Rensselaer Standard, Volume 1, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 August 1879 — Page 4

INTERESTING ITEMS

Ex-Govxrnor Hubbard refuse* to recognize his daughter, who ran away with his coachman. ' The philantropfets of Boston will give the poor children eight free excursions this season. There is a snowbank seventy-five feet deep and a thousand feet long up in the White Mountains. Mias Martha A. Head, the bride at a recent wedding in Wayne county, Ga., was only ten years old. Her parents were present and gave their approval. Dr. Cummiho, the once famous London preacher, is broken in fortune, health and mind, and at the age of seventy-four has few friends to aid him. A Mr. Sinclair of Muscatine, lowa, awoke in the night and fleeing somebody at his window, blazed away with his revolver and shot his wife who was opening the shutters. . The widow Van Cott is In disrepute at Poughkeepsie, New York. She indignantly returned $36 given to her for . twelve days’ gospel work. She said her services were worth more than $8 per day. Rev.G. R. Scott, of Louisville, kissed a young lady on the way home from a revival meeting, at Boston, Ky., and tried to shoot a couple of Paul Prys who reported on him. Mias Maud Crossland, one of the most beautiful young ladies of Indianola, Texas, after siDging to a select circle of acquaintances, “See that My Grave’s Kept Green,” retired to her room and blew out her brains with a six-shooter. •

Outside of the settled and occupied States and Territories, there are over 724,000,000 acres of land belonging to the nation which have been already surveyed and are open to settlement. There are also more than k l ,000,000,000 acres yet to be surveyed. At a dinner recently given by London University men, the following toast was drank with enthusiasm: “The United States, bounded on the aorth by the aurora borealis, on the south by infinite space, on the east by the procession of the equinoxes, and on the west by the day of judgment.” An old resident of Zululand says that the Zulu king has thus far received no injury at all from the English. His sole wealth lies in his crops and his cattle —he has gathered the former and kept the latter. So ne of his warriors have been killed, but then he loses a certain number every year, either by massacreing them himself or by their flight into Natal. He has gained enormously in arms aud ammunition captured since the war. Prince Victor, sou of the head of the Bonapartes, is descriped as “seventeen years of age, tall, handsome, and straight as a dart, with dark hair and dark eyes, full lips and the Napoleonic nose. His features ifre regular and his hair trained over his forehead and cropped, but somewhat too short to be quite in the prevailing boyish style. He is very high-spirited and rash to a point that gives his friends much anxiety on his account.” THEjcannibalism of the Australian aborigine, is undeniable. But it hasits limitations, The line must be drawn somewhere. A father may not eat the flesh of his child, nor the child that of its father. Yet mothers eat their children, and children their mothers, and >□ other degrees the same horrible custom is followed. The reason assigned for it by the natives is that relatives are thereby enabled to forget deceased will not continue to mourn fortbem too long. A hand of cotton choppers, composed of a dozen women and as many men, have been moving from farm to farm and chopping out the cotton by the day, near Raleigh, N. C. The other day nine of the males struck work, threw down their hces aud swore that the sun was too hot for them, and that they could not bear it. The women held on until the last row >tus chopped out, and then walked off with their wages. A Florida paper says that during he recent dry weather in Manatee ounty, the lower Miaka Lake dried up all but one whole in the middle—a thing never known before—which was quite deep, and the only place In the region where cattle could obtain water. This hole was full of alligators, and, as the stockmen feared their depredations on the cattle, a number of them went there one day and killed 723 alligators, from six to fourteen feet in length. A ran about as unfortunate as the hero of Mark Twain’s extravagant story, who was carried away piecemeal by the doctors, after undergoing a series of extraordinary accidents, to the great grief of the lady to whom he was engaged and who saw her lover gradually melt away, has turned up In lowa. He hurt his knee some thirty years ago, producing an inflammation which never subsided and has troubled him exceedingly at times. Ten years ago he was shot through the breast by some unknown person. Eight years ago he was thrown from a mowing machine and lost his left arm. A year ago he broke his left leg. And now, after suffering from his inflamed knse for years,' the doctors have found it necessary to cut off his right leg.

NEWSLETS

The health of Pope Leo is said to be on the decline. An alliance has been formed between Russia and Persia. Free mail delivery will be established in Terre Haute on and after October Ist. The skeleton of an enormous whale has been discovered on Island No. 66 in the Mississippi river. The steamer Bothnia sailed from Liverpool, a day or ago two for New York with 1400,000 of gold.

