS. Also dealers In Italian and American Marble Grani o and Building Stone. Grave-stones Milford, Ind.

• NAPPANEE, ELKHART COUNTY, INDIANA, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 1879.

AT NIGHTFALL. Coming along by the meadows, Just after the sun went down, Watching the gathering: shadows Creep over tho hillsides brown; Coming along in the gloaming, With never a star in the sky, My thoughts went n-roaming, a-roamlng, Through days that aro long gone by. Days when desire said, “To-morrow, To-morrow, heart, we’ll be gay 1“ Days ere the heart heard the sorrow Whioh echoes through yesterday. Life was a goblet burnished, That with love for wine was filled; The oup is bruised and tarnished, And the precious wine is spilled. But to the traveler weaiy. Just coming in sight or homo, What dpes it matter how dreary . The way whereby he has come? , Coming alonjsby the meadows, ' And watching the fading day, Duskier than night’s dusky shadows Fell shadows of yesterday. In the northern sunset’s glimmer The Great Bear opened his eyes; Low in the east a shimmer Showed where the full moon would rise. Lights in a window were gleaming, And someone stood at the gate, Said: “Why do you stand there dreaming? And why are you home so late?” Yesterday’s shadow and sorrow That moment all vanished away I • Here were to-day and to-morrow— What matter for yesterday? —Oood JYordte. UP THE RIVER WITH A LUNATIC. Alf Dixon, Tom Giffard and I had fone up the river camping out; we had one our • second day’s work; It was early morning on the third day, glorious weather. I was in the boat, getting the steering lines in order; Giffard and Dixon were on the bank, talking to Dr. Rawle. As I understood it, the doctor was at the hejid of a private asylum for lunatics. He was Giffard’s friend, not mine. He had been taking a constitutional when he happened to fall in with us just as we were sitting down to ‘our open-air breakfast; the chance meeting led to Giffard inviting him to share our gypsy meal. He did. He was a pleasant fellow, not too old and not too young. I liked him exceedingly. Wo talked of things in general, and .of lunatics in particular. Something led to his mentioning—l think it was speaking of the cunning of a certain class of lunatics, and the difficulty of keeping them within four walls—the fact that one of his inmates had Uscaped a day or two previously, and had not yet been retaken. This was the more singular as it was tolerably certain he luuhnot gone far, and search had been made for him in evert' direction. As Giffard and Dixon were saying food-by, preparatory to getting into'the oat, the doctor laughingly said: “ Should you happen to come across him, I shall consider you bound to bring him back safe arid sound. He’s a man of forty-four or forty-live, tall and bony, iron-gray hair, and has,a curious habit of showing his teeth and winking his left eye. Don’t look out for a raving lunatic; for on most points he’s as right as you and I. He’s wrong in two things. Whatever youdo, don’tlet him lose nis temper; for whenever he does, though ever so slightly, he invariably, goes in for murder —he’s all but done lor two keepers already. And don’t talk to him of England or Englishmen; for if he should get upon his naliiPe land, he’ll favor you with some observations which will make you open your eyes.” We laughed. Alf and Tom shook hands with him, and got into the boat, We promised, if we should happen to meet him, we would certainly see him returned to safe custody. Alf stood up and shoved us from the shore; we sang out a last good-by, and left the doctor standing on the bank. It was a beautiful morning. The river was delicious, clear as crystal; we could see the bottom, arid every stone and pebble on it; just a gentle breeze fanning the surface of the waters into a little ripple. We lit our pipes and took it easily. lam a good bit of a traveler, know many lovely nooks and crannies in foreign lands; I have lived abroad as much as at home; but 1 will match the higher reaches of our own Father Thames for beauty and for charm against any scenery in Europe. And on an early summer morning, after a