Pike County Democrat, Volume 10, Number 32, Petersburg, Pike County, 18 December 1879 — Page 1

PIKE COUNTY DEMOCRAT, PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY. TKKMS OF SUBSCRIPTION : For one your...J.... u For six months....I.... 7* ror three mouths....,..,.1.......* 5q invariably in advance. ADVERTISING RATES: One tenure (9 lines), one insertion.JR 00 ^Eiich additional insertion....'............. 60 A liberal reduction made on advertisements runni ng t hree, six, ami twelve months. Le^raU und transient advertisements must be paid lor in advance. OFFICIAL. PAPER OF THE COUNTY. Offlee in M eBay’s PETERSBURG, INDIANA, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1879. NUMBER 32. PIKE COUNTY DEMOCRAT; ALL KINDS OF NOTICE! Persons receiving a copy of the paper with this notice crossed in lead pencil are notified tliat the time of their subscription has expi red.

X unuii \jr HUMAN IjUVJS. [JFfta* Happened in a Hew England Town a Hundred Years Ago.] She was a matron, wise and good; He was half-witted, coarse, and rude, A lonely outcast in the wood. Her husband, children, neighbors saw Her life without a spot or flaw, Molded by Puritanic law. To him there came no influence wise, Which to our weakness strength supplies, No church, school, home, no human ties. What could there be between the two? Wliat could she have with him to do? His very name she never knew. Nothiug, if they arc right who claim Self-happiness man’s only aim, And Ciirist a myth, and (iod a name. But in tin; poorest Christian creed Lies hid, of love, some generous seed To help a brother in his need. “We stie,” men said, V the fellow lurk Behind a bush, to steal and shirk, The rascal, if he chose, could work. u Don’t give him, Dame, another meal; And if he comes our fowls to steal, The lazy brute the jail shall feel.” She heard them talk and went her way, Said nothing; but at break of day Some food upon a shelf there lay. Soon dow ifthe lonely road he came, Half conscious of the village blame, His hunger struggling with his shame. He stopt, he saw the bread and meat, Looked quickly up and down the street, Seized it and fled with hasty feet. „Next day again he left the wood, And lo! upon the shelf there stood On£e more a dish of savory food. Apd every day he came to find 'mfis daily bread, till on his mind Dawned pome faint thought that men were kind. And, t hough no won! between them passed, He knew he had a friend at last, And sunshine on his path was cast, With power some shadows to dispel. To him it was a miracle, As though each day from Heaven it fell;

A miracle his soul to move, True manna dropping from above; For the trne Bread from Heaven is Love. Unmarked, continuous movements go; The Earth’s swift flight, Time’s steady flow, We scarcely feel, or see, or know. Tims steadfast goodness, moving on Without a pause, is scarcely known; Yet all men miss it when ’tis gone. So, to this town there came one day A sense of something passed away, Some influence, guidance, brace and stay. And when the^people of the place Came in and looked upon her face, Transfigured by death’s solemn grace^ There, with the rest, amassed, they find Him, to whom she alone was kind, Well clothed and in his proper mind. And when a curious stranger read Her name upon the plate, lie said: » “•She is mf friend, and she is dead. “ But now I’ll try to work a bit; For if my lazy*ways I quit, ’Twill pleasedier when she hears of it.” We i^ll through Love our Life receive, Since only while we love we live, And Life can not In Death believe. Thus, to a mind in darkness sealed, Love showed the truth horn Thought concealed. '-‘A,—■ ;• And Immortality revealed. —James.Freeman Clark,in the Independent. THE PORTRAIT. A Kostin Lots Story,, From ttie Fren ;h of Henry GrrTtlle. ^ Ifttm-tre was wSmlerfujf aimless: y in ■fee depths of the forest. It had ceased Haining, but the drops of water were Hstill rolling from leaf toleaf with the f light sound of a nearly exhausted fountain trickling into its half-filled b isin, and in the distance the dark path op med out into a wet glade of a deep gree n of exquisite softness. The trunks oi the tretf? were very black, their branches blacker, still, and the massive boug is of the - chestnut trees above the young painter’s head seemed like the high arches of a cathedral at the hour when all is dark in the church , and when the colored windows east into the g oom gleams of light so intense and so nysterious that you would think them lit up by a fire of live coals from without Maurice loved this hour at the de cline of day, whfin after the rain the sur has not shone out, and when a gray tint is cast over every thing, blending out ines, softening angles and investing every shape with a smooth and exq risite round ness. He walked slowly, discovering every moment in the well k iownforest some beauty till then unkrown," * and he was thrilled to the very djpths of his l>eing by that tender admiration for nature which is one of the chamcteristics of genius. Having reached the glade, he h oked around him. The grass was green and brilliant; the delicate leaves oi: the shrubs, shining beneath the water that had w;ished them, formed a fine, lacelike network against the dark jackground 6f the great forest beyond. He ..stopped in order to see better, to ol serve better, and to take in better the impression of the wet forest, more impressive and more human, so to speak, in its great shadows than beneath the sunshine m all the splendor of the day. V The pretty and graceful figure of a young gi^i-stood out against the foliage of the biroh trees. She advanced ' vith a - supple movement, without perceiving Maurice, who, as immovable i.s the trunk of a chestnut tree, was watching her. When two steps from him the vonng girl perceived him. She st erted, and let fall a few twigs from the fagot of wood that' she was carrying ember head. “Yon frightened me,” said she. smiling ; and her large black eyes sho le out merrily beneath the tangle of her Idonde hair. -?

