Bloomington Courier, Volume 9, Number 49, Bloomington, Monroe County, 6 October 1883 — Page 3

We nust not be surprised to hear of a paper furniture factory starting into existence before long. Paper can now be made of strong fibres and pressed into a substance sc lard that only a diamond can sciatch it. A foreign journal says that wood ill be s npersedt d fry paper. No more popular delusion exists than in regard to Queen Yictorias surname. People generally believe-it to be Guelpb. There are some, however, who krow that in marrying Prince Albert of CobnrgGotha, the sovereign took the surnameof her husband, Welti, srbieh has for upward of 450 years been fbe family cognomen of the house of Saxony.

Not far from Boston the Mormons have established a church, and they have succeeded in making a good many proslytes there, both men and women. Indeed, the faith and practice of the Latter Day. Saints seem to be very popular in that region for their church, we are told, is the enly one in the village of Plain ville, is large, has been well filled, and has a constantly increasing membership.

Wb have been supplying Prance with an immense amount of vines. When the phylloxera has taken bold of a vineyard, the Frenchman finds it best to destroy all the old fctaUr, anrT to plant American stalks. The plants are sold in France at about 85 a hundred, and it takes some 3,000 plants to cover an acre. As soon as the new root is well established the American cane 6 are grafted on French varieties. .

The clergymen of St. Louis have formally declared the Downing High Licence law operative in that city, despite Judge Noonan's decision,and have called upon Gov. Crittenden to eonvi uean extra session of the Missouri Legislature. The Falcons in St. Louis have been reopened on Sunday since Judge Noonan's decision ; but the clergy ... will insist that the Legislature shall make the law specially applicable to that city.

Ah Jjvsa abandoned the laundry business in Portland,Uregcn,and began farming. He came back to town one day, looking far from prosperous, and when he was asked how he liked agricultural life, he replied: "Not muchee good. I sow wheat and bird he come catchee some. Byrxeby wheat glow up, and plenty squill el come catchee heap mo Then leapin machine come cut' him, and thlashee man come and takee alle wheat pay um. I no iikee fa'm no mo'."

Thbbs are in St. Louis dozens of ladies the wives or daughters of wealthy citizens, v ho are addicted to kleptomania. Every prominent dry goods store has several such customers, tind,when known, they are followed from the time they enter the ttore until thev leave it, and by careful watching every little article they abstract i noted down and included in their bills, which are always paid without demur.

The each-growing centre is gradually moving south. A few years ago there were great orchards in New Jersey. Then Delaware was the chief producer. Now Maryland and Virginia are coming to the front. The largest peach farms are in Marvland. The Bound Top farm has 125,000 peach trees. On the estate of CoL Watkins there are 120,000 trees. A peach tree's usefulness is over after ten or twelve year's of life, and the soil in which it grows is then unfit for peach culture..

Thebe is a remarkable lapse of religious faith m New England, an , what is more, the standards of domestic morality have been lowered there of late years. Even in tittle mountain villages of Maesaehuseits, people have got accustomed to breaches of domestic morality, and have grown dangerously tolerant iifthem. The obligations of marriage are less binding than formerly. Divorces and remarriages of the divcroed are common occurrences. What the Bev. Dr. Bacon calls practical polygamy, the consequence of frequent divorces, is very prevalent in New England, and excites little remark in the neighborhoods where it goes on.

Thb farmers of Hartford county Maryland, have $1,000,000 invested in canning factories,' and are building more. A correspondent of the Philadelphia Press describes the process of canning tomatoes: "After being scalded, they are d posited on long tables surrounded by women, called peelers.' Xhe peelc tomatoes fall through a spout, and the operator presses his foot on a treadle. Instantly there, is a spirt, and seeds, juice and pieces of tomato fly out; the can is fall; the packer has done its work. Small tin caps that fit in the groove are pui on the can's mouth, and a brush dipped in a weak sohxtior muriBte of zinc is passed around the groove. The capper presses a hot revolving capping iron upon a small piece of softer, and the cap iB firmly fastened. The can is then submitted to heat, which expete all air from it through a minute hole in the center of the cap,and then the

.hoie is stopped with a drop of solder. '

CosrcEBNrNG the divining rod, the Ctevc&and Leader publishes the testimony of several skeptics converted and the following from Mr. Charles Latimer of that ci ty : "The divining rod is only another exemplification of a power not yet recognized. With a piece of witch, hazel 1 discovered the Witch Hazel Coal Mines. Mold the number of feet a shaft would have to be sunk t reach the coal, and even $ ave the thickness of the vein, 1 got $5,000 for locating the Witch Hazel Mines, and am also paid 12 cents a ton x fcr every ton of coal taken out of them' John K. Whitelaw, Superintendent of the Cleveland Water Works, says: "At Geauga Lake Mr. Latimer showed the P power of the divining rod. After he had ut one I asked him to go over a little fctreaai that we saw running from the bank. We knew that the water was there and we wanted to see" whether the rod

would work over it. It was surprising.

