Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 58, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 March 1899 — Page 3

INDIANA WAS YOUNG.

BEGINNINGS OF THE STATE BRIEFLY SKETCHED. Two Classes of Settlers in tb- Lower Wabash Region—Toilsome Life of the Early Home Makers—Recreations of Pioneer Days. Two converging streams of humanity met in the lower Wabash valley and began the herculean task of subduing the wilderness. Both came from Kentucky. One of them was composed of Kentuckians who were actuated by various motives—some to get away from the blighting influence of slavery as well as to provide homes for their children; some in the hope of bettering their condition, but without any well-defined plans for the future, while not a few entertained more sordid motives and hoped that slavery would be introduced into the new territory, notwithstanding the prohibitory clause of the ordinance of 1787. United to all these was a number of persons who had originally come to Kentucky from the central States, especially New Jersey, at the close of the revolutionary war, and who now wished to cast in their lot with the people of a free State, and so joined in the movement towards Indiana territory. Nearly all of these emigrants went down the Ohio in flatboats, generally starting from Limestone (now Maysville, Ky.), or from Louisville. The second stream was largely composed of people originally from North Carolina and Tennessee, who had first emigrated to the southern and central portions of Kentucky, and who also wished to better their condition and get homes for their children, since nearly all the pioneers were blessed with more or less girls and boys—generally more—and it was no small task to get a farm for Tom, Dick and Harry, Nancy, Jane and Carrie, in the older States. The North Carolinians and Tennesseeans, where it was convenient, used flatboats; otherwise they utilized wagons, some of them of the “barefoot” type—strong and durable, but rather cumbersome. The Indian boundary line at the time of this emigration ran considerably south of the center of the territory, that is of a line running east and west, except on the eastern border, where a narrow strip extended quite a distance along the Ohio State line, and in the west, where a similar strip extended north of Terre Haute. It was but natural, therefore, that the first settlements should be made in the southern and southwestern portions of the territory and also sufflciently near the navigable streams to render communication with outside markets, especially that of New Orleans, easy and rapid. When the present century was young land was plentiful and good, and it only required a few hundred dollars and a visit to the land office at Vincennes (established in 1804), to acquire a quarter section. The best land was rated at $2 per acre and the limit fixed at 160 acres, but Gen. Harrison afterwards succeeded in getting the limit reduced to forty acres. Men of large means could get hold of all the land they wished, but, fortunately, the greater part of it fell into the hands of actual settlers. After getting the land, it was no small undertaking to prepare it for cultivation. While the trees were of majestic growth, the woods were comparatively open and there was none of that dense undergrowth so characteristic of semi-tropical regions. The small trees consisted mainly of dogwood, paw-paw and similar varieties, while in various nooks and corners might be found spice brush and similar shrubs, all of which afforded an admirable retreat for the various small animals with which the woods abounded. While there was a sufficient quantity of shrubs and small trees, many of them fruit or nut-bearing, the country was not a tangled mass of rank vegetation. The country lying along the lower Wabash is composed of bottom lands, occasionally extending several miles inland and bordered by a gently undulating region that was heavily wooded and very fertile, but with less natural richness than the bottom lands. The permanent settlers chose the uplands, reserving the bottoms for pasturage, and as many of these lowlands were covered with rich, juicy canebrakes, they would sometimes take their horses to them in autumn and allow them to remain until early spring. But there were selfish, greedy individuals in those days as well as these, men who claimed exclusive jurisdiction over the canebrakes, and more than one farmer found some of his horses in the spring with their tails cleanly shaven and minus an ear or two, “merely as a warning against intruding upon pre-empted territory,” notwithstanding it still belonged to the State. It was a cardinal doctrine of the pioneers that every able-bodied man should “earn his salt,” and they carried the doctrine into practice with unrelenting severity. There was no room for the idle. Houses and barns were to be erected and the ground cleared. They soon began a deadly assault upon the forest. A thousand axes gleamed in the morning sun and the crash and boom of a thousand giants groaning in their last agonies were heard as they fell prone upon the ground. What, with rail-making, fence-building, barn-raising, plowing, sowing and reaping there was plenty to keep all hands busy. Within doors it was also work, work. “Woman’s work is never done." Cooking, washing, sewing, spinning, weaving, taking care of children—no rest for the weary; breakfast must be over before daylight so the men could get at their work. Yet they were not unhappy. They had few of the comforts and were blissfully ignorant of the conventionalities of modern civilization, nor did they wish or care for them. Life to them was indeed a stern reality. Duty was their watchword and well they did thoir duty. When a barn was to be raised the whole neighborhood was invited, and so with the logrolling. As for recreation, our ancestors were not wholly without amusements. True, they had no theaters and “social functions,” and that sort of thing, but they had fun and plenty of it. They not only looked upon the serious side of life, but also, and very frequently, upon the sunny side. There were glorious camp meetings where wide-open hospitality was dispensed to all comers. There were also musters on Sta#e occasions which drew the people from far and near, and occasionally some dignitary would grace the occasion by his presence. About the year 1810 Gen. Harrison attended one of these musters in the southern part of Gibson County—an event that was for long the standard topic of conversation. The Wabash pioneer, had he had th. time and inclination, might have become a great naturalist, perhaps rivaling Gili". White or Audubon, for ii i

