Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 36, Number 118, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 October 1904 — Page 2

The Sea Scourge

CHAPTER XVllL —(Continued.) “There is another estate further up ■he riTer, I believe?” resumed Fox. {'“Yes.” answered Marl; “there is one ■en miles up, owned by Lopez Garonne. H say ten miles up—l mean his boundary' 5s there. His dwelling is over fifteen taffies.” “I thought I should go up there.” ~ TiWroon would have asked more questions, but at this juncture the meal was S repared and the guest moved to the ible. The pirate captain had noticed not only koine peculiarities in the Voice and face j*f his guest, but the effect that had been (produced on Paul. He had seen it all, l«ven to a look which Mary herself gave [the newcomer. 'After the man had taken this seat at the table, Larodn commenced too pace up and down tfah room, and ■when Ike was where he could look upon his [guest's face, he did so most keenly. At ffength he stopped in his walk and becktoned for Paul to follow him, at the same [time taking a lighted caudle from the (mantel and leaving the room. Just as the youth closed the door after Mm the guest had finished his repast, land with a quick, decided movement, he Srose and moved close to Mary's side. 'he maiden did not shrink from him nor •hudder, for there was something so natt rally kind in his countenance, and then e wore such an appearance of modesty )and goodness that she felt rather drawn (toward him by some inward force. “You are a child of Mr. Laroon?” he (said, inquiringly, as he sat down by her )side. ! “I am—am —yes, I suppose a ward,” £e maiden answered, with some einbarssmeut. “But not a very happy one, I should '•ay,” remarked the man, at the same itime placing his hand upon her shoulder. “I have been sick, sir,” said Mary, lleffling sure that he alluded to her looks. “Ah; a physical, bodily ailment? Then Hour mind is well. In spirit and soul you •re at peace.” Mary started and gazed fixedly into [the man’s face. There was something tike a smile upon it, but it was a very i»ad and melancholy one. “Mayhap I know not your meaning,” «he at length murmured. She could not feel offended with him, for his very look i*nd tone forbade it The guest cast his eyes about the room, >*s if to assure himself that they two mere alone together, and then said: “I have been informed of some circumstances which led me to suppose that itou were not very happy here. Have I ibeen informed correctly?” Mary burst into tears. The question touched upon a spring that opened ev•ty wound afresh. The stranger drew one of her small, white hands within his own, and then he drew her head upon his bosom. It was a very strange movement, but Mary did not resist it. No, she pillowed her head there as though it were her home, nor did she seem to think that he was a *1 ranger who thus supported her. "Weep not now, my child,” he said, in 'tones as sweet as a mother’s voice. "If the should return and find you thus, he would wonder at it.” “And do you know, then, my guardian’s character?” asked Mary, raising ler head quickly, and speaking earnestly. “I do know Marl Laroon Well, and I know his business. But let that drop where it is. I can perhaps help you.” "And you have known me before?” flittered Mary, half imploringly. "Not exactly; but I think I have known those who did once know you. I promised a person that if ever I came ■•cross you, I would help you if it lay in mj pobver, and I suppose I must now keep iny promise.” "What do you know of me or mine? ©h. tell me if you can!” t " sh! Here comes Laroon. I know nothing that would benefit you now to know. But take hope. 1 must leave you in the morning, but I shall return. I &ave come all the way here only to help you, and I tell you thus early of my mission that you may have more to hope for. Be careful now, and do not let him *ee that you have learned anything. All may depend upon your secrecy and care,” And so saying, lie resumed his seat, •waiting the appearance of Laroon.