He-held the prongs so firmly m his hand that the green bark twisted off in his palms."

itE numerous foreigners now visiting this country express the greatest astonishment at seeing so many handsome society ladies at public eating places. In Europe it is only the foreign l&dy touts jet, the fact woman, and, on Sunday, ihe little bourgeoise who are to be seen in public restaurants. The native grand dame of any European country could no

mere be seen in such a place than she

couidbe seen walking on the street arm io txm with any man who is not a memf r of her family, bome of them might for : lark organize once in a ' great while

an escapade dinner-paity in the private dining room of a fashionable resort of that kind. But there is no exaggeration in saying that there are in En gland, France, Spain, Italy, and even Russia many and many a lady of mature age who has never been inside a restaurant of her own country, though she may have visited restaurants when traveling abroad. These foreign observers, however, agree that nowhere are places of this kind so spacious and so strict in their management as here. They say that the boarding house, the hotel, and the restaurant are the cradles of American ladies. But they confess, too, that the- fact of their permanent presence of ladies has made these places infinitely purer than they are abroad. A msTTEB recently written by an exiled Russian unfolds a horrible state of affairs among Siberian prisoners. As an illustration, it is sufficient to cite the case of a young man who had made a remark reflecting on the czar. He was arrested, sent to Siberia and locked up in a small room of a prison. Once he committed an insignificant offence against the rules. Then the officer in charge Submitted the prisoner to such a punishment as the civilized world has not heard of since the times of the Inquisition,' ' The officer ordered a box to be brought into the room of the prisoner "just as high and wide as the prisoner himself." On the inside of the box there were fixed on every point strong, large iron naila He remained in the box two days. Finally he could not bear any longer this torture, and Baid to he guard he wanted to see the officer. The latter came. "Do you wish," said the prisoner, "to kill me? I cannot bear any longer this torture. I swear to you that if you will not release me instantly from this box I will kill you." Only then the official released him. But no sooner had the prisoner left the box than he fell and fainted on the floir. Other kinds of torture were applied to piisoners. For instance, this wrrer says, they put upon a prisoner iron fetters of 120pounds weight, and kept him thus during some days. Only a man of great physical power can with these fetters on his feet, rise or at all change the position of his body. A well known revolutionist, Naitshaeff, sentenced in 1871 to twenty years' imprisonment at hard labor, is kept in one of the Siberian fortresses chained to, the wall and fettered with irons of 120 pounds weight. Humanity shudders at such brutal practices. If these men were desperate bandits, or had blood on their hands, there might be at least a shadow of an excuse for tortur ng them. But they are simply to be classed with the half a million subjects of the Czr now in Siberia who are indefinitely charged with political offenses." This Russian inquisition is a monstrous atrocity.

A HUMAN CANNON BALL. Watts' Ingenious Scheme to Prevent Being Fired Out of a Morter.

"It was just befoie the battle of Shiloh," said CoL "Watts to a reporter of the Louisville (Ky.) Commercial, "when I was engaged carrying dispatches from our division to another located about one hundred miles south of us. Every precaution had been taken to head off every communication ari d the greatest care had to be exercised in keeping dispatches and the like secreted, so that in case of the carrier being captured nothing of telltale nature could be found upon him. When I entered the sejutmg service I had four of my front teeth knocked out and hai them replaced by false ones. These were hollowed out behind and. admitted of a ffood-sizesf message being secreted therein. ........ "On the trip that I started out to tell about, I had my dispatch secreted as usual, and was riding along very peacefully in the disguise of a farmer going to the mill, when I was suddenly surprised bytheenemyl I pretended to be very much enraged at them making me their prisoner,-bub there -wa. getting outoC it, f or they had kinder dropped on me. They proceeded to bearch me and c mpelled me to take off every stitch of clothing. These they ripped up into ribbons,

but of course they found nothing, and I was beginning to feel safe, when, standing before them, perfectly nude, one of the fellows stepped up to me, and slapping me on the back, said: "Ain't he fat? He d make good beef." "This slap' was so vigorous that out popped my false teeth. That settled it.

The jig was up,andl began contemplating my fate. Seventeen men jumped for those false teeth afc the aami time, and it didn't take long for them to find the dispatch,

which read: ''Send- U3 30,0QD men at

once .

"So you were on your way for reinforcements were you?5 said a big, rednosed captain sneeringly. 'Well, we'll jusi help you along on your journey. Bring up that mortar.' " 'Great beavensf thought I, 'they certainly don't intend to blow me to pieces.1 The mortar was brought up and planted and t ointed in the direction in which I had been traveling. 'Double, charge her and stick this fellow in head first,' said the captain. They double charged her and then put me in head' first. Vivid recollections of everything mean that I had done in my life flitted across my mind and, boys, I actually prayed. But while I prayed I felt them ramming the charge home, and I concluded that my prayers were of no avail, "I smelled the powder right in front of me, and a happy thought Btruck me. Something told me to eat the powder,and I began on it At every jam of the ramrod I swallowed an extra-sized mouthful, and when the ramming ueased I could eee daylight through the touch- hole. A fuse was inserted and touched off, and no doubt the fiends retreated to a safe distance to wach my flight into Alabama I heard the fuse sizzling as the fire drew near to me, but I felt safe, for fca grain of powder had I left lying arc : d loose. The fuse went out with a sudden spurt, audi felt that my life had been saved. The would-be murdereas couldn't understand why the gun m issed fi re, and they began drawing the charge to see what ailed her. Just about the time they got me out a lot of oar cavalry charged upon them an-? I was saved; but, boys, I can taste that saltpeter and sulphur to ' thia day. Chicago Wants Everything. A St. Lome priest. 'How about priests in Chicago?" "They are a fine-looking body of men, but when they die their last prayer is that the general judgment may be held in their exposition building."

THE THREE CENT STAMP.

