Rensselaer Union, Volume 10, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 March 1878 — Page 2

The Rensselaer Union. ■ . - V ■■ MSI II —■> ■■— *— UNBBSLAKR INDIANA.

General News Summary.

P*OM wahmingtok. Awom» tbe BO«dn«tiMW Mat to th* Senate by tbe PreMdent, on the 4th, were those of Albert G. Porter, of Indian*,-to be First Comptroller of the Treasury, and Alexander C. Botkin, of "’•uconsln, to be United State* Mar aha) for the Territory of Montana. Among the nomination* confirmed was that of Bayard •* Minister to England. AOOOMMMO to a statement prepared by the Chief of the Bureau of Statistics, the export* of merchandise from the United States during January exceeded the imports by ♦83,445,907, and in seven months by ♦135,609,137. A cihcvlah was issued from the Treasury Department, in Washington, on the 6th, giving notice that the Department was prepared to receive, at all times, offers In writing or by telegraph for the sale of silver Million in quantities of not less than 10,000 ounces, deliverable at the mints in Philadelphia, Ban Francisco or Carson. All offers to be addressed to the Dtrictor of the Mint, Washington, and to state the quantity, price per ounce, the fineness, and when the delivery will be made. The value of the silver purchased will be determined by the mint assay. Where bullion requires parting or refining, the seller ie to pay the usual mint charges. President Haves has appointed ex-Gov. Bagley and Martin Ryerson, of Michigan, as Honorary Commissioners to the Paris Exposition. A kkcent Washington dispatch states that the Secretary of the Treasury will, until further notice, receive subscriptions for the 4percent, funded loan of the United States at par and accrued interest Forms of application will be furnished by the Treasurer at Washington, AssistanUTreasurers at Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia. St Louis and San Francisco, and by the National Banks and bankers generally.

THE BART. The Rhode Island Prohibition State Convention. which met at Providence, on the sth, unanimously nominated the present State officers for re-election. A Philadelphia dispatch of the 6th states that the Superintendent of the Mint, at that city, was about to issue 151,0.0 of the new silver dollars being coined at that institution. The Greenback State Convention of New Hampshire, which was held at Portsmouth, on the 6th, nominated Samuel Flint for Governor. Gold closed in New York, on March Sth, at 101 The following were the closing quotations for produce: No. 2 Chicago Spring, Wheat, No. 2 Milwaukee, ♦L22%@L23. Oats, Western and State, Corn, Western Mixed, 48@55c. Pork, Mess, ♦10.37},'. Laid, t7.17X- Flour, Good to Choke, Winter Wheat, ♦[email protected]. Cattie, ♦[email protected] for Good to Extra. Sheep, ♦4.50(25.75. Hogs, H.OO @4.10. At East Liberty, Pa., on March Bth, Cattle brought: Best, [email protected]; Medium, H.'iS® -4.-50; Common, ♦3.75(24.00. Hogs sold— Yorkers, ♦[email protected]'>; Philadelphias, ♦4.40@ 4.55. Sheep brought ♦3.oo(3s.so—according to quality. - " At Baltimore, Md., on March Bth, Cattle brought: Best, 44-75(26.00; Medium, ♦3.75@L50. Hogs sold at ♦5.25(26.25 for Good. Sheep were quoted at ♦3.50(26.25 for Good.

WEST AND SOUTH. Hox. Benjamin F. Wade died at his residence in Jefferson, Ohio, on tbe morning of the 2d. His mind was clear to tbe last, and, though unable to speak, he showed by signs that be recognized those around him. His dying moments were free from pain. He left no will, preferring to leave his property (about ♦BO,OOO, all in good condition,) at the disposal of his friends. Mr. Wade was born on the 27th of October, 1800, and was consequently a little over seventy-seven years old at the time of his death. A terrible tornado swept through Casey County, Ky., on the afternoon of the 2d, doing great damage in the neighborhood of Rich Hill and Mount Olive. The whole of the family of Vincent Wesley, near Rich Hill, consisting of himself, wife, two grown daughters, and a boy named Sloan, a nephew, and William Taylor, a neighbor stopping at his house, were killed outright. Mrs. Wesley’s body was blown 40J yards, and the two daughters were carried fifty yards, and were found locked in each other's arms. The dwelling, stables and outhouses were blown entirely away. Serious damage ie reported in other localitie The late floods on the Sacramento (Cal.) River hare been very destructive. One farmer lost 6,000 acres of wheat and 20,000 sheep. It is itated that the property loss between Sacramento and Monroeville, a distance of 190 miles, will reach the enormous aggregate of ♦BOO,OOO. The Town of Hot Springs, Ark., was almost entirely destroyed by fire, on the morning of the sth. About 150 buildings and an immense amount of goods were destroyed. The mounains surrounding the town were covered with people, driven from shelter, on the evening of the day of the fire. No lives are reported lost. The loss in propertv would be between ♦200,000 and ♦300.000.