could not plead the want of opportunity for observation. As a matter of fact, his whole life was spent in the midst of nature of the most animated character conceivable. I once heard one of those pioneers say that he occasionally heard echoes of that deafening chorus which greeted his ears when a boy. He said that at certain seasons the efforts of the feathered choir were so successful that the dinner horn could not be heard and that the clamor was so great that a gun could not be heard when fired a few yards distant. Wild game, such as deer, wild cats, foxes, raccoons, oppossums, groundhogs and squirrels were plentiful. But the buffalo, notwithstanding the great seal of the State of Indiana shows him gayly frisking in the open, while a youth, to fortune and to fame unknown, is vigorously engaged in felling a tree, went west with the Indian and had disappeared from the lower Wabash before the permanent settler arrived. But he did linger in the upper Wabash region until a later date. It was observed by the pioneers that there were no fox squirrels in the country until it was fairly settled. But there were birds galore. Gray and bald eagles, wild ducks, wild turkeys in profusion, quail and grouse, wild pigeons so numerous as to sometimes obscure the sun in their flight, wild geese, brant, blue and white cranes, swans, whippoorwills, owls innumerable, carrion crows and paroquets. That old king who had only four and twenty blackbirds for his pie might as easily have had four and twenty thousand, had his dominions extended to the Wabash, so numerous were those birds at one time. Insects were numerous in early times. One of these pests, that of the white weevil, played havoc with the wheat for a time, but finally disappeared in 1845. Snakes were very much in evidence, especially rattlesnakes. A party of snake hunters in Gibson County once killed seventy-five rattlers in half a day, and one of the party always maintained that “it was a poor day for snakes.” Thus passed away the early years of the century on the Wabash. The roaring loom of time was busy at work weaving the threads of each individual life into that fabric we call history. Those early days were full of romance, and as we compare the free, simple and independent life of the pioneers with the rush and push of the kaleidoscopic present, with authority and limitations touching us on every side and with the list of “don’ts” and “warnings” increasing as population increases, we are tempted to disregard the preacher’s injunction: “Say not thou what is the cause that the former days were better than these.” But there is nothing to prevent us from reveling in imagination over the scenes of “Auld Lang Syne” —events which transpired in the same region to which many a Hoosier to-day is bound by the ties of pleasant recollection. “Be it a weakness, it deserves our praise; We love the play place of our early days.” —T. M. Weaver, in Indianapolis Journal.

