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• She ^IcSenrij flamdcairr. | J. Y.V7 SLTKE. PCTUBHTCR. MCHENKY, ILLINOIS. AGRICULTURAL AND DOMESTIC. That Calf. An Ma fanner, on# morn, harried oat to hta bun, Where the cattle were standing, and said, While they trembled with fright--"Now which of you, last night, Shut the barn door, while I was in bed?" nii»n one of them all shook bis bead. Vow the little Spot, she was down in the lot, AnH the way the rest did Was a shame; Tor not one, night before, Baw her cloM VP the door, But they said that she did all the same; Tor they always made her bear the blame. 'Said the horse, Dapple Gray, "I was not up this way Last night, as I now recollect„ _ And the bull/passing by, tossed his hocna rery high, And said, " Where's the one to object If I say, ;tis that calf, I suspect?" •"It Is too wicked now," said the old brindle oow, "To accuse honest folks of such tricks ;* Said the cock in the tree, " I am sure 'twasnt me All the 8"ue«ii jfusi said " bah '."--there were six-- And they thought now that calfs in a fix! "'.Of course we all knew twaa the wrong thing to do," Cried the chickens; "Of .course," mewed the *'1 suppose," said the mule, "folks think me a fool, But I'm not quite so simple as that;--> •Well, that calf never knows what she's at J" Just then the poor calf, who was always the laugh And the jest of the yard, came in sight "Did you shut my barn door?" said the farmer onoe more: And she answered, " I did, sir, last night, l̂ r I thought that to close it was right." Now each beaSt shook his head; "Shellcatch it," they said, "Serve her risrht for her meddlesome way." Cried the farmer.. "Come here, little bossic, my dear, You have dene what I cannot repay, And your fortune is made from this day. " Very strangely, last night I forgot the door quite, And if vou had not closed it, so neat, All the colts had slipped in, and gone straight to the bin, And got what they ought not to eat;-- They'd have foundered themselves upon wheat." Then each beast of them all began loudly to bawl, The mule tried to smile, the cock crew, " little Spotty, my dear, you're the favorite here." They all cried, " We're so glad it was you! " But that calf only answered them, " boo! " --Phoebe Gary. Around the Farm. NOT over a fifth of an average tobacco <jrop is planted in Trigg county, Ky. A MARE in Madison county, Ala., recently gave birth to two colts, one a mule and the other a horse. * HAVE any any experience in growing parsnips as a feed for store hogs ? I no­ tice they will eat them all up with a rel­ ish. They are, in fact, the only one of the root kind that the swine family will eat, unless forced to it by extreme hun­ ger.--Elmira Club Report. THE London Builder recommends people who transplant to mark the north side of each tree with red chalk before it is taken up, and replace it in its natural position. A larger proportion will then live, as, in ignoring this law of nature, transplanted trees generally perish. THE jury on agricultural machinery at the Centennial has decided to abandon the old practice of field-trials, and will, therefore, merely examine the machines as they stand in Agricultural Hall, and will recommend such makes as seem to them to command the most improve­ ments. There will be no first-class pre­ miums. THE WAITING of skim-milk chefese is detrimental to the dairy business, as it gives facilities to dishonest sellers to impose an inferior article upon con­ sumers for a good one, and leads to a general depreciation of the reputation of Western cheese. Cheese should be branded by the manufacturer according ' to its character ; that is, whether from skimmed, partly skimmed, or whole milk. A PRACTICAL dairyman sends the fol­ lowing about rendering winter-churning easy : Strain the milk into pans and set them on a pot of boiling water, on the stove. Heat the milk quite hot, but not so as to scald. Set away the pans, and in thirty-six hours thick cream will have formed. At each skimming stir the cream well together, and, when enough for a churning has accumulated, take care, in cold weather, to have the chill taken off the cream. Then scald the churn, put in the cream, and churn gen­ tly ; ant? if the butter does not come in less than ten minutes, you may judge that your cream is too cold. Mi GARJUEN is overrun with rats and mice. In consequence I had always to sow double the quantity of peas and beans requisite, and sometimes even had to sow them twice over. This year I put twenty-two pounds of peas and six pounds of beans into the ground with­ out any manure, previously soaking the seeds for a short time in paraffine oil. Not a single pea or bean has been touched, and the crop has been enor­ mous. My crop of onions has every year been attacked with maggots, and my turnips with fly. For the last eight