He looted at ner without answering. A complete harmony, which no words can render, reigned between the s ender figure, the laughing face, the la e-like foliage of the glade and the tints of the landscape. “Stand still,” said the young man, «< I am going to take your portrait.” -She,wished to brush back her hair, which had fallen over her face, Imt he prevented her with a gesture. r « Remain as you are.” He seated himself on a stone and sketched rapidly the outline and features of his young model. She was a peasant, but delicate and refined as the young girls of the peasantry often are before their complete and oftei tardy 'development. The eyes were s (ready those of a woman, the smile w as still that of a child. “How old are you?” asked the painter, still working. “ I shall soon be sixteen.” “ Already! I saw you three yet, re ago, little bit of a thing.” “I was very little,” said sie, with a pretty laugh, and frank and bold as « marrow, “nut I grew fast, am on St. John’s Day I shall have lovers.” “Why on St. John’s Day?’ asked Hie young man, stopping to look at her. “■Because one must have a {over to dance with around the bonfire.” go soon! That pure brow, those innocent eyes, that childish month, all these were to be profaned by tieboor-i-j, gallantry of a rustic! Mau-ice felt a vague jealousy dawn in his heart. ••Will yon have me for a love rf” said

1,1 am a peasant; good gi;;ls do not listen to gentlemen.” That is the village coda of morals; the young man answered nothing. “I can not see any longsr; willvou come baek here to-morrow, a little earlier?” “For my portrait?” “Yes.” “1 will come back. Good evening, sir.” ^ She raised her bundle of wood and went away into the deepening shadows, beneath the archway of the dark chestnut trees. * Maurice went home dreaming of the fair-haired child, He had seen her often, and had always looked at her, but with the eyes of an artist. Now it seemed to him that he looked at her with the eyes of a jealous lover. That night ana the next; day seemed interminable to him, and long before the af>pointed hour he was in the glade. * He worked alone, and when the young girl arrived, a little late—already playing the coquette—she was quite surprised. “It is really myself!” Said she- “ Will you give it to me?” “ No, I wdl make you a little one for yourself.” t I “ And .that one, what will you do with it?”* “It will go to Paris, it will be put in a large frame, it will be hung in a beautiful gallery, and every one will come and look at it.” “Ah! yes, I know, in the Exhibition.” “ Have you heard of the Exhibition?” “ There are gentlemen painters here who work for the Exhibition, as they say, but they never took, my portrait.’’ Daylight was fading gently; Maurice found, as on the preceding evening, the exquisite soft tints which had so charmed him, and his work advanced a hundred cubits toward posterity.

He saw her again several times beneath the checkered daylight of his improvised studio, and he look pleasure in making this work his best one. Already celebrated, he hail no need to make himself a name, ant. yet he was sure that this picture would put the seal to his renown. By the time he was quite satisfied with itr winter had come, and Maurice loved his little model. He loved her too much to tell her so, too much to sully this field flower of whom he could not make his wife, but enough to suffer at the thought of leaving her. She had none of those qualities which secure the happiness of a life; neither depth of feeling nor the devotion which causes us 1» forget every thing, nor the passion whieh is an excuse for every thing.; she was a pretty field flower, a little vain, a little coquettish, with no great faults nor yet great virtues. Maurice knew that she was pot for him, and yet he loved the graceful lines of her figure, as yet scarcely developed, and which her home-spun gown chastely enfolded without disguising. He loved the deep eyes, the laughing mouth, the fair hair that was always in order, the little handkercliief tied across her breast—he loved it all, wnd it was with reluctance that he went away. We always go away with reluctance when we h*y& nothinglo Jiatw -for o^rai^rjh, turn. It is S hard to leave behind a bit of one’s life, of which nothing is to remain. He canied away his picture, however, and it was before it that he passed his happiest hours that winter, always perfect. The picture was admired; the critics, who were unanimous in their enthusiasm, declared that such faces could not exist, excepting iii the brain of a poet or the imagination of a painter. Maurice listened, smiling, and kept for himself the secret of the sweet face that had inspired him. He received brilliant offers for his picture; never had so high a price been offered for any of his works; but he refused, and refused also to allow it to be copied. Since he was never to possess any tiling of his model but her likeness he intended that that should be his alone. Autumn was drawing near when he returned to the village: twice had the firesof St. John seen the whirls of the merry dance since he had painted the portrait, and when he thought of the young girl it was with s, smile that was somewhat sad, as he asked himself on which of the village rustics she had fixed her choice. His first pilgrimage on arriving was to the forest of chestnut trees; at the fall of day—night comes- quickly at the beginning of October—he wandered down the long path; but it was no longer dark; it was-traversed by an amber sunbeam, which seemed to have fastened itself on every one of the leaves which quivered on the branches or crackled beneath his feet. fectmg a work which

l ne odor oi the dean leaves brought to him a whole world of regrets, • of remembrances of bitterness, stirring up within him an unspeakable sadness, and a more complete disgust with everything that he had sought up to that time. When he had reached the glade he sat down on the spot where eighteen months before he had made the sketch which had since crownsd his renown. The eold stone seemed to laugh at him ironically for all that he had suffered. A peasant girl—a coquette! a matter of grave consequence surely! She would have loved if I had chosen. Many others have loved painters, and have followed them to Paris, and then have disappeared in the scum of the great city without loading with chains the one who had initiated them into the mysteries of art and intellectual life. He' is a fool who sacrifices to chimeras the real goods of this world; the love of a beautiful girl, the glory which talent gives, the fortune which sncccsss brings. While he was thus denying the gods of his youth, he saw coming towards him, in the well known path, the young girl otother days, who had grown up, who hMbeeome a woman, in one word. She wfts not alone; a rustle was walking e her holding her by the little, finger; a fine fellow, for that matter, strong and well made, and riehly dressed for a peasant. He bent towards her, and from time to time wiped away with his lips a tear from- the young girl’s cheek. On seeing Maurice t ley stopped, confused and stHprised. “And it was for that,” thonght he, “that I respected this flower?” And he w as thinking with contemptuous pity of his folly when the young girl addressed him: “ They trill not let ns marry, sir,” said she, her voice broken with sobs. “I am poor; he has some property,and his mother will not have me for a daugh-ter-in-law. She talks of disinheriting him.” “ And yon two do not wish him to be disinherited, do yon '” said Manrice, ironically. “Indeed!” answered the lad, “we must live.” That is only too true! I pity you, . Maurice, hit alone,