The Pennsylvania tramp law, providing imprisonment at hard labor, has J 52 ghneTriloof&iaHob. reportedfromEngland. A recent Hie at Titusville, Pa, fiawd by a lightning stroke, consumed 48,000 barrels of eoal oil.' Kentucky Is “boated/’ and the payment of the Interest oh the State’s debt him been suspended indefinitely. ’ Dispatches from Tampico, Mexico, state that the people there are “dying off like fifes,” W) t£a y*&ow fever. A famine prevails in one of the districts of Siberia, and the government fe distributing corn to the poor. «, (*wm*ha io London and Constantinople is not a pleasant subject of contemplation on this side of the big pond. There are twenty-four aspirants for the nomination for Governor of New York—fifteen Republicans and nine Democrats. Specie Is coining to this country from England at the rate of over a million dollars a week, most of it beinggold. Eight savings banks in San Francisco, Cal., had, on the 2d Inst, 60,046 depositors, and deposits amounting to $44,483,490 —a decrease iwitbta the past six months. .-» -■

The dairy and agricultural societies of Europe will be invited to send exhibits to the International Pair, to be held in New York city the second and third weeks of Deoember next. . Thb National Educational Association has called upon Congress to appropriate public lands to maintain a system of technical education for young women, as is done for young men. Three prominent lawyers of St. Petersburg have been arrested for being implicated in tne assault upon Lieutenant-General Drentelin. One of them, Bardofeky, has since became insane. The following live cattle and fresh meats were shipped to Europe from New York on Saturday: 1,457 live cattle; 666 livesheep; 375 dead sheep; 1,985 quarters of beef, and 100 tons of other fresh meat. A New York paper says: “Paris green has been killing cattle that fed on the pasturage where it has been thrown. Several farmers have likewise died from inhaling the poison while applying it to their fields.” The weekly report of the Howard Association at Memphis, up to patur* day evening, showed forty-six deaths in that city last week by yellow fever, and.a total number of deaths from that disease since July 9 of 139. By An executive order 8,259,200 acres of the northeastern bank of the Missouri river have been again thrown open to settlement. These aije the lands which were withdrawn in 1875, to prevent white settlers from pressing too closely upon the Sioux Indians. The French are proposing to open up Africa in right good earnest, The Government is about .to^extend the. railway system to Senegambfa; and' contemplate the laying of somd 1,200 miles of railway, which W ill enable it to throw into the hands of Frenchmen the bulk of the trade of Immense, populous regions.in Northwestern Africa, r Reports from Utah represent that the feeling of bitterness between the polygamous Mormons and the §‘Gentiles” is becoming more intense*, and there is danger of an open rupture in Balt Lake City. In the meantime the three Mormon leaders who wefe sent to prison a few days ago "by the pnited States Court of the Territory |br refusing, as trustees, to comply \|ith its order to render an account in th£ matter of the estate of the Bifgham Young, are still “in durance vilT” Ritualism appears to be spreading with remarkable activity in the Anglican church. A statement latenr published shows that of 2,000 cmirches from which returns have been received, in 514 instances caudles stand. unlighted upon the altar, and Ri 487 other instances they are lighted |“during the celebration of the Holy EUeharistV’ vestments, colored vestments and linen vestments, are returned a| being worn respectively in twenty-fou|- cases in 141 and 168; the eastward position is assumed in celebrating th| Holy Eucharist by 1,364 churches. Rev.- Newman Hall, io hjs late divorce case, in which he was successful, made some damaging admissions about himself and his condu(|t. On the cross-examination he admitted that, though sixty-three, he intended to marry again if successful in his divorce suit; that he had fixed on the “lady,” and had communicated his feelings to her; that he had corresponded with her in short-hand for some tim J at the rate of two or three letters a 8 week. The name of the lady is Miss |»Vyatt, and she was mentioned by MrL' Hall in most unpleasant connectioi with Rev. Newman Hall.

The Pope is reported as studying out a complete reform in ecclesiastical organization, and also in the manner of conducting Catholic forces Unpolitical struggles—how far Catholics may participate in them and the instances in which they may or may not participate in them. He remains Hecpre in the privacy of his apartments, faking great precautions during these 4 hours of study. His brother, Cardinal iPecti, is his faithfuj companion in thislwork, andhe is in constant communication with the leaders of the Conservative party in Itidy. ? The Pope rises at five o'clock in fbeAßorntaff, is at his writing at six o’clock, where hf remains for five hours.