years, as soon as the vermin made their appearance, I watered between the rows two ounces of paraffine oil to six gallons of water. Both maggot and fly disap­ peared, and the crops and quality have always been extremely fine. I believe the seed sprinkled with the oil before sowing, or a certain portion of paraffine poured over dry earth and sown as gu­ ano, would answer fully as well, and I am satisfied it is a very powerful manure besides an effectual remedy against grub, wireworm, and all garden pests. Seed sprinkled with the oil is quite safe from all feathered and insect vermin. The proportion of two wine-glassfuls of par­ affine oil to six gallons of rain water (imperial measure) is what can be ap­ plied to all kinds of green vegetables without injury. The growth succeeding its application is something wonderful. Dumfermline Journal. About the House, BEDBUG CURE.--Take of iodide of potassium one ounce, and dissolve it in one-half pint of turpentine ; then apply with a small b'rush or feather, in all the crevices of the wall and bedstead. This, I am happy to state, with the addition of Fcalding with alum water, ended my trouble in this line. Oare should be taken to label this mixture " poison." CORN BREAD.--Five cups buttermilk, two of sweet milk, four of sugar, five even teaspoons saleratus, two of salt, flour and meal to make a stiff batter, using two parts meal to one part flour ; bake slow in iron vessel, and not cut till oeld. To CAN RASPBERRIES.--Fill the cans full of the berries, set them in a boiler of cold water, and bring the water to the boiling point. As the berries settle, add more till the juice reaches the top of the can, then seal. In this way the syrup is undiluted with water. OR put the ber­ ries in a stew-pan with a little water, let them boil four or five minutes, dip into cans and seal up. A CORRESPONDENT gives, in the House­ hold, a recipe which ho asserts will keep the hair from falling out: To one- fourth of a pint of number one castor oil, add one pint of alcohol, one ounce flour of sulphur, one-half a pint of rain water, enough perfume to give it an agreeable odor. Wet the head and scalp thoroughly; the hair will cease falling off in a few days, and will have a lively, fresh, glossy appearance. How TO COOK CODFISH.--Put the fish to soak in cold water over night. In the morning remove it into fresh warm water, and set by the fire. Half an hour previous to its being dished up, change into fresh water, and simmer over the fire nearly to boiling heat, but no high­ er. This management does not draw out, but revives and enlivens the nutri­ tious substance in them, and leaves the fish tender and delicious. A IIADY writes tile Farm Journal: "There are various substances and pre­ parations advertised to soften water; but the very best I know of, and I have tried many, is to ' break' with wood ashes in the old way of scalding sufficient ashes and then turning ashes and water into a barrel which has been filled from the well. It IS better to have it done over night before using to wash, that it may thoroughly settle, and THEN use great care in dipping off. It is well to have a barrel with a spigot near the bot­ tom, for drawing the water off, as the least of the sediment or ashes makes the clothes quite yellow. THE AMERICAN CE^TINSIAL. Billings Proverbs. Thare are but fu pholks who are az big phools az other people think they are; and there are less who are az' wize AS they think they are themselfs. It iz always best to giv it up when we git beat, but it aint always necessary to acknowledge it. The man who looks to hiz own con- shience for pay, iz allways sure uv git- ting all that iz due him. The devil been slandered more than enny one i kno ov. If we never took the trubble to hunt him up we should seldum cum akrost him. Miliyuns ov books have been writ to teach mankind how to be virtewous and happy. The following little sentence iz worth more than all ov them put togeth­ er--"Do az we would like to be done by." "Throw phisick to the dogs,"look well enuff in a proverb, but whare will yu find the dog that will tutck it ? If we could live our lives over again, even with all the experience we hav gained to guide us, the best we should do would be to make A new set ov blun­ ders. Hypokrasy is not only the most diffi- kult to detekt in others, but' iz one ov the most diffikult thing to detekt in our- selfs. Thoze countrys who hav the mos laws hav the most lawbreakers. True luv don't make a man jealous en ny more than ekonemy makes him mean. If a man could swop off all the happi­ ness he expekts in. this life for a moder­ ate supply ov comfort he would make a good trade. British Revenue Returns. Unusual interest attaches to the Brit ish revenue returns for the quarter end ing June 30, just published. Of the nine heads under which they