CHAPTER XIX. When Laroon called Paul tout from the room where the guest was eating, he went at once to a private apartment, anil elosed the door. Paul wondered what oil this meant, for the pirate showed by Ms countenance that he had some purpose in it. After they had gained this place, Marl walked up and down the room several times before he spoke, and ■during that time he seemed to be in nervous thought. “Paul,” he said at length, stopping in tfront of the wondering youth, "you have moticed that man who is now in the room we have just left?,” , “Yes,” returned the youth, looking up with an expression of curiosity. “Do you think you have ever seen him before?” resumed the captain, carefully. “Is there not something familiar about Sis face and voice?” “Thpre is, certainly,” returned Paul, (after a moment’s thought. “There is ■omething about him that calls up a in my mind, but it inis no (form or feature. But why should you *sk me?” “Because I thought you might posSi!Wy help me out with the puzzle.” “But who do you think lie is?” Laroon 1 did not answer this question tat once, for it evidently took him unprepared; but he soon surmounted the difficulty and said: “Ah, I do now remember a Mr. r Fox *who lived close by your father’s; I think ithat must be it” “That would seem the most reasonable to me,” added Paul, “for if I had ‘ever seen him before it must be as you Suggest.” ■>, “That's It,” resumed Laroon, starting weross the room. “That’s it,” he repeattad, as he came back. “You may return (sow.” Paul-left the room, and as soon as he twa* gone the pirate captain commenced ito pace the floor. “It may be all accident—his coming tier*. But he will know us—he will jftitPW ns, unless I am mistaken in the ppaa. Bat I will make myself sure. 1 MM do that, at all treats.”

As he spoke thus, his countenance brightened, and soon afterwards’he rejoined liis guest. But there was one other person in that room who watched the countenances of all with - more than ordinary interest, and who surely did so to some effect if the changes of her own face could have been seen. This was Otehewa. She had slipped- into the room unperceived by all save Mary, when the guest's supper had been, brought in: and when lie revealed his business to Mary, she had bt-en so far behind the projection of the jamb of the fireplace that he did not notice her. She had heard all, and she had seen all; but most particularly now did she watch the movements of Marl Laroon, for she read his thoughts in his looks. Only Mary knew the girl, and even she did not know all her wondrous powers of perception and ingeuuity. So Marl Laroou’s secret thoughts were not his own, and even a mystic form that lloated in the stranger guest’s soul was not his' alone. Into his soul the girl had probed with her strange wand, and she read that night a new and holy truth. At length the hour grow late, and the stranger asked for rest. Old Hngar was sent out to conduct him to his room, and in this Otehewa read a warning which others saw not. James Fox arose, and having bid the company good-night, he followed the old woman from the room. It was late for Mary to be up, and she and Otehewa also left. Paul had nothing now to detain him, and he, too, sought his own room. And Marl Laroon was left alone. He gazed about him, and a shudder crept through his frame. "Why did he come?” So spoke the dark man to himself, and then he walked away into the darkness, and back again. Then he stood still and repeated the question. He gazed about him, and lie saw the dint specters floating about in the dim corners of the room. They were men and women whom he had murdered* And he saw another specter —ani he covered his face with his hands. Soon he started up, and his flats were clenched, and with the right one he smote his breast. “Why did he come?” J)nd as the words echoed through the hig\» place an answer seemed to come back; "Vengeance!” And! again the sweat stood cold and heavy upon the dark man's brow. He saw two children —two laughing, prattling, gleesome children —and he remembered that cold, wet, cheerless day when he fled with them to Boston. He remembered the CrosS-Hands Inn, and the night he spent there. He remembered when he went up to his bed that night —how he saw the children asleep—the boy with a stern, sorrowful face, and the girl with • calm, confiding smile. He how that tiny white arm was thrown over the boy’s neck, and how the boy’s hand rested protectingly upon her shoulder. An,d Marl laroon is an old man —old, at least, in crime and trials. Only forty years have passed to his debt in the great life book, but see how laden with accounts those years are! See the lines of silver already in liis hair, and the lines of woe already on his brow. And Marl Laroon thinks of those children now, as they have just left him, and for the moment a softer shade rests upon his dark face. Not once in all these years has that boy done him harm by word or deed—-and not once in all the while has the girl given him cause for complaint, until the past few days. He sees them the only pure things he has about him. and they would flee from him. Why is it so? Too well he knows. But the thought corates to his mind’, and he speaks again to himself: "She shall be mine!” Then he starts away again ; and penetrates the gloom, and when 1 lie turns even the lamp itself has changed to a specter, fog it is gone, and a hideouslooking object has taken its place. He starts back and clasps bis hands in fear, for his mind is not with present things, and he stopsTiot to reason. But soon lie sees the lamp again, and the specter has passed away, but not from sight, for it has only moved from before the light and now stands before the smoldering lira "Who’s there?” he gasps. "Hager,” is the response. And the jiirate is himself again, for now another incarnate demon is with him to combat with the dwellers of the uusetu world. “Whe.re did you put our guest?” asked Marl, approaching the woman. ’Tn the turret chamber.” “And did you nothing more?” “He asked for water. 1 gave it him. He will sleep more soundly than lie would if h* had drank not.” “But not to danger?" “No; only for the night. I doubt if he feels it beyond the rising of the sun.” “Good Hngar, thou art a very jewel. What shall I pay thee? As much as you want. Come to me on my wedding day. No—hold. On the day after.’ 1 “And I shall have gold?” “Plenty.” With this assurance the old black hag went away, and Marl Laroon was once more alone, lie looked at liis watch, and it wanted yet an hour of midnight. Midnight was with Kim a charmed hour, and h*> loved to work at that mystic period between two days.

