The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

" " _ - - . "-if. , * - -v,;- ;-r- * / v • y - »• <**/'*'< r •W'-* •***•>» ', <•<(«?« ^ % *•' - '•* i 2ftc $Rtifnrg flaindealeJ. i '• -> „.'3f ; J. YAH BLTKE, PuBuran. ̂-. "; McHENRY, - -„ ILLINOIS. •T- / AGBICULTUKAL AND DOMESTIC. The L>lrd at Koaui . Oh, blest in be, from business free, Llk© the merry men of old, Who tills his land with his own stout mgL %j And knowB not the lust of gold. . ' i No sailor he on the stormy sea, No soldier tr»unpet-stirr«i: And he shuns the town and tlie huuhtr fitwii ff Of the courtier's fawning herd. Bat he bids the.vine with her tendrils twine Around (he poplar tail; And he adds a graft with a gardner's craft, • Ho the tree that climbs his wall. Or a grazier keen, o'er the pastures green He eeea his oxen feed; •Or he shears his flock, or he brews a stock Of his rustic, nectar mead. - - And when autumn at length, in Msmsaly strength, Hag raised his fruit-crowned bead, He pluoks the pear with its flavor rare, And thn gr&pf with its ciust^f r^d. With his knee on the sod, he thanko ilia God Fa Hie mercies and favors free, • And he lays him a'ong while he lists to ths ua| Or the thrush in the old #aK tree; "While tho waters glide with their rippling tide, And the esphyra softly creep •O'er the quivering leaves IT idst the murmuring trees, And lull the sense to sleep. ' But when thundering Jove, from bis stoves ab9TO Bonds wintry snows and rain, And wet and wood and field and flood - • > . Lie boand in his icy chain, , With many a hound in the wooda arowad, He hunts the grisly boar; And ere daylight fade his gleaming blade * Is red with the monster's gore. When the gun has set, he spreads his net, And the partridge, fluttering, dies; He takes hia hare in his crafty snare, And the wane, a goodly prise. 'Mid joys like these what ills can tease? •Who could remember pain 1 He feels no wrong, and he laughs at ths throng i that swell love's train. 7 Of If a loving wife-- best staff of life- Bo Ms, and children dear, "The ftra burng bright with its ruddy light His homeward step to cfaecr. At the cottage door, when his toil is o'er, She stands with her smile so sweet, And holds up her face, with a modest grace, His welcome kiss to meet. -And his children glad, swarm ronnd their.dad But the hungry man must dine; •So she spreads the ototh, and he sups his broth While she pours out the home-made wine. Around the Farm. GRASSHOPPERS don't molest sheep, and hence a good many Kansas people aare going into the wool business this year. PUMPKINS, tor domestic purposes,nan be kept in a good cellar where they will mot freeze, by being put on a scaffolding, for from six to nine months. THXBB is no simpler remedy for pre­ venting cider growing sour than mus­ tard seed. After the cider has ferment­ ed and reached the desired palatable con­ dition, put one pint of mustard seed to a lwirrfll r\f mnr> imng fipr h t._ IT has been commonly stalled that gcnuinatloii would not take place In seeds below the freezing point of water. M. Uleth, however, states seeds of Tric- tum and, indeed, .other seeds also, were found to germinate when plaoed in grooves formed in blocks of ioe. GROWTH OP BOOTS.--A singular in­ stance of root growth is reported from 3?ranoer An elm tree, standing over Fon- taineble&u sandstone, forced its rootlets down so that they perforated the rock, leaving in it a perfect impression of their form. It ia supposed that the cement which holds the grains of th« rock to­ gether was dissolved by carbonic acid given off by the roots of the tree. DRYING OFF Cows.--This is the time •of year when many farmers dry off part of their cows for the season. This dry­ ing off is a matter of some importance, and needs careful management. After 'the regular milking of the cow has ceas­ ed, th© udder should be frequently ex­ amined at intervals of a few days, and -any milk which has collected should be removed. If left unattended to, serious ijijmy may be inflicted upon the cow's udder, such as the loss of one or more teats, a shrinkage of part of the ndder, •etc., thus impairing the future usefulness of the cow. " WHKN TO BXIIZB--A correspondent of the Hew York Times thus alludes to the proper time to sell farm produce: "If you have anything to sell, and are of­ fered a fail y lev, sell ife. It ia better to sell than to run the risk of lower • ^ricea, Tils ia especially true of perish­ able articles. AN enterprising but cau­ tious farmer was* offered, during the late *war„ ninety cents per pound for wool, tout he held it for a dollar. He held it three or four years and finally took forty-five cents. He learned a lesson and enjoys telling his experience. It is not safe to wait till the market id at its Mghest point.'