Good-by, old stamp, if,s nasty luck That onda out friendship so. When others Cnilf d, yon gamely struck, But now you've got to. go. So hors n flood of honest tears, And hero's an honest; sigh Good-by, old friend of many years Good-b-, old stamp, good-by! Your life has been a .varied one, With curious phases fraught Sometimes a check, sometimes a dun, Your daily com in g brought: Smiles to a waiting lover's face, Tears to a mother's eye. Or joy or pain to every plnce--Good-by, old stamp, good-by! Yon bravely toiled and better men Will vouoh for what I Bay: Although you have been lickoi, 'twas when Your face turned t'other way. Twos often in a box you got (As you will not deny) ; For going through thw mails I wot Good-by, old stamp, good-by! Ah in your last expiring breath! The tale of years is heard The sound of voices hushed in death, A mother's dying word, A maiden's answer, soft and sweet, A wife's regretful sigh, The patter of a baby's feet Good-by, old stamp, good-by! What wonder, then, that at thia time When you nwd I roust part, I should aspire to speak in ryhme The promptings of my heart. Go bide with all those mom'ries dear That live when others die You've nobly served your purpose here Good-by, old stamp, good by!

SAVED AS BY FIRE.

BY MAJOR HAMILTON.

The oil excitement of 1882, building a fewjfortunes but destroying twice the number, and wrecking mnny a fair name rind fame, was the cause as well of some strange and desperate crimes in the north eastern district of Pennsylvania, one of which occurred as follows: I was at the time spoken of as the manager of three wells in the vicinity of , a well known oil district, heeides having a personal and nrivate interest ina '-wil cleat" well, distant some seven miles, among the ridges of the hills, from which my partner and myself weTe hoping great, things. Ofcourea our well was watched, bnt as we had not yet "struck14 we did not seek to avoid spies. One Friday night, however, matters cbRii ged. Tom Dill worth, ray partner, sent me word that we were in oiI,thatte well was flowing, and desired my immediate presence, both to aid him in earing for the oil, and also to drive away the outside men who sough to learn the strength of our find. I As you may know, almost all the yielding wells, whether flowing or pumped, are controlled by great corporations, end any new independent, or so-called "wildat" well, is at once bought by these corporations if they can ascertain its yield, and for this purpose spies are continually on the watch around such new adventures, much, however, against the will of the owners, who would nrefer to sell "unseen," as schoolboys trade k,nives. . Natnrally, no love is lost be'tween these men. Quickly arranging my matters at the other wells, I mounted ray bor.e and galloped into the mountains. At dark T was with Dill worth. "Sixty barrel, major!" he cried to m. as we gazed at he bubbling, muddy oil. "Sixty barrels if shes a pint, and Get out o here!" He turned quickly, and sprang toward his gun stant ing in the corner. . As he did so a shadow flitted past the window, and disappeared within the gathering shadows of the nefcr woods. "A cursed spy !" muttered Tom. "They are as thick as hair on a dog. I shall huTt some of 'em yet!" "Never mind themTom'said I. "What if they do learn about our well? Wen ed not sell if we do not choose to. Let us avoid a row with ...the rascals, for they might tap the tank," "Aye, that they wou-d in a moment," replied my partner, "if they dared. But I guard it too well. Any man found on these premises after dark who does not belong here, runs the chance of a charge

of number fours in his hide. Curse em, this is my land, and they must stay away." During the evening we an anged matters with relation to the new well to our entire satisfaction, and as my time was not my own, I proposed to ride down the valley again early the next morning, but Tom insisted on my remaining until after dinner. Just before noon I took a strol. into the woods ab jut our well without -any definite purpose, and was returning, when I suddenly spied a man npon his hands and knees, slowly crawling toward our pump housa He was partly concealed by the brush and secend growth, but I knew him as a spy at once, and determining to give him at least a scaz e that should keep him away, I crept hastily towarc him, made a quick spring, and threw myself bodily upon him. Although I had taken the fellow unawares, I found myself at a sudden disadadvaatage. The man was much stronger than T, and as I threw myself upon Mm I slipped and partly fell, and and an instant later I was upon my back on the ground, a close grip at my throat, and an ugly face peering into mine. " Who are you, you fool? Do you seek a slit in your throat,that you throw yourself at my knife? Speak low," he continued, touching my bare nceir with the point of d villainous looking knife heheld in his hand. "Who are you?" Without a moment's thought, I replied:1 "I am one of the owners of this well. Let me up, anil 3lear off from my land." A fierce light flame X into his eyes. "Cur?e you! ! I won't let you up until r e given you jsuch a pounding you'll remember it as long as you live! Your pard has shot at me twice; now I'll send him a mesp&ge in your face. Jf you yell,' he continued, speaking lower, "I'll drive my kuife to you? heart." I was not frightened at the threatened flogging, for I could run my chance of that; but this man was a desperado, and armed, and if he became too angry, he doubtless would not hesitate to kill me. I sought to cool him off a little. "Holda bit!'' imidl. -Don't beat me for another main' s wn rgs. Let mo go, and I'll say no more about your trespassing; or, if you want to tight, let me up and throw away your knife, and I'll fight you." "No, you'll not fight me, nor I won't let you up," hissed the brue, sinking his fingers in my throat and tucking his