INDIANA’S ERRATIC RIVER

Crossed by More Railroads than Any Other in the World. “What is the name of that river?” asked a traveler on one of the trains on the Louisville division of the Pittsburg, Cin-* cinnati, Chicago and St. Louis the other day as it was swiftly going north. “White river.” Silence and the smoke of cigars prevailed for a little while, until another bridge and, apparently, another river was crossed. “White river.” Again there was silence and smoke, and the train ran a little farther, to cross another bridge and stream. Once more the query came: “What river is this?” “White river.” "See here, neighbor,” and the man, evidently a Kentuckian, sat up straight in his seat, “is every river in this d—d State called White river?” To the uninitiated traveler it certainly seems as if there were no less than a few hundred White rivers in Indiana, for this otherwise rather insignificant stream is crossed by more railroads and oftener than any other river in the world. The Louisville, the Indianapolis and various other divisions of the Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis cross it, some of them as often as three times. The Monon, the Indianapolis and Vincennes, the Baltimore and Ohio Southwestern, the Big Four, the Lake Erie and Western,’ among the north and south roads, not to mention a score of east and west roads and divisions, are compelled to span it with their bridges, and have trouble enough with it, for it is a turbulent stream, although it is neither very long nor wide, and in the summer months far from imposing. Not many months ago it took a notion to get out of its banks, and the result was that almost the entire railroad system of Indiana suffered and hundreds of thousands of dollars of damage was done to embankments and tracks, not to mention wrecks and loss of life. It is usually supposed that mountain torrents are dangerous, but White river can give any mountain stream odds and take the trick, even though it flows through an almost level country, across the entire width of Indiana, from the Ohio line to the Wabash. The Wabash, Indiana's chief river, is celebrated in song and poetry, but in this respect it does not compare with the little White river. White river tries to keep up its reputation from season to season by taking along a bridge now and then or dumping a train from an embankment and making the crew take swimming lessons. Incidentally, it gathers up such trifles as an occasional cow, a few shocks of fodder or manages to put down a gravel bank in a wheat field. It is full of fun. White river is almost exclusively a southern Indiana institution, since it does not extend its meanderings much north of Anderson.— Ghent Times. 0 State Items of Interest. Natural gas has been struck at Loogootee at a depth of 700 feet. Kokomo Elks will give a street fair next August. The county fair has given way to the Elks. John Street, Marion, was fined $5 for beating his daughter black and blue with a razor strop.* 'The late Mrs. Sarah U. Brown, Greensfork, left $3,000 of her $7,000 estate to Earlham College. Sidney C. Lombard, a pioneer insurance man, capitalist and real estate dealer of Fort Wayne, is dead. The State bureau of statistics is advised that wheat has come out of the severe winter in fairly good condition. Dr. A. J. Allen of St. Louis, Mo., died at Martinsville of caficer of the stomach, aged 62 years. He was for twenty-five years superintendent of the Presbyterian board of publication and was editor of V ■ . <• V. ■

THE WRECKED ALLAN UNB STEAMER CASTILIAN

The new Allan Line steamer Castilian, which was wrecked on the coast of Nova Scotia and was pounded to pieces on the Gannet Rock ledges, was the pride of the famous Allan fleet and a fine ship in all respects. She had a capacity of 800 first and second-class and 500 steerage passengers, besides room for a large cargo. She was built by Workman & Clark of Belfast. The Castilian had everything that the science of navigation has evolved to insure perfection. That she was a speedy boat was practically demonstrated, for on her trial trip she attained a speed of fifteen knots, while on her passage across the Atlantic, despite the tempestuous weather, she maintained an average speed of fourteen knots, and after leaving Ireland she never went below the 300 mile record. The Castilian had the distinction of being the first boat to make the trip from the other side to Portland in seven days, and Captain Barrett was heartily congratulated by his friends and the representatives of the company at Montreal.

THE MAN OF THE HOUR

rlen. Loyd Wheaton.

Gen. Loyd Wheaton, who commanded the American troops in the taking of Pasig and in the engagements preceding the capture of that Philippine city, was an officer in the regular army when appointed to his present position at the outbreak of the Spanish war. He has a splendid record as a soldier. Born in Michigan sixty-one years ago, he entered the army as a volunteer in 1861. He began his military career as a sergeant, in which capacity he served four months and was discharged. He re-entered the volunteer forces as a'lieutenant in July, 1861, and was mustered out as a colonel in 1866. In the same year he was appointed a captain in the regular army. Gen. Wheaton was given the brevet rank of major, U. S. A., for gallant and meritorious services

UNCLE SAM—I’ll keep both o’ them things handy, just the same.

In the siege of Vicksburg, and brevet lieutenant colonel for brilliant service in the attack on Fort Blakeley, Ala. He fought in numerous battles, and with credit in all. Before entering the service he was a civil engineer, and with the learning he needed for the practice of that profession was perfectly qualified for the army.

DIVINES IN A RAGE.

Methodist Ministers of New York Eject a Presbyterian. As a result of several interlopers attending the regular weekly meeting of the Methodist Episcopal ministers in New York Monday, there was a lively and unexpected scene. The gathering was supposed to be secret, but the presence of several strangers was detected, and among them was a Presbyterian opponent of Rev. Stephen P. Cadman. Rev. Dr. T. L. Poulson presided. He explained that the meeting was a private one and several left the room. One of the members cried: “There is another who ought to leave.”, “Point him out.” “He is Rev. Mr. Gallaway, pastor of the Third Presbyterian Church in Paterson. In his pulpit yesterday he attacked Brother Cadman’s address before hia association,” shouted another member. Mr. Gallaway rose to his feet and started to speak, but fie was not allowed to talk. The members would not listen, and Dr. Gallaway left the room amid a storm of hisses.