* WB would recommend to those who are going to try sheep, to commence with a small flock and learn the business. Purchase no old sheep, let the price be •ever so low; be sure there is no disease .among them; build a dog-proof yard, with an open shed on the north side, with a roof that will shed rain; yard them every night. See that your pas­ ture fences will prevent them from tres­ passing on your neighbors; provide a variety of food for winter; feed liber- .-ally without waste, and see that they have water when they want it. Tame ,'grass makes the best pasture; rye makes good fall and •winter pasture. After shearing, dip your lambs and sheep in tobacco liquid to rid them of all vermin, and, as a preventive against snoh. PAYING CROPS.--A large net profit 'per acre is undoubtedly the basis of all good farming. It is one of the condi­ tions of success, and the profit of the business materially depends upon it. Tor every tiller of the soil, therefore, a large yield per acre, of crops which pay, is the first thing to consider, because without this no large results are possible; .small crops are always easy to get, but thev are seldom worth the time and out­ lay'they require, and frequently entail great loss. Of course, it is also true "that oven a prolific yield may sometimes tiring a loss, but such cases are always due to either negligence, extravagance or needless folly. They do not alter the general rule, but are simply the excep­ tions. The great fact still remains that the chances of profit in every crop are clearly in favor of large products per acre. "As TOR horses' nooning," says a clever writer, " I would rather my team •should go through the day without a din­ ner **«•« to be allowed only sufficient | time to swallow it, if they are to be put | to heavy work. In fact, I have an idea from experience with a horse team when driving upon the road all the time, that they had better have an hour's rest with­ out dinners than to have an hour to eat in, and then be put directly at work. I have seen many teams upon the road every day that wer© never fed at noon, and they kept in as good condition and were able to travel as many miles in the afternoon and carry as heavy loads as those which were fed at noon and then put immediately at work again. The noon feed must be carried undigested until night, and can be carried easier in the wagon than in the horse's stomach. The same reasoning may not hold good with oxen, inasmuch as their work is not, or should not be, so rapid or hard as to prevent them from chewing their cods as they work." About the House. ̂ A WASH composed of a teaspoonful of powdered borax to a pint of water, is most excellent to keep on the dressing table for dandruff and all sorts of erup­ tions of the akin. GAVE CUB soot neys, when the latter are cleaned. Twelve quarts of soot to a hogshead of water makes a good liquid manure to be ap­ plied to the roots of plants. To take mildew from linen, mix soft soap with starch powdered, half the quantity of salt, and a piece of lemon, and lay it on both sides with e. paint brush ; let it be in the opes air--on grass is preferable--till the stein is removed. To CURE HOARSENESS.--When the voioe is lost, as is sometimes the case, from the effects of cold, a simple, pleasant remedy is furnished by beating up the white of one adding to it the juice of one lemon, and sweetening with white sugar to taste. Take a teaspoonful from, time to time. It has been known to effectu­ ally cure the ailment. ORANGE FLAVORING.--Cut orange peel In. long, thin strips, anil stew it in water till all bitterness is extracted. Then chop it fine, and stew it half an hour in a thick syrup, allowing one pound of sugar to one of peel. Keep in a cool place. As this is the season for oranges, every family may provide themselves at expense with this delicious flavoring. A VERY pretty pen wiper can be made in the form of a closed parasol. Sharpen a thin wooden lead pencil that has an ivory tip. Cut a circle of silk, and an­ other, somewhat smaller, of thin black cloth. Point or scallop the edges all around, pierce a hole in the center of each circle and run the point of the pen­ cil through, leaving the silk circle on top. By a little ingenuity you can now crease, fold and secure these circles close to the handle, so that the whole will look precisely like a closed parasol; by experimenting first with a piece of paper you t»u uetili gel the size of the circle required to suit your pencil. LEMONS FOR FEVBR.