Rensselaer Republican, Volume 19, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 February 1887 — Page 3

DOMESTIC ECONOMY.

Topics'of Interest Relating to Farm and Household Management ■lnformation for the Plowman, Stockman, Poulterer, Nurseryman, and Housewife.

THE FARM. Practical Experience and Figures on Economy in Plowing. The quantity of land that may be plowed in an hour or a day depends upon the texture of the soil in a great degree. The firmness of the soil in connection with the ■depth and the width of the furrow determines the force necessary to turn the soil. In the West, where the land as a rule is composed of friable loam, the resistance to •draft is light; consequently the width of furrow and the area plowed per day are large. Yet many persons who have not carefully studied the matter lose space of area plowed by not taking the full furrow that a plow is constructed to turn perfectly. Many persons seem to regret that in this day of exact science the plow will do better work when turning a furrow neither too narrow nor too wide. The average mile of travel per day of a team in plowing is stated <o be sixteen. To Spring the matter of miles traveled per acre in plowing saliently before the reader, the following table will show the distance, according to breadth of furrow, from seven to twenty-four inches: Breadth of furrow- Team travels miles Inches. per acre. 7 14 1-2 8 12 1-4 9........ ............ 11 10 9 9-10 11 9 12 8 1-4 20 4 9-10 24 4 In the West, where three and four horses are now generally used to the plow, four acres may easily be accomplished with four horse. This is equal to an acre per horse, and two acres a day is about a fair average per day, the furrow slice being five inches deep. To do this, however, the lands must be of good length, and the plowman must be a careful and sensible man. The plow must be accurately gauged, as to depth and width, and it must be run constantly to the given width and depth. In this connection it may be well to state that the prairie loams of the West—what are termed arable soils —will vary from 2.401 to 2.586. That is to say, such soils are about two and a half times the weight of water. When dry, a cubic foot will weigh from 84 to 89 pounds, and when saturated, from 119 to 124 pounds. When just moist, so the furrow will cleave kindly from the plow and .disintegrate in falling, there is the least resistance to plowing, since when dry the earth is hard, and when wet the resistance from weight is greatest. It will be interesting, also, to understand the difference in the amount of plowing in acres from 7 to 24 inches of furrow, the latter distance the maximum width when four horses are used, eighteen inches being the maximum width when three horses are worked abreast in plowing. The following table will fully exhibit the acres plowed, the team moving sixteen and eighteen miles in a given time, say ten hours: Furrow Bate of travel anil acres plowed, slice ■. Sixteen Eighteen : width.— f • ' miles. . miles. Inches. Acres. Acres. 7 ...11-8 11-4 8 11-4 1 1-2 9 11-2 13-5 10.. 13-5 14-5 11 13-1 2 12 .19-10 2 1-5 13 2 1-10 2 1-3 14 2 1-4 2 1-2 15 2 2-5 2 3-4 16 2 3-5 2 9-10 17 2 3-4 3 1-10 18 2 9-10 3 1-4 19. ..........3 1-10 3 1-2 20.. ..3 1-4 3 3-5 21 ...3 1-3 3 4-5 22 3 1-2 4 23 3 7-10 4 1-5 24 3 9-10 3 1-3 —Chicago Tribune.