PANIC IN A THEATER.

Women and Children Are Crushed to Death In France. A frightful panic occurred in the Gymnaze Theater at Liege, France, the other night during a performance of the emotional drama, “La Tosca.” A woman became hysterical and cried “fire.” A rush for the doors followed, and in the jam on the balcony stairways many persons were forced over the railings and seriously hurt in the fall. Several women and children were crushed to death. The alarm was baseless

ASSESSED BY DAWES.

One Hundred Per Cent, on National Bank of Illinois Shares. As a finale to the greatest bank failure in the history of the United States, Comptroller Dawes has levied an assessment of 100 per cent on the stock of the defunct National Bank of Illinois of Chicago, which was capitalized at $1,000,000. Receiver McNulta has also been directed to make a further investigation of the affairs of the bank with a view of commencing an action for damages against the directors and officers of the bank, which was wrecked by their bad management. The Comptroller said that he had foreseen for some time the necessity of this assessment, and that while he regretted that it would fall heavily upon a great number of innocent shareholders, he had no choice in the course which by law he is compelled to take. Mr. Dawes declined to make public the names of the shareholders who by this order will be required to pay into the bank a sum equal to the original value of the stock. Comptroller Dawes estimates the deficiency in the assets at $1,200,000, and the assessment on the stock, if fully paid, will bring in $1,000,000. On account of the present financial condition of some of the stockholders, however, it is said that 35 per cent of the assessment cannot be collected, so that it will not net more than $650,000.

CAN RETAIN VOLUNTEERS.

Men Enlisted May Be Kept Till Peace Is Proclaimed. According to the latest official interpretation of the new army law all volunteers now in the service enlisted under the law of April last may be retained in the sen vice until peace with Spain is formally proclaimed, whether or not the 35,000 additional volunteers authorized by the new law are enlisted. One effect of this decision will be to permit the retention in the service until the ratifications of the treaty of peace are exchanged of 411 vol-

unteer staff officers now in the service in addition to those who may be commissioned under the law of March 2. Secretary Alger has also been advised that in addition to the 35,000 new volunteers which the new law authorizes he may retain in the service for six months after peace ia formally declared all the volunteers now in Manila who are willing to re-enlist for that period. The authorities are disposed to take advantage of everything which will tend to rob the act of its serious evils.

WHEAT IN FARMERS' HANDS

The Unsold Cereal Amounts to 192,000,000 Bushels. The Department of Agriculture Friday issued the following crop report: The consolidated returns of the various crop-reporting agencies of the Department of Agriculture show the amount of wheat remaining in farmers' hands on March 1 to have been the equivalent of 29.2 per cent, of last year's crop, or about 198,000,000 bushels. The corn In farmers' hands, as estimated, aggregates 800,500,000 bushels, or 41.6 per cent, of last year’s crop, against 782,800.000 bushels, or 41.1 per cent, on hand on March 1, 1898, and 1,164,000,000 bushels, or 51 per cent, on March 1, 1897. The proportion of the total crop shipped out of the country where grown is estimated at 20.6 pet cent., or about 396,000.000 bushels Of oats .there are reported to be about 283,000,000 bushels, or 38.7 per cent., still in ' farmers’ hands, as compared with 272,000,000 bushels, or 38.9 per cent., on March 1, 1897.

News of Minor Note.

Copious rainfall in California will add millions of dollars to the fruit crop. Six additional regiments of regulars art to be sent to Manila to re-enforce Gen. Otis. Proofs of smuggling on a large scale during the blockade have been discovered by the American officials at Havana. In remodeling the House of Representatives at Washington it is proposed to place a forum in front of the Speaker’s desk, from which members will speak in ..