--When persons are thirsty and feverish beyond what is natural, one of the best " coolers," in­ ternal or external, is to take a lemon, cut off the top, sprinkle over it some loaf sugar, working it downward into the lemon, and then suck it alowly, squeez­ ing the lemon and adding'more sugar as the acidity increases. Invalids with teverisniiess may take two or three lemons a day ia tibia manner with the most marked benefit, manifested by a sense of ooolness, comfort and invigora- tion, A lemon or two thus taken at tea- time, as an entire substitute for the or­ dinary supper, would give many a man a comfortable night's-sleep and an awak­ ing of rest and invigoration, with an ap­ petite for breakfast to which they would otherwise be strangers. CAMPHOR AND ANTS.--I wonder if anybody ever did drive away ants by using camphor ? From the number of times that this recipe has gone the rounds of the press, one might suppose that it had been thoroughly and satisfactorily settled that camphor would drive away these pests, but the fact of the case is-- it won't. Mrs. Ruralist has eamphored and dosed one particular cupboard in­ fested with the small red ante in the most thorough manner, without disturb­ ing the serenity of these vermin in the least. I should not have thought of dis­ puting the camphor preventive had it not appeared in the columns of ths Rural. This was coming too near home, and I had to speak right oat in meeting and say, " It won't do it"--Moral New Yorker, HETIPS M HOTOE CTITSAJTTNO.--Provide ammonia for cleansing paint and car­ pets, the water when done with to be poured, on house-plants or vines; cold tea for graining; a window-scrub, which is a little stiff brash with a long handle; a step-ladder; a carpet-stretcher; a self- wringmg riiop, which consists of a long handle with a stationary ring at the end, and another ring which moves freely up and down the handle, strips of cloth be­ ing sewed to these rings, and the mova­ ble ring being pulled up when in use as far as the cloth will permit and turned around the handle till the cloths are wrung dry; pumice stone to remove marks from hard-finished walls; plenty of soft, clean old muslin and linen for cloths; a chamois-skiii to polish mirrors and plate glass; long-enduring, exhaust- less patience, and an uninterrupted flow of good humor. With these the labor and discomfort of house-cleaning will be reduced to its minimum. The Young Lochlnrar. Something of a sensation was roused here by an unexpected denouement at a wedding-party last evening. A wealthy German citizen gave an elegant banquet in honor of his daughter, who was to be married to-day to a young German. While the festivities were at their height, the young lady excused her­ self for a moment from her affianced and passed out of the front door, where a carriage was in waiting containing an­ other admirer, a young Irishman, and the two were driven to an Alderman's office, where the marriage ceremony was hastily performed. The happy couple left oil the midnight train for the wedding trip. -- y/ilkesbarre (-Pa.) Gar* Chicago Tribune. WHY CHILDREN ARB LIKE FLOWERS. --"Children," said a country minister, addressing a Sunday school, " why are we like flowers? What do we have that flowers have ?" And a small boy in the infant class, whose breath smelled of vermifuge, rose up and made reply, " Worms," and the minister crept under the pulpit chair to hide his emotion. ABOUT W0U3D8. Meaning Wounds Inflicted by Ballets, Shells, Cannon-Bails, Kto.--Sonne Re­ markable Cases. A soldier accidentally wounded in the groat toe by the discharge of his musket, before Port Hudson, in June, 1863, died while chloroform was being adminis­ tered to him preparatory to amputation. It may lie questionable in this case whether the fatal result is properly at­ tributable to the nervous attack, the fright, or the effects of the chloroform. It is well known that in rare cases the administration of Ui« anaesthetic is nec­ essarily fatal. Spent balls have sometimes prodnoed death. At the battle of Winchester, in September, 1864, the present writer was knocked down by a musket-ball, which did not even indent the skin. In some cases of this kind the shock to the ner­ vous system has been sufficient to kill, without drawing a drop of blood. At the assault of Port Hudson, June 14, 1863, one of our soldiers in reserve saw a cannon-ball, apparently spent, rolling over the ground near him. He carelessly reached out his foot and tried to stop it. The result was a mangled foot, which had to be amputated. In marked contrast with the above were the following eases, all occurring within my personal knowledge : A Major of Connecticut volunteers, before Port Hudson on the 27th of May, 1863, was struck in the breast by a grape- shot, which traversed the body and was taken out from the back. Contrary to expectation, he did not die immediately, ana