knife back in his bosom. "I'll frive you a good beating and lot you go. He had raised his heavy hand to carry out this programme when something tlashed past my eyes, I heard a sounding blow, and the next moment Tom was by my sides while the spy lay near at hand, stunned and bleeding. "He had you there, major," laughed my partner. "I just saw you in time to save your phiz. I threw the hammer I had, and made a lucky hit, T wouldn't have cared much," he added, examining the fellow, "if it had killed him." Two of the men about the well were ordered to drag the spy, who at length regained consciousness, out to the highway, a quarter of a mile away, and after dinner and a concluding smoke my norse was brought up for my ride homeward. Tom suggested that he ride with mo part way. "Do," said I, "and we'll run over to Oilville and see about that new drill. T.u can get back here by darlr, and we'll be together to the turn, aud talk matters up well." This we di3, riding together to the little town, then back to the turn or cross roads where we must separate. It was about dusk: when we reached that spot, and, as we sat talking a sudden shout arose from the roadside on either hand, half a dozeo figures appeared in the gloaming rushing toward us,two or three pistols Tang out, and the hum and whiz of bullets sang in onr ears, mingled with coarse oaths awd cries of "Down with 'em! Down with 'em!" "The spies!" cried Tom. "Follow me." He turned his norse toward the open country, striking one fool who grasped at his reins to the earth; where he lay to be trodden u pon by my mare as she flew aft r Tom's bay, well frightened by the cries, and even more so by the pistol shots behind her. For a few momenta we rode in silence, the Tom slackened his speed and I drew alongside. "I caught one of their balls in my arm,' said he. "Did you get any?" "No," I replied. "Are you much hnrt?" 'Only a fle9h wpund, wine I can bind with my handkerchief. But we must hurry. Those fellows have horses in the brush and wilt be after us. You see,they must either kill us now, or leave the oountiy, so it behooves us to keep out of their way. Hist! I near them now!" The ratcle of hoofs was distiuct upon the night air. We turned and fled. It was seven niile3 across the country to the nearest town of any size, and in that direction we rode. There were too many of the others to fight, and we could only run. As we pressed onward, now through brush and woods, ttgain across the open, the heavens above us grew dark and threatening, and before half the distance had been made, ram began to fall. "Bah!" said I; "tlm is worse still." "Yes," replied my eompauion; "and )f it proves to be a thunder storm, the very worsi), for we are among the tr'.oks now, just :in a little valley that I don't like." "Let us hurry," said I,"for it is a thunder storm." I had. hardly spoken, when a most vivid flgane lit all the air, followed by the crash oC the thunder. But after that came a wild, exultant cry ,ringing through the pouring rain from behind us. The pursuers had noted us in the single g'eam of the lightning, and were now fast following. But even that danger had fled from our minds in the presence of the gi eater one. The storm was now in its full fury, and the fiery path of the lightuing lit the heavens almost constantly, followed by the heavy crackling roar of the thunder; ai d we yet among the ul t- nks great iron tanks, a half-dozen or more along the line of the little valley, any one of which, if struck by lightning, would fill the lowland with blazing oil ! "Faster! Faster!" cried Tom, urging his terrifie.i horse forward at breakneck speed. "We must reach the ridge!" "I'm after you," replied T, pressing my knees against my mare. "If we can only-" 1 wai interrupted by a resounding crash of thunder, which roared even as the lightning flamed close beside us, ai d ere either could speak, a second dull roar answered that of heaven's artillery, aud a broad glare shot upward on our right, illuminating all the country rond. A tank had been struck and burst. "Great heavens, look!" cried my companion, turning in his saddle. My gaze followed his. The sight be fore us was terrific Not a qu after of a mile away, in the lowest line of the valley an oil tauk was burning fiercely, andfrom it ran abroad, flaming river, tending toward tht other tanks below. The heavens wc re lit with a lurid gleam that almost hid the blaze of the lightning and fche roar of the rushing, burning oil sounded a deex undertone to the rattling thunder. "Jt'ster-ibler T cried. "But, thank God, we are safe. This is higher ground than that where the tanks are." "Yes!" hoarscilY whisper m Tom, "we are safe; but look! Yonder are the men who chased us. They are denied!" My eon rado snoke true,and now I saw the i oor wretches from whom we had tied. They wore now fleeing wildly before a more terrible, more relentless ene my. Wildly they rode and well,but faster swept the seething tide of fire behind them, until suddenly I saw it swirl about; them all. Their horses struggled madly a moment, then sank beneath the flames and were gone. We were alone, and saved as by fire! Convicted by a Bale of Cotton. A Washington correspondent says a truthful young Pennsy Iranian told the following a a fact: "I went to Texas a few yearB age; for my health,and it suited aie so well that I stayed there a year or two. Most of the time I was cotton clerk at a station where a great deal of cotton was shipped. It is a cotton clerk's business to keep a complete record of every bale of cotton that leaves his station. Each bale you know is f o marked when it is put up tbat it can nl waj's be identified, so that it can be traced back through record after record, by its marks, from the mill in England iu which it is opened to Liverp'ol, to New Orleans, to Galveston, to the railroad station where it was first shipped, to the. cotton-gin where it was first picked, and finally to the fluid where it was grown. The system is per feet. I remember when I was there they traced back in this way a bale of Texas cotton which, when opened in England, was found to contain the body of a boy He had mysteriously disappeared from

the farm where the bale was pressed about cotton-picking time. A man who worked there with him, and had a grudge against him, gave out that the boy had told him that he proposed to run away and return to his friends in the north, and it was assumed that there was where he had goi.e Instead, he was on i is way to Europe. That bate of cotton convicted that man, and he was hanged for the murder." THE DEACON'S GRAB-BAG.