CHAPTER XX. The turret chamber was so called from being situated below one of the turrets of the building, the other turret being raised upon the center, and consequently over the hall. This chamber was in the southwest corner of the building and overlooked the stream that ran tlirough the yard. In this chamber the stranger guest wds put to sleep. There were two doors leading from it, and these he locked before he-retired. It was midnight, and the man slept soundly. He heard no noise—no sound disturbed him. Upon that side of the room near the lied a secret door was opened. tt was a door which no stranger could ever have discovered, for it was only one broad panel made to swing back. Tliis panel opened, and Marl Laroon entered the room iu his stocking feet. He stood when he first entered, until he heard a low, deep, regular breathing of one in sound sleep, ano then he approached the bed. He moved

to the head of it, and carefully held up a pocket lantern so that its rays should not fsdl upon the face. Then he worked down the coverlid and sheet, working as carefully as a mother would handle her sick infant Then he opened the shirt at ita bosom, and soon the broad, full j breast was exposed, and there was a , deep, heavy scar there, running from ! the upper point of the collar bone to the center breast. A single .instant the pirate looked at the scar, and then he put back the clothing he had removed. -He stopped not ttr examine anything else, but stealthily he glided away from the place, and noiselessly closed the panel j after him. “I knew him at first,” he muttered to himself, after he had gained the hall. | “Why did he come?” j One long hour the captain walked up : nnd down the wide hall, with the lantern ! til his hand. Then lie went out into the court, nnd crossed over to the low building against the wall where the male 1 slaves slept. He entered here and awoke ] a slave named Warda. “Wardn,” whispered Marl, “come with ' me." | The slave threw a blanket over his shoulders, and followed his master out into the court. The rain had ceased failing, nnd the clouds were fast rolling off, but yet the air was chilly, and the pirate captain entered the building he had left; nnd pursued his way to the apartment where he had received liis guest the night before. Marl Laroon did not dream that his movements were all watched. He did not see the dark, slight figure that hung upon his steps like a shadow. When he entered the great drawing room he did not notice that through another door a dim figure floated and lay concealed beneath a wide ottoman. “Warda,” commenced Marl, as soon as the door was closed behind him, “did you see the stranger who came here last night?” “No, master.” “A stranger did come, and he sleeps now in the turret chamber. I think he will leave here to-morrow for the estate of Lopez Garonne. If he does I shall send you to show him the way. Before ho reaches Garonne’s I would like to have him turn off and visit that place from which man never came back. Do you understand me now “I am sure that you want the man killed.” “Exactly. Warda. And I want it done without mistake. Now. mark me; do this faithfully, and you shall have Otehewa for your wife.” The man clasped his hands with a savage joy, but they fell to his side in a moment more, and in a tone of doubt he •aid; "But the young missus won’t let me have her.” “As soon as the young mistress is raj wife tlie maid shall be yours; and that will be very soon. Do this for me, faithfully and surely, without a third person’s knowing it, and Otehewa shall be yours as I live.’” “I’ll kill a thousand enemies for you at that price,” uttered Warda, with sparkling eyes of vengeful joy. Long had Warda loved the bright-eyed maid of the Muyseas, hut she would not yet be his, for she loved him not, and to protect herself from his importunities she had persuaded Mary to forbid him ever again to molest her maid with fyis, propositions of love. Laroon knew all this, nnd though Warda would have obeyed him without such reward, yet he knew that such a course would ensure mon complete success. “What weapon will you take?” asked the pirate. “I’ll carry all three,” answered the Indian. “the sword, the knife and tine pistol; and I'll use what comes handiest. 