Fortt persons were arrested in Cincinnati, on the sth, on a charge of counterfeiting trade dollars. The molds, electroplates and 300 trade dollars were secured. A New Orleans telegram of the 7th states that Gov. Nicholls had convened the Louisiana Legislature in extra session for fifteen days, specifying matters for consideration, including Revenue and Appropriation bills. Judge Makes, a member of the Louisiana Electoral College, telegraphed, on the 7th, that there was no prospect of a pardon for Gen. Anderson, and that, the motion for a new trial had been postponed two weeks. At the recent session, in Chicago, of the Dairymen’s National Convention. J. F. Joyce, of New York, was chosen President, and R. M. Littler, of Davenport, lowa, Secretary and Treasurer, for the ensuing year. The Supreme Court of Nebraska has recently decided that dealing in grain options in Chicago is gambling, and aU contracts made in Nebraska, founded thereon, are against public policy and void. Is Chicago, on March 6th, Spring Wheat No- 3 closed at. $1 cash. Cash corn closed at 42c for No. 2. Cao oata No. 3 sold at 23#c; and 26X« seller May. IKye No. 2,55 c. Barley No. 3, Cash Meas Fork closed at *0.60. Lard, *7.00. Meevca Extra, nominal quotations: Choice, *4-lO@«.5O; Good, *[email protected]; Medium Grades, *3.40@8.«0; Butchers’ Stock, [email protected], Stock Cattle, etc., *2.00(f158.35. Hogs—Good to Choice, *[email protected]. SheepPoor to Choice, VMUUGN IR-raiUJGMNCB. Pope Lio Xtfl. was crowned in Sistine Chapel, in Rome, on the 3d. " A rEiGMTrutoutbreak of snaA-pox haa lately occurred at Bleu tort , id the department of Loaere. The populatiouof the Commune has been decimated, and nearly all the inhabitants are orhave been sick In the Town of St Mmo if® persons have died. Ee-Presioemt OiU*T rosebed Constanti-

A Belgrade telegram of the 3d reports the discovery of an attempt to a**aa*iuate Prince Charles. A huge number of Roumanians bad been srrested. It wsa reported from Rome., on the 2d, that the Pope had resolved to dismiss the Pontifical Gensd’Arme* and the Swiss Guards, and would remove to Castle Gondolfo, a small village fourteen miles southeast of Rome, in order not to come tn contact with the Italian Government. Acoordixg to Athens special*, received in London on the 4th, the Insurrection tn the Turkish' Provinces adjoining Greece was assuming large proportion*. It was stated that 2,000 insurgents were encamped and intrenched near Vaio, In Thessaly, and that the entire district between Mount Olympus and Um Findus Range was In open revolt. A battie had teen fought at Ghiasti, in which eighty Turks were killed and 150 wounded, and another al Carolimpci, in which seventy Turks were killed. >A Provisional Government had been formed at Lycuiwion, and union with Greece proclaimed. Ox the signature of the Treaty of Peace, th* Sultan and Cur exchanged congratulations by telegraph, and expressed the hope that the new relations then entered into would be lasting and friendlY. - ~ According to a Ban Stefano dispatch of the sth, the Roumanian questions were left unsettled by the Treaty of Peace with Russia. The latter told the Turkish representatives that they must treat with Roumania direct. A Vienna telegram of the sth says Austria had decided to occupy Boania and Herzegovina, with a view to their immediate annexation.

A Coxstantixople dispatch of the 6th gives the peace preliminaries lately signed by Russia and Turkey. They comprise twenty-nftie articles, and are substantially as follows: The war indemnity is fixed at 1,410,000,000 rubles, of which 1,110,000,000 rubles are covered by territorial concessions; Servia is to receive Simnitxa, Novi-Bazar Vranja; Montenegro to receive Antivarl, Bpuz, Podgoritza and Niesics; all Bulgarian fortresses to be raxed and Turkish troops withdrawn: arrears of taxes in Bosnia and Herzegovina to be remitted; the navigation of the straits to lie free to all merchant vessels in peace or war; Bulgaria to be occupied by Russian troops until the formation of Bulgarian militia; Roumania to treat direct with the Porte; the claim for indemnity for Servia and Montenegro to be waived; the Bulgarian tribute to be fixed'by commission hereafter; Ardaban, Kars and Bayazid to be ceded to Russia; the Russians to evacuate European Turkey at once and Asiatic Turkey with<n six months; the Porte to re-establish navigation on the Danube at its own expense; the Dobrudscha to be ceded for exchange for Bessarabia; the rectification of the Turco-Persian frontier; the above to be ratified within fifteen days, etc., etc.

A chisis prevailed in the Italian Cabinet on the 7th, the Ministers of Public Instruction and Public Works having tendered their resignations. Big. Depretls, having still a working majority in Parliament, had undertaken to form a new Cabinet. A telegram of the same date states that the Swiss Guards at the Vatican had, on the day preceding, demanded the three months’ extra pay, usual on the death of a Pope. Upon being refused, they loaded their muskets and brandished their halberds, but were finally quieted by the authorities yielding to their demands. The plague has made its appearance at Reshd ajid other Persian cities. It was officially reported at Havana, on the 7th, that the number of insurgents who had surrendered, from Feb. 28 to March 5, was 1.230. with 180 stand of arms. Of the prominent Chiefs, Maximo Gomez, Benitez and Rodrigues had embarked for Jamaica and Salvador, and Cisveros, Marquis of Santa Lucia, for Europe Vienna dispatches of the Bth say that Austria bad no intention of occupying Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to a Belgrade dispatch of the Btb, the Russians had, two days before, occupied the principal towns in Bessarabia. The Roumanian Council had issued a vigorous protest.' By advice of the foreign Consuls, the Cretan insurgents have accepted the armistice offered by Turkey. A letter from Pera to the Cologne Gazette published on the Bth, says Suleiman Pasha, the distinguished Turkish General, had been drowned. An examination of his papers showed that he was engaged in a conspiracy to dethrone the Sultan. A colliery explosion occurred near Glasgow, Scotland, on the Bth, Up to the morning of the 9th, only two of the nineteen persons known to be in the pit had been rescued alive. A fire in Panama, Central America, a few days ago, destroyed the Grand Central Hotel and over twenty other business buildings, inflicting a loss of about $500,000.