with his head bowed down on his hands, thought Jicsr a long time. His idle fancy had flown away—nothing remained of the slender young girl but a peasant who was still hjmdsome, 'bint very near becoming an ordinary matron. “ So it is with our dreams, ** Said he, rising. ■ “The only sure thing that we can gather from them is to do a little good with them.” The same evening he .wrote to Paris, and a few days later he presented himself at the young girl’s house. , “ I have sold your portrait,” he said to hep, in the presence of her astonished mother; “ I received a large sutn for it. It is quite a fortune. I have brought it to you in order that you may marry your lover.” Some Information About Colorado. The following somewhat humorous letter is a, reply to an inquiry made by a Department clerk at Washington, who is meditating emigration to the Centennial State: Colorado Springs, Colo., November 26, 1379.—My son, the Postmaster at this place has handed me your letter of inquiry, dated the 21st inst., with the request that I reply to the same, which I do as follows: . Colorado Springs is eight years old and has a population of about 5,000. Our trade has been with the mountain mining locations, varying in distance from 75 to 250 miles. ' Our agricultural pursuits^are chiefly confined to sheep and cattle raising. Where the land can be irrigated by. mountain streams some produce is raised, but as a cereal-producing country it may be said to be a failure. Mining is the one great pursuit in Colorado ; its silver and lead mines are inexhaustible; new discoveries are constantly being made in all parts of the mountains. The area of the silver region which is being worked at this time, in remote! localities, will about equal in size the Btate of Virginia. Colorado contains perhaps 150 towns and cities, varying in population from 200 to 45,000 Leadvi’lle has about 40,000 inhabitants, and is the growth of less than two years. The opera-houses, theaters and palatial private residences are lighted by gas, with extensive water-works pervading all parts of the city. The wealth of the inhabitants is perhaps equal in value to all the private property in the District of Columbia. . I vyas ts,Iking an hour since to one of five you:b§f*Wien of my acquaintance whose sil ver mine s& Lpadville is proven for $50,000,300—$12,000,each—and this, he stays, is only a visible showing, I can name five or six others of my acquaintance whose mining wealth has passed the first million. But, while many "have been fortunate, thousands have as yet not started out upon the metallic pathway that leads to wealth. Our people embrace the highest order of educational attainments in all the departme nts of science and professional i pursuits. The legal, medical, theological and.^ditor;d talent ljgs^no ggpeI can not say how imany newspapers arc published in the State; perhaps one hundred different publications are issued, weekly and daily. In the mountains almost every mining camp publishes its weekly. Here we have one daily and! three weeklies; also a job office, exclusively. Denver publishes four dailies and as many weeklies, besides magazines and scientific publications; Pueblo, two dailies; Trinidad, three dailies; several other towns publish from one to three dailies. Leadville, I believe, ha s' but three dailies, but this is only a newly started city, and wants another year to get fairly under way. Our climate is dry, except in the months of February, March and April, when we have .some snow, rain, and a few days of bitter cold, but only a very few. All the remainder of the year is dry and pleasant, with always a balmy wind from the mountains. When old “ Boreas” gets the swell-head, however, and makes a grand display of his windy powers, on such occasions you will want to hol d on to something and let the native soil go by. Here the people live more luxuriously, and with a loftier tone 'of dash and display, than at Washington ; you can see a number of $1,000 turn-outs rolling through bur streets here at a three-min-ute jog, and this is called slow and tedious traveling, compared with the speed of the trained trotters that course along our wide and tree-shaded ave

Ever}’ nation on the (ace of the earth is believed to be represented in Colorado. We procure our oysters from Chesapeake Bay, our fish" from San Francisco, Lake Michigan and the Banks of Neirfoundland. We have about a carload of lawyers per day from the East; the same of preachers-, doctors and school-marms. These scatter through the mountains ready to engage in any pursuit that turns up—dealing faro, lecturing, driving bull teams, preaching, mule-skinning,~ or guiding a “tender foot”'through the mysteries of a little game of three-card monte. As soon as the person receives his Colorado education, if he keeps aloof from the use' of whisky, the pathway to wealth opens up belore Mm, and he has only to move forward in almost any pursuit that he may choose. But don’t come to Colorado impressed with the belief that your education will compare favorably with that of the mountaineer. You will be called here a “leather foot,” and a graduate of some Sunday-school Seminary. Don’t be afraid to go West. You may get strapped at your first attempt to strike out, which will have the effect to shaipen your wits and stir up your manhood, and you will go ahead with renewed vigor and become sft least a “ thouseraire,” at your demise leaving an honored name carved upon a tombstone or perhaps a pine tree. I believe I have about answered your letter, in compliance with the Postmaster’s request, he having no time to reply to any communications except those asking how to transmit him a Thanksgiving turkey, a mince-pie or a few doughnuts. The Mexican State of Yucatan has adopted the name of Yucatan de Zavala, in honor of Gen. Zavala, who was the first Vice-President of the republic of Texas. Gen. Zavala was buried Nov. 17, 1836, on the bank of Buffalo Bayou, in Harris County, nearly opposite the battle-ground of San Jacinto. If consent be obtained for the removal of the remains from their present resting-place, a vessel of the Mexican Government will be dif patched to carry them to Yucatan de Zavala. » _,,,_ Sweet Wafers.—Half a dozen eggs, two ounces of melted butter, sugar to taste, and milk enough to make a thin batte r. Bake quickly in wafer-irons and roll them while hot