1 can perhaps put a pistol to his head and finish him quickest. But he shall die before he reaches Lope* Garonne’s. I’ll take him in the ravine beyond the bluffs. Nobody will hear a pistol there, and I can throw the body down among the rocks, and it’ll be eaten up in a few days. “Then it is all understood,” said Marl. “Now remember; when the stranger—■ Mr. Fox—is ready to set out, I shall send you with him as his guide. You know the rest.” • And so the master nnd the slave separated, and the master went now to seek his rest. Otehewa crawled, out from beneath the ottoman, and having assured herself that the pirate’s work for the night was done, she, too, weut away to sleep. (To be continued.)

"Po’ Li’l Ram!”

A ram, famous In a West Virginia village for its propensity to butt, was enraged one morning, says the Philadelphia Press, to discover Uncle Billy, an aged darky, asleep In the pasture. Uncle Billy sat with his head bowed low and his bald spot shining in the sun. The rant eyed it from a distance. Uncle Billy nodded, and the bald spot of liis head bade defiance. Tlhe ram stood up and waved n challenge with its horns. Uncle Billy nodded in acceptance. With a sharp “Ba-a-a-a-a!” the ram charged and launched itself like a catapult at the offending pate. A little later it picked itself tip from the ground aud wandered away to the farthest side of the pasture to ruminate over the collision. Uncle Billy looked lip drowsily. “Ifo’ HT ram!” be murmured. “He don<| wandered Com de fold and foun’ sorrow and tribulation!”

Counting a Hen’s Feathers.

A very •nique feather guessing contest was recently conducted by a prominent company manufacturing feed for poultry. Five hundred dollars in prizes was offered for best estimates or guesses as to the number of feathers on a hen. The first prize was SIOO. Thousands of guesses were received, including some very amusing ones. One party, who was probably looking for some “catch” scheme, estimated "none at all." Many estimates In the hundreds of thousands were received, several In the millions, the highest estimate being 000,000,017. The correct number was found to be 8,120. The company says: “iVe 1 feel a pardonable pride In having contributed to poultry science an Item of information actually new." —St. Nicholas.

It Is getting the kite on a string that makes it soar-

NEW YORK’S SUBWAY.

GREATEST ENGINEERING WORK IN AMERICA. | J Twenty-one Miles of Finely-Lighted t . Attractive Tunnel Under the Buai- | eat Part of the Metropolis -Wktt It I üblic. I ■ The greatest engineering work of this generation—perhaps of all time—has been completed and before long the New | Yoyk subway will be open. Oars will f soon be rushing underground from one i end of. New York to the other and ev- | ery morning the earth will virtually swali low up a large pa ft of the population lof the new world’s metropolis. It will relieve the overcrowded surface and elei vnted cars, although it will not wholly j obviate the present congestion of traffic. ■ It will be possible to speed from the -Bat- ■ tery to Harlem in half an hour, ou board ; an electric express run by the third rail system.’ The tunnel is 21 miles long. It will soon be connected with others now in process of building, until the

