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

r , - *" & t t . „ * »»* . •- v» - W •»,*>. >.* > J • t-- '" , ^ . 5 -v iij, '-J^j /' «2«c. ;•'!•' .-„. - r-- /•.•%>" - - ' ' » / • * « * * - _ * „ . - . . -'rr--,-. J Igcgimrg fUiudfaltr 1. VAN M.YKE, E4 MM and PaMisfear. McHENRY, ILLINOIS. A CALIFORNIA girl, who fell over a cliff ft distance of seventy feet, recovered consciousness after 449 hours. ^kt the time of the accident she yra» walking with a young' man, when they were at­ tacked by robbers. Instead of "holler­ ing" till the hair loosened on the rob­ bers' heads, she attempted to escape, and tumbled over the precipice. THE death is announced of Preiser's Magazine. Among the names associat­ ed with this publication are those of Thackeray, Carlyle, Coleridge and "Father Prout." It was for Fraser that Thackeray, under the nom de plume of Michael Angelo Titmarsh, wrbte some of the best of his early sketches--among others "TheHoggarty Diamond" and "Shabby Genteel Sto­ ries." Most of Father Prout's clever productions were published in this magazine. VWhen Herrmann was in South Amen­ ta he mystified three ravage Pata- gonians by taking an orange from the nose of one, a handful of coin from the hair of the other, and a live rat from the nose of the third, who, with his companions, started off uttering a cry of alarm. Suddenly the magician dis­ covered that his purse, watch, chain, eye-glass and pocket-handkerchief were missing. The savage who at the ap­ pearance of the rat had jumped away in terror had relieved Herrmann of his pro-, perty. JUDGE THAYER of Philadelphia has declared the doctrine that no man can convey away property lb the prejudice of his afiianced wife. The case was that of the widow of James Baird, who was astonished to find that, just before mar­ rying her, Baird had made an assign­ ment of his entire property. His inten" tion •was to prevent himself from squan­ dering it; but his relatives improved the opportunity to deprive the widow of her right of dower. The conveyance was declared to be invalid, on the ground that it conflicted with the equities be­ tween Baird and his intended wife at tho time it was made. IT seems that the spiritual mediums are suffering an onslaught by believers &i spiritualism. Traps aye laid for them, they are caught while personating ma­ terialized spirits, and their table tricks are exposed. It appears to the Banner of^ Light "precisely as if "certain dissatis­ fied and constitutionally unhappy per­ sons were angry because spiritualism is beyond the reach of their arbitrary and irresponsible control. Hence they seek -"fey svery method, known, .to the ingenu­ ity of malice to drive out of the field all prominent agents for phenomenal mani­ festations." But the Banner has trust­ worthy information that the movement •will be "thwarted by invisible power." A NEW YORK street-car conductor provoked a young German girl, as she /was getting on the car, by telling her to hurry up, as he could not wait all day. She told him she couldn't wait cither, and, turning back to the side­ walk, began a race with the car. Shfe ""kept up with it easily, and was so con­ temptuous that she stopped whenever it stopped, so as not tp take any finfair advantage. She bounded along like a trained pedestrian, calling out laughter and applause. The young men on the oar cheered her and shouted to her to keep up, which she not only did, but beat the street-car to the ferry, step- ping on the boat which left the dock be­ fore the street-car passengers could get Aboard. . . ' » ; : MR. WINANS, the American sports­ man, who pays nearly £15,000 a year for a vast tract of deer forests extending from one side of Scotland to the other, has brought an action against Mr. Mac­ kenzie, of Kintail, which is exciting much interest in the Highlands. It ap­ pears that Mr. Win an s has leased the Kintail estate from Mr. Mackenzie, in­ tending apparently to add it to his shooting-ground; but he complains that he has not obtained full possession---i. c., that the shepherds and crofters have not been ejected. Mr. Mackenzie re­ fuses to have them forcibly removed, but offers compensation. Mr. Winans refuses damages, and insists on having the estate cleared. ' ing the building'now is by relieving the foundations of the structure of a por­ tion of the strain. It has already cost $200,000 to carry out the new plan for the Assembly ceiling, the stones pompos- ing which threaten to fall upon the heads of the members. The