The Bad Boy Again Carries Consternation into the Church.

Peck's 8nn. "What a out that fuss at the social at the Deacon's night before last?" asked the groceryman. "I heard the whole, church was mad at each other over a grab bag, and the Presiding Elder had all he could do to quiet things down." "That don't amount to much," replied the boy. "There's always something turns up when the sociable season first starts in. Yoa see, ma was appointed a committee to fix up a grab bag, and had it all loaded, with the top fastened with a puckering string aud hung on the back of a chair. Ma was up stairs getting her Sunday clothes on, to go to the sociable, so it didn't take me and my chum long to empty the bag and get first choice. Then I got our mouse-trap and took it to the barn, and caught two nice big fat mice, and put 'em in a collar box with hnles cut in it, to give 'em air, and dropped that in the bag. Then my chum remembered a big snapping turtle be had in the swill barrel, and me and him got that and wiped it as dry as we could and tied it all up but its head, and put that in just as the deaon's 'hired man came to take the bag over to the sochhle. Me and my ohum went down to his house aud waited till the people got over to the sociable, and then we went over and got up in a tree, where we could see through the open window and hear all that was going on. Pa, he stood over by the bag and shouted: "Ten cents a grab; don't let anybody be backward in a good cause." Three or four had put up their ten cents and made a grab when an old maid from Oshkosh, who has been to the springs for the hysterics, got in her work on the collar-box. When she got the cover off, one of the mice that knew his business jumped on her shoulder and crawled down her neck, and the other dropped down on the floor and started around to meet the other one. Youd a dide to see her flop and show her stock ings and scream. The deacon's folks thought, it was another attack of hysterics, and pa and the deacon got her on the sofa and held her while they poured paragoric and cayenne pepper down her. When she got loose she screamed all the harder. Then one of the other women seen the mouse and got up in a chair and shook her skirts, and asked the young minister to help her catch the mouse. The poor fellow looked as though he would like to, but he failed. Just then the bottom of the chair broke and let her fall over on ma and tore her brings all down. Ma called her a hatef ai thing,' and told her she ought to be ashamed of herself. Finally they got things in order but no one wanted to tackle the bag, and as here wa6 where the profits come in, po braced up and said he would like to know why everbody acted so'spicious he'd like to see a grab-bag that would give him the hysterics and said, 'women are always gettin scared at nothinY He then put down ten cent- end jammed his baud way down in the bottom of the bag, and he didn't keep it there long. He gave a jump and yanked his hand out, yelling 'thunder!' Then he swung it over his head to shake it off, and brought it down on the deacon's head and smashed his specs. Then he swung it the other way, and struck the woman President ol the Ff:wh g society in the stomach and knocked her down in th deacon's lap. Atter a had hollered himself hoarse and thumped half the people in the room, the turtle let go, and pa said he 'could lick the man that put that steel trap in the grab-bag.' Then pa and ma got mad, aud everybody began to jaw, and they all went home. . There' s been a sort of coldness among the members ever since. Life in 'Frisco. San Francisco Letter. The people of this city, like those of Paris, live largely at restaurants. The number and variety of eating houses is remarkable. They are on every street, and are of ail grades and flnish. The proprieto r of one of the largest told me they were furnishing 4,000 to 4,500 meals per day, and this number will doubtless be largely increased during the next two weeks. I know of no American city where one can live so cheaply so far as eating is concerned as hera Housekeeping is more expensive than in the east, as rents are very high. But restaurant living is reduced to the lowest possible cost. The result is that hundreds of couples, to gether with much of the single element, hire rooms and then take their meals at eating houses. At the "Poodle Dog," a dining room patronized by the xvealthy and those who desire to be numbered among the "tony" ones, it is very easy to run a dinner up to $2 or S3, but at most of the first class restaurants a good diuuer can be had from two to four bits, according to variety of dishes desired. A lady told me that her breakfast usually costs her five cents. No hotel in the country offers ao large a variety of dishes from which to make up a meal as one of these large dining rooni3. In all of them uuch is served at noon, and the dinner hour io at 6 o'clock. Fiom 5 to 7 the immense ferry-boats that ply between Ban Francisco and Oakland or Ahnoda are crowded with people returning to their homes, The loads which they carry at these hours are equal to the crowds that swarm off a Fulton ferryboat on its arrival in Brooklyn, Tne New York boats, however, are not so elegantly finished as the Oakland boats. The latter have a commodious upper deck, which is given no to the nieeiv finished cabin.

rieahhy Business Rivalry. N. Y. Sun. "Rerey'are, now; two packages for ten cents!" yelled a seeding envelope peddler in Grand street. "Here y'are, this way; two packages for five cents!" howled another envelope peddler, almost crowding his fellow merchant off the sidewalk. Women out shopping noted the difference in prices, and soon bought out the two for-fivo-cent man. Then both peddlers drifted around the corner, and the one wo had sold no envelopes divided his stock with the other, remarking, with u chuckle: "It works boss, pard, don't it"

CURRENT HISTORY,

Some Public Matters, of Details which will be Found of More than Ordinary Interest.