FORTY-FIFTH CONGRESS. Bills were introduced in the Senate, on the 4th—to anthorize the deposit of silver bullion or bars, and the issue of certificates therefor by the Secretary of the Treasury', in snms of not less than twenty dollars, in the same form as that provided for certificates for gold bullion, such certificates to be receivable at par for duties on import* and all public dues; to authorize the payment of bounties to hein of soldiers who were enlisted as slaves .. .The House bill making appropriations for the payment of claims reported to Congress under section two of the act approved June 16,1874, by the Secretary of the Treasury, was called up, and. after discussion, an amendment of the Committee of Claim* to strike out a clause appropriating ♦6,520 to pay the claim of Samuel C. Ludington, of West Virginia, was agreed to, and the bill was passed, Mr. Ludington's claim being subsequently referred to the Committee on Claims. In the House, bills were introduced for the exchange of silver coins of the United States for United States notes; reducing the number of customs officers and regulating their compensation; appropriating ♦469.000 for deficiencies in the Interior Department for the fiscal year ending J one 30, 1876; to regulate immigration.... A resolution was adopted, directing the Secretary , of the Treasury to inform the Honse whether he had authorized tbe sale of any bonds for out ■tending legal-tender notes at par. adding the current New York premium on gold ana the commission for selling, or whether he had authorized the sale of such bonds for legal-tender notes on any other term* than above stated; and if so, the number and amount of the proceeds of such bonds, and who were employed as agent* to dispose of them.... The Senate bul amending the lawsgranting pensions to officers and soldiers of the War of 1812 wa* passed—2l7 to 21.

Ik the Senate, on the sth, an adverse report was made on the Senate bill extending the time for presenting the claims for collecting, drilling or organizing volunteers for the War of the Rebellion, and the bill was indefinitely pqetponed . .The House joint resolution providing for issuing arms and ammunition to the Territory of Idaho, under the act of July 3.1876, was pu*e& In the Houserthe Senate amendmente to the House bill making an appropriation for the payment of claims reported and allowed by the Secretary of the Treasury were concurred in....An adverse report was made on the bill to establish the Territory of Pembina ... The Fortification Appropriation bill (*275,000) was read in Committee of the Whole A bill was passed authorizing any person or persons having any claim against the balance of the fund designated as the ” Chinese Indemnity Fund" for losses sustained by the plunder of the bark Caldera, in 1854, to commence within the twelve months next after the passage of this act proceedings in the United States Court of Claims. In the Senate, on the 6th, the bill known as the ’‘Wallace Long-Bond bill," providing for the issue of bonds of the denominations of twenty-five, fifty and 100 dollars, redeemable in oom after fifty years, and paying 4 percent interest in coin, was passed without a roll-call. In the House, the Fortification Appropriation bill was passed... .Several reports of cornmittees were made.. ..A message was received from the President returning, without his anproval. the House bill atrtbngizmg a special term of the United States ttroait - Court for the Southern District .d iSsiMippi to be held at Scranton on the sec ondMondym March. The measage Okies feat there waewt sufficient time to gtvyyKceof the

holding of said special term, and that the Govpnrvae. The bill and m aim** were referred ... Th*Deficiency Appropriation bill waa considered in Committee of the Whole. Bills were introduced and referred, in the Senate, on the 7th-to provide for the organization of a Mis*i**ippi River Improvement Commission, and for the correction, permanent location, deepening of channel* and the improvement of navigation on that river; relating to telegraphic communication between the United States and other countries. Adjourned to the 11th. A bill was passed in the House removing the political diaabiiitie* of Robert H. Chilton, of Georgia... A reaolution waa adopted —133 to IM—authorizing the Committee* on Expenditure* in the several Department* of the Government to employ each a clerk, or expert, pending the investigations, and alao authorizing the Committer* on Poetoffice* and Post-Roads to employ two expert*. . The Deficiency Appropriation bill was considered in Committee of the Whole, reported to tbe House and passed. The Senate was not in session on the Bth. In the House, the Senate amendments to a bill suspending the operation of the Revised Statute* in regard to the Guano Island* were concurred in.. A resolution was adopted calling on the Secretaries of the Interior and of War for all information in regard to the geographical and geological survey* conducted by their respective Department* during the past ten year*. . The bill for the payment of certain aat.-belbim Southern mail contractors was farther considered in Committee of the Whole.

MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS.