spell of glorious weather, it is in all its prime; the water so cool, so clear; the t bnnfcg so green, so charming; the'stately trees on either side; the mansions seen over the meadows, or peeping out among the trees. You may choose your Rhine, your Garda, or your Maggiore, or your golden Bay of Naples, but leave Cookham and old Father Thames to hie. Presumably we had come for river beauties and the camping-out—presum-ably; but as a matter of fact there was a young lady lived not so far ahead, a mutual friend, Lilian Travers. Separately and jointly we Had a high bp'mion of Miss Travers, not only of her beauty, but of other things as, well; and having come so far, wo noped \vb sltoukf not halo to return until at least we had had a peep at her. Unfortunately, though we knew Miss Travers, ita had ■* no acquaintance with Mr.—there was no Mrs. Wo had met the young lady at several dances and such like; but on each occasion shdSkas under the chaperonage of old Mrs. Mackenzie. Apparently Mr. Travers was not a party man. But Lilian had promised to introduce us to him whenever she got a chance, and wc not unhopeful she would get that chance now. So you see that fittle excursion riverward had more, in it than met the eye. Wo went lazily on, just dipping the .oars in and out; smoking, watching tho ’smoko circling through the clear air. All thoughts of the doctor and his parting words had gone from our minds. Wo talked little, and that little was of Lilian and the chances of our meeting. We had gone some two or three hun-

IN POLITICS AND RELIGION, AND NEUTRAL IR NOTHINC.

dred yards; we were close to the shore. Alf could almost reach it by stretching out his oar. We were dreaming'ana lazing, when suddenly someone stepped out from among the trees. He was close to us—not a dozen feet away. He was a tall man, rather over than under six feet. He was dressed in a dark brown suit of Oxford mixture; he had a stick in his hand, wore a billycock hat, and his coat was buttoned right up to his throat. He had light whiskers, a heavy, drooping mustacne, hair unusually long, iron-grav in color. He might be a soldier retired from his profession, or an artist out painting; he certainly looked a gentleman. We were passing on, when he raised his stick, and shouted out, “Stop!” jiff was a regular shout, as though we were half a mile from him. We stopped, although it was an unusual method of calling attention. “ Gentlemen,” he said, still at the top of his voice, “ I should be obliged if you could give me a seat. I have a long way to go, and I am tired.” We looked at him and at each other. It was a free-and-easy style of asking a favor; but he seemed a gentleman, and an elderly one, too. Common politeness dictated civility. “ I am afraid,” said Alf, “we have hardly room; she’s only built for three.” m “ Oh, that doesn’t matter,” he said; “yoii can put me anywhere, or I’ll take an oar for one of you.” I was on the point of advising a point-black refusal, not appreciating his off-hand manner; hut Alf thought differently. “ All right,” said he; “we don’t mind, if you don’t. Steer her in, Jack.” “I steered her in. No sooner were we near the shore than, quite unexpectedly, he stepped almost on my toes, rocking the boat from side to side. “Hang it!” I said; “take care, or you'll have us over.” “What if I do?” he returned. “It’ll" only be a swim; and who minds a swim in weather like this?” We stared at* him; the coolness, not to .'rity impertinence, of the remark, was amazing. Begging a seat in our boat, knowing'it was full, and then telling us lie didn’t care if he spilled us into the river! He seated himself by me, setting the boat seesawing again, crushing me into a corner; and without asking with your leave or by your leave, took the steering lines from my hands, and slipped them over his shoulders. “Excuse me,” I said, making a snatch at them; “but if you’ll allow me.” “Not at all,” he said; “I always like something to do, and I expect you’ve had enough of it.” ■ His coolness was amusing; he was impenetrable. I know I for one regretted we were such mules as to have had anything to do with hirffl We waited in