are exhib­ ited, four show a decrease, among which is the income tax, although it was raised early in the quarter. Stamps show a de­ crease of £20,000; land tax and house duty, £8,000; postoffice, £108,000; in­ come tax, £128,000; total, £264,000. The excise has yielded £172,000 more than in the corresponding quarter of 1875; the augmentation in customs is only £38,000; telegraphs, £25,000; crown lands, £5,000; miscellaneous, £104,750, making a total increase of £314,750, and leaving a net increase of only £80,750. All the items showing a decrease are those depending chiefly on the habits of the middle and trading classes. There have been fewer transac­ tions and consequently fewer stamps re­ quired, fewer letters have been written, and less profit has been made, so that the income tax sank by £128,000. From 1863 to 1872 the value of exports from the United Kingdom rose from £196,908,- 409 to £314,588,837, but for the present England's power to extend her trade has passed away. President Grant's Cabinet Officers. Secretaries of State--Elihu B. Wash- barne. of Illinois; Hamilton Fish, of New York. Secretaries of the Treasury--Geo. S. Boutwell, of Massachusetts ; William A. Richardson, of Massachusetts; Benja­ min H. Bristow, of Kentucky; Lot M. Morrill, of Maine. Secretaries of War--John A. Rawlins, of Illinois; John M. Schofield, of Mis­ souri ; William W. Belknap, of Iowa; Alphonso Taft, of Ohio; James Donald Cameron, of Pennsylvania, Secretaries of the Navy--E. A. Borie, of Pennsylvania; Geo. M. Robeson, of New Jersey. Secretaries of the Interior--Columbus Delano, of Ohio; Zacliariah Chandler, of Michigan. Postmasters General--John A. J. Creswell, of Maryland; Marshal Jew­ ell, of Connecticut; James N. Tyner, of Indiana. Attorneys General--Jno. A. Akerman, of Georgia; E. R. Hoar, of Massachu­ setts ; Geo. H. Williams, of Oregon ; Edwards Pierrepont. of New York ; Al­ phonso Taft, of Ohio. ^ Two YEARS ago the Boston Common Council forbude the turning of water from roofs into the streets, and over 96,000 openings into the sewers had to be made for this additional drainage. There were a thousand more deaths in Boston in 1875 than in 1874, and the physicians say that the increase is owing to the air being impregnated with tewer gas. A BEE-STING, a scratch or mis-step will send some men into eternity, while others seem bullet-proof, and may almost laugh at any accident. What the London Times Has to say A boat It--The ••Thunderer" Makes Up for Queen VIc.'s Neglect to BecogbiM the Oc­ casion. The Emperor of ftermany, the Czar of Russia, and the King of Italy, all sent letters to President Grant, referring in a complimentary manner to the one hun­ dredth anniversary of the birthday of the United States of America. The Queen of Great Britain made no such recogni­ tion of the occasion--probably thinking that it could hardly be expected of her to express official congratulation over the successful results of a revolution which severed so many valuable colonies from the British Crown. The London Times, however--the leading organ of popular sentiment in the United Kingdom-- NMFEPS UP for Her Majesty's neglect by commenting at length, and in a kindly spirit, upon the subject of our Centen­ nial; and, as a matter of interest to all Americans, we give place to its utterance, as follows: [From the London Times, July 4.] I The citizens of the United States will to-day rejoice, with much effusion of sentiment and of oratory, that they have become a nation great among the nations of the <aitli. Prom earliest dawn till the bourn of night slip into those of to-morrow, one thought will occupy the inhabi­ tants of the Weet --that just a hundred years ago the scanty predecessors of the millions of to-day renounced their allegiance to a King who had forfeited all claims to their loyalty, and declared their independence of all earthly sovereignty. Doubtless thei e will be privato griefs and private joyo in the Western Republic while the sun is runiiiug iia course. Children will be born to mute glad the eyes of their par­ ents ; men will die and sink to rest. No pa­ rade of state, no pageantry of Princes or of peoples, can fail t© be flecked with the chang­ ing colors of personal feelings shot across the tissue of national life. The movement of birth and of death takes no heed of the acci­ dental divisions of political societies', and will not be arrested by political commemorations. To say so much IH tie commonplace of mor­ alists. and, if we recall the well-worn thought, it is because we find in it an illustration of that feeling of national union which will un­ derlie all the demonstrations of to-day. Though private griefs and private joyB must come, they will fail, even in the hearts of those who sorrow or rejoice, to throw into the back­ ground the remembrance of the national