—Thomas Hardy makes a man's reason become equal to his passions when he reaches the age of thirty-five,. —The mule is a musical animal. His voice has remarkable volume, :ind his hind legs a~efull of shoe Uy.— Exchange. —“ The Pitman short-hand system of disposing of the dead” is the way the New Orleans Picayune refers to it. —‘‘Beauty and booty” was the cry of the young man, who kissed the girl and was kicked by her father. -HawkEye. —The Signal Service reports that not a drop of rain or flake of snow fell anywhere within the United States on last New Year’s Day. -Bayard Taylor says that the newspaper man who works French and Latin into his articles is a fool, and is seeking to hide the fact. —A tailor, in skating, fell through the ice; he w r as afterward heard to declare that he would never again leave his “hot goose” for a “ cold duck." —Women are proverbially severe in their criticisms of each other’s attire. It makes all the difference in the world whose dress is gored.— Harper's Bazar. —A Bridgeport man courted his wife seven years, and after living with her two, now acknowledges it was a court of errors.— Bridgeport (Conn.) Standard. —An African traveler who attended the obsequies of a deceased sovereign of that country speaks of the remains, when prepared for interment, as the largest box of black King he ever saw, —Oh, the snow-shovel, the beautiful znow-shovol,' Out on the sidewalk you’ve got for to jc shovel. Needed alike at the palace and hovel, What should we do without any *now »tiov-e\l Scraping. —— Scnttchiny, It's all very well. To sing of the snow, but blarst the shov-«2. —Burlington Ila tek-Eye, —Washington’s tomb has been connected with the Mount Vernon Mansion by an electric burglar alarm. Imperia’ Caesar, dead and turned to clay, is gir; with lightning to keep thieves away.— Detroit Free Press. —“What cable news does that remind you of?” asked Spilkins, pointing to a man carrying a keg of lard across the sidewalk. “Give it up,” said the other. “ Why,” said Leander, “it reminds me of ‘ Greece in arms ’ ” —“Now, your Honor, we must consider the animus furandi," said a Detroit Police Court shyster, who was eloquently defending a chicken thief, a few days since. “ Latin quotations are not admissible in a chicken case,” said the Justice, thoughtfully, “ninety days in the Hiuse of Correction.” —The Paris EvenemcnCs American correspondence informs us that in the cars on the Orange, Lemon & Alexandria Railroad, bet ween Washington and Richmond, there are always a surgeon and undertaker, with a stock of coflins, an while hospitals are erected at regular distances along the line. —A learned doctor, who went out for a day’s recreation on the ice, talked in a masterly way about the science of skating. He buckled the irons on his shoes, and, after a few indescribable movements, found himself gliding along on his vertebral column and the back of his head. “Ah,” he sighed, when he recovered his equilibrium, “ I am like some religious people—up in theory and down in practice.”

—A traveler in Western lowa, while riding along, came to a large sign which implored him to “ Look out for the locomotive.” He accordingly rode dowh the track for a better view, and while he was looking out” for it, it came along. He saw ft, but he had to sit in the ditch and wait until a freight train of thirty-seven cars passed by before he could get back to the other piece of his horse.—Burlington Hawk-Eye. —Spikes says he has thought it over a good deal, and he wonders if the curious phenomena have been generally observed, that to-day was to-morrow yesterday, and yesterday yesterday was io-day. To-morrow to-day is to-mor-row, but to-morrow to-morrow is day after to-morrow to-day, Yesterday tomorrow is to-day, and yesterday to-day will be day before yesterday to-morrow. The day after to-morrow to-day will be to-morrow to-morrow, and to-morrow to-day will be to-day to-morrow.— N. Y. Graphic. —A farmer was boasting to Sam about the speed of bis horse, which, he said, would trot a mile inside of three minutes, and follow it for three miles. “A mile inside of three minutes ain’t much to brag about,” said Sam. ‘‘Why, the other day I was up to S , sixteen miles off. Just as I started from home a shower came sweeping on. The rain Struck on the back part of the wagon, and the moment it struck I hit ohi Kate a cut with the whip; away ihe trotted, scarcely touching her feet to the ground. She kept nip and nip with the shower. The wagon was filled with water, but not a drop fell on me.” —ln a wild part of Scotland, a dealer in fish used to drive his cart a considerable way inland. On one occasion, when passing ; • i moor, where, although there di •: a schoolmaster, the knowledge r „• inhabitants of affairs in general a..s not extensive, he droppea a lobster. Some children picked it np, and, wondering what the strange creature could be, took it to the schoolmaster. The dominie put on his “ Bparticles,” and, turning ft over and over, examined it carefully. “ Weel,” at length said the oracle, “J ken maist o’ the wonderfu’ o’ creation except jist twa, and those twa I never saw. They are an elephant and a turtle-dove; and so this must be ane 19’ th§ twa ” ,

The Famine in China.