THE STOCK RANCH. Hurdling Stock. Confining stock in small enclosures is quite common in England. The advantage is that the land grazed over may be left to grow unchecked for a time until its turn comes again. Undoubtedly more stock can be kept on a given area in this way. as, next to soiling, it best assures cropping of the herbage over the entire surface. Hurdling stock on thin land and feeding extra grain is a good way to increase its fertility, especially with sheep, whose droppings are pretty evenly distributed. Protecting Hogs from Cholera. It is a notable fact that hog cholera is mainly confined to localities where hogs are kept in large numbers and mainly on corn. Giving a variety of feed is a pretty sure preventive, but in this case prevention iadecidedly better than cure. Where the constitutions of swine are enfeebled by continued feeding on too fattening corn, cholera will make serious ravages before it can be checked. Wheat bran or mill feed is cheap and good feed for growing hogs, and even whole wheat may be fed in small quantites at present prices. When to Shear Sheep. The time of shearing, writes a correspondent to the Sheep-Breeder, must of course vary with the locality and seasons. With due regardTfor IM imalth comfort of the animals the operation cannot, in the region of the fortieth degree, be performed before the 20th of May or Ist of June. There may be considerable warm ■weather before that date, but cold spells are liable to come on at any time and cause much discomfort to poor animals that are unfortunate enough to be fleeced at such times. Sheep are very sensitive to cold, and damp when thus unprotected. When they begin to wheeze and “snuffle” it is usually attributed to grubs in the head,' when it is nothing more nor less than an aggravated cold in the head such as Would be termed catarrh in a person afflicted. Sheep do not seem to have the power to throw off anything of this kind, and it often wears them down to skin and bone, if, indeed, it does not destroy them entirety. While sheep should be sheared as early as the weather will permit on account ■of the loss of wool, it should net be rushed along too early in the season. Better let the animals endure a little heat than to jeopardize their thrift by early exposure. They should, in any case, be housed in Avet weather after shearing, and during cold nights while the ground is damp. People have an idea that sheep need but little housing, and that only in the coldest weather of winter. It is true that with a good fleece of wool the sheep will stand dry cold weather with little or no housing, but naked sheep in cold spring rains is quite another matter., Housing is more necessary at this time than it is in ordinary winter weather, yet comparatively few people think of putting them up after once they have been turned into the pasture, and especially after the fleece has been removed. Young lambs are very tender, and certainly should not be forced to seek the scant shelter of a stump, stone, or fence. In sheep-shearing time it is the common custom to keep the whole flock,

small lambs and all, crowded in a small room awaiting the shearer's hands. This is an unnecessary cruelty. It is much better to separate but a few at a time from the herd, enough to keep the shearers at work a half day, and allow the rest their liberty. The shearing should be done kindy and carefully, and as soon as clipped each’one should be given its liberty. Docking and marking should also receive attention at this time.

THE DAIRY. Miliband Meat in Dairy Stock. —The advocates of the Jersey cow have good reason tor claiming that milk and butter product rather than size of the animal should be the standard of value. Other things being equal, the smaller the cow required to produce a given amount of butter per week the better. The small cow will eat less, though we have always noticed that cows yielding large messes of milk are ravenous feeders. Of course it takes a certain amount of feed to produce the milk and butter. If not given at the time it must be made up from previous accumulations of fat. There is no good reason for stinting a cow when she is giving milk. She should rather be encouraged to yield as much as possible by being given a great variety of food.

The Way to flaks Cheese. Mr. F. D. Holmes, of Owatonna, Minn., in a prize essay at lied Wing on “CheeseMaking,” held that to make good cheese it is necessary to have good milk to begin with, and good milk cannot be got from poor, half-fed cows. One bad mess of milk may spoil a whole vat of cheese. Care and cleanliness, if the cows are healthy and have proper food, will insure good milk always. After the milk is all in the vats the heat may be started at once and raised to about 82 degrees, or 84 degrees, as to the condition of the cheese-room. If we set the milk below 82 degrees the rennet works too slow; if set above 82 degrees it works too fast while the temperature is being raised. The rennet should next be added until the temperature stops rising. Enough rennet shouldjbe stirred in and agitated at least fifteen minutes, and coagulation should begin in about twenty minutes. The stirring after the rennet is in is to prevent the cream from rising and wasting. If you want a quick-curing cheese more rennet should be added than one to be cured slow and Kept some time. As a rule, the more rennet used the lower tho temperature should be at which the milk is set and curd worked. There should bo no raising of the temperature after the rennet is added and the milk comes to a standstill until the curd is cut fine. The curd should be cut as soon as it will break clean across the finger when placed in it and raised gently upward. Early cutting it very necessary. The clearest whey is always obtained by cutting early. The curd should be cut with both a horizontal and perpendicular knife. The cutting done and the curd settling, turn on the heat and stir the mass to keep the curd from packing together, and keep a more even temperature through the vat. As the heat rises the harder the curd gets, and the less liable to injury; but keep up the stirring until the curd is heated to 98 degrees, where it should be at least one hour after the heat is turned on. This temperature should be kept until the curd is cooked, because tho action of the rennet is more perfect than at any other degree. Before the curd is done cooking some of the whey may be drawn off, as it is more easy to handle the remainder in the vat. After the curd is cooked the whey should be drawn off before the acid generates, as this takes off with the whey the finest part of the Cheese. Have the curd cooked before the acid comes on, and be sure and dip the curd sweet. If you do not have a curd-mill, salt at once. If you have a curdmill let it lie until the acid comes on—only stir once in a while to expose to the air. After the acid Comes on grind and salt, and put to press at about 80 degrees—as at this heat you will get a good face—and press well together. Let it stand twelve hours in the press, then remove to the curing room. Seventy degrees to start with is about the right temperature for the curing-room. After ten days the room should not be over 65 degrees. If cured in a dry, well-venti-lated cellar at 65 degrees, cheese cures slowly, but is all the better for it.— Chicago Tribune.