thanksgiving. The parent of the ne'tfly-born child will connect its birth with the exuberant life of the great republic of which it becomes a living member; and the regrets ®f the dy­ ing, and of the friends of the dying, will be Assuaged by the thought that it has beta at least given them to witness the fullness of a hundred years of national existence. " Our forefathers ware a handful of men, and we have become a great people"--this is the thought to which throughout this livelong day expression will be sought to be given in a thousand shapes. It would not be interesting, it would scarcely be prudent, to dwell too long on the forms of expression this thought will take. We have ourselves a most limited capacity for organizing outward shows of na­ tional feelings, and our kinsmen in the United States are, if possible, more deficient than our­ selves in the gifts which are necessary to those who would render pageantry beautiful as well as cumbrous. A stranger descending to-day in Philadelphia er New York in ignorance of the motive of the celebration about him, and un­ moved by sympathy with the national life sought to be glorified, would be attracted by no grace of art, would be excited by no visions ef brilliant pomp, would be delighted with no marhaling of colors as they shine in proces­ sional trophies. We know from the treasured memorials which painters have left us with what splendor and beauty the triumphs of na­ tional history were celebrated in Italian repub • lies and German cities in the great period of the Renaissance ; and it is fortunate that very few of the citizens of the United States have any knowledge of these achievements of the past. They are unconscious of the poverty of invention and of the discords of taste that would make Paul of Verona wonder into what strange land he had strayed. Let cisco and Carson City are steadily work­ ing now, but thfe extreme hot weather has interfered with the work at the Phil­ adelphia mint.-- Washington Dispatok. Official Bribery in Russia. The St. Petersburg correspondent of the Edinburgh Scotsman says : " Offi­ cialism in Bussia is one vast, overgrown system of corruption and bribery, per­ vading all classes, eating into all her industries, and thoroughly corrupting her morals. It is such a wide-spread­ ing infernal machinery as other nations can scarcely comprehend. From the meanest persons who wear imperial livery to the very Princes of the im­ perial blood, the whole is corrupt. A system of blackmail and ' take what you can ' runs through all. Take the cus­ toms--you bribe the officer of your dis­ trict, and spare the half of the DUTY. You refuse to bribe, and the officer and his family starve, because the Govern­ ment allows him such a paltry pittance that he can only starve upon it, taking for granted that he will help himself. If, as a merchant, you require your let­ ters delivered punctually, and not de­ stroyed, you must bribe the post offi­ cials, for the same reason. If you want for your son the university certifi­ cate, which enables him to serve in the army one year instead of five, your son does not require to know anything ; all that is wanted is a couple of hundred of roubles to the professors of the Univer­ sity. In the army the system of black­ mail is complete, from the ranks to the Field Marshal. A BID INDIAN. Vilayet. Mussulman*. Bosnia. 309,522 Monastir 486,993 Jatiina 230,749 Salonioa 124,828 Adrltnople 235,587 Danube 455,767 Population of Turkey. During the Intertional Exhibition of 1873 at Vienna a society was formed for the collection of statistics relative to the East. This society issues a mounthly journal, and from its pages the Paris Journal Official reproduces some facts about the population of Turkey whf&h will be of interest at the present time. The figures are taken from official alman­ acs printed at the capitals of the Vilayets or Turkish distriots. Constantinople, which forms a separate district, has 680,- 000 inhabitants. The male population of each district, according to relig­ ious denominations, is as follows : Kan-Modem. 306.71)7 417,805 467.601 124,157 401,143 715,938 Total 1,862,446 2,433,356 The total male population of Turkey, excluding the vassal states and islands, is 4,976,000--in round numbers, 5,000,000, Assuming the equality of the sexes, this wouid give a total Dopul&tiou of about 10,000,000. England and Onr Indian War. In the British House of Commons, on on the 21st of July, Sir Edward William Watkin asked the Under Secretary for the Colonial Department if he could give any information regarding the con flict between the United States troops and the Sioux Indians, many of which tribe are British subjects, and whether the origin of the conflict was not a breach of a treaty regarding an Indian reserva­ tion and subsidies, which may provoke a