cost of this room is estimated at $500,060. Some persons go so far as to condemn the en­ tire building, and to argue that it would be cheaper to build a new one than to attempt to repair the old. New York is about tb ̂most unforttinate State in the Union as respects the construction of its public buildings. AN awful and doubly-fatal accident occurred recently in Auburn, Me. The two victims svere Matthew Connor and Patrick O'Connell, hod-carriers, who it appears have borne a grudfee against each other for some time past. They were both engaged on a new building, the walls of which had been run up three stories, or a distance of* about fifty feet. Something occurred to rouse the old animosity, and quicker than thought the two men in their unreason­ ing anger had closed in deadly combat on the dizzy edge of the tliird-story walls. The struggle was fierce but short, and their fellow-workmen had not time to interfere. After they had clinched a moment, Matt took Pat by the shoulder and ran him backward, as it happened, directly before the window. A mason screamed to tliem to stop, but they paid no attention. In an instant Pat fell against the window-sill, a couple of feet fifem the floor, and pitched head­ long out, Matt following him in "Ifche same way.) They were still hold of orfe another. O'Connell's heart beat a fewj minutes after the fall, but Connor's was pulseless when the doctors reached the spot. O'Connell leaves a widow and four children. Connor leaves a widow and six children. Connor was 48 years of age and O'Connell about 55. AGRICULTURAL. „ , „ Hlats W> Wheat Grower#,. •Wie New York Commercial Afoer- tiser gives the following advice to wh6at growers: As one gains experience in cultivating any crop, he finds that he can deduce certain /rules or maxims, which, though condensed, nevertheless give much real information. So some one has announced the following formu­ la, whicn will be of interest to such as are novices in wheat cuTure: 1. The be^t soil for wheat is rich clay loam. - , a good, deep, soft bed. led under makes just is oily, heavy, plump A DAUGHTER of Cooper, the novelist, writes to the Detroit Free Press that he requested on liis death-bed that no fcketcli of his life should be written,. The family inferred that his life had been so full of vicissitudes in many lands, and for years upon the sea, that nobody was in possession of facts enough to tell the story. The family mansion, Otsego Hall, was burned two or three years after his death. At the table in the library at Otsego Hall twenty of his books were Written. "He always wrote two hours every morning, wrote rapidly, almost " alwaysf with his own hand, and seldom erased or amended what he had written. Then he drove up to his farm, a couple of miles off. That was his favorite resort during the last years of his life. He generally went there to work rather than to rest. It was a battle with the mountain. He was determined that the farm should become a source of profit, and the mountain was determined that it should not. When he had cut off trees enough for a clearing he had a contest with the great ledges that "seemed everywhere to underlie the soil. In many places the plow cfct^ld not be set in the ground for rods, and even acres, together. Every fall father would say, ' I guess the farm will pay next year.' But the most he ever,got from it was vegetables for the table at the Hall." , No NEED of baby farms in India. A correspondent writes to the Indian Pioneer: "The wolves are carrying off children at a .terrible rate. A poor little child was taken away and eaten (only the lower part of one leg being found) from the lines of the Twenty-seventh Punjaub Infantry a short time ago. Another child was carried off and eaten (only the head being found) from the door of the house of a poor, old, half- blind coolie. Last night an ayah's child was carried off from inside a walled inclpsure in an officer's compound, the wolf jumping over two children and taking a third lying close to its mother, who, poor creature, ran shrieking after it. The children are apparently always seized by the throat, so. their cries are not heard." THE Capitol of the State of New York will cost altogether the enormous sum of $20,000,000. Yet it is now con­ sidered unsafe. It appears that the immense mass of granite is too great a strain upon the foundations, which were not originally designed to carry such a weight. The only hope of say- 2. Wheat lik 3. Clover t such a bed. ^'{ 4. The best and clean. ^ 5. About two inches is the best depth for sowing the seed. 6. The drill puts in the seed better and cheaper than broadcasting. 