was laid aside without attention un­ til he should die. But a couple of days passed, and he still survived. He was sent down the river to New Orleans, with some hundreds of others, and lay the g in hospital for months. Still he did not die--would not die, and becoming well enough to travel, was sent home. At that time it was not within the expecta tion of any person who knew anything about the case that he would ever be able to perform the slightest military duty again. And yet, on October 19, 1864, just sixteen months after the wound was received, the Major was in command of his regiment at the bloody battle of Cedar Creek, Va. He escaped the perils of that day unharmed, a-nfl for aught I know to the contrary is alive and well now. Not to speak too much in the first per­ son, at the assault of Port Hudson, June 14, 1863, 1 was prostrated by a buck­ shot just above the hip. After being taken to the rear the wound was probed by a surgeon, and the shot could not be found. " This is serious," he said ; and his faoe expressed his sincerity. I was laid aside to die, and others for whom something could possibly be done were placed on the table. Three days passed, and I lived ; ate vigorously, and felt, well except for the condemnation of the sur­ geon which seemed to ueiti^ it that I ought to have died within twenty-four hours. My persistency, not alone in living, but in feeling well, excited re­ newed attention, and the case was re-ex­ amined. It was then discovered that the buckshot had struck a rib, followed its general course around to the front, and buried itself in the abdominal integ­ uments so deeply that it could not be ex­ tracted. And there it lies to-day. A lieavy feeling In that vicinity sometimes reminds me of it, and occasionally a pain from the spot where the shot entered ; but my life has probably not been short­ ened a day by the wound. Before Port Hudson, June 10, 1863, Corporal Medbury, of my company, on duty with a fatigue party, constructing a military road, was seriously wounded by a minie ball striking him just back of the right shoulder joint. The wound was probed, the ball lay too deep to be extracted, the patient was considered as fatally hurt. He was sent down to New Orleans and taken to hospital. A, week late* ! found him there, with his arm in a sling, walking about, feeling cheerful and well, and expecting to recover en­ tirely in a few days. In five days after that Medbury was confined to his bed ; in two days more he was dead! A post-mortem examination showed that the bullet had passed through one lung and half through the opposite one. The death was caused by gangrene-- mortifi­ cation--and necessarily fatal from the first. The curious part of the matter was that a man should carry a fatal bul­ let in his body for two weeks before his death, should apparently recover from the wound, and should shortly afterward die of it. On the assault of Port Hudson, before referred to, a Sergeant of my regiment was struck in the mouth by a buckshot. It took out every tooth on onp side o the upper jaw, front, as cleahly as a dentist s saw could have done it and in­ flicted no other injury. [ I saw, after the surrender of fort Hud­ son, a Colonel, who, during ttie siege, had reoeived a minie ball in aue cheek, just forward of the angle of the jaw. It had passed entirely through "the faoe, through both cheeks, taking out at least four double teeth on ifys course^ but hap­ pily escaping the tongue. The wound had entirely healed and the 'disfigure­ ment was great; but the gallafat Colonel could talk and eat as well as before. At the St. James' Hospital^ New Or­ leans, on the pallet next mo, in June, 1863, lay a Captain of the Iburth Wis­ consin Volunteers, helpless and suffer­ ing with one of the strangest wounds that I ever saw. He had re<jeived it on the 27th of May, in command of his company of skirmishers, creeping over the ground in advance of the line of as­ sault, among the tangled forests and TflVITiPO 9 >_1 T1T1. ! 1 _ - ~ T -- i i u o o u w u i j r a w v r j w * . working forward upon his hands and knees he was struck by a miijie ball just below the hip. The ball took a circular course round the leg, never touching the bone, but running round through the muscles at least twice between the hip and^ knee, thence, skipping the kneep&n, it circled around twice in the same way between knee and ankle, aid was finally extracted near the foot. Tte wound was one of the most debilitating and confin- ing, as well as painful, but.not necessari­ ly dangerous ; but its conae nature was most unusual. j At hospital in Winchester, in Novem- ber, 1864, I saw, among others, a soldier who had been shot by one of a squad of Mosby's