wide-spread antagonism between the Indians and whites on both American and British territory. He asked whether the Government proposed to tender its us escape from the painful attempt to realize >JROOD offices in the interest of the Indian the series of pomps which will be arrayed in 1©"^ * f • • • ' 1 many cities of the United States to-dav. We would rather turn back to the thought which we have described as symbolized by them. A group of small Commonwealths have grown into a great nation, which shall yet be greater After the sturdy assertion of the liberty of self-government, which caused the patriots of 1776 to repudiate the sovereignty of George III., aud their tenacity of resistance enabled them to mako good their resolution to be free, they did not close their frontiers so as to keep the territories they had won for the exclusive use of themselves* and of their children. Im­ migrants from all the world wore invited to come in and share their freedom. No nation ever offered tlio privileges of citizenship more liberpJly, and no nation was evtr rewarded with such rich returns for its hospitality. The especial glory of the growth of the United States lias been this, that the republic haa grown because refugees from all the rest of the world have flocked to its protection. Some­ times they have tied from the cruel conditions of overcrowded life at home, the blame of which could be laid at the door of no man. or class of men, since they were the noceasary consequeuces of false ideas, universally acted upon as if they were true; sometimes they fled from the tyrannies of conscription and of feudal law, which kept them bound from the cradle to ttsc grave ; sometimes they sought in the West a liberty to obey the dictates of their own consciences denied by prelates and governments of the European Continent. It ia justly a matter of congratula­ tion that a grea people should have thus grown up. The troops of immigrants coming in year after year have traversed the continent, 'plowed the prairie, bridged the mightiest rivers, thrown railways over and through mountains, and brought from the hid­ den depths of the earth those treasures of iron and coal which more than anything else in­ crease the power of man to appropriate the gifts of nature to his use. Of silver and gold we need not speak; the abundance of their production is comparatively an insignificant accident. The 100 years that have passed have seen a great industrial community developed with unexampled rapidity. Its growth would, indeed, have been still greater had not foolish notions of protective legislation deceived the democracy of America, as they have deceived European governments ; but the productive­ ness of a virgin soil has been generous enough to hide this loss. The nation has not been so prosperous as it might have been; but the ag­ gregate wealth it now annually produces ap­ proaches that of the oldest communities, and yet the mass of population remains so small, compared with the capabilities of wealth-mak­ ing which undeveloped lands afford, that the wages of the laborer are higher than they arc in any other part of the world. The English settlers, and those who have come to share their freedom, have brought the United States so far in the course of 100 years, and it woulu be vain to prescribe the limits of the growth to which the nation may attain in another century of existence. subjects of Great Britain and humanity. Mr. Lowther replied that, so far, no in­ formation had been received, and he could not express an opinion as to its origin or possible consequences. He had no information tending to show that any British subjects are connected with these evenis. As at present ad­ vised the Government has no intention to interfere. Indian Strength Underestimated. Sheiman and Sheridan certainly un­ derestimate the strength of the liostiles. Sitting Bull's band, before it was joined by Crazy Horse, numbered 1,800 lodges --ovar 6,000 effedtive fighting force--and Crazy Horse has proven himself strong enough to defeat Crook in every engage­ ment without the aid of Sitting Bull. Col. Burke, the agent at Standing Rock, who certainly is well informed and not disposed to exaggerate theinstrengtli, estimates the fighting force of the Sioux at 10,000, and it should be remembered that women and children are not ele­ ments of weakness, for every 9-year- old boy will handle a gun, stone, mallet, or bow to better advantage than a major­ ity of recruits handle their muskets. Squaws do the camp drudgery and are ready for the battle if their services are needed.