CURRENT EVENTS. The Commissioners sit Los Pinos on the 6th closed the testimony regarding the White River massacre and the Thornburgh fight, and demanded the surrender of the 12 Indians engaged in the massacre, as named by the survivors of the Meeker family. The list includes the head chief, Douglas. The Indians went into council, which lasted all night, and on the following day, after a most exciting meeting had been held, in which the question of peace or war seemingly wavered in the balance, Ouray delivered an answer as follows : “We will deliver for trial Douglas and those Indians engaged in the massacre of Meeker and the employees, provided they are tried in Washington. The people of Colorado are not friendly, and a fair trial here or in New Mexico is not to be expected.” Runners were then started by order of Ouray to bring in those Indians called for by the Commission. The general impression at Washington was that they would not be surrendered. —At a Cabinet meeting, held on the 9th, the Secretary of the Interior was authorized to notify Gen. Hatch to receive the Ute Indians engaged in the White River massacre, with the assurance they will be granted an impartial trial outside of Colorado and New Mexico. . The prisoners, when surrendered, will be taken to Fort Leavenworth. ’ Ouray and three on four representatives each from the Uncompahgre, Southern and White River Utes are to be sent to Washington.

Representative O’Connor (Dem., S. C.) has introduced a bill in Congress for summarily winding up the affairs of the defunct Freedman’s Savings and Trust Company, and after ascertaining what balances are due depositors for-the Government to assume the payment of the same, for which purpose the sum of $2,000,000 shall be appropriated by Congress, or so much thereof as may be necessary. The House Committee on Hanking and Currency have authorized the Chairman, Judge Buckner, to report to the House fof-passage at the first opportunity, a bill requiring one-half the reserves of national banking associations to be kept in standard; geld, and silver oins of the United States, instead b£ the entire amount in greenbacks, as at present provided. - A well informed correspondent at the National Capital says: Beth parties are divided over the financial proposition which the President brought forward in his message. It is asserted by Republiersiit the Bouse that ttteib ai not over a dozen Republicans who would vote to retire the legal tenders. Probably there are not a dozen Democrats who would vote the same way. Those who believe that the paper circulation of the Government should ultimately cease think that the proper time has not yet come for legislating the greenback out of existence. Each party is holding off for the other to make a move. -% . . ■■ ■ Notice has been given by many of the large manufacturing establishments throughout the country of an advance in the prices of goods on and after the 1st of January, caused by increase in cost of raw material and, in some cases, of increased wages to employees. Governor Marks of Tennessee has issued a proclamation convening the Legislature on Dec. 16, to levy an additional tax, not exceeding 1 per cent., upon property in Memphis, for the sanitary improvement of the city; also, to enact such other legislation as may enable the Memphis, Paducah and Northern Railroad to raise the means necessary for the construction and equipment of the road. -*

No litile excitement was caused in Cincinnati on Sunday, the 7th, by an attempt to enforce the Sunday law by the police, under orders from the Mayor. The German theaters, variety shows and beer gardens were closed up and their proprietors and employees arrested in many cases. The Mayor and Police Board are all Republicans. They express their determination to enforce the Sunday law without fear or favor. -Hon. Alfred M. Lay, Representative in Congress from the Seventh Distric of Missouri, died in Washington on the morning of the 8th, of paralysis. Mr. Lay had been in ill health for some time, and the exposure and excitement incident to his recent trip to Washing ton to attend the opening of the session resulted fatally. Mr. Lay was about 43 years of age, a lawyer by profession, and a resident of Jefferson City. He served in the Confederate Andy during the war and rose from a private to the rank of Major. Gen. Grant has written a letter to a friend in New York, in which he says that, having been tendered a special car to Key West, Florida, and passage thence to Havana, Cuba, he will probably defer his visit to New York until his return to this country, next spring. It was his original intention to sail from New York, and extensive preparations had been projected for a grand reception upon the occasion of his visit to that city. _ - Late advices from the City of Mexico state that Gen. Gonzales has been arrested and is in close confinement, charged with conspiracy. Ignacio Mariscale, formerly Minister to Wash ington, has been designated Minister of Justice. The approaching Presidential election is the cause of much excitement, free suffrage having been secured to people who heretofore really bad no share in^ political affairs, owing to Governmental management of elections. News from Northern Mexiico, via San Antonio, 9th, states that Chihuahua has been retaken by the Federal and State troops, Gen. Trevino in

command. The insurgents retreated, carrying off Gov. Trias, who, it was feared, would be shot. The Senate has confirmed, without opposition, the nomination of Secretary McCrary as Judge of the Eighth Circuit. The Advisory Committee of 4he Republican Senatorial Caucus will recommend a policy of non-action in regard to all legislation affecting the currency the present session. W. A. Price, colored, late Republican candidate for District Attorney, telegraphs from Delta, La., in response to inquiry, thatrthe reported cases of violence in that parish on election day are untrue. . The election passed off quietly . At the Massachusetts municipal elections, held on the 9th, women voted for members of School Committees, and it is said that the polling-places were never so quiet and orderly before. In Boston nearly 1,000 women were registered and most of them voted. Prince, Democrat, was elected Mayor of Boston by a plurality of 763. Salem' re-elected Henry Kemper, Republican, and G. A Sanderson, Greenbacker, was chosen in Lvnn.