7. From the middle of September to the last of October is the best time for sowing. 8. Drilled, one bushel of seed per acre; if sown broadcast, two bushels per acre. « 9. One heavy rolling after' sowing does much good. 10. For flour, cut when the grain be­ gins to harden; for seed, not until it hardened. ' . ' Take Care of the Tools* Money saved is money earriSSf'- is an' old saving, but it is nevertheless a true one. It saves money to take good care of farming implements and machines. Every machine and implement used on the frrm, when no longer needed in the routine of farming operations, should be cleaned, oiled and, if necessary, painted, arid then put where it will not be exposed to the weather, or a damp atmosphere. ** Too raBiiy farriiers in this country are far too negligent about this^miitter. It is not uncommon in a ride over al- jjjjrfrst any line of public conveyance to ^see reapers, mowers, seeders, plowskfld NmUfVators standing where they were last used. An appropriate estimate i>t the aggregate loss thus sustained by farmers would be startling. Thero is no necessity for it. If a farmer lias no tool-house, nor an apartment in his barn, or not even a barn, still it will pay him' to improvises a shed-oipoles and straw where hi® implemeuts^umy be protected from* the action of the weather. It is sheer careles&nwfcKjyid l>etokenB a shiftlessness of which an in­ telligent farmer ought to be ashamed, to permit valuable utensils and ma­ chines to go to destruction for the want of a little attention and lal>or To clean iron and steel remove all dirt by scraping and washing, and .iu a day or so rub with dry sand, and apply to the iron a coat of beeswax and resin, in the proportion of four parts of resin to one of beeswax, melted together and put on while hot. To preserve the wooden parts they should be painted with good linseed oil, turpentine and white lead. Any desired coloring mat­ ter can be added. Liquid drier, with boiled oil and turpentine, may be em­ ployed on hand tools, or crude petrole­ um may l>e used on woodwork, applied as long as wo#d will absorb it.--^Prairie Farmer, / .• J' Turkey Breeding. It is a notably-established fact among experienced cultivators of this kind of fowl that young hen turkeys are not so good as are their elders for repro­ duction. They will not lay a very large number of eggs in a season, but what they do yield, when set, will produce large profits at hatching, and their eggs are also more certain to be fertile. The turkey hen will often steal her nest by herself in a fence corner, or l>e- neatli an old pile of rails, but the greater danger is, she will wander off too far from the house, and her eggs become the prey of skunks, crows and other mischief-doers, that either prowl about in darkness or lie in ambush awaiting plunder.' , The best pla,ee for a turkey's nest is on the bare ground, taking care to raise it abov<Ctfil>4langer of flooding during rain and to shelter it above, locating it in some quiet place. The turkey loves privacy in tli^se matters rather more than the common hen, and she is an excellent and very patient sitter. In­ deed, she sticks to her business so well that it is often recommended to hatch more than one brood by one" turkey lien, removing the first brood as soon as out. While the sitting is going on you will need to pay particular attention to see that the sitters are off their nest as soon as proper. Turkeys stay on their nests very faithfully. The process lasts a month, but if the eggs are fresh they will hatch a day or two earlier. It is not necessary, "however, to be very care­ ful about watching them. The egg yelk comes in part with them into the wor d and serves as nourishment for somewhat more than a day after hatching. When come to feed them, it would seem important to imitate this food as nearly as \o-wible: and with this idea eggs in sou^e form boiled hard or made into a custard with milk, skimmed and clab- »bered milk, cottage cheese and curds should form their principal' food in the beginning. Bread crumbs soaked in milk, fine barley meal or oat meal and hard-boiled eggs, chopped fine with curd and onions, is an excellent diet for them until they can partake of coarser food. It makes a great difference in the cost of raising a brood whether it is early or not, as a brood that is of the right size