THE HOUSEHOLD. Concerning Carpets. In regard to the color of carpets the following rule may be laid down: For draw-ing-rooms, parlors, and bedrooms, while loud and glaring hues should be avoided, we may nevertheless allow ourselves a liberal "sprinkling of crimson, dead gold, russet brown, and all the beautiful tints that nature distributes through the landscape in these autumn days. In the draw-ing-room, especially, there should be warm, rich hues to correspond with our oil-paintings in their gilded frames.ourmirrors and old china, or whatever of art work, with its wealth of color, we chance to possess. In our bedrooms we want bright tints to preserve cheerfulness, and to avoid too glaring a contrast with our white counterpanes and muslin-draped toilet tables and windows. In the library, sober hues must be. chosen, to harmonize with walnut book-cases, desks, and writingtables, and the sober dress wherewith publishers clothe books that are to stand the wear and tear of use and time. In halls and dining-rooms, also, only quiet colors should appear. The pattern of a carpet should always depend upon the size of the room. The form should be flat, without ( any attempt at shadow or relief. Some of the most beautiful designs furnished by our manufacturers are found among the Axminster carpets, and, these, though expensive, are at once the mpst desirable and most serviceable for large apartments. These carpets were first introduced in 1755. The Warp and woof are of strong linen, and the soft tufts of wool in which the design is worked are admirably adapted to the display of a delicate and elaborate pattern. The varied greens of ferns and mosses can be made to appear, and every detail of leaf and sprays worked out. For those who consider Axminster-carpet beyond the limits of their purse the velvet pile is very desirable, and makes a perfectly satisfactory covering for a parlor floor. An excellent general rule would be, where the home is not very pretentious and the income moderate, a velvet carpet for the parlor, Brussels for the hall and stairs, diningroom and spare-bedroom, the rest of the house being modestly restricted to ingrains There is one essential to all satisfactory, floor-covering. It should never be omitted. That is, the sponge or cotton carpet linings, chemicallv prepared, so as to prevent the incursions of moths. This can always be procured for 15 or 20 cents per square yard, and not only does it add to the comfortand appearance of the carpet two-fold, but will make itlast at least half asJong again. Country people used frequently to put straw under the carpets, but this is too harsh, and reveals itself too quickly the moment the foot presses it. The cotton lining gives the earpet softness that seems to hel<mg~lp itsToWir material, and persuades the visitor that he has a rich pile under his feet, when he may in reality be treading upon an ingrain at 75 cents per yard. With stair carpets a heavy padding should be lafd upon the edge of each step, and the carpet should always be a yard or

so longer than is necessary, bq that worn places may be changed. A wise selection of floor-coverings, care in laving them, and a little careful attention when signs of wear begin to show in certain places, such as changing the location of a chair or introducing a mat or rug, will keep bur floorfi bright and fresh for a long time, with only moderate expense.