Early next month will -be held at Paris a World's Convention- es the Hebrew Brotherhood. So far a| has been made public, its purpose is purely social and religious, with the exception of the political condition of tbd Roumanian Hebrews, upon which subject It is intended to prepare a 'comprehensive memorial. Ap exchange

of intelligence, a confederation of ed- 1 notional interests aad systems, and itefetanoe and improvement of thejßebrews ia Palestine, are the subjecta which will chiefly occupy the attention of this important conference. An intention to totally ignore the e©-> centricities of Messrs. Hilton and Corbin has been gasorted. Thb latest statement of the Bank of France Is the most remarkable ever issued. It makes the note issue of the institution $487,400,000; the coin on ha^l^ .This exhibits-a coin reserve of more than 96} par cent, as against the circulation of paper. Besides, the actual amount of money on hand hae never been reached by any other institution in the world, and rarely or never by the Bank of Fiance; It is almost thrice as much as the Bank of England reported as held by it at the same time. The coin reserve of the Bank of England is nearly all in gold, while that of the Bank of France is largely In silver. •* ,j .

INDIANA INKLINGS.

LAPorTe has three women who practice medicine. A medicinal spring has been discovered within the city limits of South Bend. Huckleberries to the value of $lO,500 were shipped from Walkerton, this season. Y■ ; . During the past year four hundred mortgages were recorded in Steuben county. CAreful estimates show that the wheat crop of this State will aggregate 55,000,000 bushels. Absolem Green, near Waldron, recently had thirty-seven hogs driven off in one week by stock thieves. William H. Pipe, a-wealihy Gibson county fanner, committed suicide recently by eating wild turnips. During a storm, a few days ago, near Cambridge City, twenty sheep belonging to Elias Morris were killed by a bolt of lightning. Emeline Noble, the Steuben county young lady who went to Washington to marry President Hayes, has been taken to the insane asylum. Elder Z. T. Sweeny, of the Christian Church of Columbus, has just received a call to go to the pastorate of a Christian Church in London, Eng. The Lutheran Synod, at Ft. Wayne, adopted resolutions looking to the erection of a general university, to combine the faculty of each synod into one. Starlight Rose, a celebrated Jersey cow, valued at S2OO, fell down a hundred-foot cliff on J. F. Miller’s stock form, near Richmond, the other day, and broke her neck. Sometime ago a mare, at Muncie, jumped on a shade tree stake, which penetrated her body, to the depth of eighteen inches, but she recovered and is none the worse of the wound. . Union county talks of organizing a Sfedfora* Monumental Association, the the object being to erect a monument hi the court yard to the memory of the deceased soldiers of that county. A few days ago Samuel Platt, a desperate character living near Washington, this State, brutally assaulted two respectable ladies, and had their screams not brought assistance the brute would have outraged their persons. He was arrested aud fined heavily. Captain H. W. Smith, formerly connected with the Goshen Times, and Edwin Hubbell, son of a well-known grocer, wound up a drunken spree tiie other night by repairing to the court house square and swallowing the contents of a vial of morphine. They were both found dead the next morning. . « At Columbia City, the other day. the Deputy Sheriff went into the jail on business, leaving the door unlocked. The only inmate incarcerated there quietly walked out, locking the door behind him, and leaving the officer in his place, but the offender was recaptured and again changed places with the officer.

Madame Veit, a noted professor of astrology, and who had accumulated a valuable property in New Albany by fortune telling, died a few days ago. She was a woman of great enterprise, as well as sagacity. She built and owned the steamer Elizabeth, and also built and ownjxl a little coasting trade boat. People came hundreds of miles to see her, and she made many wonderful Revelations that staggered the unbelievers in her astrological science. She died of cancer. Huntington Herald: We hear many large stories told these days about an immense yields of wheat per acre and the tremendous growth of corn, but herds something that beats them all. Week before last Long John Miller, on the Warren road near the Wabash, hauled to the railroad ware-' house, in this place, with a single twohorse team one hundred and twentyfive bushels of wheat at one load. He started with 130 bushels, but one of the sacks fell off, and one was wasted in the road. In this connection we may add that one of the horses that pulled the load was eighteen and the other tweuty-two years old. Now, who can beat that?

A bold attempt was made to burn the residence of Mr. Charles H. Coffin, at Richmond, recently. The building was fired in three places. The curtains of the library were ignited, and when discovered were past redemption, while the window (being was also ruined. Lighted candles were fonnd near the back stairway placed so as to communicate their flames with the wood work, and a third fire- had been kindled on a kitchen shelf. Mrs. C. discovered them and summoned some men working near by, who put out the fires with buckets of water. No clue to the perpetrators of the nefarious act has as yet been discovered.