silence a second or two. “Come,” he said, “when are you going to start?” " Perhaps,” said Alf, a bit' nettled, “as you’re in our boat a self-invited guest, you’ll let us choose our own .dime.” The stranger said nothing; he sat stolid and silent. Tom and Alf set off rowing; the strangehsteered right across the stream. “Where are you going?” said Alf. “ Keep us in.” “ I'm going into the shader the sun’s too strong.” He had the lines; we could hardly insist on his keeping one side if he preferred the other. He took us right to the opposite bank, under the shadow of the willow-trees. For some minutes ueither of us spoke. With him cramming me on my<eeat, and ramming his elbows into my side, my position was not pleasant. At last I let him know it. “I don’t know if you are aware you are occupying all my seat.” He turned on me short and sharp. All at once I noticed his left eye going lip and down like a blinking owl: his mouth was wide open, disclosing as ugly a set of teeth as I should care to a tlasli Dr. Itawle’s words crossed my mind: tall, strong, about forty-five, iron-gray hair; a habit of showing his teeth arid winking his left eye. Gracious powers! was it possible we had a lunatic with us unawares? I know fhn-possibility nay, the probability, of such a thing made me teet more than queer. If there is anything in the world I instinctively fear, it is mad persons. I know little of them — have never been in their company. Possibly my ignorance explains my dread; but the idea of sitting in the same boat and on the same seat with a man who— Dr. Rawle’s warning, “ Don’t let him lose his temper, or murder will ensue,” made me bound from my seat like Jack-in:the-box The boat tipped right out of the water, but I .didn’t care. The man was glaring at me with qrqel eyes; my muscles were strong, my fists clinched; every moment I expected him at my throat. “What the dickens are yoimp to?” said Alf. “What’s the matter with you?” ‘ • Excitable temperament, hot-blooded youth,” said the stranger. I could have said something hod I chosen, but I preferred discretion, I didn’t like his eves. “No-o—nothing,” I said. “I think I’ll sit in tho bow.” I didn’t wait to learn if anyone had any objection, but swinging round, I scrambled past Alf, anil tripped full length on to Tom’s knees. The boat went up and down like a swing; it was a miracle he wasn’t over. “ Is the fellow mad?” roared Alf. At the word “mad” the stranger rose up straight as a poet. “Mad!” pe

said; “do you know, sir—” He checked himself and sat down. “Pooh! he’s only a boy.” ■ In passing Tom I whispered in his ear. “ The lunatic,” I said. “What!” said Tom, right out loud. “Hold your row, you confounded donkey! It’s the man from Dr. Rawle’s.” • •The ” He was going to say something naughty—lknownewas; but he stopped short, and stared at him with all his eyes. Either Alf overheard me, or else the Same idea occurred to him at the same moment, for he stopped dead in the middle of a stroke, and inspected the man bn the steaHng seat. Tom and AH went on staring at him for a minute or more. I kept my head turned the other way to avoid his eyes. All at once I felt the boat give a great throb. I turned: there was the, stranger leaning half out of his seat, looking at Alf in a way I shouldn’t have eared to have had him look at me. ' “ What’s the meaning of this insolence?” he said. l - The question was not unwarranted; it could not have been pleasant to have been stared at as AH and Tom were staring then. “I beg your pardon,” said Alf, cool as a cucumber. “To what insolence do you refer?” Tom actually chuckled; I couldn’t have chuckled for a good deal;" it seemed tome not only impudent, hilt risky; ■ I couldn’t forget Dr. Rawle’s words about his homicidal tendencies. He turned red as a lobster; I never saw such an expression come over a man’s face before—perfectly demoniacal. 