Late mails received in San Francisco bring heartrending reports of the famine in China. Husbands are selling their wiyeA and parents their children to obtain! food for all. Three or four millions of peopld are dependent upon the Government for support. At least 10,000,000 are in extreme destitution. The four Provinces in which famine is felt, in a greater or less degree, are Shensi, Shansi, Chihli and Honan. They have an aggregate population of 75,000,000. Since the average of wealth among them is very low, it is probable that the additions to the number of the sufferers will be rapid and large. No relief from the crops can be looked for before May or June. Meanwhile, there are only three sources of relief open to the starving people, and none of these seem to be either sufficient or certain. First, there is the Chinese Government, which, with the best intentions to care for its subjects, is unable to deal with an emergency of this description. The resources of the British Government, which are many times larger than those of the Chinese, were taxed to their utmost to meet the demands of the Indian famine; and the latter was much smaller, both in the extent of territory covered and the number of sufferers, than the one which now prevails in China. Moreover the Chinese Government labors under the difficulty of having to make its distributions through corrupt and inefficient servants. The dispatches in yesterday’s papers state that the exertions of the Government are to a great extent nullified by the dishonesty of officials. This dishonesty has been so flagrant in many instances that outbreaks have occurred, and at Houching a Mandarin was beheaded for speculating on the necessities of the people. Another source of relief, suggested by the philanthropists of the United States, is the return of the Chinese Indemnity Fund, now unappropriated in the Treasury, for use in the relief of the sufferers. The objections to this scheme are, first, that it cannot receive the sanction of Congress until too late; and, secondly, that the United States have not the right to specify how the money shall be used when it is returned. If the money was unjustly extorted from China, it ought to be returned without conditions; if it was not extorted, it ought not to be returned at all. There is no room for casuistry in. the discussion of so simple a question as this. The third source of relief is voluntary contributions from the countries of the civilized world. This is manifestly the one upon which, next to the Chinese Government, the principal dependence ought to be placed, and which the benevolent friends of China in this country ought most eagerly to avail themselves of. Our commercial relations with China are closer and more profitable than those of any country except Great Britain, and a moral obligation rests upon us to contribute liberally to the relief fund. Let the lists be opened at once. Those who are clamoring for the return of the indemnity money can prove their sincer-“ ity and liberality quite as well by making.practical and personal appeals to the people for subscriptions. All that can be obtained in this manner will not be too much for the purpose. The Indian Famine Fund in England was a mere drop in the bucket, and the Chinese Famine Fund in the United States will scarcely be more. But, whatever it is, it should be applied rigidly and exclusively to the purpose for which it is collected. ' This will be comparatively a simple matter, if the distribution is made through special agents—say the American Minister or some well-known firm in the Pekin trade. The primary causes of this famine are worth inquiring into. They furnish an instructive commentary upon the policy which is now extensively pursued in the United States, of denuding the soil of its natural protectors — the forests and undergrowths of timber. Shansi and Shensi —the two Provinces which are now the principal seats of the famine —are high table-lands. They were formerly covered with rich growths of timber. These collected moisture and acted as cloud-arresters. As they were gradually cleared away, the climate became dryer. There was JesS rain. The crops began to fail. The soil grew parched and arid. In spite of all the warnings the people had, they continued in their improvident policy, and they are now suffering the natural consequences of their roily. The sojl is less fertile and less capable of supporting the population which occupies it now than it was 200 years ago. Part of this failure is due to natural exhaustion, but by far the larger part is due to the irregular and insufficient rainfalls. Still another cause of the famine, closely connected with the preceding, is the enormous increase ' of population in the rural regions of China following upon the primitive habits which prevail there. This increase, taken in connection with the positive decrease in the capacity of the soil to support life, has brought its legitimate results. The phenomenon of famine arising from such causes is observed, moreover, first of all, where we would expect to perceive.it—in an old country and among a stationary population. If China had rpore room, or if the people were still accustomed to migration, the lesson contained in their sufferings might have been delayed for centuries. As it is, the United States and Europe can scarcely misunderstand the warning and reproof such a calamity conveys to them. It ought th" be the sign of cultivation and morality among Nations as among individuals to postpone the present for the sake of the future, and to lay up a certain reserve of prosperity and contentment for posterity, rather than to consume, with the rapid self-indulgence of a prodigal, all the inheritance of mankind.— Chicago Tribune.

A Martyr to Trust.

In the little Village of Dexter, in Maine, there is a small savings institution in which the poor people living thereabout have been accustomed to put the hard earnings gathered by patient toil and laid by under a sacred trust against the time of need. The cashier of this bank was one J. W. Barron, i person unknown outside of the little community in which he lived. Last Friday, at a time when others were enjoying a holiday, he went to the bank to perform some duties of his office. W nile there he was attacked by burglars, who in some way had gained admission to the building. Refusing to open the safe, he was gagged and strangled time after time. Probably we cannot of the physical and mental torment that this man resisted. He knew that he faced death. He had on the one side a happy life, the responsibility for wife and child, the ties of family love, the consciousness, that jf he yielded men would extenuate an act forced from him by pain which few.