TRAINING ELEPHANTS.

The Methods Used, and the-Curious v f Results Attained. Number of Bephsnts in America— History us Boms Famous Specimens—Strangs Stories at Elephantine “Cussednees” sad Affection. “There are shout fifty elephants in this country at the present time,” said Prof. Geo. Aretingstall, the keeper and trainer of the ten mountains of flesh which form one of the attraction as the Cooper Bailey Show, which opens in this city to-morrow. A Globe-Demo-crat reporter had called on Mr. Arsdngstall last evening at the Laclede Hotel, to have a talk about etepants, their breaking ; in, training, treatment, and ail that sort of things, and for an hour listened with rapt attention to the Prof, as he talked as glibly about these ungainly wonders of nature as a greenbaeker would about flat money. The gentleman thoroughly understood his subject and was willing to talk. Hie reporter knew about as much about elephants as a corn-fed hog does about guitar playing. Although the bearer of scare from a hundred fiercely fought interviews, he was on this occasion content to drop the arts of the profession and become an interesting auditor while Mr. Aretingstall, with the occasional assistance of Mr. Crowley, a newspaper man attached to the show, told what he knew about the beasts.

He said: “As I was saying, there are about fifty elephants in this country. Our show hasten,Forepaugh has nine, Barnum has eight, the Sells Brothers have seven, Cole has a couple, and the remainder are distributed among the zoological gardens and the smaller circuses. The first elephant ever brought to the Uuited States was bv Hick. Bailey, grand-uncle of Mr. Bailey of our show, and that was in 1824. It was called “Betsy”’ and is known In the profession as “Betsy, the First.” It was exhibited for four years through York State and New England. It was a great hovelty. The owner traveled with it at night, and it was always exhibited in a Duilding erected over it. The old-timers tell about the great excitement it created throughout the country. Tne news of its coming would go before, and whole villages would turn out aud spend the night along the roadside in tne hope of seeing the creature, only known to them through pictures and the works of travelers. What they generally beheld was a great shapeless mass, coveted the darkness, carefully by attendants, who kept the curious rustics at a distance. It was not a very big elephant, and came from Upper India. It was anything but amiable, and had a habit or tearing out the side of its house and starting off on “go-as-you-please” excursions. This was a fatal folly of Betsy’s. One night Betsy was out near Albany, New York. She was mad about something, and venting her rage in the exasperating shriek peculiar to an elephant. it got into a plucky farmer’s yard. He saw the monster. He did not know what it was. The only thing that he knew was that he was badly frightened and that he knew how to use a gun. He fired at the creature and the leaden ball pierced her heart. She sank to the earth and died, moaning piteouslv. Her keeper arrived. She was stuffed, and I believe some museum has her now.

The second elephant brought over was also called Betsy. She arrived in 1834 and was exhibited as the mam attraction of a show for three years, when she succumbed to the climate. The third Betsy was brought over In 1835. Then elephants became more frequent, aud the names of Columbus, Hannibal —the most vicious elephant that ever lived, and one whose course through the country, we might say, was marked with blood—Lajia Rookh, the creature owned by Cooper and Dan Rice, which was brought over from Canada, known as the first trick elephant—jt coukl walk a slack-rope about a foot thick, and used to play with children, but afterwards got so wicked that he was shot in Chicago; and then there were Antony and Cleopatra, who were lost in the auicksands of the Delaware river, and a great many more.” “Tell us about Antony and Cleopatra.” “Oh, they were simply chained together and were wading across the river. They had tried the bridge, but it was not safe to their notion, and as is the custom in a casa of that kind, they were wading through the water when they struck the quicksands to rise no more. The Ithdies were of course never recovered.” “Where are most of the elephants from?”