guerrillas while put on a recon- noissance. The wound ms inflicted by aheavy navy revolver o« carbine. The ball entered behind one /eye, and appa­ rently took a straight cofrse through the head. It did not come out on the oppo­ site ride, and probing failed to discover it. The man was sent to a hospital and given up as one who was certain to die. Yet when I saw him almost two months had elapsed since the wound was in­ flicted ; the sight of one eye was gone, but that of the other was perfectly good. The general health of tse patient was good, and everything seemed to indie-ate his speedy recovery. A Surgeon of the Second New York Mounted Bifles told me that while before Petersburg, in 1864, a cavalryman came in on his horse one day from a skirmish with one leg entirely torn off below the knee by a shell, and hanging from the seared and ragged ahimn was the dand­ ling end of the great artery, effectually closed by the heat of the shell. It was impossible that the patient should live with such a wound ; the great wonder was that he cauld have traveled a mile or two on horseback without bleeding to death; and it was quite as strange that he lived three days after being placed in --J- V. E.,inNetv York Times. Worse Than Yandais» A disgraceful outrage upon the most sacked feelings of the Jewish race has recently been perpetrated at Pine Bluff, Ark. Some unknown villains there de­ vastated the Jewish graveyard. All the monuments and grave stones, more than seventy in number, were prostrated and smashed to pieces; the flowers and shrubbery were torn up, and finally fire was brought into play till the desolation Vas complete. The motive of the deed is not discernible, and the guilty parties have not been discovered. The Hebrew population are very much excited about j the matter, and we are glad to see that the Christians of the place have joined with them to find the perpetrators. The Mayor has offered SI,(>00 reward for their discovery ; the Hebrews themselves have offered as much more, and the Governor of the State is expected to do something. We hope that the villains will be caught and properly punished. The search for them must not be allowed to rest till they are in the hands of jus- tioe. Among the Hebrews, the graves, the ashes, the memories, and the r»i>mon of the dead are peculiarly sacred. Reclaiming the Plain of Marathon. The famous Plain of Marathon has been drained with complete success by M. t Somzo. The Ephemiris takes oc­ casion to remark that this will effect a modification in the topography of Attica. In effect the existence of the marsh ex­ plains the defeat of the Persian army by one ten times less numerous. The Per­ sians, incumbered by forces which could only hinder one another during the ac­ tion, were helpless when victory was de­ clared for the Athenians. Between the sea and the marsh they were completely blocked-in. and the retreat soon trans­ formed itself into a total and bloody route. One thousand five hundred hec­ tares of good land have been obtained by the drainage, and the inhabitants will be saved from the fevers that have hith­ erto periodically attacked them.--Lon­ don Athenceum. , A Useful Item, •ftw English Chemist and Druggist saya that a good process for water-proof­ ing cloths is to dip them in a solution of etuphato of alumina or alum cake, and afterward in a warm solution of white Castile or cured soap. Ordinary soap may answer for dark cloths, but white soap is essential in the case of white or light oolored goods. The cloths are then to be rinsed in clear cold water, and allowed to dry. The chemical reaction is simple enough in this case. Soaps are mainly composed of stearate of soda, which, on being rinsed with sulphate of alumina, forms sulphate of soda; that disappears in washing, and an insoluble stearate of alumina is formed, which re­ mains on the cloths and renders them water proof. The (jfrasshopper Sufferers. The Secretary of War has made a re­ port to Congress concerning the relief furnished by the army to the grasshop­ per sufferers. The amount of clothing furnished was as follows: Great-coats, infantry .....10004 Great coats, mounted..,. 4 Sack-coats, lined 1,413 Sack-coatu, 1,958 Uniform coatu 2,382 Trowaers, infantry 53 Shoes, pairs .'.. .16,1B7 Boots, jwiire 4,478 Shirts, flannel. 689 Drawers,, 65 Jackets S49 Uniform hata 1,894 Forage caps 1,809 Blankets, woolen,.... 