Congress has voted to take a holiday recess from Dec. 19 to Jan. 6. The President has nominated Hon. Alexander Ramsey of Minnesota as Secretary of War, and the Senate has confirmed the nomination. General Grant had a reception at Indianapolis on the 9th; at Louisville on the 10th; at Cincinnati on the 11th, and at Colnmbus on the 12th. The demonstrations in each city were of a character similar to that in Chicago, but on a somewhat' smaller scale. At Louisville Gen. Grant was the guest of Mr. Watterson of the Courier-Journal, and Gov. Blackburn, Mayor Baxter, and other prominent ex-Oonfederates vied with each other in welcoming their illustrious guest. A Boston dispatch of the 11th ’ reiterates the report that the St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad has virtually passed into the hands of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Company. The joint corporations, it is further reported, are to issue $25,000,000 of bonds, half to be taken by each concern. This atnOY.ut is to be used solely to build the road from *he present terminus of the Atchison, Tapeka and Santa Fe Road to the Pacific. It also stated that $12,500,000 of the bonds of the newline have already’been subscribed form Boston. ?_ At Brockton, Plymouth County, Mass., on the 5th, C. A. Kourse, Dennis Lynch and Dennis Reardon were buried under 3,000 bushels of corn by the giving way of a floor in a flouring-miil. All were dead when ex, tricated. Egypt is actively engaged in preparing for war with Abyssinia. Medford Walters was hanged at Elkton, Md.. on the 5th, for the murder of Jenkins Whaley in November, 1878. Thomas Brennan, Secretary of the National Land League and a prominent agitator, was arrested at Dublin on the 5th, upon a charge of using seditious language, and taken to Castlebar forWial. An express train on the Chicago and Alton Railroad wasHhrown from the track by a broken rail, near Glasgow, Mo., on the 8th. The locomotive and express and baggage car toppled over into the ditch and were badly smashed. Harry J. Brown, express messenger, of Mexico, was fatally injured and died on the following day. Peck Meade, engineer, an^ Harry Lamartaha, fireman, were badly sealded, and it was thought the latter could not survive. Noneofthepassengers were injured. In New York City, on the 5th, Otto Wolf and wife went out to work, locking three children in a room. By some accident fire occurred, and before assistance came the two youngest burned to death. The President has filled the two vacancies in the Board of Indian Commissioners by the appointment of Wilber J. Smiley of Providence, R. I., and Gen. George Stoneman of California.

A detached building belonging to Bellevue Hospital, New York City, was burned on the night of the 6th, and three children, patients, were burned to death. Among the nominations by the President recently sent to the Senate are the following: Owen Denny, Oregon, to be Consul-General at Shanghai; John Hay, Ohio, Assistant Secretary of State; Ch*s-Beardsley,I owa^ourth Auditor of the treasury; Chas. Hatton, Michigan, Indian 'Agent for the Shoshone Agency, Wyoming. ' Col. G. C. Haljee^ who was removed from the Army in 186# and 16 years later reinstated by act of Congress, will succeed the late Jelf. C. Davis as Colonel of the Twentythird Infantry. A Berlin correspondent estimates that 150,000 persons are suffering frqjp famine in Upper Silesia, mostly Poles. The Government is working energetically for their relief. The town of Crosswardien in Hungary has been inundated by a rise in the Ceres River. Many houses were destroyed, and thousands of inhabitants are rendered homeless. General distress in Hungary is increasing rapidly. Amass meeting was held at St. Louis, on the night of the 8th, to express sympathy with the suffering poor of Ireland and to raise funds for their relief. Several hundred dollars in cash were contributed on the spot. Erastus Bigelow, inventor of many valuable improvements in machinery for making textile fabrics, died of paralysis at Boston, on the 6th, aged 65. A new Spanish Ministry has been formed, with Canovas del Castillo as Premier. The Empress Eugenie has returned from Spa in to England. Severe cold weather and heavy snowfalls are reported from England and the Continent. In France ihe Seine and Loire were both frozen over on the 9th. There has been an advance of wages by many of the mill and factory owners of Scotland. On the night of the 9th a wagon containing Peter Sure, Matt. Stinger, Peter Stinger, Mattie Stinger and Ella Harley, while crossing the railroad track at Longneckeris Station, Franklin County, Ind., was struck by the locomotive of a construction train. The four persons first named were almost instantly killed and the last named lady was seriously Mured. The village of Benick, Randolph County, Mo., on the St. Louis, Kansas City and Ncrtherp Railroad, was struck by a tornado

on the evening of the 9th and several buildings were demolished. The family of Mr. Byrd Ryle were all more or less injured by the demolition of their dwelling, Mrs. Kyle, it was thongfat, fatally. A lady named MrsWright, visiting at Joel Patrick’s, was also badly injured, and it was reported that she had since died. The ravages of the storm extended for many miles arepnd. Brevet Major Frederick Rtlecranz, of the Sixteenth U. S. Infantry, died at Fort Riley, Kans., on the 7th. He received a military education in Sweden, of which country he was a native. During the -late civil war he was an Aid-de-Camp at the headquarters of the Army of the Potomac. Parnell, Finnigan and John Dillon, prominent Irish agitators, are. coming to this country, upon invitation, to speak in behalf of the Irish cause. | A regular Dakota “ blizzard” occurred on the 10th throughout the region between Bismarck and Duluth. The storm was so severe that all travel was suspended and people only ventured out of doors upon the most necessary errands. The snow was drifted from four to live feet deep in places. The fishing schooners N. H. Phillips and Andrew Leighton, both of Gloucester,Mass., are given up as lost with all on board. Each had a crew of 14 men. Five Chinamen are reported burned to death in a fire at the mining town of Lovelocks, Nevada. It is said they were all stupefied with opium smoking. Senator Blaine has declared himself opposed to Secretary Sherman’s proposition that the legal-tender provision shall be removed from greenbacks._

CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. Dec. 8.—Senate.—Mr. Voorhees offered a resolution declaring the Senate had heard with deep regret the proposition of the Resident and Secretary of the Treasury, in their messages, to inaugurate a new and uncalledfor financial agitation, aiming at the destruction of the most necessary currency now to circulation, and that the interests of the country required free and unlimited coinage of both gold and silver on conditions of exact equality, and that it is the part of a wise financial policy to maintain the present volume of greenbacks in circulation and to preserve their legal-tender quality, unrestricted and unimpaired as to its legal effect. Laid on the table to be called up by Senator Voorhees hereafter. Senators Vest, Kirkwood and Walker were appointed a committee to cooperate with the House committee in arranging for the funeral of Representative Lay. No farther business was transacted—House— Immediately after the reading of the journal, Mr. Clark (1)., Mo.) announced the death of Mr. Lay, stating it was not his intention to speak of the.love he bore his late colleague, but would do so at some future time. He then offered resolutions of regret, which were adopted, and the Speaker appointed Messrs. Glare, Morrison, Hill, Bingham, Chalmers, Calkins and Ryan as a committee to arrange for the funeral. The House then adjourned. Dec. 9.—Senate—Mr. Bayard, from the Committee on Finance, reported the Senate bill for the interchange of subsidiary silver coins;also the Senate bill to authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to issue |10,000,000 4 per cent, bonds for the payment of arrears of pensions, and asked their indefinite postponement. So ordered, motion of Senator Davis, the resolution On i heretofore submitted by him, calling on the Secretary of the Treasury for statements, by States, of amounts paid out of the Treasury si ce 1886, on claims growing out of the late War, was taken up. Pending discussion the morning hour expired, and the Senate went into executive session. .House—Bills in reference to the finances were introduced by Messrs. Meyers (D., Ind.), Newberry (R., Mich.), Jones (D., Tex.), and Price (R., Iowa). About 2® bills in all were introduced. Joint resolutions expressing (Gr., Iowa), Dec. 10.—Senate—A number of bills were introduced and referred. The morning hour having expired, the Senate resumed consideration of the resolution offered by Mr. Davis of West Virginia, calling on the Secretary of [ the Treasury for a statement of the amounts paid out by the Treasure since 1881 on private claims growing out of the late War. Mr. Davis accepted the amendment by Mr. Edmunds, that a statement be made to extend back to March 4, 1861. After some discussion the resolution was adopted by a party vote, all the Republicans voting nay. The House concurrent resolntion to adjourn from December 111 to January 6 was adopted by a vote of 36 to 21.House—Mr. Burrows (R., Mich.) introduced a joint resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution prohibiting polygamy. Referred. At the expiration of the morning hour the House went .into Committee of the Whole, Mr. Springer (D., 111.) in the chair, on the bill relative to the publication of Supreme Court reports. A long debate took place on the question of the salary- of the reporter, which was finally fixed at $4,000, and the bill passed. A joint resolution was adopted for an adjournment from Dec. 19 to Jan. 6, Dec. 11.—Senate—Mr. Allison, from the Committee on “Indian Affairs, reported with two amendments a joint resolution that the Secretary of the Interior be authorized, through a commission of five persons to be appointed bv the President, to negotiate with the t’te Indians for their removal from Colorado. Mr. Cockrell offered an amendment providing that the Indians shall not be settled in tine Indian Territory. The resolntion thus amended was .adopted. Senator Plumb introduced a bill to amend the Revised Statutes relating to taxes upon banksand bankers. It provides that no association shall be liable to a tax upon any snm under the name of deposits which may he deposited with any other association,' and which is subject to taxation with such association. The bill also proposes to exempt from taxation deposits in provident associations, savings banks, saving fund institutions, except where any deposit to the credit of any one person, firm or corporation exceeds $2,000. In such cases tbe excess above that amount is to be liable to tax. Adjourned till Monday House—Mr. Aekliu (I)., La.) in traduced a bill authorizing the appointment by the President of a commission of engineers to examine the surveys of the contemplated canal across the Isthmus of Panama. Referred. Mr. Shelley | (D., Ala.) offered a resolution for the appointment of a select committee to investigate the causes of the negro exodus from the South,, and to report such measures as the exigency may require. Referred. The Invalid Pension Appropriation bill was reported, ordered printed and recommitted. It npprojn-iates $32,*(O,Q0U, about Si,000,000 more than last year.

| The Uses of Tails. A very important function of 'the tail of the yak, cat, squirrel and many other animals, to which I drew attention some years ago, has escaped the notice of Prof. Mivart. It is that the bushy tails of these animals serve a very important function in preserving their body-heat during their nightly and their wintery sleep. In cold weather animals with bushy tails will be fonnd lying euHed up with their tails laid carefully over their feet like a rug, and with their noses buried in the fur of the tail, which is thus used exactly in the same way and for the same purpose as we use respirators. I have a Manx tailless cat, who can not, of course, carry on the funtion, i but he makes a very good substitute for ! it by using the back of one of my other cats. When he can not be so accommodated, he sleeps with his hands crossed over his face, “ just like a Christian,” as my cook says.—Airfare. A certain bald-headed man had a large spider painted on the top of his head in fly-time, and the first day it scared his wife into a fit, and he was knocked out of his chair three times by people who wanted to kill the poisonous insect, without alarming the old gentleman by telling him it was there.—Boston Post. __ ___ Potato rot is reported quite prevalent in Rhode Island and some parts of Connecticut. Reports are numerous of fields and portions of fields.hardly worth the digging, and of large quautites of tubers rapidly spoiling in Vine and barrels after having been gathered in apparently good condition. The sheep interest is growing rapidly in importance in all sections. Farmers are more and more coming to realize the value of sheep to the farm as well > as their value In wool and motion.

Something About Our Common House Fly. Prof. G. Maeloskie of Princeton College read a paper on “ The Proboscis of the House Fly ” before the New York Academy of Sciences the other evening, in the course of which he said: There are several flies which, by theirattentions to us, compete for the title of housefly. Some of these (as the blow fly) are so large and noisy that we shall not readily confound them with the true house fly. Others are so closely alike to the privileged domestic as to be readily mistaken for it, arid by their malpractices to bring upon it a bad reputation. Thus . Stamaxys, the piercing fly, is sometimes very abundant in our houses, especially when the weather is growing cool; he loves the colder rooms, while Domestica keeps to the warmer parts. Stamaxys rests head upward on our walls and gasaliers, while Domestica prefers to keep' his head downward (ready to fly without turning a somersault). Stamaxys has a long, brown, ringed proboscis, like an elephant’s trunk, only partially retractile, and able., to pierce our skin, an offense which Domestica seems incapable of. The structure of the proboscis of both is, however, more closely alike than appears at first. Tachina and several other flies resemble the house fly more or less; and what we shall have to say of the proboscis of the house fly will apply Very closely to them all, and less closely, but still in considerable measure, to the whole order of Diptera or two-n inged insects.