“All those prior to 1850 were from Upper India. The bulls were wild, restless, wicked creatures. Most of those now on exhibition are Ceylonese elephants. They are much more tractable than their brethren of the north. There are a few African elephants, but they are not desirable, as they certainly lack amiability. Prior to 1865 there were few shows that had more than one elephant. The first caravan of four was made when Cooper and Bailey went into the business. One of these was the world-famed Columbus, the largest elephant ever living, in captivity. - It was eleven feet five inches in height. I will tell you something about training elephants. Stewart Craven, who is now living quietly on his cattle ranch iu Texas, was the inventor of a new system of handling elephants, and he actually broke every performing elephant now before the country, with the exception of the seven now with the Sells Brothers’ show, which Is over in Illinois. That ba ch,l trair c 1 myself. Craven broke - in the celebrated Hannibal and Romeo. In 1870 James Kelly, proprietor of the London show, sent Bill Shannon to Ceylon, and Shannon sent him back ten elephants. They were brought to Philadelphia in 1872, and broken by Craven. Five of them were sold, and the other five came into my charge. They were well broke when I got them, but I trained them to their wonderful ring performance. An v elephant is a treacherous, cunning and very intelligent animal. He forms no attachment

for his keeper. He will, however, become deeply attached to a dog or other an imal. There are three dogs with my elephants, and Babe, my best elephant (Chieftain is my largest), has a pet camel called Dick. The camel will stand by her side for hours in contentment, and Babe actually fondles him with her trunk. In handling elephants fear Is the only instinct to cultivate in them. Kindness such as you would extend to a dog or a horse, does them no good. * They are liable at any tlnne to harm you if they are not kept in subjection. They must be punished immediately after the offense, whatever it may be, committed. Chieftain cut up a little rough the other day. I had him overthrown and chained, and then I warmed him with a hoop-pole until I was very tired and

be was very sore. Their skin is very tender, and they feel the punishment. The usual persuader Is a short instrument shaped like a bill hook. This punctures the hide, and is a very valuable article to keep on hand when you are boesing elephants. Gome let us walk oat to the show.” ’’TeariUng an elephant a trick bexaetty like teaching any other animal. It requires only a mastery of the brute. The first thing to do Is to get into the elephants bead what you want done, ana then to escape punishment be does it. Put abeU£!n tne grasp of an elephant’s trunk and teach him that every time he drops it he will be prodded, and he will quit dropping it. Then thereto a way to teach an elephant through his stomach. I worked for months with the animal that mounts the highest pedestal in the pyramid. I put his food up there and he soon learned to go up after it, and then it dawned on nto brain that I wanted him to go up there; that if he did go up he escaped punishment; and now he never thinks of balking, and hardly ever needs punishment.” The couple had just reached the tent and stepped into the dimly-lighted enclosure. The animals were shrieking discordantly. A moment before they had been quiet. The professor’s thoughtless use of “hardly ever” had stirred up the pandemonium. In the center the ton elephants were standing in a row quietly munching bay. The Professor walked «long and spoke to each one by name and was recognized by a shrill whistle or shriek from each.

When he reached “Babe”, he said, “where is Dick?” (the camel lover). Babe gave a strange squeal and turned clear around io the side where the camels were coraled and again made the strange noise. Dick is, however, an unappreciative lover, for he never rose from his bed to answer the fond salute. The reporter lingered around for to see the elephants sink into their beds of straw one at a time and go to sleep. The Professor told about now one of the elephants picked up a colored boy, who was making' up her bed in Kansas City, and tossed him gently into the candy stall when he was trying to give a sick vquiniue pill in Gilmore’s Garde,n in New York, she was angered at the Ein he caused her, ana threw him irty feet against a canvas screen, which fortunately broke the fall; ana related the details of the killing of King Williams at Hathboro, Conn., by Remeo. about three .years ago: tola an elephan Skills a|keeper, it always tramps upon and mangles the body; and, the elephants all being asleep, he concluded to go back to the hotel and do likewise. As he passed out he said to an attendant, “If the wind begins to blow hard, come and wake me.” In explanation he started to the reporter that elephants always got very much excited during a wind storm. One more qnestion the reporter asked, and that is whether it is true that an elephant will not lie down when under a roof. The professor said that It was true of bull elephants, who would stand on their feet all winter being afraid to lie down.

BAT SHOOTING.