RECORD OF THE WEEK

INDIANA INCIDENTS TERSELY TOLD. Schoolboy Stabbed to Death—National Guard to Be Reorganized on New Lines—Troops Are to Return—Michigan City Prison Plant to Cloae. Dee Patterson, a 14-year-old boy, was killed by Fred Limp, a schoolmate, 15 years old, at Petersburg. Both boys were the sons of prominent families, and the murder has thrown the town into the wildest excitement. The boys had a slight difficulty in school and renewed the quarrel after they were dismissed in the evening. Patterson met Limp on the street, a few words passed, when Limp drew a knife from his pocket and slashed Patterson across the throat, severing the jugular vein. Patterson ran almost a square after being cut, pursued by his assailant. When he fell to the ground Limp turned and attempted to make his escape, but was captured. The Patterson boy lived but a short time after being cut and never regained consciousness. Plans for Indiana Militia. The first move toward the reorganization of the Indiana National Guard has been made by the selection of Evansville, Terre Haute, Frankfort, Vincennes, New Albany, Madison, South Bend, Lafayette, Fort Wayne and Indianapolis as the cities to contribute the companies for their respective districts. The new organization will be formed by equal congressional dis--tsiet apportionment. The cities to supply the companies for the sixth and eighth districts have not been selected yet, but they will probably be New Castle and Anderson. Indiana Troops Coming Home. In pursuance of the administrative policy of bringing home all the volunteer troops for muster out in anticipation of the exchange of ratifications of the treaty of peace with Spain, orders have been issued for the muster out at Savannah, Ga., of the 160th regiment of Indiana volunteer infantry, now at Matanzas. The regiment will be brought home as soon as a troopship is available and kept at Savannah until warmer weather. Will Close Its Prison Plant. The George E. P. Dodge Company, the Michigan City branch of the Phelps, Dodge & Palmer Company of Chicago, who have manufactured boots and shoes in the State’s prison at Michigan City for the last eighteen years, are finishing up what stock they have on hand, preparatory to moving their outfit to Chicago. Within Our Borders. Twenty-six Amo farmers have formed a telephone company. North Salem is wrestling with the question of incorporation. Edgar Andreas has been appointed oil inspector at Lafayette. Thieves robbed the Russiaville postoffice, securing 75 cents. New Evansville directory indicates a population of about 70,000. Vigo County farmers have organized a mutual insurance company. John Moulder, Russiaville, celebrated his ninety-fourth birthday. Over 100 head were sold at the Lackey horse sale at Cambridge City. Lightning destroyed Andrew BefaU’s barn, Versailles. Loss $1,500. Charles Lorg, Coal Bluff, has been appointed deputy mine inspector. Big tin plate trust, recently formed, robs Middletown of her plant and many residents. Evansville school children will study the weather map issued at the station there every day. Lippincott lamp chimney factory has posted a notice of an indefinite shut-down for repairs. Anthony Brinson, farmer, 46, hanged himself twelve miles north of Madison, leaving a large family. Miss Mabel Redwood, 16, Logansport, and Charles Hawkins eloped to St. Joe, Mich., and married. Harry Cummins, Shelbyville mail carrier, has quit his job and gone to California without even explaining to his wife. Well of the Byram Oil Company on the Stotler lease was put to work, and is producing at the rate of 700 barrels a day. Richard L. Marshall, Greenfield, 25, president of the Stove Molders’ Union, is dead of pneumonia. He once lived in Indianapolis. Wm. O’Haver, Mooresville, has organized a gold mining company to work on his farm. He has taken out about SSO worth this winter. Rayfield Burton, who, by the aid of his father, escaped from officers while on his way to the penitentiary, has been captured near Mitchell. The Byram Oil Company of Indianapolis has struck the biggest gusher yet in Washington township. The fluid spurted high above the derrick. William Stough, prominent in Brazil, sues his wife for divorce on the plea that she purposely allowed his home, clothing, etc., to be burned in his absence. Carthage strawboard works has finally consented to construct a pond into which refuse from the factory will be emptied instead of into Blue river, as heretofore. Gas Inspector Leach says that rotten gas mains caused the recent explosions in several towns, in which twelve were killed and $200,000 worth of property destroyed. Lawrence County Commissioners have let a contract for building gravel roads in Shawswick township to D. C. Dehority of Elwood for $48,357. There were eleven bidders. -O. E. Sutton, Kokomo, sold his household goods tb three different second-hand dealers, with the understanding that each was to call at the house the next day and get the stuff. Then he. left town. Judge Piety upheld the Terre Haute city ordinance imposing a license fee on vehicles, including bicycles. It is the first decision in the State since the law of 1897 went into effect. Joseph I. Irwin of Columbus has made a gift of $25,000 to the Bible school of Butler College of the University of Indianapolis on the condition that the trustees raise $75,009 additional. Twin girls bor-i premdturely, owing to an accident to the mofher. Mrs. Frank Miller of New

JOSEPH MEDILL DEAD.