CITY HALL SUBWAY STATION.

whole' city is honeycombed with subterranean passages. The subway lias been building since March, 1900. Two years ago the city was torn up from end to end. A spectator, looking up Fourth avenue from Union Square, saw before him a deep trench extending tip the street, peopled with hundreds of busy workmen. Intermittent blasts shook the air. Conveyors sailed along on overhead cables with loads of rock. Contractors’ wagons jolted here and there. The rapping of pneumatic hammers sounded with insistent shrillness. To-day, from the same viewpoint, he sees a long stretch of clean, asphalted pavement, and nothing whatever visible to show that a wonderful engineering feat has been accomplished. So in other parts of the city. Down one of the side streets lie-may observe inconspicuous hooded entrances rising from the sidewalk, which tell where the subway stations are located. Entering one of these a short flight of steps leads down hi the. cool, broad platform of the station, the walls of which are finished in glazed white tiles, with borders and decorations iu colors. Countless steel pillars march away in the dim light of electric bulbs, set at intervals in such a position between the pillars that they cannot blind the eyes of the rfiotormen who run the subway cars. The effect is like -that in the snow sheds of- the Sierras, when the sun projects pencils of light through the crannies of the boards. One looks down a long, rectangular box, with transverse beams from invisible lights illuminating the tracks far ahead. In the foreground one sees a maze of pillars; in the distance, the perspective merges rthe pillars into • walls. The air is dry and sweet. The cost to New York for the building of a subway will be about .$40,000,(XX). The contract was let to John B. McDonald and is the largest contract ever let to a ?€iigle individual. Mr. McDonald is the chief figure in the company which will operate the transit system under a 50-year franchise.* The company will spend $18,000,000 in equipping the road and will pay the city so that in 50 years the $40,000,000 which the city spends for the construction will have

APPROACH TO A SUBWAY STATION.

been returned and the subway reverts to the city wlfile the equipment must be sold to the city at a fair price. The subway starts at the City Ilali and runs north through or near Fourth avenue to Forty-sebond street, where it crosses to Broadway and runs north to One Hundred and Second street. Here it diverges, one part running to the Bronx Park on the northeastern edge of the city; the other to Harlem ship canal at Kingsbrhlgo. The tunnel lias been built through a very maze of pipes and sewers, through underground springs and quicksands, through rocky hills and over deep-cut dales, and even under a river.

Four Filipino students, sent to this country to be educated at the expense of their government, have entered the Indiana University at Bloomington for a full three years’ course iu law. Prof. Koch of Heidelberg is the only Instructor of any University in Germany who lectures on journalishi. He has for several years lectured there on this subject. Alexander Moffert, champion amateur swimmer of New York, has been chosen director of the new st>oo,ooo gymnasium of the Missouri Athletic Club of St. Louis. Dr. Ralph Arnold, assistant in geologist Stanford University, has been appointed assistant to Dr. Dali of the United States geological survey.