Household Mints. If you have no dark place for the fruit cans wrap each one separately in heavy paper. i When clothes are scorched remove the stain by placing the garment where the sun can shine on it. < To keep oil cloths looking new wipe off the dust with a dry cloth, then rub with a cloth dampened with kerosene. A tallow candle or piece of tallow wrapped in tissuse-paper and laid among furs or other garments will prevent the ravages of moths. Finger-marks may be removed from varnished furniture by the use of a little sweet oil upon a soft rag. Patient rubbing with chloroform will remove paint from black silk or any other material. Ink stains on mahogany furniture will disappear if treated as follows: Put six drops of spirits of niter into a teaspoonful of water, and touch the stained part with a feather dipped in the mixture. Immediately after this rub with a soft cloth and cold water to prevent a white mark. The following will give satisfaction for cleaning cloth: Take half an ounce each of glycerine, alcohol, and sulphuric ether, two ounces of aqua ammonia, half an ounce of powdered castile soap, and add water enough to make one quart of the mixture. Use with brush or sponge, and rinse with pure water.

THE KITCHEN. Scrubbing and f leaning. Old flannel of all kinds should be kept for scrubbing and cleaning paint; under vests, drawers, skirts, all come in for it, says Good Housekeeping. In England, where scrubbing is still the glory of the poorer people, cottagers vying with each other on the color of their boards, there is a coarse, gray flannel made called “house flannel,” expressly for the purpose. Next to flannel is old, coarse, soft linen, old kitchen towels, crash, etc. So necessary to good cleaning is soft, absorbent material that I would almost rather my maids destroy articles of far more value than the scrub-cloths, because the supply is so limited, especially if we give away our disused underclothing. For this reason keep the supply under your own care, see that after each using, the cloth is dried and not thrown away until it is really used aS long as possible. Many girls will be conscientious about towels and dusters, because they have a money value, but cleaning cloths, being only rags, they will consider may bp thrown aside any time and fresh ones taken.

In addition to the soft, wet cloth a dry rubber (best made of old Russian crash that has done service for round or dishtowel) should be kept; a scrubbing-brush of hard bristles is best; the soft excelsior brushes are of little use except for coarse paint, and brushes made of broom-straw, although not entirely satisfactory, are about the best one can get when bristle brushes are not to be had, or are too expensive. Tables that have been neglected may be bleached by spreading on them over night a layer of wood asheSj made into a mortarlike paste with water; the next day brush it off and scrub. The same paste may be laid on floors when spotted with grease. In cleaning floors never wet too large a space at once. If beyond the comfortable range of the arm there is almost sure to be a dark circle when dry, showing where you leave off each piece; because, being "out of easy reach, you have no power to scrub well or wipe dry. Always in using the drying-cloth rub .it well beyond the space you are now-gleaning over, to the one last done. 41 *" The use of a little washing-soda or borax in the water is excellent for boards; and if they have been neglected a small lump of lime in the water greatly helps to make them white. After tables are scrubbed attend to the sink, put a lump of washingsoda, as large as an egg at least, over the sink-hole, and pour a kettle of boiling water over every part of it, using your sink-brush to send it into all greasy parts. Wash, the last thing before the floor, all finger-marks from the paint; also the chairs, if painted; the backs of them, if caned; the top of the flour barrel, and the windows. Be especially careful to clean kitchen window-sills; so many things are put on them they are more apt to be soiled than any others. Needless to say that floors must always be swept before they are washed. To clean oilcloth do not scrub it unless it has been badly cleaned many times, when, with the fine corrugated surface now usual, dirt, or rather the dirty water allowed to remain in it, will have grimed it so that you will need to use a soft brush and scrub the way of the lines; but usually warm water, one wet and dry cloth are all that are needed. Oilcloth and paint need the wiping with a coarse, dry cloth as much as boards, and will repay the extra trouble. Skim-milk used inplace of water to clean oilcloth gives it brightness and luster. Painted floors must be treated just as oilcloth is.