8,4M Blankets, rubber 40 Ponchos, robber 12 A Stunner. At a sooial party in Bernville, Pa., a few nights ago, a joung lady present, glancing at a looking-glass, discovered that somebody had marked her face with lampblack. This so enraged her that she planted her fist on an innocent young man's mouth who happened to stand near her, and he returned the compliment. In her wild rage and weeping condition, and with her blackened face, she looked horrible in the extreme. She soon laid ihe young man out "pr'eUy fiat/' and then seizing the poker she wont at the rest of the company. In less1 than two minutes she had everybody in1 the room piled up in a corner. Then size quietly put on her hat and shawl and walked off home. She was a "stunner." WE have by mail full details of the fearful disaster which took place in the Swiss village of Helliken, on Christmas Day, brief mention of which was made by cable. It seems that the children and their- parents collected at the school house ; the Christmas tree was lighted and the crowd poured up stairs. When the guests had reached the top of the second flight the floor gave way, carry­ ing the lower floor with it. The interior of the edifice presented a horrible scene of confusion---hti man beings, beams, school-desks, chairs,, mortar and stones being heaped up together. It was near­ ly 7 o'clock when this occurred, and everything was in darkness, when the remaining popuuniuu uf Hie village, ing the cries of the unfortunate children and their friends, hurried to the spot. They set to work busily to clear the in­ terior as soon as assistance arrived, ex­ tracting from the debris seventy-two corpses--those of fifty-six children, four­ teen mothers of families, and two men-- besides about forty injured persons and children, some ot them very seriously hart ILLINOIS ITEMS. THKRB are thirty school-houses in Al- exander County, ranging in value from the $15 log cabin to the $40,000 high school building in Cairo, It costs to support the twenty six schools of the county, about $10,000 per annum. To fflinstniu ths four schools in the city re­ quires an outlay of $16,(XX). THK fruit-growers of Southern Illi­ nois, says the Cairo Bulletin, indulge in grave predictions for the coming year. Many of them declare that it will be a fruitless year--that peaches will be rel­ ished in memory only. But fruit men have a constitutional right to exaggerate, and they are, we are disposed to believe, employing it. THK New York Sun says: "Charles De Graaf, alias 'Doc'De Grath, the fugitive from the .Toliet prison, who was captured in Hoboken last Sunday night after a desperate resistance, started for Illinois with Sheriff Irving and a special officer. De Graaf has twice escaped from prison and onoe he leaped from a train while in motion." MARSHAWU CHAIN, the Williamson County outlaw, expiated his® crimes on the scaffold on Friday last. A petition signed by about 100 names was received by the Governor some days previcmsly, asking that the prisoner's sentence be commuted to imprisonment for life, but Gov, Beveridge declined to interfere in any way. Some fears were expressed that the Sheriff of Williamson County, who was a cousin of Grain's, would, when fcho timn orrivoii^ ne^ect his dutv and fail to perform the* painful task ; but no such emergency arose, the sentence being carried out in a legal and proper wav. A company of militia preserved public order, and Craiu read a poem of his own composition just previous to his being launched into eternity. THE ladies of Chester, Bandolph County, had a leap-year party at Bease's Hall a few nights since, and all hands had a right merry and joyous time. It was entirely managed by the ladies, who footed all bills and invited their mascu­ line company. The usual formula in tile wording of the invitation cards was in this instance reversed, being indorsed, where those invited were of the mamed class, in this way: "To Mrs. and husband." A conspicuous line on the card was the motto, \e Woman reigns su­ preme." ̂ The ladies managed every­ thing with tact and ability, and in almost every instance called for the gen­ tlemen and escorted them to the hall. A splendid supper was provided, the la­ dies were arrayed in the most heart­ rending style of dresses, and the fifty odd couples who participated wished when the ball was at an end (at least the gentlemen did) that every year were leap year. SAYS the Chicago Tribune; " The Su­ preme Court of the State has rendered a decision in the case of the numerous ap­ peals from the South Park assessments as made under the several park laws. The amount of tax tied up in these ap peals is about 8300,000, for which there ia now a judgment. The validity of the Whole assessment of about $2,500,000 divided into seven annual installments, was, however, involved in these ap­ pealed cases, and is now confirmed by the Supreme Court,, This decision will make a certain, class of real estate specu­ lators in Hyde Park squirm like skinned eels, \yhat they wanted was the benefit of the park