--Bismarck Cor. New York Herald. The Silver Coin. The measure passed by Congress last week in regard to the issue of silver coin and the purchasing of silver bullion was not merely a concurrent resolution as is supposed in some quarters, but a joint resolution, which requires, and will, doubtless, receive the approval of the President in order that it may become a law. Many applications are received at the treasury for silver in exchange for Uni­ ted States notes, based upon the impres­ sion that the bill has become a law. The Secretary of the Treasury can, under the provisions of the Silver bill, make no regulations to increase the payments, as the present rate of paying out silver will soon exhaust the amount on hand, un­ less the mints snould at once largely in- I crease the issue. The mints at San Fran- The Methodists. The Nashville Advocate (Southern Methodist) compiles a table which makes the total number of Methodist commu­ nicants in the world 4,173,047. They are thus distributed: Methodists 111 the TTnited States ...3,146,366 British Wesleyan Methodists 467,683 Iri»-h Wesleyan Methodists 21,273 French Wesleyaii Mi'thodteU 2,030 Australian Wesloyan Methodists 67,912 British Primitive Methodists 174,660 Methodist New Connection 25,837 United Methodist Free Churches 74,845 Bible Christian Churches 27.7C8 British Wesley an Keform Union 8,147 Methodist Church of Canada 107,515 Methodist Episcopal Church in Oanw^a. . 23,012 Other Methodists 26,000 Th« Owmr of the Blood-thirsty Sitting BOU. Delegate McGinness of Montana Ter­ ritory, who has carefully studied the Indian .question, makes the following statement in regard to the cause of the Sioux trouble and the character and strength of Sitting Bull "the bad The cause of this war, or rather of these expeditions--for this war with these Indians has been going on for fifteen or more years--may be summed up in the words, " Sitting Bull and the outlaw Sioux.'* We have never had peace, or even treaty relations,with these bands. After the Spirit Lake massacre in Iowa, aftd th<5 great Sioux massacre in Minnesota, all the more turbulent spirits banded together. After Gen. Siblev'S expedition in 1863, they crossed the LUISSOTTII and endeavored to concen­ trate for another invasion of Minnesota. But the next year Sully followed them across the Missouri, and, after several running fights, they retreated across the Bad Lands into the Big Horn country. Sully followed them to the Yellowstone and established Fort Buford. Upon this pest and on the steamboats and im­ migrants to Montana they kept up un­ ceasing war, often keeping the garri­ son at Buford in a state of siege for weeks at a time, and murdering every straggler who went outside the post. An attempt was made to treat with them in 1866,but,after accepting the presents and securing some ammunition, Sitting Bull 4>roke up the council, and the Commis­ sioners escaped to the' fort across the river. When Bed Cloud and Spotted Tail made peace at Laramie, Sitting Bull stubbornly refused to come in. Ail that year he made war on the steamboats and commerce of the Missouri, massacreing several boat-loads of returning miners, and capturing large quantities of gold dust, which he traded for arms with the northern half-breeds. In 1867 he threat­ ened the Gallatin valley in Montana, when the Montana volunteers were raised to meet him. In 1868 he attacked the settlement of Muscleshell, and _ suf fered defeat, losing thirty-six warriors. The settlers, having notice of his com­ ing, ambuscaded him in a ravine outside of the town. Although the attack was made by the Sioux on the village, this battle was denounoed as a massacre by a portion of the Eastern press. After this he lost prestige. During 1869 and 1870 he devoted himself principally to the slaughter of the Crows, the Man- dans, the Bees, the Shoshones, and all other tribes friendly to the whites, vary­ ing it BY an occasional attack on the Missouri river forts. In 1870 Gen. Hancock, then Com­ manding that department, thought of organizing an expedition to bring Sit­ ting Bull to terms; but as there was a prospect of the extension of the North- em Pacific, which would simplify opera­ tions, lie recommended another attempt to buy a peace with him until that road should be pushed into the Big Horn country. On this recommendation, backed by the assuranoe of the Peace Commissioners and the Interior De­ partment, Congress voted $500,000 to make peace and support him. This was the famous Teton-Sioux appropriation, Sitting Bull himself claiming to be a Teton, though his followers are outlaws and hard customers from all the bands of the Sioux nation. Considerable criticism HAW been made on the expendi-1 ture of this appropriation. It resulted in T>rtnging to the Fort Peck Agency a portion ofhis following, but he refused to treat himself. Next year Gen. Cus­ ter went out with the Northern Pacific surveying party, and twice defeated Sitting Bull, or at least repulsed his at­ tacks. One of his bands invaded the Gallatin valley in 1872, and carried off 500 head of