It mnst be acknowledged that our friend the domestic fly (musca domesiica) agrees with the others of his tribe in certain bad habits. His eggs are deposited in stable manure and similar filthy places, and from this rile nursery he comes forth to invade onr habitations, and, without ceremony or apology, to defile our furniture, to scrape the polish off our nice new books, to dip into onr surgar bowls, and sip where he pleases on onr breakfast tables. Dr.. , Harris was so ranch disgusted with th«a house fly that he wished to brand hi nr as musca harpma, assuming that the American forms were distinct from the European; but Prof. A. S. Packard showed that the}’ were not. During my. examinations of' different kinds of flies, I have often observed the piercing fly j to have her head and proboscis crowded with eggs. Second thoughts suggested that these were not her own eggs; they were round,Whereas her own eggs are j. elongated, and the head is the wrong end to have eggs. In other specimens I found that these eggs bad develoved into anguillula worms, like the paste eels that so readily appear in flam paste. The empty head and long snout of this fly seems to afford a comfortable meaijs for the development .of these animals; which it deposits in the food and other articles visited by it, and thus is suggested a life career of these eel-like worms, and one of the many ways in whieh the flies befoul what they do not consume. I have not, however, found evidence of this degree of vileness in the true house fly, and we mnst not raghly condemn him for the misdeeds rers,, is very intelligent, and possesses a"very" curious month apparatus, a large swollen proboscis, with an enlarged knoblike tip, in which, the mouth is situated. Here the lecturer drew attention to the great picture of the lobster and pointed out some striking points of similarity in the structure of the fly and the ■ lobster, which are also to be noted in the cockroach. In all the order Piptera the month parts are modified into organs of suction or piercing and sucking combined; but in the ease of the house-fly there is a curious innovation. The house-fly proboscis is retractile,' being drawn back into the head when not in. nse. When protruded it consists of three parts—base, micl segment, and tip— each ineluding one or more hard pieces, and all wrapped in a sheet of soft ebitine, which fe interrupted at the mouth in front and along a groove on the superior surface. The base consists of a large framework of hard ehitine called the fulcrum, which turns upon its upper posterior processes, and the rest of the prohoscis turns on it in retraction; two pairs of processes; an arch bridging it over above, inside which the pharynx runs, and it is lined .with muselef to core tract or extend it; two pulps, not jointed, seated on a weak eross piece of ehitine; and a transparent funnel-shaped sheath, soft and membranous, and directly continuous with the walls of the head. Tfie mid-segment folds on the base with an elbow joint. The sheath surrounding it is open along the upper surface, so as to receive the operculum or cover piece, which is a slit tub#, open on its lower surface, overhanging the mouth cavity. It is jointed in front and sends back into the basal segments two large tendons, whieh are right and left of the fulcrum and are connected with the distal and sub-distal processes of the fulcrum by muscles. ■ The floor of the mouth cavity is formed by what I shall call an axis plate, running forward from the fulcrum to the third segment, where it supports the teeth-bearing bars. Within the mouth cavity is a sharppointed tdague. The under side of the mid-segment is a chin-piece floating in the sheath membrane, not articulated with any hard part, naving a broad base, which Is connected by a set of long muscles with the back inner side of the skull, and having a forked tip which is prolonged into two elastic rods so as to embrace the tip of the proboscis.

toe khou on me tip, uearuig tne ups, is a singular scraping and suctions! apparatus. The month opening is at its upper middle part . Its framework rests on two bars, right and left of the mouth, which are supported by the axis-plate. When the soft membrane wall of this segment is expanded it is found to possess a system of transverse semi-canals, supported on ehitinous half rin|», which are forked at alternate ends and elastic. It is these semi-canals which give the tip the rasping surface we can feel when the insect operates on our forehead, as also a system of absorbing channels. They have been called false trachea?, and between their roots, supported by the eircu-m-orai bars, are the fly’s teeth. The blow fly has as many as thirty teeth, in three rows on each side, and each tooth is bi-cuspid. The house-fly has fewer teeth and more complex, only one row of five or si's'on ear Inside, and the teeth tri-eusped, the cusps being themselves slightly toothed. The common green fly and another have teeth like the blow fly . Traces of the Scoring matte ( by the blow fly’s teeth have been found on a piece of sugar candy, the distance between the striae, as measured by a micrometer, corresponding with the distance of the teeth from each other. It is understood that the-% with its teeth scrapes the hardened sugary matter on" the table, and then, by means of ; its saliva, melts this down so that it ean scrape the sweet fluid into its false trachea? ‘and thus convoy it to its mouth, I At the base of the knob, on it® rear aide,

is a nervous ganglionic mass which sends out fine filaments to small terminal ganglia at the base of the&ps in front. The supporting stalks of these terminal ganglia are forked, so that each nerve filament comes to possess a pair of fine ganglia. ~ The throat of the fly runs up inside the fulcrum?, then receives two trach-e;es-like salivary ducts,- as it enters the mouth cavity between the operculum and the axle-plate, and thus it passes forward to the opening of the mouth in front. The protrusion of the fly’s proboscis, the lecturer showed, was ’ effected, not by the muscles, but chiefly by the chitinous membrane, distended by air, and this is caused by the tracheal system of the insect. Muscles on thf two sides of the tip of the probosis enable the fly to bob its knotty snout from place to place as it canters gayly over one’s breakfast—and other muscular attachments on the upper or inner part of the chin piece, acting on the two forking elastics rods which embrace the rear of the knobby end, pull back those rods and so open the lips in. proper attitude to receive food. Defiant Savages—An Incident at.Los Pinos.