Something More Lively and Eccentric in Movement than a Glass B^ll. Virginia (Nev.) Chronicle. Yesterday afternoon a number of crack shots went out to the Emmet Guard range and indulged in a new variety of sport—bat shooting. The bats are thrown up in the air by a person who wears thick buckskin gloves. They can also be sprung from a trap, but yesterday the trap was not in working order, and the hand only was used. Those who have tried both hand and trap say that hand-throwing is more effective and saves considerable time. The bats used yesterday were the first ever shot at in Nevada under the regular pigeon shooting rules. About two hundred were received yesterday morning by express from Sacramento, where they are found in great numbers in old barns and sheds, and are caught by boys in nests. The novelty of the sport attracted quite a crowd of pigeon shooters, who at first did not take very kindly to the innovation; but before the sport was over they all expressed themselves quite pleased with it. The bats were thrown up at a 21-yard rise, and some of the most experienced pigeon shots found considerable difficulty in hitting them. Each bat was thrown to a height of about thirty feet, when he would spread his wiqgs and go through a series of evolutions which rather bewildered the shooters. The course taken by the bat consists of a number of sharp zigzag movements, as if he was going somewhere in a devil of a hurry and changed his mind about forty times in three seconds. At the end of tne three seconds he is generally about where he started from. Then he calls in his scattered senses and shoots off in straight line for the nearest building. Now comes the shooter’s golden'opportunity, and if he bangs away at tne bat he generally brings him down (if be aims well). Most men, however, shoot os soon as the bat rises in the air, and when he is going through his circus business be can slide around and in among the shot with comparative ease and safety. George Bryson, who had shot bats before, and Jimmy Sumner did some good work. E. A. Shultz shot at five “double birds” and killed all. The rest of the scores were rather poor. About half the bats got away. Tiie sport wound up by throwing a box of twenty bats in the air, and allowing the crowd to bang away at will. James Sumner took the box, and, pulling off the lid, threw the box twenty-five feet in the air and ran for his life. About twenty guns were immediately brought to bear, aud a succession of stunuing reports followed. The bats seemed utterly frigbteued out of their senses, and some flew Into the crowd. After the smoke cleared away the sports began to look for the dead, but reported “nary bat.” This was admitted to be the best shot-dodging done since Malone and Slack’s famous duel on O street.

Alabama Educational Matters.

The report of the Superintendent of Public Schools of Alabama, for 1879, shows that the'School revenue Is $137,634 38, of which, $210,334.38 was apportioned to 214,720 white children and $156,218.75 to 155,525 black children of pupil age. The number of white schools is 3,335 with 8,838 teachers: the colored schools number 1,461, with 1,462 teachers. The number of white pupils enrolled last year was 96,799, and the oolored pupils numbered 63,914. A State normal school for white teachers is maintained at Florence, and there are similar institutions for teachers at Huntsville and Marion. One-half of the (children of pupil age attended school last year for a term of four months. Ohe of the best known girts in Pittsburg is Allie Ghany, but water mouth she has!

AGRICULTURAL.

A good remedy against the scale insect to to me a suds made of carbolic acan, and brush the affected parts with it thoroughly, leaving it dry thereon. For throat distemper, grate fine a small green wild turnip, or, If dry, give a heaping spoonftil, mixed with bran oats. Never fails. Good for cough aho. An old woman who went Into the poultry business, thinking she oouid make a fortune by selling eggs, gave it up in abguest, because, as she said, the hens’ll never lay when eggs to cheapj* * a ** us e 6 ins as soon as tney’re “I say, Sambo, does you know what makes de Corn grow so feat when you put the manure on it?’ “No, I don’t, hardly, ’cept it makes ae ground stronger for dfe con).” “Now, I’ll jest tell ye. When the corn begins to smell de manure, it don’t like the ’fumery, so It hurries outob de ground snd gets up as high as possible, so as not to breath the had sir.” Prof. Stock bridge recently said before the State Board of Agriculture of Connecticut: “The soil to nest plowed when it is most thoroughly crushed, twisted and broken, with the sod well covered. On some kinds of land I would have furrows lapped an inch, as the Canadian former plows. Let the air and water have a chance to circulate underneath the surface. Light lands, however, should have a flat furrow if we wish to make such lands more compact. To rejuvenate old orchards, cut put all the dying wood, and three-fourths of the suckers, scrape the trunks of the trees completely, removing all the old, hard, broken bark; wash with a preparation of Whale-oil, soap and water, a pound of soap to a bucket of water; and give the orchard, not merely under the trees, but every part of it, a heavy top-dressiug of good barnyard or compose manure. If there is any life or dPbductiveness in the trees this will bring it out. L ■

Choice flowers have been sent across the continent from California by a novel method, which is described as follows: “A large potato of a California variety, the largest in the world, was cut in two and part of the pulp scooped out of the center of both pieces. Into the halves were laid the “Occidental bloom,” and the potato was joined together again with a strip of thin paper about the edges. The moisture from the potato kept the flowers fresh during their journey, and their color was as beautiful on reaching their destination as when first plucked. The odor, however, was gone from the flowers, and they gave forth a decidedly “potatoish” scent. We presume a scooped-out pumpkin would answer the purpose equally as well aud afford greater room for storage. The American Cultivator gives this satisfactory experience with sweet corn as stock feed: “During the past two seasons I have had an acre or more to cut up when suitable for roasting ears, besides what I have fed in its green state direct to the cows, and I think it is the best feed I have ever used for feeding dairy cows or fottening animals. In either case it seems a feed nearly perfect. The ears furnish material.for fattening or milk, as the farmer wishes and the stalks, if cut when green and well cured, will be eaten very clean and serve the purpose of hay, especially for working oxen; and while they are supfrfied they feel the effects feeang as readily as on any feed I have ever given to working oxen.