horses, after murdering a number of farmers. In 1873 he made A night attack on Col. Baker, but was repulsed and pur­ sued. In 1874 he drove the Crows from their reservation and agency, and made war on the peaceful Indians. The Peace Commission, finding him intractable, now began to demand that the army take the offensive and subdue him, and this request has been frequently repeat­ ed by tne Peace Commission and the In­ terior Department until the War De­ partment has acted on it. Last year some of his followers went down TO meet the Commission in conference with the Red Cloud Sioux, and came near precipitating a massacre of the Commis­ sion. Sitting Bull himself refused to go in, and spent the summer in attacks on the Crow Agency and on the Mon­ tana settlers. He captured a Govern­ ment wagon-train on the Carroll road, murdered a number of recruits going to the Montana posts, and captured the stock of the Carroll Stage Company. Such have been his exploits up to the bloody history of the present year. He defies the Government, and hopes that he can get the Sioux Nation to join him. If they will only do this he promises to drive the whites back into the sea, out of which they came. He utterly disbe­ lieves the reports of Bed Cloud and others who have visited the East as to the numbers of the whites they saw. He says their eyes were dazzled by bad medicine (magic). being frequently seen off the Cape of Good Hope, in latitude thirty-four de­ grees south. The weight, sometimes, is hundreds of millions of tons in their frozen mass. Only about one-eighth of their bulk is above the water. Capt. Ross found one aground in Baffin IKA-IV. J- | in. vntor 1,500 feet deep. ' ILLINOIS ITEMS. Josfer T. WASSON, a Peoria policeman, has been dismissed from the foroe Jos drunkenness. GEN. BENJAMIN H. GRIEBSON, U. S. A., is visiting friends and relations IN Jack­ sonville, his old home. THE time for holding the old settlers' meeting of Morgan county has been changed from the 24th to the 17th of August. THE editor of the Pckin Mtdletin> Col. James E. Robinson, has been slandered by the Pekin Times, and has brought ft 620,000 suit against it therefor. RETUBNS received from ninety-five counties in Hlinoisi at the headquarters of the State Board of Agriculture, at % - - ' W A fmsk MMi T'* 'p»t • I -4§V Grand total 4,173,047 The total number of itinerant ministers is 29,530, of local preachers 56,935. Great Crops in Texas. This is the year of jubilee with the Texas farmers.' Nothing like the great crops on hand throughout the State have ever been known. We have been in Texas for thirty years, and it is the only universally fine crop year we have ever heard of. Judging 'from the accounts in our Texas exchanges, tne crops are good everywhere. Splendid wheat crops, corn so plentiful that farmers do not know what to do with it, and cotton promising a large yield.--Afar shall {Tex.) Herald. Virtues of Sweet Oil. An eminent physician says that sweet oil is not only an antidote to the bite of a rattlesnake, but "will cure poison of any kind, both in man and beast." The pa­ tient must take a spoonful of it inter­ nally, and bathe the wound, for a cure To cure a horse it takes eight times as much as for a man. A pint of whisky is also good for a " snakebite." Brigham's Family. Brigham Young is the father of sixty- three children, fo-ty-five of whom are living. More than half of these are females, and, with but two or three ex­ ceptions, all are blondes, and none what may be called beautiful. The last child born unto Brigham is a little girl, about 6 years old, daughter of Amelia Van Cott, Brigham's fourteenth wife. She is a woman about forty, rather pretty, and the next favoritb to Amelia Folsom, his eighteenth wife. Number eighteen is credited with having a high-grade temper, and it is said that she treats Brigham as if she were his mother-in- law instead of his wife.--Salt Lake Letter. . Icebergs. " ^ The drift of northern icebergs is -with the great polar currents which meet near the coast of Labrador. They are from thence floated with the current past New­ foundland, frequently striking the coast, and usually dissolving in the Gulf stream, which they meet near the Great Bank, they disappear at about latitude twelve degrees. Tho extreme limit reported in any authentic publication is atitude forty degrees north. The south­ ern ioebergs, not meeting a similar dis­ solvent, approach nearer to the equator, Springfield, represent the general con­ dition of the season's grain crops as by no means unfavorable in the aggregate. THE assessment RETURNS from the vari­ ous counties in the State, now being re­ ceived at the Auditor's office, in Spring- field, show a large decrease in the as­ sessed value of property as compared with last year. At the present rate the total falling off in the State will