6 To my surprise he sat down and spoke as calmly ami deliberately as possible. “ Thank yoii,” he said; “I shall not forget this.” There was a sound about his “ I shall not forget this ” 1 did not relish. AH said nothing. Tom and lie set off rowing as coolly as though nothing had happened. I extemporized a seat in the bow, and tried to make things, as comfortable as possible. I noticed, although Alf and Tom were so cool, they hardly took their eyes off him for more than a second at a time. His behavior before their furtive glances was peculiar; he saw he was being watched; he couldri’t sit still; ho looked first at one bank, then at the other; his eyes traveled everywhere, resting nowhere; his hands fidgeted and trembled; he seemed all of a quiver. I expected him to break into a paroxysm _ every second. If I hadn’t called out ’ho would have run us right , into the shore; when I called he clutched the other string violently, jerking the boat almost round. I heartily wished him at Jericho before he had come near us. No one spoke. We went slowly along, watching each otner. At last he said something. “I—l will get out,” he said, in an odd, nervous way. “With pleasure,!’ said Alf; “in a minute.” “Why not now? Why not now, sirP” he said, seeming to shake from head to foot. “ Where are you going to get? —into the river?” I admired Alf s coolness; I envied him. I only hoped he wouldn’t let it carry him too far. The man glowered at him; for a moment he looked him full in the face. I never sl&v a look in a man’s eyes like that in his. AH returned look for look. Slightly, almost imperceptibly, he quickened his stroke. A little lower down was a little hamlet with a well-known inn and a capital landing-stage. When we came alongside, the stranger said, “This will do; I’ll get out here?’ He turned the boat inshore. No sooner were we near enough than he rose in his seat and sprang on to the beach. There were several people about, Watermen and others. Alf was after him in an instant; he rose almost simultaneously and leaped on shore; he touched him on the shoulder. “ Now come,” he said, “don’t be foolish; we know all about it.” The other turned on him like a flash of lightning. “ What do you mefp?” But Tom was too quick for him; he was on tho other side, and took his arm. “Come,” he said, “don’t let’s have a row.” The stranger raised himself to his * ill height and hnok off Tom with ease. He then hit out right ana lelt in splendid style. Tom and Alf went down like ninepins. But my blood was up. I scrambled on shore and ran N into him, dodged his blows, and closed. I am pretty strong. He was old enough to be my father; but I found I had metmy match, and more. I was like a baby in his arrasijie lifted me elean off my feet and threw me straight into the river. ,lt was a splendid exhibition pf strength. Tom and’Alf, finding their feet, made for him together, anil scrambling out as best I could, I followed suit. You never such a set-out. We clung to him like leeches. The language ne used was awful, his strength magnificent; though we were three to one, lie was a matidi for all of us. Os course, the bystanders, seeing a row, came up; they interfered and pulled us off. “Here’s a pretty go!” said one. " What’s nil this?” “ Slop him! lav hold of him!” said Alf; " he’s a lunatic.” “A what?" said the man. “He’s a lunatic, escaped from Dr. Rawle’s asylum.” ) Instead of lending a harid, the man went off" into a roar of laughter, and tho pthera joined. The stranger looked literally frantic with rage. A gentleman stepped out from the crowd. "There’s sonic mistake,” he said; “this rentleman is Mr. Travers, of Tollhurst Hall,”

You could have knocked us all three down with a feather, I do believe. Could It be possible? Could we have been such consummate idiots as to have mistaken a sane man for a lunatic? and that man Lilian Travers’ father! I could have shrunk into my boots; I could have run away and hid mysoH in bed. To think that we should have dogged, and watched, and insulted, and assaulted the man of all others in whose good books we wished to stand —Lilian Travers’ father! Never did three men look s&h fools as We did then. We were so confoundedly in earnest about it; that was the worst of all. I don’t care what you say; you may think it a first-rate joke; but he must have been an eccentric sort of elderly gentleman. If he had behaved sensibly, if he had made one sensible remark, he