STRANGER THAN FICTION.

A 'Man Supposed to Have Been Murdered Returns to Life. Ban Jose Herald. About two years ago John C. Arnold, a well-known Ban Francisco melodeon actor, song writer and playwright, came to San Jose on business. While here he visited Fred. Sprung at the latter’s residence on McLaughlin avenue, and was also accosted by other acquaintances here. All at once he disappeared, and a few daysj later his dead body was found under a tree in Neff’s almond yard, near Los Gatos. A bullet hole in the head showed that either a murder or a suicide had been committed. The body was brought to Easterday A Morgan’s undertakingrooms, on Santa Clara street, and an inquest was held. Fred. Sprung,-Mrs. Gendar, wife of Ned Buckley, and Mr. Lockhart, a San Francisco undertaker, positively identified the remains as those of Arnold, whom they had known long and intimatety. The deceased had several physical peculiarities which Arnold was known to have possessed. Arnold was a cripple, havißg been paralyzed on one side; he also had a cast in one eve, a very prominent nasal organ, and a very heavy, luxuriant mustache. All these hau the . dead man, and there also were the same style of shoes Arnold wore when he visited Sprung; the same coat, hat and pants. And as if this did not furnish evidence enough, the dead man had on one of his fingers a ring, with the initials “E. M. E. 8.,” on the inside. This ring Arnold had worn during his lifetime. AT verdict was rendered to the effect that the deceased, John C. Arnold, came to his death on or about October 28tb, 1876, but whether it was a murder or suicide the jury could not determine. The body was taken to San Francisco, there recognized and identified by Arnold’s brother, and finally consigned to its last resting place in the presence of a large concourse of mourning friends. Time passed on. Several months later a letter was received from Santa Barbara, In Arnold’s hand writing and purporting to come from him, stating that he was stopping there temporarily, but making no mention of his supposed murdered or strange disappearance. No attention was paid to this, for the reason that it was believed by his relatives that the latter was Written by the murderer of Arnold for the purpose of throwing the detectives offthe scent. At any rate Arnold was not to be found there when search was made. Last night Fred. Sprung received several telegrams from different parties in San Francisco stating that Arnold had reappeared in that city a few hours be-

fore in his usual health and spirits. Advices this afternoon confirmed the report, and there seems to be no doubt that the man supposed to have been murdered has returned to life. Who then was the man found in the almond orchard with a bullet in his brain? How did he come to have on Arnold's rings, clothes, etc ? These are questions which at present can not be answered. Taken all in all, it is a case that is without a parallel in the annals of crime. We shall await with some curiosity an explanation from the living examp] Iflcaiion of the old *adage. ‘‘Truth is stranger than flctioA" Let Arnold rise aud explain. Since the above was written we have been put in possession of the following facts: Arnold, on arriving in San Francisco, was attacked with and locked up. Daring his ravings he confessed that he was In San Jose at the time of the murder; that in company with two others, one

ofthem, the murdered man, he went out in the country; that the other had a dispute, which culminated in the death of the man whose body was found and who bore such a striking resemblance to himself that, fearing arrest, he left for the southern part of the State, where he remained until recently.