not be less than $150,000,000. ONE night last week Addie Miller, aged 17, mysteriously disappeared from the bouse of G. B. Lwrison, near Waynesville, in DeWitt county, where she had lived two years. Next morning she was found in Kickapoo creek. It is supposed that, from despondency, she oommitted suicide, although no definite cause can be stated. A RECENT letter from Gardner says : " G. P. Augustine, of Braceville, one of the oldest coal dealers in this part of the State, has sold his shafts and land ad­ joining to the Star Coal Company, of Chicago, for $65,000. Thus work will soon be resumed at that place, and things in general benefited. The report is that the C. A. railroad will build A branch road from Goal City to this place at onoe." MOULTRIE COUNTY has for many years had no jail, but has sent her criminals to Shelby county for safe-keeping. An in­ crease in crime has made it necessary to build a jail, and the building at Sullivan is rapidly approaching completion. A St. Louis firm is putting in cells of boiler iron, one-quarter of an inch thick, warranted to hold all rogues who survive the dangers of their almost air­ tight cells. The Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals ought to look after such jails. THE State Board of Public Charities held their quarterly meeting at Spring­ field last week, and audited the accounts of all the charitable institutions for the last quarter, and made appropriations for the present quarter. The vouchers aud­ ited for the'several institutions in amount are as follows: Northern Hospital for the Insane, $24,069.61; Central Hos­ pital for the Insane, $29,542.05 ; South- era Hospital for the Insane, $14,888.33; Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, «. $18,846.04 ; Asylum for Feeble-Minded ̂ 1 children, $29,642.12; Institution for THEI}* Blind, $6,183.38; Soldiers'and Orphans ̂. Home, $18,098.95; State Eeformfot School, $7,967.47; Charitable Eye and ̂> Ear Infirmary, $4,302.92. Total, $148,- 536.07. A PAINFUL tragedy occurred at Barry, Pike county, on Sunday night of last week, by which Ernest Davis, a son of Samuel Davis, of that place, lost his life. Some mystery appears to enshroud the affair, but the T facts, as near as they coold be gathered, are substantially these : For some few nights, some one, as the _ story is now related, was seen in the vi­ cinity of a private residence at an un­ seasonable hour. Su picions of thievery were aroused, and a guard was set to watch for the supposed intruder. It happened that, on Sunday night, Mr. William Mallory, of the firm of Sweet & Mallory, was on guard. About 11 o'clock some one was seen approaching a bedroom window of the residence re­ ferred to, and Mr. Mallory called to him to surrender. Instead of surrendering, however, he took to flight, and Mr. Mallory fired UT IUM. The CHARGE, • heavy ouo of buckshot, literally riddle** his body. On approaching the wounded man, he proved to be young Davis, about 20 years old, son of C. S. Davis, one of the most prominent citizens and business men of that place. Illinois Charities. The Rev. Fred H. Wines, Secretary of the State Board of Public Cbaritiesu has submitted to the Governor a fiscal . statement for the year ending July ^ 1876, of the financial condition of tbK State institutions in charge of the board.1 The aggregrate appropriations made by the last General Assembly for these in­ stitutions 'for two years amount to 81,- 357,596.60. In addition to the fund thud provided and the balance on hand July 1, 1875, the institutions have received from other sources than the State treas­ ury, $61,747.07, suoh receipts being from sales, collections, etc. The cost of maintaining the institutions for the year is given in detail, of which the following is a synopsis: Northern Insane Hospital, ordinary expenses, $06,405.73; for repairs, build­ ings, improvements, etc., $11,635; Cen­ tral Insane Hospital, ordinary expenses, $98,758.47; repairs, iaaprovements, etc., $6,623.38; Southern Insane Hospital, ordinary expenses, $49,754.99; repairs, etc., $59,308.98; Institution for the Deaf and Dumb ordinary expenses $76,711.81; other expenses, $43,325.16; Institu­ tion for the Blind, ordinary expenses, $26,300.86; other expenses, $6,472.10; Asylum for the Feeble-Minded, ordinary expenses, $26,462.61; appropriation foe buildings; $59,165.51; Soldiers Oi> phans' Home, ordinary expenses, HS,- 489.80; appropriation for repairs, 5^,-. 031 35" appropriation for library, $1*50; State Reform School, ordinary expense^ $30,604.38; other expenses, $14,953.07; Eve and Ear Infirmary, ordinary e*? penses, $12,301.31; other expenses, $6,« 904 39- The aggregate cost of maintain- ing these institutions is $675,114.^{5. The cash balances in the local treasu- rer's hands are shown to be $10,000 larger than they were a year AGO.