men have the fortitude to endure. On the other hand, there was (imply an idea, and that idea an abstraction called duty. But he saw that duty as plainly as most then see the substance of things. He resisted torment until his thwarted persecutors, incensed by his refusal, struck him Upon the head and threw him senseless into the vault, closed the doors and left him in the noisome air there, where his friends found him still insensible hours afterward, the rone with which he had been strangled still around his rasped and bruised neck. He was taken ont, and, without even recovering consciousness, he died. This is the plain but sublime story of a simple-minded martyr to duty. He was not one whose education and surroundings were those that led up to the character that we call heroic. His life had been among associations that were commonplace and almost humble. He was not one who had been used to the martial achievements of the camps, or who had felt the stirring call to bravery, which prompts the warrior to prowess on the battle-field. His deed was not one performed before the gaze of crowds, or one which was to be sung by poets or repeated by wondering philosophers. It was heroism in the dark, with only itself as a reward. Yet tested by the average of human weakness, or human strength, measured by the traits which distinguish moral courage from mere brute resistance, how it overcasts the best deeds of heroes whom historians have made immortal! How it is glorified by contrast with the stories of felonies compounded, of trusts betrayed, of reputations soiled which throw their shadows athwart our times! Above all, how it stands forth before our generation as at once an example of fidelity to duty which is to be imitated, and as a proof that the men of moral motives are the truly great and the truly good! Barron gave to duty all that he had when he gave his life. But he gave beside to his community and to nis race an example which, gathered up and covered, though it may be, in the harvest of the great deeds of humanity, will never be lost in the strengthening of the impulses which make human beings nobler and better. —N. Y. Evening Post.

Plenty of Arsenic.

A man, armed with a long iron hook, pulls open an iron door, and you gaze with awe into the Dantesque heart of a huge fierce furnace, the white-hot contents slowly turning round, and ever falling in cascades of yellow fire. It is found that at the works on Devon sulphur in the pyrites is enough to keep the furnace, when once heated, a burning without other fuel. The product? Here it is, a white heap of several tons of it lying in an open shed, where everybody passes by. It is something like fine flour. One" of the men dips thumb and fingers loosely into the white powder, puts a quantity into the palm of his other hand, and brings it to us to look at, precisely as a miller shows a sample of flour, smoothing it with his fore-finger. One expects every moment to see him test it with his -tongue; a child probably would, but the miner knows better. All this white heap is arsenic; all these rows of bar rels are filled with arsenic. More than 2,000 tons a year are sent out from this one mine, to be used mainly in those brilliant modern dyes by which our women and children can dazzle the sunshine at a cheap expense. Are they safe to wear? My chemistry books do not plainly say yes or no. But in one book I have chanced to open I find the following remarks: “ Arsenious Acid— White Oxide of Arsenic, or White_ Arsenic—This substance is of the highest importance, as being the frequent agent of criminal or accidental poisoning. * * * There are few substances so much to be feared, (it) being almost tasteless; it can be mixed with articles of food and swallowed without discovery, and there is no practically efficient antidote.” This innocentlooking white powder, this potent and fatal substance, of which your chemist must not sell you a dose without entering your name and address in a book; of which three grains weight will kill a man, was lying by one of the ordinary roads of the mine in open sheds, in heaps breast-high. 1 was assured that no kind of harm ever comes of all this (save skin eruptions to the work people, and these rarely), but it gave one a shiver to see those white mounds.— Fraser's Magazine.

Brother Gardner on Office-Seeking.

“Iz dar a lone man in dis hall who wants an offis?” asked Brother Gardner, as the members suddenly ceased to blow their noses and shuttle their feet. •‘Yes—l iz dat lone man!” called a score of voices. “Same rush o’ blood to de hed dat de white man hez!” was the sorrowful remark of the President, as he gave a pull at his shirt-collar. “ Dat’s another faze o’ human natur, an’ I reckon its one of de worst in de woodpile. De more time I put in on dis pastur’ o’ human life de more I see dat de average man had radder live on soup an’ crackers an’ draw de pay of a small office dan to shove de jack-plane, an’ live lik a prince. De young man am brung up to feel dat work is degradin’ an’ dat holdin’ offis is de top story, an’ de day is cumin’ when you’ll hev to hunt dis town wid a fine-tooth comb to Sit sight of a man who works by de ay an’ isn’t ’shamed of de sack! Ah! you niggers am like all the rest! De minit you git outer bed in de mawnin’ you is finkin’ dat if you only had an offis to hole you’d be de biggest pill’ in de box, an’ when you go to bed at night it-is to dream dat you is Lawd Mayor of Toledo, wid seventeen white bosses ter draw yer aroun’. Look at dis wool. See how de kinks am bleachin’ out to de color o’ snow! Look at dis tremblin’ neck—dis aiged mouf —dese totterin’ ears. Den ax me if I haven’t put in fifty-eight y’ars o’ time on dis terreshul globe! Hez I eber heldoffis? Hez I eber shook hands wid all de loafers, drunk whisky wid all de bummers, lied to all de Recent men, an' been dispised by de hull community? I reckon not. Do de boys hoot me as I pass along? Not a hoot! Do de men sneer at me as I enter a corner grocery? Not a sneer! Do de burglars an’ thieves avoid moon de avenue? Not an avoid! Gem’len, let de offis bisness alone. De furder you keep away from it de more face you’ll hev to ride on de platform of a street kyar in de daytime. De workin’ man pegs right along y’ar after y’ar, growin’better ez he grows older. De offis-holder kicks up a heap o’ dust for a few months an’ den is roasted in de oven of ingratitude an’ fed to de curs of unthankfulness.”— Detroit Free Press. Living fifty-four years in one village, and during that time repairing 18?000 watches, for each of whiqh he received pay, is the history of a jeweler of Sandy Hili, N. C.

PERSONAL AND LITERARY.