would have blown our delusions to the winds. We tendered our apologies as best we could to the man we had so insulted; but he -treated us and them with loftiest scorn; and we got one after another intothe boat amidst the gibes and jeers of an unsympathetic crowd. And as we rowed from the' wretched place as fast as our oars would take us, we each of us in our secret heart declared we should never forget our adventure up the river with a lunatic. And we haven’t. From that day to this I have never seen Lilian Travers, nor do I wish to. Harper’s Weekly. How He “ Set ’Em Up.” Simply because the man who stands behind the bar of a certain saloon on Gratiot avenue is a pleasant-faced smiling old man, certain parties came to the conclusion that there was no fight ain him. They therefore cooked up a plan to play upon his fears and make him “set’em up” for the crowd. Three red-nosed men called upon the old man in a body yesterday, and business was opened by one of them saying: a ...“When I was here last night you handed me a glass of beer with a fly in it. No gentleman would do that. You meant it as an insult, and now I demand satisfaction. You must meet me on the field of honor.” “Ish dot bossible! Vhat field ish dot?” exclaimed the astonished bartender. “ You must go out with me and fight a duel!” “Good gracious! Ish dot true?” “Yes, it is. I’ll go out and leave my two friends here to settle the details with you. I must either have blood or an ample apology!” - When the belligerent had retired one of theyithers said: “ See here, old man, I’m afraid you’ve got yourseU into a bad box. That ehap'is a sure shot, and he’ll wing you.” “Howvhill he -pit some wings on me?” innocently inquired the becrjerkcr. “ Now, listen. You insulted him.” “Yaw.’”' “He demands the satisfaction of a gentleman.” “Yaw.” “You must fight a duel with him or apologize and setup the beer.” “ Vhat ish a duel?” “Why, you will go outside the city and pace off ten paces and shoot at each other. Now, then, will you do that or set up the beer and beg his pardon.” “ Vhell, I dells you,’.’, replied the old man as he lifted a big navy revolver into sight. “If I sets up der beer I loses fifteen cents; H I go oudt und fights some duels I kills him stone det!” “ And you’ll fight?” “Yaw, I vhill—it is sheaper.” “Don’t you know,” said the man, after a blank silence, " that you’ll have to fight all three of usP” “ Yaw, I’spose I vhill. I shall now fight mit you two and dake der odder one to-morrow!” ns He thereupon changed his pistol for a club, danced around the bar, and the way he rushed’em out was painful to sec. The belligerent was waiting on the corner, and as the pair came austing out he called:==J=y—- “ Did he set ’em up?” “ Set ’em up?” shrieked one of the limpers, as he came to a halt—“is knocking a man over two beer-kegs and a table setting ’em tree tress. - Intoxication Among French Children. Sylvanus Urban, in the Gentleman's Magazine , says: “I shall, I doubt not, startle not a few of my readers when I state that during a recent visit to France I have frequently seen French children intoxicated. Strange as such an assertion may seem, I deliberately make it and stand-by it. Again and again at tables <T hote I have seen children scarcely more than babies suffering distinctly from alcohol. It is, as travelers in France know, the custom in all districts sonth of the Loire to supply wine gratis at two meals, breakfast and dinner, at which the residents in an hotel eat in company. Repeatedly, then, in the hotels in French watering places I have watched children of five years old and upward supplied by their mothers with wine enough visibly to flush and excite them. At Sables d’Olonnc one little fellow, whose age could not be more than six, drank at each of two consecutive three tumblers of wine slightly diluted with water. The result was on each occasion that he commenced to kiss his mother, proceeded,to kiss the person on the other side of him, continued by sprawling over the table, artd ended by putting his head in Hr mother's lap and falling asleep. It never seems to enter into the mind of a Frenchwoman that

NUMBER 33.