What the Book of Esther Teaches

Rev. J. M. Whiten la San Say Afternoon. The peculiarity of the book of Esther in omitting ail mention even of the name of God, has been suggested to my mind in looking ova* the mapof North America. - Wherever the Spaniards settled, we find such names as Vera Crus, or ‘True Cross;” Trinidad or “Trinity*" SantaFe, or “Holly Faith;” Santa Marla, or .“Holy Mary;” and a multitude of saints’ names, as San Francisco, or “Saint Francis. ”, Where ever the English settled, on the contrary, we find mostly only unconseorated names, secular or of heathen origin; only here and there a name like Salem or Providence. But wbeu we look for religion, we do not find it chiefly wnere the religious namesarefound. The thing, as contrasted with the name, we find not in Spanish but in English America. Hie Jews, for reason of their own, hold the book of Esther In high esteem according to an old saying of the rabbis, that when all the other sacred writings have perished the book of Esther will remain. May we not also accord a high rank to this book in the -sacred volume for its teaching a lesson so needful at all times, and still as needful as ever, against that tendency to be influenced by names more than things, which is the bane of religious life?Hlt strikingly illustrates God’s control ofeveuts without meution of His commandments, or even His name. It is held by theologians to be an inspired book, while looking precisely like any piece of secular history. In feet, Luther condemned it as frill of “heathen unnaturaldUes.” It carries none of those phrasemarks by which, it Would nowadays get into the “religious department” of a.denominational newspaper, rather than the “secular department.” And yet it is a part of Holy Scripture. Such a hook reads us the lesson to depend less on labels and more on conscience; to read the lessons of religion in all history and all science as well as in manuals of devotion; to recognized religious truth outside of the catchwords of our own creed. Precisely in the vein of Dean Stanley’s thought is the impression made by this book : “Whatever is good science is good theology; whatever is high morality and pure civilization is high aud pure religion.”

Uses of Fiction.

Three functions of fiction I conceive to exist: Instruction, rendered more palatable than it might otherwise be by a coating of figure and strophe; the conyeyance of moral teaching, by means of the oldest known form of illustration, the fable, by whioh the mind is attracted to the entertainment, or at least consideration, of truths arranged in pleasant garb, from the bare presentation of which it would turn away in indifference or disgust; and amusement, pure and simple. Let it be here remarked that people are too apt to esteem this last the only or at least the most important function of fiction. These are no arbitraiy distinctions: the first two are founded on Biblical precedent and authority, for our blessed Lord made use of fiction in the conveyance both of instruction aud moral teaching. Witness the parables of the talents, the virgins, the fig tree, the sower, Peter’s vision of the sheet, the drag-net and the grain of mustard seed. The third function, while I would not esteem it the greatest, neither do I lessen its importance as compared with the others. The mind of man can no more keep up a strain of labor without cessation, than his feet and hands can be bound, Sisyphus-like, to unremittent tasks. So instruction must interchange with amusement, and to lead a healthy moral and intellectual life our reading should be chequered after this manner.—[Rev. B. E. Warner in Sunday Afternoon.

The Spirit World.

The very grave is a passage into the beautiful and the glorious. Welay our friends in the grave, but they are around us. The little children that sat • upon our knees, into whose eyes we have looked with love, whose little hands have clasped our neck, on whose cheeks we have imprinted the kiss — we can almost fell the throbbing of their hearts to-day. They have passed fromus—but where are they;? Just beyond the line of the invisible. And the fathers and mothers who directed and comforted us, where are they but just beyond the invisible? i The associates of our lives, those with whom we took sweet counsel, and who dropped from our side, whefre are they butjint beyond us?—not far away—ft may be very near us, in the heaven of light and ioye. Is there anything alarming in the thought of the invisible? No. It seems to me that sometimes when our heads are on the pitlow, there come whispers of joy from the spirit land which nave dropped iiito our hearts thought of the sublime and beautiful and glorious; as though an angel's wing passed over our brow, aud some dear one sat by our;p)llow and communed with ourhearts to raise our affections towards the other and better world.

A Modest Conductor.

Virginia Chronicle. A few nights ago Conductor Verrill of the Virginia and Truckee express train was going through his car when he noticed a lady asleep in her seat. Her head was resting on the window sill and her feet extended to the aisle. Her dress was so badly disarranged that her ankle and a goodly portion of an exquisitely fashioned calf were plainly visible, and a number of men * few seats further down were contemplating the scene with evident satisfaction . Mr. Verrill. who always keeps things pretty straight on his train, noticed this, and tapping the woman on the shoulder, awoke ho*. j . “Madame, excuse me for disturbing you, but your dress is so disarranged that your ankle is exposed.": “Oil, that makes no difference, sir," replied the lady, smiling sweetly, “its nothing but cork." Verrill was in the baggage car hi less than four seconds, wiping the perspiration from his brew.

A Brutal Murder.

Middleville, Mich.. August 19.—Two Swedes. James ana Pete Johnson, being disorderly, were arrested in a saloon here yesterday. They made no resistance until they got near the Jail, when they both drew knives and stabbed the officer a dozen times. He died a few hours later. The murderers were captured and locked up. If you were as willing to be as pleasant and as anxious to please in your own house gs you are in the company of your neighbors, you would have the « happiest home in the world.