THE KNIGHTS OF LABOR. This organization, by far the largest and strongest of any of the so called labor associations of the country, numbering over tifty thousand members, held its convention at Cincinnati recently. It was net a harmonious gathering. The delegates from P ttsburg attempted to commit the organization to the polioy of free trade while those from New York sought an indorsement of their own socialistic views. Neither subject had any place in the convention, and it was an error to have bitrodured either a question of politics or communism into the deliberations. The discussions created a good deal Ji rancor and ill-feeling that can but have an injurious effect upon the organization even if it does not cause its disruption. ANEW IDEA. Interview with a Chinaman. "Will this schema of the Chinese to fouod a manufacturing colony at Victoria have a tendency to draw Chinamen over there?" was asked "Not at all. -In all countries and in all nations capital procures labor as cheaply as it can. 'J.'he coming Chinese artisan and mechanic for British Columbia will be brought from China. They can be had there by the thousands, af the fame of America has spread to the utmost in terior of that vast country. With the coming of these workingmeu will follow their wives and families. Chinese landlords will collect Chinese rents aud Chinese plumbers will, doubtless, in time, charge $36 for a $2 job." "The roots of the Chinese clement have sunk dsop in the business heart of our nation and, in fact, of all North America. The cry will very soon cease to be: 'Shall John boil our shirts or tunnel our mountains for railroads?' J but will become: 'Shall he make our clothes and rent to us the houses that we live in?' That will be the trouble that our grandchildren will have to meei,; "Who are the wealthiest Chinamen in the country ?n was asked. "As a class, they who are running the opium joints, existing in every city and large town in the United States. They all have money and are slowiv and surely combining for the purpose of enterprise." NEWS EKOil THE ARCTIC. Advices from Professor Nordenkejold expedition to Greenland are received via Thuese, Scotland. They state that the expedition started from Antleiksivick on the 4th of September, and reached a distance of 3G0 kilometers inland, attaining the height o)c 7,000 feet above the sea. This is the first time that human beings have penetrated so far into -Greenland. The whole region is an ice desert,proving there is no open water inland. Very valuable scientific data have been obtained. Along the northwest coast a cold stream iiowe, which induces very low temperature, but on the eastern shore the weather is not severe, and that coast is accessible to steamers iu the autumn. The steamer will return by Belkfavik. A part of the exnedition visited the northwest coast between Wargafc tel and Cape York. They were informed by the Eskimos that two members of the American polar expedition had died, and the 'rest returned to Littleton island. Ou September 9 they anchored in a fiord newly visited by the Eskimos where remains of the Norman period were found. This was the first time since the fifteenth century that a vessel has mac ceded in anchoring on the east coast of Greenland south of the polar circle. After having tried vainly to anchor in another fiord, made to the north, they returned, and arrived at Reikjavik, September 9.

Bluegrass Beauties. Kentucky Letter. Nobody can describe them; if he could he would only do so once, and then go off somewhere and die from vain love of hiB own creation. The women here have gorgeous nature to build on and high art to improve it with. When the Bona l)ea out of her bounteousness makes a Bluegrass woman, she takes care never to spoil the job. A soft, white, warm body, translucent with divine light and curving to lines of beauty as naturally as the tendrils of a vine, is the groundwork upon which nature li mns th e hum an angel. Eyes softly bristht, but luminously intense; cheeks like the damask rose, with buttercups of dimpha, in whose puny heart sly Puck or, Oberon might sleep; lips like ox heart cherries at ;. the center, but flexible as a smoke wreath, and fading away into the sof cheek like the heart's blood of a strawberry into luscious cream; a chin fairly fashioned as the golden apple that blushing Paris gave to Venus, who trembled with delight at taking it; the brow of Juno, and the bust of Hebe; the rea nymph's pearly ear, the wood nymph's springy step these are a few of th& charms that nature gives the maiden of the Bluegrass. And the aforesaid maiden is not the least bit ignorant of he-- beauty, either, aud the very simplicity of the highest art is called in to heighten her char n.s, especially about this season of the year. You know there is just one single supreme instant in the ri petting of a peach, when the sun has kissed it into a half swooning ecstacy of lueoiousness; and there is a dreamy lanruorness somehow permeating all the quick sweetness of its full juices; when th e crude sap vitalizes into pungent sugar, and it haugs for the twinkling of an eye ita the very zenith of perfection, mellower than it ever was, daintier thau it ever will be aU the sunbeams that ever kissed it are molten in its juices; all the garnered grapes of autumn are forested in its flavors. And this ia true, too, of a woman, and the Blu Jgrass maiden knows it. Then it is she calls on all of her forces, aud the "sweet inmplicity" of her attire, especially selected for the purpose, suits so well the modest, shrinking, blushing., timidity born of her interesting age. Then it is that washerwomen groan, and white musliu rules in the ascendant, and lace f urbolows and flounces are resplendent in midhoaveu of her horoscope.