water may be drunk at a meal. When long journeys by rail are taken there is always in the neat basket in which the French mother carries provisions a bottle of wine, or wine and water, ont of which those of her children who have passed the stage of absolute infancy are allowed to drink. I can indeed say with truth that in the course of a pretty long series of observation of the French, chiefly made, I admit, in public vehicles and hotels, I have rarely if ever seen a glass of cold water, unqualified with any admixture, quaffed by a native. It is now the fashion to mistrust water even when blended with wine, for which purpose the various springs of the Eau St. Galmier are hugely employed.” FACTS AND FIGURES, > There are 5,000 women and girls employed about the coal mines of the United Kingdom of Great Britain. Four of the largest trades-unions in Great Britain have, during a comparatively brief term of existence, spent upwards of £260,000 ($1,500,000) in relieving the wants of members on strikes. When the old ecclesiastical regime in France was brought to a.close by the great Revolution, the clergy owned a fifth of the soil. Their property, in 1791, was estimated at $830,000,000 money-value of that day. In 1877 the value of German commerce with this country amounted to more than twelve per cent, of the total exports and imports of the country. Os the imports into Mexico twenty-five per cent, were German, and fifteen French. For September, 1879, the total number of telegraphic messages, exclusive of those for the press, sent and received at the Boston office, was 264,428, while for the same month in 1878 the total was 204,382 —a gain of 60,946 for the month. The largest block of granite ever quarried in New England has been taken out at Woodbury, Vt. It was 280 feet long, 13 to 18 feet deep, 15 feet wide, weighed 4,080 tons, and required 673 wedges, with 100 pounds of powder, to start it. The census returns of New Zealand for 1878 give the total population of that colony at 414A12, of whom 230,998 were males awl 183,404 females. These figures are exclusive of Maoris, but include 1,947 half-castes (968 males and 979 females) and 4,433 Chinese, of whom only 9 were females. The popular notion that the Russian deportations help to colonize Siberia is a fallacy. When Western Siberia was conquered by the Russians, at the end of the sixteenth century, it had, according to the historian Muller, upward of 5,000.000 inhabitants; now both Eastern and Western Siberia, covering an area of 190,000 square miles, in the temperate zone, have a population of only 4,000,000, although 79,000 to 120,000 persons are deported to Siberia yearly. Statistics of crime in Italy show a fearful state of affairs. The report of the Minister shows that during the past year more than 2,000 murders were committed, an average per million of the population unequaled by any other country on the face of the globe. During the same time the number of ordinary robberies, burglaries, etc. , is stated at 40.000, while there were 50,000 robberies accompanied with violence. In her long catalogue of crime Italy stands without a peer. In 1789 the Royal Library of Paris contained 800,000 volumes and objects of every description. In 1859 the number was 1,200,000. During the last twenty years the increase'has been more sensible, and the actual number is estimated at 2,000,000. The mean annual increase from legal deposits alone is 20,000. Out of these 2,000,000 about 450,000 are devoted to French history, 200,000 to theology, 90,000 to science and philosophy, 60.(MS)to natural history, and 20,000 to English history. <E. H. Walker, statistician of Produce Exchahge, after a careful estimate from authoritative reports, places the wheat crop of the United States for 1879 at about 425,000,000 bushels. The spring wheat crop will not be so large as was at first expected, that of Minnesota being no more than 28,000,000 .bushels, instead of 40,000,000 as estimro,i narly in the Reason. The amount consumed by 48,uw,uuo peisuus, p.u the amount required for seed and other putposes, is placed at 250,000,000 bush* els, leaving 176,000,000 bushels for export, 160,000,000 bushels for Europe and 15,000,000 for other ports. The year 1881 will be a mathematical curiosity. From left to right and right to left it reads the same; 18 divided by 2 gives 9as a quotient; 81 divided by 9 and 9 is the quotient. If 1881 is divided by 209, 9 is the quotient; if divided by 9 the quotient contains a'9; if multiplied by 9, the product contains two 9s. One and 8 are 9, 8 and 1 are ?. If the 18 be placed under the 81 and added, the sum is 99. If the figures be added thus, 1, 8, 8, 1, it will be 18.” Reading from'left to right is 18, and 18 is two-ninths of 81: By adding, dividing and multiplying, nineteen 9s are produced, being one 9 for each year required to complete the century. , —Pickering says that he has known lkdlcs in whom the instinct of decoration was so strong that if they were told they must be hanged in the presence of 20,000 persons to-morrow, their lirst thought would be, “ O dear, and I haven't a dress fit to be hung in!” -• —Little Gertie(after watting soma time for dessert) —“ Uncle, don’t yon have anything after dinner?” Uncle—- “ Yes, dear; the dyspepsja.”