—Speaker Randall believes in total abstinence. —The name of Peoci, the new Pope, is pronounced Petchee. —Gen. Braxton Bragg’s son is City Attorney of Mobile, Ala. —Mark Twain calls his dog Joseph Cook, because he can't quite unnerstand him. —His breath was the last thing Crnlkßhftnk drew, according to the Boston Post. —Mrs. Hayes receives on Mondays, postponing the washing till Tuesday.— Boston Post. —Serg’t Bates is carrying bricks in Chicago. That’s sort of hod.—Commercial Advertiser. —Williams, the newly-elected Senator from Kentucky, was formerly an Illinois farmer near Bement. All the Justices of the Supreme Court are married men, and their wives arc with them in Washington. —A writer in Scribner says President Lincoln wrote and rewrote several times his famous Gettysburg address. - —William Cullen Bryant says that Bayard Taylor is a man who has never ceased to be an American, in being a traveler abroad. —Among the various ways in which Stanley has become a man of mark is that of being styled the “ Bismarck of African Exploration.” . —Mrs. Elizabeth F. Denny, who died in Pittsburgh, Pa., a few days ago, gavq away during her lifetime at least $1,000,000 to charitable institutions.

Donald G. Mitchell sits down on old chairs. He says an abominablymade old chair is no more to be venerated than an old scoundrel of a man. —Mark Twain writes to a friend in Detroit denying the charge that he is lazy. Instead of being lazy, he says he has no less than four books under way, with the title of each nicely written out in a plain hand, and the first chapters headed off. —lt is related of the rebel Gen. Jubal Early that he would never approve a furlough when the applicant was to get married. Being an old bachelor himself, he thought all soldiers should adopt that style of life while the war lasted. He used to say that every officer who married either proved himself utterly worthless or straightway got himself killed. —Mr. Fred Seward frequents parties at Washington in a black skull-cap, and many people there wonder why he wears it. They forget that he nearly lost his life when the attempt was made to assassinate his father, the very night that President Lincoln was fatally shot. The skull-cap now worn by Mr. Seward conceals a silver plate which was inserted when his skull was trepanned after that murderous attack. —The name of D’lsraeli has never been borne by any other family than that of the present Lord Beaconsfield, and, as he has no living relatives, will, expire with him. Among the 600,000 Jews expelled from Spam in the sixteenth century was an ancestor of the Premier, who at that time assumed the name of D’lsraeli. The father of Beaconsfield withdrew from the Synagogue in London because he had been fined £4ofor refusing to serve as*Warden.

Value of Reptiles.

The class of reptiles is generally regarded as useless, if not noxious to fnankind; yet, in reality, it affords many and varied products which serve as human food, or as important substances in the arts and manufactures. The first of the reptiles to be mentioned in this light are the Chelonians, including the turtles and tortoises, whose flesh is everywhere esteemed as an article of diet, and whose eggs are sought both for eating and for the oil that they afford. Edible species of the tortoise and the turtle abound in America, and are largely consumed at home and exported to foreign countries. A manufactory at Kffy West annually puts up 200,000 pounds of turtle-meat for exportation, and employs ten vea. seis and sixty men in coQecting the rep tiles. Large establishments for can ning the meat, and preparing for mar ket the fat, calipee and gelatinous por tion of the fins of the turtle, exist in Jamaica. In 1874 the export from Jamaica of these products amounted to 5,484 pounds. The turtles consumed at this point are brought from the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, from Trinidad, Vera Cruz, Honduras and the ■Tortugas. The turtle is an important article of subsistence to the inhabitants in the vicinity of the Amazons; and Mr. Bates, in his interesting notes of “ A Naturalist on the Amazons,” devotes a good deal of space to an account of the methods employed in capturing the animal and its eggs. The great fresh-water turtle attains an immense.size, and its flesh is tender and palatable. The reptiles are habitually kept by the Indians in little ponds, as a resource in seasons of dearth. breeding-places of the turtle afford a busy spectacle at the time when it comes up out of the water to lay its eggs in the sand. The natives* assemble from far and near, and encamp near the ground for the sake of convenience in Harvesting the eggs and preparing the oil. ■ The destruction of turtle-eggs every year is, according to Mr Bates, enormous. “At)east 6,000 jars, holding each three gallons of the oil, are exported annually from the Upper Amazons and the Madeira to Para, where it is used for lighting, frying fish and other purposes. It may be fairly estimated that 2,000 more jarfuls are consumed by the inhabitants of the villages on" the river. Now, it takes at least twelve baskets of eggs, or about 6,000, by the wasteful process followed, to make one jar of oil. The total number es eggs annually destroyed amounts, therefore, to 48,000,000. As each turtle lays about 120, it follows that the yearly offspring of 400,000 turtles is thus annihilated.” Tortoise-shell is another valuable product derived from the Chelonians, The finest variety is produced by the hawk’s-bill turtle. Twenty-five tons of this material are annually worked up in Great Britain. ‘ i The flesh and the eggs of the alligator find the crocodile are. eaten by the natives in many parts of the world; while their skins, are tanned and converted into leather for boots and shoes, horse-trappings, etc.; their teeth are carved into ornamental objects; the oil extracted from the fat is of considerablo value in the arts; and a musk used | in perfumery is obtained from certain species. The flesh of the iguana is highly esteemed in South America, and is cooked in various ways. The eggs, which are very glutipous, are ftjso regarded gs

a delicacy. Humboldt states that in intertroufad South America, all lizards which inhabit dry places are much prized for the table. , The most highly civilised races regard the hindquarters of the frog as an elegant dainty, but snakes are by universal consent considered unfit for food. Still the flesh of all land-ser-pents is said to be white, tender and well-flavored; while an excellent leather is manufactured from the skins of the anaconda and other large species.— Chicago Tribune.