j LA FOLLETTE 18 VICTOR Supreme Court of Wisconsin Decides for Governor in Contest. By a vote of 3 to 1 the Supreme Court ' of Wisconsin has decided that the La Follette State ticket was the regular Republican ticket, and that the nominees of the La Follette convention should bo placed on the election ticket as regular Republicans. By this decision the entire machinery.- of the Republicans in the State for the present campaign is placed In the hands of the La’ Follette faction. The struggle between the follower* of Gov. Robert M, La Follette, who are i known as the “half-breeds,” and 'the “stalwarts,” who are beaded by Senator! Spooner and Quarles, originated sonio time prior to the holding of the State convention on May 18, 1904, when the open rupture between the two faction* occurred. The State central committee, which issued the call for the convention, was composed of a chairman and twentytwo members, sixteen of whom were adherents of Gov. La Follette. The State central committee in its call for the convention announced that it would act as a committee on credentials and determine what delegates were entitled to seats In the convention hall. The stalwarts assert that the State central committee, acting as a committee on credentials, excluded from the convention many properly accredited delegates who were antagonistic to La Follette and substituted men favorable to him. The La Follette followers and the majority of the State central committee declare this assertion of the stalwarts to be untrue, and say that no properly accredited delegate was denied a seat and that the delegates Who were finally admitted to participate in the convention were the only men from the contested districts entitled to the privilege. When the State convention met the stalwarts withdrew in a body and held a convention of their _nwn, nominating Samuel A. Cook. Both conventions named the same presidential electors. At the national convention in Chicago the stalwart delegates were seated. Then the stalwarts asked the Supreme Court to enjoin Secretary of State Houser from certifying the candidates named by the half-breed convention and placing their names on the Republican ticket. On this iPsue the decision was rendered.

LABOR NOTES

The entire coal mining population of the world —'that is, the miners—numbers about 2,069,500. The death rate among miners from lung diseases is much higher than in any other occupation. Cotton weavers' in Japan are said to be paid 7d for an 11-hour day. Glass makers earn 4d for a 10-hour day. The report of the secretary-treasurer of the Switchmen’s Union of America shows that more than $300,000 has been paid out to members within the last three years. New York building operatives have decided that deceased members of the unions Shall be buried only In coffins made by union hands and bearing the union label. There is now a movement on foot in Montreal as well as throughout the Dominion, to create a body with similar objects to the Civic Federation of the United States. It is reported that there is a movement in Australia for a six-hour day, at the same wages as now paid for eight hours. This is said to be a remedy for the unemployed difficulty. The United States Steel Corporation has planned to compensate it* employes for suggestions that will increase the consumption or reduce the cost of manufacturing its products. A student of the population of the anthracite region of Pennsylvania reports that there are 030,000 people inhabiting that region, of which 430,000 are foreign born. Of this latter number over 50,000 cannot read or write. Trade unions in the United States are strongest in the manufacturing and mechanical pursuits. In these pursuits there are engaged 7,112,989. But the total of trades union membership amounts to only 35 per cent of this number. Preliminary stepsUlboking to the establishment of a free State employment bureau have been taken at Minneapolis, Minn. A measure providing a bureau will be drafted shortly, for presentation to the Legislature at its next session. On the growth of the Brotherhood of Locxunotive Firemen the last year the following figures are given: Membership, July 1, 19U3, 48,508; July 1, 1904, 54,434—a net increase of 5,800 tne last fiscal year. Fifteen new lodges were organized in the last six months. In the case of its-20,000 employes and the Republic Iron and Steel Company, at Ashtabula, Ohio, the board of arbitration, appointed to adjust the wage dispute, hns decided upon a decrease ranging from 2 to 13 per cent. The skilled men will suffer tne most. The New Zealand Labor Court has fixed for shoemakers a minimum of 22V& cents au hour, forty-five hours to be a week’s work, overtime over forty-seven hours to be paid time aqd a quarter. Preference of employment to unionists, and the percentage of boys employed to be one to four men. Secretary Morrison of the American Federation of Labor reports that of 1,032 unions making returns to headquarters to Aug. 1, having a membership of 85,450, the unemployed were 1.6 per cent. I# the preceding month 1,891 organizations with a total membership of 80,822, reported 5.1 per cent of the membership without employment. A new organization of mates, with nearly 400 members, is being perfected at Cleveland, Ohio, the movement having started nt Buffalo. It will take the place of the defunct Masters and Pilots’ Association. No captains will be included In the new organization. William Abraham, member of the British Parliament for tha Rhoddua Valley division of Glamorganshire, and J. WJgnall, two prominent British labor lenders, have been elected by the Trades Union Congress recently In session in taeds to represent the congress at the coming labor conference in this country.