Beef Cakes. Chop cold fresh beef very fine, flavor it with sage, grated lemon and salt; dredge in a little flour and pound with a potato masher. Mix in one or two eggs, make into balls, flatten them with the hand and fry quickly on a frying-pan in pork or bacon drippings. Omelette of Cheese. Grate some fine cheese and beat it up in a dish with some eggs and a cup of thick cream or sweet milk, season it with pepper and salt, according to the saltness of the cheese; have ready a frying pan of hot butter, into which pour the above mixture and fry as an omelette. Mrs. Foster’s Corned Beef. Cut boiled corn beef when cold in rather thin slices, and place in spider with one cup boiling water and a piece of butter the size of an English walnut. Boil two or three minutes, keeping the spider covered so the meat shall steam through; then remove to a hot platter, and thicken the water with a little flour; pour over the meat. Buns Without Yeast. Four cups flour, one large leaspoonful butter, two-thirds cup of sugar, two teaspoonfuls extract lemon, two heaping teaspoonfuls cream of tartar, and one rounding one of soda; or, if baking powder be used, three heaping spoonfuls; one large cup rich milk orsweet cream, a handful of currants. Rol 1 one inch in thickness, cut out with bieeuit-eutter, and-bakeL twenty minutes in quick oven. ■ Gelatine Apples.Peel and core the apples, leaving them whole, put in a kettle and boil, adding a slice or two of lemon, a little green ginger, and sugar. Cook the apples till tender. Take them up carefully, boil down the syrup and add two- tablespoonfuls of gelatine which has been dissolved m fonr spoonfuls of water to a cup of this syrup. Pour this over the apples, and set where the whole, will cool.

THE JERSEY CENTRAL ROAD,

The Property About to Pass into the Control of Ans* tin Corbin.

His Broken Hold Enough Stock to Insure the Retirement of President Little.

> [New York special.] It was rumored in railroad circles to-day that President Little of the New Jersey Central might resign before the date of the annual election, in which case he would be succeeded by Austin Corbin. The latter and his friends are supposed to hold enough stock to control the May election, and why it should be held if not for that purpose is a mystery on ’Change. Corbin’s brokers have had another block of 10,000 shares of Jersey Central stock tranferred to thejr name. This makes about 40,000 shares now held by them, and it is understood that, with the holdings by parties friendly to them, is sufficient to give them control of the road at the coming election. There seem to be preparations to continue the receivership indefinitely, as a company has been organized under the title of the Jersey Central Improvement Company, the object of which is to provide means for the development of Jersey Central, in which the receiver’s funds cannot be invested. The capital stock is $1,000,000, and $350,000 has already been issued in payment of stocks and bonds of the Cumberland and Maurice Bailroad, which was lately added to the Jersey Central system. Austin Corbin is President of the Reading Railroad. He is a native of New Hampshire, and is about seventy years old.

His father was a lawyer with a small practice and after he had given his son an academic education, be left him rely upon himself for his law studies. Like many another, great and successful man, he taught school for awhile, and out of his earnings as a pedagogue he saved money enough to pay for a course in the Harvard Law School. He graduated with high honors and began the practice of his profession at Newport, Rhode Island. Tie soon perceived that the West afforded him better’ opportunities for advancement and he went to Davenport, lowa, intending to practice law there. He soon saw there were great opportunities for making money through loans to Western farmers, and, procuring capital from New Hampshire friends, he engaged in the business very successfully. He became interested in railroading, and in 1881, unsuspected by anyone, secured from the hands of Messrs. Drexel & Morgan a controlling interest in the Long Island Railroad system. He also became largely interested in the I. B. A. W. Railroad, of which he is at present President. For years he has been interested in a scheme for rapid transatlantic travel, and believes that steamers can be built which will run from the terminus of the Long Island Railroad, at Montauk Point, to England, in six days. Mr. Corbin has made his way from poverty up to his position as the owner of $25,00(1,000, and still he works hard, and will have to work hard, as Reading’s President.

WIZARD EDISON.