Grappling for a Lost Cable.

The ‘‘Great Eastern” was fitted out with apparatus, which may be likened to an enormous fishing-hook and line, and was sent to the spot where the treasure had been lost. The line was of hemp interwoven with wire. Twice the cable was seized and brought almost to the surface. Twice it slipped from the disappointed fishermen, but the third time it was secured. It was then united with the cable on board, which was “ paid out” until the great steamer again reached Newfoundland, and a second telegraph-wire united the two continents. The scene on board as the black line appeared above water was exciting beyond description. It was first taken to the testing-room, and a signal intended for Valentia was sent over it, to prove whether or not it was perfect throughout its whole length. If it had proved to be imperfect, all the labor spent upon it would have been lost. The electricians waited breathlessly for an answer. The clerk in the signal-house at Valentia was drowsy when their message came, and disbelieved his ears. Many disinterested people, and even some of the promoters of the cable, did not think it possible to recover a wire that had sunk in thousands of fathoms of water. But the clerk in the little station connected with the shore-end of the cable of 1865 suddenly found himself in communication with a vessel situated in the middle of the Atlantic. The delay aggravated the anxious watchers on the ship, and a second signal was sent. How astonished that simple-minded Irish telegraph-operator was! Five minutes passed, and then the answer came. The chief electrician save a loud cheer, which was repeated y every man on board, from the Captain down to his servant. — William H. Rideing, in St. Nicholas for March.

The Doctrine of Chances.

It is an indubitable result of the theory of probabilities that every gambler, if he continues long enough, must ultimately be ruined. Suppose he tries the martingale, which some believe infallible, and which is, as I am informed, disallowed in the gambling houses. In this method of playing, he first bets say $1; if he loses it he bets $2; if he loses that, he bets $4; if he loses that, he bets $8; if he then gains, he has lost 1 2 -|- 4 =7, and he has gained $1 more; and no matter how many bets he loses, the first one he gains will make him $1 richer than he was in the will probably gain at first; but at last, the time will come when the run of luck is so against him that he will not have money enough to double, and must therefore let his bet go. This will probably happen before he has won as much as he had in the first place, so that this run against him will leave him poorer than he began; some time or other it will be sure to happen. It is true that there is always a possibility of his winning any sum that the bank can pay, and we thus come upon a celebrated paradox that, though he is certain to be ruined, the value of his expectation calculated according to the usual rules (which omit this consideration) is large. But, whether a gambler plays in this way or any other, the same thing is true, namely, that if he plays long enough ho will be sure some time to have such a run against him as to exhaust his entire fortune. The same thing is true of an insurance company. Let the directors take the utmost pains to be independent of great conflagrations and pestilences, their actuaries can tell them that, according to the doctrine of chances, the time must come,, at last, when.. their losses will bring them to a stop. They may tide over such a crisis by extraordinary means, but then they will start again in a weakened state, and the same thing will happen again all the sooner. An actuary might be inclined to deny this, because ne knows that the expectation of his company is large, or. perhaps (neglecting the interest upon money) is infinite. But calculations of expectations leave out of account the circumstances now under consideration, which reverses the whole thing. However, I must not be understood as saying that insurance is on this account unsound, more than other kinds of business. All human ■ affairs rest upon probabilities, and the same thing is true everywhere. If man were immortal he could be perfectly sure of seeing the day when everything in which he had trusted should betray his trust, and, in short, of coming eventually to hopeless misery. He would break down, at last, as every great fortune, as every dynasty, as every civilization does. In place of this we have death.— Popular Science Monthly.

An Old Bull-Fighter.

Casas, commonly called Salamanchino, is a veteran matador, seventy years of age, who, having figured in Queen Isabella’s marriage festivities, wished, although he had long retired from the field, to appear in Friday’s and Saturday’s bull-fights. He appeared dressed in blue, embroidered with silver; his gray hair was gathered into a knot behind; and over his pure white shirt waved a long red cravat. On the fourth bull being let loose headvanced toward the Royal box to request permission to encounter it. All the torreros clustered round him to protect hitn. The bull is attracted toward Salamanchino, who holds his scarlet mantle in one hand and his sword in the other. The struggle commences, but Casas is old, he is not firm on his legs, his muscles are not supple, his arm is not sure. Twice the bull throws but he is up again and returns to the fight There is a cry of “Fuera!” and pocket-handkerchiefs are waved to stop him; but the obstinate matador wishes to win a last laurel. Fortune, however, is unpropitious; seven times he attacks the bull, seven times he misses it. According to custom, after seven unsuccessful attacks, the bnll’s life is safe, and, shaking its streamers, may re-enter the “Toril” amid the applause of the spectators; while on the other hand, its unfortunate combatant is hissed.— Madrid Cor. London Times. - ■■« • » —Mrs. Victoria Woodhull fans failed gs »lecturer in England.