Veteran Chicago Newspaper Maa Bapirea in San Antonio. Joseph Medill, for almost half a century editor of the Chicago Tribune and former Mayor of Chicago, died at his winter home in San Antonio, Texas, Thursday. The great journalist was 76 years old, and the cause of death is assigned simply as old age, with its attendant weaknesses. Mr. Medill decided last fall that he could not risk the severely cold weather in Chicago and went to San Antonio. The deaths of his wife and his favorite daughter, Josie, were shocks from which, it ia believed, Mr. Medill never recovered and he had been growing perceptibly weaker for the last three years. Joseph Medill was born in St. John, N. 8., April 6, 1823. His parents, who were of Scotch-Irish descent, moved to Stark County, Ohio, In 183 L establishing themselves upon a small farm near Massillon. Joseph helped his father with the work and made his pocket money by getting up clubs of subscribers for the New York Weekly Tribune. In the winter and spring for several years he taught school. The law had great attractions for the young man and in 1846 he was admitted to the bar in New Philadelphia, Ohio. Mr. Medill did not engage long in the practice of law. Becoming interested in politics and having a natural bent for writing he determined to enter journalism. In 1849 he bought the Coshocton Whig, which he renamed the Republican. It was a free-soil whig paper. In the winter of 1854-55 Mr. Medill sold his Ohio paper and, going to Chicago in May, bought a large interest in the Chicago Tribune, a paper which was then almost bankrupt. It was placed on a paying basis by the new owners. In 1874 Mr. Medill secured full control of the paper and through it made a fortune.

NEW LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS.

Herbert Putnam, Head of Boston's Public Library, Appointed. Herbert Putnam of Boston, has been appointed congressional librarian by President McKinley. Since he became head of the Boston public library in 1895 that institution has been greatly improved—a high compliment to the librarian’s merits, for Boston has always prided itself on its library. Mr. Putnam began his career as custodian of books in 1884, when he was called to Minneapolis to take charge of the Athenaeum Library in that city. When

HERBERT PUTNAM.

Minneapolis created her public library the books of the Athenaeum were used as a nucleus. There were but 12,000 volumes in the collection. Seven years of labor on Mr. Putnam’s part swelled the number to 50,000 choice books and lifted the new library to the fifth place in circulation among the concerns of its kind in America. The new director of the National Library is a lawyer and a man of high culture. He knows not merely the titles of books, but their contents, too. He is not yet 40 years old.

NINE NEGROES SHOT.

Bloody Work of a Masked Mob of Whites at Palmetto, Ga. Early Thursday morning a mob of masked men stormed a little house used as a jail at Palmetto, Ga., and shot nine negroes. Four were killed outright and the other five were badly wounded. There was great excitement and Gov. Chandler was called on for troops, the militia from Atlanta arriving about 11 o’clock. Two fires of incendiary origin have lately occurred. Fourteen business houses in all were destroyed. Nine negroes were arrested on suspicion and taken to Johnson’s warehouse to await preliminary trial. The mob rode into the town about. 1 o’clock. The little house was near the center of the town. The guard was called upon to turn over the nine negroes held there for trial on the charge of arson. Upon his refusal he and his assistant* were quickly overpowered. The negroes begged for mercy to the leaders, but the appeals were passed over, and drawing guns those of the mob who managed to get inside the building quickly shot the prisoners down.

OLD WORLD NOTABLES

Lord Salisbury was the first English premier to visit Australia. Gen. Sir Arthur Cotton is one of England’s oldest soldiers, being in his 96th year. The Prince of Wales’ breakfast never varies. It always consists of tea, toast and one egg. Prof. Blumentritt, through whom Agulnaldo and bis colleagues have been making their cause known to Europe, la a member of the faculty of an Austrian university, and has made a thirty years’ study of the Philippine archipelago and Its history. Don Carlos has taken a curious and striking advantage of the foreign “postcard craze” to further his cause, having had some printed with portraits of himself and' his wife, with sac simile signatures below, under which communications are written. • Count and Countess Boni de Castellane have just leased for three years, with the option of purchase, the Chateau de Marias, belonging to the Due de Noailles. Three million dollars will be spent in restoring the estate. Queen Victoria possesses two of the oldest watches in the world. Both have silver dials, and are about as large as halt and the other a repeater.