Some of His Wonderful Inventions—What a Cincinnati Man Tells About tlie Work of the Great Electrician. ......J... [Cincinnati special.] A gentleman who has just returned from Florida, where he spent a month with Edison, said, in an interview to-day, speaking of the receptly reported invention of artificial food: “He has already perfected this discovery so that an army need carry no food. All if needs is to take along two or three of Edison’smachines and turn the elements into food, as it is heeded. But he has been doing other things. For instance, he has invented what he calls the miragephone. It is like a telephone, only you look in it instead of putting it to your ear, and you see what is going on at the other end. By putting a miragephone on the end of r. telegraph wire at St. Louis, fixing the corresponding instrument at this end, yo-u have a perfect picture of what is going on there. He has also invented a telegraph transmitter that writes its own message in typewriter. You put your message in a box at this end, turn a crank, and at the other end the typewriter rattles off with lighlning speed. “To amuse hia wife he rigged up a buggy with electric motors in the hubs of tfie wheels. It would go at the >rate of twenty miles an hour. Then he invented a new way to catch fish. All he does is to run a wire out on the bottom of the sea or river, and he has some electrical effect or other so that every fish that swims above it immediately dies and comes floating to the surface.”

A Negro Murderer Lynched.

[Aavasota. sTexas' apecial.] . _ , Monday Deputy Sheriff Upchurch was shot by Jim Richards, a negro, at Dedias, thirty miles from here. Upchurch had Richards under arrest, and the latter, watching his opportunity, jerked Upchurch’s pistol out of its scabbard and in--flicted the fatal wound. About sundown Monday evening over seventy-five masked men, armed to the teeth, took Richards from the custody of the guards and swung him to a neighboring tree. Ax editor baying charged a eertain Govmmmestjofficial__with receiving a comfortable sum for his influence, the official wrote the following note of explanation: “Dear Sir—The statement maotf by you that I received money for my influence is a wicked lie lam us iunocent of any such charges as the babe unborn. I got no [.money whatever, and I am an honest man. f-Tlwpiftiesm charge of the seheme never off er c< l meanything. Y ours truly ■ ” ■' ~ Strange but true: A word in season is scarcely ever spoken by a man in a peppery frame of mind. ' ‘ /

SKOBELEFF'S SWIMMING FEAT.

*>*M«ta* tB«- Danubw oni Horrabaok and* Calling on. Other*. to> Follow.? The versatile Russian, painter Vereschagin, in his entertaining sketches of adventure during the Russo-Turkish war of 1877, gives a pleasant account of one of the many dare-devil episodes of adventure in the career of the younger Gen. Skobeleff This- was the swimming of the Danube on horseback. Let M. Vereschagin be his own narrator “I was-seated in my tent late one afternoon, when I observed several Ossetes passing at a gallop. Inquiring what thia meant, I was told that the younger Gen. Skobeleff had proposed, to Touloumino that he should, try to swim, the Danube with hia whole brigade. The General alleged that it was eminently necessary to have cavalry on the other side of the stream, and that it was impossible to- wait until the pontoon bridge was constructed to get the men over there. And inasmuch as Touloumino and Levis had frankly declined to make the attempt, for the excellent reason that the entire brigade would most likely be drowned, the Danube being at the proposed point more than four kilometers wide, Skobeleff had begged them to scare up a few volunteers and send them to him. The Ossetes whom I had seen passing were tho volunteers in question.. “I had my horse saddled and galloped off in the direction of the river. Presently I found assembled on the bank nearly all the officers of tho brigade., “A little in advance of tho groups the elder Skobeleff stood between Levis and Touloumine, watching his son, stripped to his shirt and trousers, with his cross of commander of the Order of St. George around his neck. Michael Dmitrievitch Skobeleff leaped on horseback and urged the huge brownish bay steed into the stream. At first the animal resisted, shook his ears, neighed, then bravely struck out swimming. For a short time Skobelefl remained in the saddle, because we could see his shoulders above the water, but soon we saw nothing but his head. I learned afterward that in order not to fatigue his horse he had stepped into the river, and keeping hold of the animal’s tail, swam along behind him. The father began to tremble for him, and to cry after him in his nasal tones: “ ‘Mieha, my little Michael, come back! Mieha, M-i-i-cha, you will be drowned!’ “The old man’s anxiety was pitiful to witness. “But little Michael continued to swim without looking back, making steady progress. A few Ossetes had thrown themselves into the stream, following the General, and one of them, swimming out a long distance, would certainly have been drowned and his horse with him if a boat had not been sent to hiS relief. “As for myself, as soon as I arrived on the shore my first movement was to undress. In less than two minutes I was in the water with my horse. The creature swam a few moments, then turned around and made for shore in spite of all the blows I could bestow on his back. The Commandant of the Second Squadron, Astakhy, had no better luck than I did. Skobeleff was no longer anything but a black dot a long way off. To ease our consciences, we started after him in a boat, drawing horses after us by the bridles, and we made our way toward a small island. It was only after reaching this point and gazing at the enormous distance that had to be crossed before reaching . the Turkish shore—that I understood how wisely my horse had acted in disobeying me. There was not the shadow of a doubt that I should have been drowned. But how happened it that, not knowing how to swim, I had thrown myself into the water behind the General ? I only know that when I saw Skobeleff go in I said, ‘ Drown rather than abandon him.’ “The elder Skobeleff remained motionless on the bank, following the little black point, scarcely perceptible on the surface of the stream. “Later on we learned that Gen. Michael, after narrowly escaping death by drowning a hundred times had reached the opposite bank. And Skobeleff was a prince of swimmers with a matchless horse. Think what would have become of the .brigade if Touloumine, accepting SkobelefTs proposition, had launched his squadron forth into the Danube, How many would have reached the Turkish shore ?”