WASHINGTON GOSSIP

When Congress meets in December It will renew its consideration of a bill which provides that California return the Yosemite Valley to the United States government, so that It may be Incorporated in the surrounding national park. The most Potable national park is the Yellowstone, which was set apart by act of Congress in 1872; less widely known are two parks in southern California, the General Grant and the Sequoia, and the Mount Rainier Park in the State of Washington. There are also many forest reservp.tious in which, for esthetic or economic reasons, the trees are protected from the ax of the woodman. Several beautiful regions, still under private oNvnership, have been proposed as worthy of government reservation, notably certain great groves of redwood in California, the Mount Washington range In the White Mountains of Nfew Hampshire, and a splendid section of the Appalachian Mountains. It is fitting that nature’s greatest aud most beautiful gifts should belong to the people as a whole, and the proposition to add the Yosemite Valley to the Yosemite National Park is in line with the general movement for national control of the great tracts of mountain, valley and forest. Desertions In the navy are Increasing to such an extent as to give the naval authorities the gravest concern. No one is able to understand why there should be such illegal withdrawals of the men from the service. It Is all the more surprising when it is considered that the payment and privileges of the enlisted men have bees made as attractive as possible, and all 'for the purpose of creating content ment among the bluejackets. One reason given is that the punishment o( tlie culprits who are apprehended is altogether inadequate and amounts to an easier existence than that of those who do their duty. The situation is so menacing that the authorities are‘devising some means of keeping the enlisted force up to its required strength.

The government crop report for September was encouraging for all Important crops except spring wheat. A shrinkage of 21.3 per cent in the average condition of that cereal during August was reported. This represents an estimated loss of 07,000,000 bushels, and brings the total for winter and spring growths down to 539,000,009 bushels, which is about 100,000,000 bushels less than last year's yield. Corn, on the other hand, although its condition fell off slightly in August, promises a harvest oil 2.458,72.8,900 bushels, which is u 250.000.00') bushels more than last year'- - ‘large crop. There is promise of an abundance of oats and minor cereals, and of hay, potato and other food and feeding crops. Colorado has an official snow inspector, the only officer of the kind In the country. His duty is to inspect the snow' in the Rocky Mountains, and report its condition to the State Department of Irrigation. From his reports the officers of the department estimate the amount es water that w r ill be available for irrigation purposes each year, as the streams are fed by the melting snow's. The inspector is a trained mountaineer who spend five or six months at his work every year, going over trails known to no other white man, and feeding on raisins when no other food is available. The enlisted force of the navy Is coming more and more largely from the great body of native-born American citizens. Last year the proportion of natives had risen to more than 90 per cent. In 18,80 it was about 50 per cent. It is thought that the current fiscal year will see an advance to 93 per cent. The Army and Navy Journal notes the suggestive fact that most of the naval recruits nowadays come from the Inland States, a naval officer mentioning with special commendation the recruits obtained from the farms of ludluna, Illinois, lowa and Kansas. Chief Engineer Wallace has been making estimates of the cost of the Panama canal work he hns with the result that he feels safe th asserting that the cost of.tlie canal can be reduced greatly belo’w the French figures through the employment of modern high-grade American machinery as a substitute for manual labor. Chicago lithographers are angry nt the lnck of orders for pictures of the candidates. Both parties are to blame. In recent Presidential campaigns Sl.GUO,OOO was expended with the ernft In that city alone. Tills year the Republicans have spent loss than SI,OOO aud the Democrats practically nothing. • -<-> S S. Wnen the mint at Philadelphia was cleaned during the past summer the sweepings “boiled down" to two neat chunks of gold and silver. The floors had secreted nearly fifty thousand dollars’ worth of dust, and the chimneys of the nineteen furnaces had stolen more than $20,000. Many people ».>iv'e picked up money that they have dropped on the floor, but very few recover what has “gon« up la ■moke.”