system without paying for it. Their lands used to be worth $1,000 or SI,500 per acre, and no sale, before the parks and boulevards were laid out and improved. After that was done they marked np their property to $10,000, to $15,000, and even $20,000 an acre, and then refused to pay any tax for purchasing the park grounds or improving the same. This class of hon­ est and honorable gentlemen must now step up to the Captain's office and set­ tle." THE Railroad Gazette in its last issue makes the following compilation of railroad building in the State of THinpfa during the year 1875 : Cairo and St. Louis--This road, the most im­ portant 3-feet gauge railroad east of Colorado, wae completed early in 1875 bv the laying of 19 miles of'track south of Mm pliysboro, a continuous narrow -guage road from Eaat St. Louis southward 146 miles to Cairo, most of the distance a'ueut 12 -iiiaa from the ••'n iud aot so far from wliat ia called the "Cairo Short Line" railroad route. Chicago and Pacific--Extended from Genoa, HI., westward 30 miles to the Rock River at Byron, completing a line 88 miles long from Chicago through Elgin, westward. Chicago, Miiliugton and Western--Track ia laid from the western limits of Chicago at a point called Hyman, westward through River­ side to the west line of Cook County, at Fullexa- burg 10 mil©**. It is of 3-feet guage. Chicago, Rockford and Northern--Com pleted from the crossing of the air line oi tlie Chicago and Northwestern and the Chicago and Iowa a Rocbelle northward 26 miles to the Ga­ lena Division of the Chicago Mid Northwestern at Rockford. It was constructed to b© worked in connection with the Chicago and Iowa, and affords Rockford a second route to Chicago. The tracklaying was completed in Anguat, but the road is not yet fully opened for traffic. Havana, Rautoul ana Eastern--On this road, of 3-feet gauge, the first track waa laid in the fall, from Rantoul, 111., eastward 80 uiilea to a connection with the Chicago, Danville and Vincennes Railroad ] Ohio and Mississippi--The Springfield Di­ vision of this road (formerly the Bpringfiokl and Illinois Southeastern Railway), formerly used the Indianapoli» and St. Louis track from Pana east to Tower Hill. Last year a track of its own was completed, 7 miles long. Paris and Danville--This road was extended from the Yandalia line at MarsiKill, 111., south­ ward 50 miles to Lawrencfiwtlle, oompleting the road, which is now 103 ttjles long, from Danyille south. Don't Kl*s the Baby. The promiscuous kissing of r-hilditm is a pestilential practice. We usethewoadt advisedly, and it is mild for the occa­ sion., Murderous would be the proper word, if the kissersknewthe mischief t ttey do. Yes, madam, murderous ; and ware speaking to you. Bo ymi remember calling on your dear friend Mrs. Brown; the other day, with a strip of flannel round your neck ? and when little Flora came dancing into the room, didn't yon pounce on her demonstratively, call her a precious little pet, and feiss her ? Then you proceeded to serenely describe the dreadful sore throat that kept you from prayer-meeting the night before. You bau no design on the poor child's life, ' nevertheless, you killed her Killed her as sure as if you had fed her on strychnine or arsenic. Your rumliidl ness was fatal. Two or three days after the little Mt began to complain of a sore throat too. The symptoms grew rapidly alarming * and, when the doctor came, the Rimrte word diphtheria sufficed to explain them all To-day a little mound m the sole Memento of your visit. « Of course, the mother doee not saa- pect, and would not dare to suspect yon of any instrumentality in her bereave­ ment. She charges it to mysterious Providence. The doctor says nothing to disturb the illusion ; that would be impolite, if not cruel; but to an outsider he is free to say that the child's deilUi was due directly to your stupidity. Those are precisely his words ; and who shall say, under the circumstances, they are not justifiable ? Soixjcmbcr * " Evil is wrought by want of thought, As well as bjr want of heart." It would be hard to tell how much of the prevalent illness and mortality from diphtheriaisdue to snchwapt of thought As a rule, adults have the disease in so mild a form that they mistake it for * simple cold ; and as a cold is not con­ tagious*, they think nothing of exposing others to their breath, or to the greater danger of libial contact. Taking into consideration the well-established fact that diphtheria is usually, if not always, communicated by the direct transplant­ ing of the malignant vegetation which causes the disease, the fact that them can be no more certain means of bring­ ing the contagion to its favorite soil than the act