Denver, Colo., Dec. 8.—Specials to the Denver Tribune from Los Pinos, dated the ^th, represent that Saturday witnessed some decidedly animated occurrences at the Commissioners’ meeting. After Jack had declined to inform the Commissioners what Indians had been concerned in the White Kiver massacre, the Indians retired to Ouray’s house to debate what course to pursue. J»o Indians appeared at the Agency until Saturday, but seem to have been engaged at Ouray’s in conducting THE WILDEST DANCES 5 and in making fiery speeches. «A man wa* sent from the Agency to Ouray’s with food for the horses of theindiahs. and discovered from the noise on the inside that ihe'Iudians were greatly excited. Tho9e whom he saw were bedeeked in feathers and war paint, and he was so frightened that he turned back and did not deliver the hay. On Saturday, at 12, the Utes came into the Agency and took seats inside the Agency building. Jack, Colorow, 12 other White Kiver Utes, and, of course, Ouray, being among the Indians present. When the Indians and Commissioners had taken their seats, Gen. Hatch addressed tile Indians, setting forth the full demands of thy Commission, its right to make the demand and the patience already exercised with the Utes. “To-day,” he said,“ is your last chance; WE WILL WAIT NO LONGER. We want your final answer, and we want no evasions,” The list of the Utes charged by the Agency women with taking part in the massacre was then read, and the question put by Hatch, “ Will you surrender the men whose names are in this paper, to be tried, and the guilty punished and the innocent acquitted!” The Question was put twiec, ana after consultation evasive answers were returned both times. When the question was repeated a third time, Ouray replied, without consulting the other Utes, “How do we know that these Indians you name were at White River at the time of the massacre? or, even if they were there, we do not know they were concerned in it. These women mentioned the names which came first to their lips, whether they knew them to be guilty of not. We can not depend on what they say.” “ That is what we depend on,” said Hatch. Adams then addressed the Indians, making a speech of over an hour’s duration, ——-“ <hf Dinnn — to punish Colorow, Jaek and-ot hers that! part in the Thornburgh fight, but the cowardly dogs who participated in the massaere of unarmed men at the Agency, closing by saying, “We want those Utes, and we will have them.” The Indians held a consultation in a low tone of voice among themselves, hut did not seem inclined to reply at alt. When Hatch again arose and asked if the guilty Indians were to be surrendered, saying he had made his last appeal, no one moved or spoke for a few moments; when Colorow lighted a big pipe—the pipe of peace. Each Indian present drew his knife and hud it oh his knees. THE QUESTION OF PEACE OR WAR being the one pending, Colorow passed the pipe to the next man without smoking, and it went round. When the circle Was finished he jumped to his feet, straightened up tohis full height, pulled his belt around until the knife-sheath was in front, pulled his knife out, and threw it with force on A he floor, quivering and'ringing. Instantly every Indian present dropped his hand to’ his belt and laid his hand on his knife or pistol. The whites did the same, and the two parties stood fronting and defying each other for some moments, each waiting for the other to make a forward move. There were but six white men, while there were 25 Indians in the room; and 15 soldiers in an adjoining room. Finally Ouray spoke: “Weeannot deliver up to you these Indians unless they are tried in Washington; they must not he tried in Colorado; the Colorado people are ail our enemies, and to give them up to be tried in this State would be to surrender them to be hanged; we wi|l bring those twelve men here for you to see, and then whom you decide guilty shall be taken to Washington, and the President shall determine their guilt or innoeence. Douglas will have to go; ,we know he was in the White Kiver trouble, and" you shall decide who else. Upon this condition, Snd not otherwise, will we surrender the guilty Indians.” This was said with GREAT ARROGANCE AND BOLDNESS^ Ouray said it would take about a week to bring the men in. Hatch told him he accepted the proposition so far as bringing the' participants of the massaere in, buf as far as taking them to Washington, he had to telegraph for permission to Secretary Sehurz. Colorow_and Jack immediately despatched to bring in the 12 named, including Douglas and l’ersune, saying they would be back , in five days. After they had taken their departure Ouray again spoke, reiterating his statement that the Utes could not get justice in Colorado, but couid only get it in Washington. “ Yon three (meaning Hatch, Adauos and the legal adviser, Valoi,) are all my enemies.'51 am one against three. You hate me I You are all Colorado or New Mexico men and a France devil. I bare not one friepd among you. You will not give me justice, and that is Why I want to go to Washington, where I can have at least one friend.”

A B«j Who Resembles a Frog. Hve - miles southwest of Kenton, Tenn., on the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, is the greatest monstrosity of the, age—a human being who resembles a frog. He is the son of R. Newell, is 26 inches high, weighs 48 pounds, and was born in Obion County, Tonnessee, March 12,1875. , His body and arms are regularly formed and well developed, his fingers are short, and the manner ip which they are set on his hands give them the appearance of a frog’s feet; his legs art} small aud are set at right angles with the regular line of walk; his feet are small and badly formed; his face is eight or nine inches long and * makes an angle of sixty-two degrees with the base of skull (facial) angle; his head is almost conical; his eyes are small and without expression; his upper jaw projects far over the lower one; his tower jaw is small and has a superabundance of flesh attached which renders him quite froggy. He can’t talk. If you throw a nickel on the floor he will light on it like a ehieken on' a Junebng. He can’t walk, but what is wanting in walking is make up in jumping. I saw him jump eight feet after a dime. If a tub of water is placed near him he will jump into it like a duck. In rainy weather he goes to the door and leaps out, and remains out-doors until the nun is over. Obion County has given birth to the following: The female dwarfs, the mud-negro, the sleeping’ beauty, and the frog-child. She is justly entitled to. the appelatkm, “ Mother of Monstroaities.”—Troy (Tmn.) News.