Washington's Birthplace. Assistant Secretary Davis, in his report to the President regarding hie trip to Wakefield, Westmoreland county, Va., the birt hplace of George . . Washington, makes recommendations, which, if carried out, will make the spot more ecoessible. At present it is extremely diracnit to reach, Wakefield ia situated at the inner

side of the peninsula formed by Mattox Creek, the Potomac river and Pope's Creek. The latter is not navigable, a bar having been formed o posite the entrance which at high tide is covered with two and one-half feet of water. The entrance is narrow, and the water rushes through sometimes at the rate of fifteen miles an hour. Inside the water is calm and there are several beautiful proje3tions, which rise up abruptly from the water. . It was at one of these points, now called Burnt House, that Washington's house was ascertained to have stood. The place is now a moving field of corn, but it will undoubtedly be beau tihed as soon as the Government assumes charge. All that is left to show that there was once habitation there is an old chimney, which was for a long time considered to be the remains of the birthplane, but which has since prc ved to be the chimney of the overseer's house. The bricks that General Sherman, Mr. Evarts and others carried away as relics came from this chimney. From near the olnmney runs a road down to Bridge Creek Landing, on the Potomac, one and three quarter miles distant. This road, in all about nine acres has been obtained by the Government. This is the most direct way of reaching the old mansion, but there is no steamboat wharf at Bridge Creek Landing, so that all steamboats must touch at Wirt's Wharf, several miles further up the river, From this landing a road runs around to Wakefield, full of many turns and very circuitous, being five and one-half miles in length. Assistant Secretary Davis recommends a steamboat wharf be built out into the water at Bridge Creek Landing, rendering access to Wakefield much easier. The remaining eleven acres of the twenty acres purchased by the Government are located a on' ;the birthplace. . The monument which will be built will be a brick house of the same style and pattern as the one in which Washington was born, f nd will be located, as recently decided by Mr. Davis, about three hundred yards from the old. mansion. Work Jis ordered to begin on it soon u- der the appropria tion given by Congress for that purpose. Dr. Sinclair, of the office of the Chief Oierk of the St: te Department, ia engaged on a voluminous report in relation to Wakefield, which will be submitted to the Secretary of State and be filed in the State archives. It will give the history of the place and the steps that have been taken to secure it. It will also give an account of how Dr. Sinclair discovered the ruins of Washington's real birthplace, overthrowing the theory of the chimney. He has been deeply interested in the work, and his report will be valuable for the amount of material contained regarding a spot of national interest, and yet one of which little is known. Low Liie in Paris. The Volfcure has investigated the condition of low life in Paris, and found that the miseries described by Sue and a host of other sensational novelists exist in real earnest. Dr. Du Mesuii took the reporter through some of the low lodging houses of the Bue Ste. Marguerite. These dens are mostly kept by liquor-dealers of the lowest class, the majority of whom come from the Aveyron or CanaL Some are Piedmontoie. It is superfluous to say that they seek to make as much as they can without regard to the health of their tenant s. They themselves pay rent to landlords Nvho draw high rents f rom tumble-down tenements, which they rarely, if ever, repair. Some people pay 12 dunno night for free lodging and many are not seen in the same houses twice. In another room, the ceiling of which is a slanting roof, and which inths highest part is a little over three feet in height, six beds were arranged in rows. One garni, with thf rty-eight rooms, contains accomodation for ninety persons. The .bouse, 21 Bue Ste. Marguerite, is tenanted by 105 people, all rag-pickers. The rooms are small, dingy, dirty, ill-ventilated, and fallen into ruin. In the low passages, dating from the sixteenth century, circulates a nauseous atmosphere Jarising from the garbage deposited in the yards. A Defender of the Faith. Detroit Free Presa Elder Penstock arose to inquire if any member of the club had heard Bob In? gersoll was to lecture this winter or not. No one seemed to have heard anything about it, and. the reverend member requested that the seaietary be instructed to write to Tngersoli direct and ascertain: "What am de object," queried, the president "I propose di.i dis club take steps to prove dat dar a n a hereafter fur de soul." "You do, eh? If de pnsson who denies sich a theory am a fool, de pusson who sot out to prove what seben-eighths of de world already believes, am nex' doah to an idiot. Sot down and save yer breaf." "But it am my dooty as a Cristi an man to controvert IngersoH' s argyments ! ' "It am your dooty as a Christian man to let Bob Tugeisoll have all de rope he wants. If you has got de proper faith he can't hurt ye. If you belief won't titan an attack deu it a as to ? week to stan' alone. If, arter men and women nave believed in God and hereafter and heaben for 6,U00 y'ars, a lawyer with a snub noise an' a voice like a dog barkin i n a bar'l, kin come along an scare 'am into fits, somebody haa better go to work an' plug up de knot holes an" put new rivets in de joints." Sold Out J Thei e was a weed on his white hat, says the Wall street Nes, and somehow or other the rumor, was out that he was a New York stockbroker. It was at a summer resort up in Maine, and they might have been mistaken as to his identitjy At auy rate he became "soft" on a widow from Indiana, and, taking a seat beside her on the verandah, he said: "Madam, 1 am a widower." x "Certainly, certainly." "And in search of No. 2." "Exactly, exictly." "In short, midam, I lrok upon you as a secure invest ment, and I beg to offer-oner-". .. . "And I beg 1x say that there is none of the stock in the market," she replied, as he hesitated. "Then I am too late!" "You are, I was gobbled up by a Baltimore man yesterday at 127." "My luck, madam, exactly; and the only thing lett is to take that old maid from Michigan, who may possibly lift a point or two above 85 after hr teeth are filled. Madam, good-evening!" Ottawa, lnnj Dr. T, A. Smnrr says: "Brown s Iron Bitters give ontire satisfaction,"

GENERAL MISCELLANY.