Edwin Booth and “Bob” Lincoln.

Booth and I were intimate friends twenty-five years ago, and RoberfrLincoln, in the late winter or spring of 1865, joined Grant’s headquarters as a captain of volunteers. He left college for the army, and on his way from Harvard to the front to assume his new duties, she youth passed -through New York. It was late on a Sunday night when he reached the station at Jersey city to take the Philadelphia train. Edwin Booth was also there, but had never met young Lincoln. He noticed, however, a man in front of him who stepped on a car that proved to be tire wrong one; as the stronger was getting off the train moved on, and he slipped and fell between the cars and platform. Another moment and he must have been crushed and doubtless killed. No one else seemed to notice his danger, and .Booth, who held his ticket and valise in his hand, dropped his valise, put his ticket between his teeth, and then rushed up and snatched the stranger by the collar, dragging him out of the interstice and out of peril. The man turned to thank his preserver and recog-,. nized the tragedian, whorh Ire had ofterr seen on the stage. “That was a narrowescape, Mr. Booth, ” he exclaimed, as he uttered his gratitude; but even then the actor was ignorant, that he had saved the soil of the President. Young Lincoln went on to City Point, and *knowing my intimacy with Booth, he told me that his life had been saved by my friend, and wrote to Booth to let him know whom he had served.—Adam liadeau’B letter. advancedin years, whose vivacity sometimes approached the borders of impertinence, asked an old man, in father a jeering tone, why he was always dressed in black, and what he wore mourning for so constantly. “For your charms, madam,” he gallantly replied! -

INDIANA STATE NEWS.