of kissing, and the further faet that the custom of kissing children on all occasions is all but universal, it is not surprising that, when the disease is ones imported into a community, it is ray likely to beoome epidemic. , It would be absurd to charge the spread of diphtheria entirely to the prao- tioe of child-kissing. There are other modes of propagation, though it is hard to conceive of any more general in lis operation. It stands to diphtheria in about the same relation that promiscu­ ous hand-shakincr formerlv md to 4ftw itch. It were better V> avoid the practice. The children will not suffer if they go unkissed ; and their friends ought, for their sake, to forego the luxury for & season. A single kiss has been known to infect a family ; and the most careful may be in a condition to commnnioato the disease without knowing it. Beware, then, of playing Judas, and let the ba­ bies alone.--Z>r. Hall. . t '* "t THE Colorado Springs Gazette tells about a little episode which happened to O'Keefe. of the signal office, and a mule, on the Pike's Peak trail. They were struggling up the mountain, and had passed above timber-line, when the mule, which was loaded with provisions, made a misstep and tumbled over m mliif two hundred feet high. In the descent he turned his heels up and struck ikiuaro on his back, and bounced like a rubber ball. The beast was not killed, but was in a very feeble state of health at laet ac­ counts. AH You, the reputed Sheriff of a secret Chinese tribunal of San Francisco, was arrested in that city recently, on s charge of grand larceny. It seems that a Chi­ nese washman named Ah Young had re­ fused to pay his laundry tax to the Chi­ nese authorities, when Ah You collected it by going with a posse to Ah Young's wash-house, knocking down the propri­ etor, and taking from him $1,0C8. Bftesli Arden In the As be entered the cabin ha foond Aft old woman and her new husband en­ gaged in the double-working, back-aot- ing reciprocative performance of pulling each other's hair. They reversed en­ gines for a moment as he entered. '• Stranger," said he, " she was my wife, but I've heard tell as you've married her. I shall never introod on your do­ mestic bliss agin; but I warns you right here, bein' a man as don't like to see his neighbor took in, that this is a whar you don't stand no show. Stranger, she can draw to a bob-tail and make a full hand ary time." Then he bowed, lifting his hat from a bald UetuL aiod withdrew. j newspaper Circulation.' ' * - In a carefully prepared paper on " Tlie Daily Newspaper Press," read by M?. Hubbwd before the American So- .'cud Science Asscaktion at Boston, weid tho foilcvang interesting statistics as to the circulation of daily newapapens in various cities in the United States: Cities. -I^pxeltzHsa. • Boston.......... 230,(xml mjm New York.........'J38.0CB v - "440,000 Philadelphia C74,0c« 900,000 Baltimore .-267,009 60,000 Chicago.,.-. .298,00# «L00 Cincinnati .21G,0ua Sl<M San Frauulaoo.... ...150,00* SOiOQD St. Jjoui*. 310,00(1 00,000 LontarUle 100,000 UflOb Cariosity Satifietf. " And have you no other sons ?" asked a curious lady of a bronzed old sea cap­ tain. "Oh, yes, madam, I had one that lived in the South Sea Islands for nearly a dozen years." " Really! Was ha bred there, and what was his taste--the sea or land ?" " No, madam, he wasn't bread--he was meat; leastways the nig­ gers ate liim, and as for his taste, the chief said he tasted of terbaccer." The ladv walked to another part of the and the captain amitac! and. thai quid of " terbaccer, ---New Haven Rea- ister. ^ THS Church Journal lectures its ^ respondents on the bad taste of «««» such words as "transpiring" for "oceu£ ring," "demise" for "death," "relia­ ble' for "trustworthy," "eventuate," "inaugurate," and the phrase, "this soction xor this neighborhood s or part of the country. It concludes its homily by observing: " In the long ran we do not believe that people who say eventuate, inaugurate, demise, in our midst, etc., caji remain honesty upright people. There is a moral lack some* where. To outrage the language of one's native land is a crime, and leads to other crimes." " THE mercury stood five degree* below zero outside when Jones feelingly m*• marked, "I wouldn't turn a dogawsjy to-night, Brown; would you?" well, no," replied Brown, hesitatingly:" "at least not if he was worth anything/*^ IT is said in Philadelphia that Thomjh son, the man who caused the Mosel hof- ror, rented a house in South Fourth : 1 street in that city, in 1861, and set tire to it for the purpose of obtaining insiminy on fictitious stoek. THS New York ocean sfeesBMBB last year carried 254,200 passengers and 1* 096,000 tons of freight. -. I