Salt Lake City, Utab, is overrim with tramps. Brick masons are getting $6 a day in some paits of the south. ; , , The Florida volcano is showing po, teutons signs of activity. At the Newark, N. Y., nurseries two men budded 9,921 trees in a day. V - Hopes for Bishop Tuigg's restoration to health are strongly entertained. " " Parnell paid off a 13,000 mortgage onv ft ftta Pnmpll testimonial

lJ W""U vv V " fund, ...... '. ... r .. Ten years ago two loving hearts were separated by a little quarrel owing to the miscarriage of an explanatory letter. He went west and4 married; she stayed east

and married, and now both are once more free. He has eight children and the jaun-

-I - f 1 1 4-I-.J-1 (trnTKinC! Yi

UKTO, ttUU HUO OCVCU . ""rr""!, and neither has any idea of marrying again. ;- ...... Probably the fastest train in America . is the afternoon express on the Canada Atlantic railway, which leaves Coteau station at 5:35 and reaches Ottawa, did y' font 7R 4. iW at. 7 '(fa. ImviTic made one

stop of three minutes at Alexandria. Thief is almost exactly fifty miles an hour. The fastest train in the world is probably the -"Plying Dutchman" which runs without. ; stopping from London to Bristol, a distance of 118 miles in just two houjr-af -rate of 59 miles an hour. v Christopher Columbus does net rest in his grave as quietly as William Shaken epeare. Ths ashes of the great discoverer, first buried at Seville, have been moved . about until they finally lie in the cathe dral at Saint Domingo; and now they are to be turned put of their resting placa

and inclosed m a plate glass urn. xns ? urn is to hold the casket containing the' actual ashes in such a manner that ther remains will be plainly visible. About a week ago an itinerant minister? v with mere zeal than learning; preachedto a congregation composed principally ; I of oyster dredgers on the eastern shore of Maryland. During his harangue h6g "' used the expression, "If your right aim s offend thee, pluck it out; if your right eye offend thee, out it off" An old.,, oysterman who occupied a front scat, on hearing the above expression, remarked 4 in a stage whisper that was heard all? . over the church: "Do you thinks we've got eyes like a crab." -. v.,, i: A good story is told of Mr. Kimball,, the present vice-president of the Boefc Island. It happened long ago, when ay looser checs was kept on conductors y than at present. The "old man as every employe called him even then, took -a seat behind two section men in a coach -leaving Davenport for Chicago. ThCs conductor came in and collected tare1 from one of the men, the other having previously paid. Said the latter, to gag his friend: "l ean travel on this road whenever I want to and never pay a cent." ?! "Hw's thnt?" said the other. It's aT" secrey ' said the first. Mr. Kimball pricked up his ears and thought be had a "' good sized "hen on " The Paddy who last paid his fare got off at a way station and Mr. Kimball sUpped into the vacated seat. "Have a smoke?" he said to the remaining irishman. "How do you manage to travel without paying? I do a deal myself, and would like to know. "Would yez loik to know?1' said Pft

looking cunning. Indeed I would, and

I'll oive you S10 if ou will tell me.'

No." "Fifteen." "No." "Twenty-five. "Done," said the section hand, and the cash was forked over. "Be JasusIwBlk!,?t This same Pat is section-foreman on the Rock Island near Davenport, v

A Citizen's Duty. ; y. Robert J. Burdettc. .-Vw, I kne w a man once who told me he had-1 been young and was old. . .. ...r I believed him. If he had told me that he had been old and was young I should' , have called for the paper on the spot. : He said he had voted at evary etectibi , j in our town during the past quarter of a, J century. In all that time be had never known a man to be elected for- whom h'vf voted. It got to be so that his vpl was equivalent to a defeat.; ; - . .... j; Sometimes a candidate would pay hi?n ip to vote for the other man. ; , But his heart always failed him when1 he got to the polls; he had an abiding, faith that his luck was going to turn tha year, he couldn't find it in his heart to vote against his benefactor, ,and so lie would. vote for him and beat hun any-,v where from ten to five thousand votes. - ' Be flopped in politics every few years b-t he never struck it He beat his own side every time, His party, whichever it happened to be, tried to buy him off dr ship him out of the country.H But hewas a true citizen, and he did his duty. He; voted every time, with disastrous effec L Last year at the election far xnmd man there were fiver candidates in his ward, two regulars and three bushwhackers. . " ...i , . . v ' "VL j The man communed with himself. He felt that he couldn't bve forever, and lie was bound to vote for ones iccessM man, before he died, if it killed him. , He went down, and at different times during the day he voted seven times,twiee apiece for each of the t wo regulars, anl once for each of the bushwhackers. - The fraud was discovered, the election in that ward thrown out, and a new one ordered. The man went to jail, and at the new election a new man came in and beat the five men for whom he had previtmsly repeated clear out of their boots. The man told me that as soon as he was out he ws going to run forOongress. and vote for the other man, and so he would either make a spoon or spoil i horn.. ., . -.r- : . While I repudiated his methods, ! admired the man's persistent devotion to the duties of oitizenship. Young ' man, vote every time. We have not yet reachv ad a time when there is nobody to vote for. This country may run a little short on voters -some time but on eandjdatee, " never. ' ' knewHhn WeU , When the stranger remarked that he was from Arkansas one of the passengers, suddenly turned and asked: "Xou are, eh? Maybe you are jbroni

Crittenden county?" . "I am that." ......

Perhaps from JameaVIiauding?' Thatit, exactly. "Then, maybe, you know my brother, William Henry Jones, from Penn Yw' his stater . ,.'F .W---' "Stranger, put it tarr exclaimed the Arkansas traveler, as he extended his hand and smiled all over. "Bust niy but. tons if I didn't hang your brother for cattle stealing jist before I left ftome' -

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