—Referring' to tho Inner-State Commerce Bill which has passed! the lower house of. the Legislature without even exciting the interest of the members. a prominent: railwayoffleial, who is known to enjoy the confidence of the officers of tho Pennsylvania Company, sail to a Fort Wayne Sentinel representative that if the bill should:become a. law the Pennsylvania Company would surely remove to Pennsylvania, as far os is practicable, their great shops at Fort Wayne, Logansport, Richmond, and Indianapolis. The Pennsylvania Company gives employment at Fort Wayne alone to 1,200 men and this number it was designed to imediately increase. If » disastrous a result would follow the passage of the bill Fort Wayne would lose its chief manufacturing industry and. would: be very seriously crippled.. —The Muncie Gas Company is taking out the meters which have done duty for so long measuring gas, and will hereafter charge by the month, letting the patrons use all they wish. The prices for stoves will vary in accordance with the size of tho room. There are now abotft two hundred stoves heated' with natural gas. The Muncie Gas Company claim to have the best well the State. The gas comes out so strong that it cannot be measured. When they put the instrument on it whirls around so fast that it measures 400 feet to the square inch in a minute, and they have to take the instrument away for fear it will break.. A barrel wae placed oyer the current, and the force threw it as high as the derrick, which is over a hundred feet. —The citizens of Indianapolis are becoming alive to the importance of the eleventh annual meeting of the Music Teachers' Association, to be held there during the summer. The varions committees necessary to the work of entertaining the visitors, and for arranging for the grand concerts to be given under their onspices, are already organized, and are prosecuting the necqgsary preliminary work. Mnsic teachers throughout the country take wonderful interest in these proceedings, and the best musical talent of the country willingly offer their services to make the deliberative meetings and concerts a success. —The Southern Indiana Teachers’ Association will hold its tenth annual meeting at Madison, March 23, 24, and 25. M. C. Garber, editor of the Courier, will make the welcome address, to which E. A. Bryan, President of Vincennes University, will respond. Among the eminent educators on the program are Professors Fisher, Boone, Lafollete, Mills, Martin, Hall, Carhart, Carnagey, Jones, Wiley, Hubbard, and Jordan. Dr. Jordan will remain to deliver his popular lecture, “The Ascent of the Matterhorn,” in the interest of the Madison Public School Library, On the night of March 25. —The farm residence of Oliver Mason, located near Lafontaine. Wabash County, was burned with all .its contents. The blaze originated in an out-house, and quickly consumed everything to the dwelling. The inmates of the latter barely effected their escape in their night-cloth-ing, so rapid was the spread of the flames. The loss on building and contents is estimated at $2,000, and there is no insurance. —Frank Wilson, of Finley Township, Scott County, while in a fit, fell backward into a fire-place, and was so badly burned that he will probably die from the injury. His head and shoulders were burned to a crisp. His little 7-yeaj--oJd daughter wa the only one present at the time, and she managed to pull her father out in time to prevent his being burned to death then and there. —Many men have been ruined by politics, but it would be difficult to find a more Striking case than that of S. S. Hollingsworth, defaulting Treasurer of Knox County. Less than five years ago, when elected Treasurer, he had a valuable farm and was said to be worth $50,000. To-day he is penniless and under sentence of three years in the penitentiary for embezzlement. —William Mabbitt has determined not to take the body of his Laughter, Lou, home for burial at this time, but to place the remains in a receiving vault at Lafayette, to await developments in regard to Amer Green, who made way with her. He expresses the belief that if the body is placed in the grave it will be tampered with and the evidence as to identity removed. ;. _The Clark County Agricultural Association has elected the following officers: George H. D. Gibson, President; W. C. McMillin, Vice-President; W. H. Watson, Secretary; M. D. Reeves, Treasurer; I. N. Haymaker, Marshal. The twenty-ninth annual fair will be held at Charlestown Sept. 5,6, 7,8, and 9. —Adjutant General Koontz has received the roster of the Fort Wayne Veterans who reorganized some time ago. He has also issued commissions to Edwin B. Pugh, as First Lieutenant, and to Harry Collan as Second Lieutenant ‘of the Indianapolis Rifles. —A natural gas company has been formed at Waveland, Montgomery County. Operations will not be commenced until the result Of the companies at Crawfordsville is known, and if gas is not found there the Waveland men will not sink a well. —At Etna Green, Wabash County, a strange man, whose name was Smith, fell dead from heart disease while at the delivery window of the post office. No one in the place knew his place of residence, and he was buried by the county. George Moore, a well-known fanner, living hear Huntington, was thrown to the ground from a heavily loaded wagon by the breaking of the boom-pole, sustaining internal injuries which will prove fatal. —Natural gas was struck at Tipton, at a depth of over a thousand feet. It is considered a strong well, the blaze being about eight feet high. Work has been stopped until there are further developments. —There is a minister at South Bend whose total cash income for the past year was $203. With this he supporters family of six and paid ear-fare between South J —Roach Rice, a resident of Sugar Creek Township, Montgomery County, was run ■over by a train on the Vandalia, near Darlington, and instantly killed.