at the right time to catch the first crop of grasshoppers will increase apace, and to your advantage. If you have ample space for them to roam in, or woods near by, you will be surprised to see how industriously they will pick the insects, nuts and seeds which come in their way. With young turkeys avoid used as a garnish for raw oysters, Bar-' dines, etc. ( F(FTT Charlotte Rurfle take one-half box of gel; t ne and dissolve it in one pinfe<>f milk; then put it with one pint of cream and beat until hard. Put the cake in a shape and pour on the whipped cream. A VERY nice dish for breakfast is made of the cold bits of meat left over from a roast of beef, chicken or turkey. Chop them very fine and add enough gravy to moisten, and when quite hot pour over well-browned toast. APPLE snow is an ornamental dish for a lunch table. Take apple jelly and cover with a frosting made of the whites of three eggs beaten to a stiff froth; mix with one enp of cream, and sweet­ en with sugar to suit the taste. To MAKE delicious pdtato-puff take two cups of cold mashed potatoes, two cups of cold cooked meat chopped very fine, two table-spoonfuls of butter melted, two eggs well beaten, and one cup of milk ; bake in a deep dish in a quick oven. FOR English muffins use three pints of flour and a half teaspoonful of salt, and mix these in lukewarm water until sufficiently stiff for a spoon to stand upon, then put in half a pint of yeast. Make the mixture the evening before, and bake in small pans for breakfast. FOR, chicken salad take the breasts of two chickens, two large bunches of cel­ ery and five hard-boiled eggs; chop each very fine and mix thoroughly; make a gravy of one table-spoonful Of mustard, two of sugar, one cup of vine­ gar and half a cup of butter, and pour over the salad hot. - . ? 'x SWEET-POTATO custard is" a very pal­ atable dish, and is made of two ordi­ nary-sized potatoes boiled and mashed fine, with one table-spoonful of butter; then add half a cup of sugar and half a cup of sweet milk and mix thoroughly; break in three eggs and stir well; make a good pastry crust, and pour in the same amount as for two pies. FOR a good lemon-creain cake use one cup of butter, one and one-half cups of sugar, tywo and one-half cups of flour, two table-spoonfuls of baking-powder, one-haijlf cup of milk and three eg^s. Bake in layers and make a cream of the juice of two lemons, two-thirds of a cup of sugar, one cup of butter, two table- spoonfuls of flour and one egg. A NICE tapioca pudding is made of four table-spoonfuls of tapioca, one quart of milk, the yelks of four eggs and three table-spoonfuls of sugar. Soak the tapioca for several hours in a little water and boil the milk and pour it over the tapioca. When it is almost cold add the sugar and eggs, well l>eaten; bake for an hour, and after it hascpoled a little add the whites of the «£gs to one-half pound of sugar for frosting. FOR chicken pie, make the crust like baking-powder biscuit, only a little shorter. Have it half an inch thick and line a four-quart pan with it. Boil two small chickens until tender, and&place the pieces smoothly in the pan; sprinkle salt, pepper and a little flour over them and add about a large table-spoonful of butter; pour over all a little of the liquor the chickens were boiled in and spread on the top crust about half an inch thick, cutting air-holes in it. Bake until the orust is thoroughly done. The Old Novel Heroine. The 'first essential was snch perfect beauty of form and face that language was wholly inadequate to the descrip­ tion; the' moral beauty corresponded with the charms of the person; she was the most devoted of daughters, the most tender of mistresses--the old masters-of fiction always dropped the curtain upon the marriage--t he most constant of friends, the most patieut of sufferers, always ready to assume the crown of martyrdom on great or little occasions; her charity was as boundless as her purse w as usually limited. She was always as accomjdished as she was lovely and virtuous, although it must be confessed that her accomplishments did not extend conversation, which was usually of the most amiably insipid kind; if reared in an humble station, though of course, it always turned out that she was somebody's long-lost child; nature and noble blood kindly supplied all her deficiencies in artificial she was' a portentious letter-writer, aV the readers to her memoirs knew tgr their cr^t: her supply of tears A exhaustible;- iand in all < embarrassing situations where she might have been called upon to show some decision of character she most Conveniently swooned; she se'lcjom ate or drank, and when she dM it was only a little fruit and water. She was,greatly addicted to poetry, her ideas were continually arranging themselves "in the following lines," and although steeped in all the misery and misfortune that imagination could invent, she was very ready to apostrophize "Sweet Solitude," or anything else she could commence with a big O. Heroines of the more roman­ tic school sometimes sang their verses, accompanying themselvas upon their harp or flute; and how they contrived to retain these instruments amid all the hair-breadth 'scapes, the abductions, the sudden flights which it was their j fatigue, which creates unrest, and with destiny to undergo, was not the least | out the natural rest the birds dwindle, The Legend of the Holy GralL The Holy Grail ̂ Naid to kavebe& i precious stone, a jasper of great brill­ iancy, which fell from Lucifer's crown vfhen imrirui froi" ires v-- ^' ILLINOIS SEWS. remarkable circumstance of their lives.--.London Graphic. 5 * & lie Prayed for Too Much Pepper. One of the most prominent preachers in the city tells^the following anecdote as a fact, whenever he hears a story too incredible foE».belief: "A very wicked man became convert­ ed, and in course of time it came his turn to pray in class meeting. Not be­ ing used to speaking in public, of course he was very mufeh embarrassed. This is the substance of the prayer: i pine and die. They are also weak from j/ni|wd gjpfcwth, and are easily worried. Keep an ey^-on the flocks, as they need I especial care while young. In a warm, ! sunny atmosphere they will take care ! of themselves. The damp, cloudy days j worry them for the first few weeks; but, ! well over this period, with a covering j on their heads, backs and wings, they : can endure quite an amount of drizzling j rain, or sudden and heavy showers, j Damp coops and runs, and wading | through the dew must be guarded [ against. After the poults "shoot the I red" the critical period may be said to have passed, and the danger from these "Oh, Lord, thdu giver of all good things, look down with pity on poor j causes need not be feared; but before people. You are' rich and can spare j this time they require the greatest care them plenty to eat while on earth. Send every one of them a full barrel of flour, plenty of lard and a side of bacon, a ham or so and a pound of but­ ter, Send each one of your starving, hungry creatures a barrel of salt; a barrel* of pepper--oh, hell, that's too much pepper. Amen." in keeping them from cold and wet, and in the judicious preparation and quality of their iood.--Poultry Monthly. HOUSEKEEPERS' HELPS. THE yellow rind should always be re­ moved from lemons that are sliced and caught by the angels, aud held pendent for a long time between heaven and ?arth. When Christ came down to be the S&viour of the world the stone also descended, and a clip was made from it, which came into the possession of Joseph of Arimathea. At the last sup­ per the Lord drank from his cup--and Joseph caught therein his blood shed upon the cross. On this account the cup received the power of giving ever­ lasting life, and was called the Grail, (from the Galilic word signifying dish or vessel). Joseph was said to have Ueen kept alive 42 years in prison by its miraculous powers. After the de­ struction of Jerusalem, Joseph was released from prison by Titus, and, being commanded by an angel, made a receptacle for the Grail, the guardian­ ship of which was to be intrusted only to pure hands. It was handed down to Titurel, the father of Amfortas, a French King, who built a castle for the guardians of the Grail and a sanctuary for the holy cup itself. A religious order called Templars was instituted, who were elected for their virtues iWid were supported by the miraculous pow­ ers of the holy vessel, which is renewed every Good Friday by a dove which brought from heaven a consecrated wafer which it laid upon the stone. The castle was surrounded by an ex­ tensive forest, through which no one could pass unless led by the Grail. To pagans the Grail was quite invisible, but to believers His will could be read upon the stone in writing, which dis­ appeared again. The Knights of the Grail were selected by it, fro n all coun­ tries, for their moral worth and purity, as their names appeared upon the sur­ face of the Grail. Its first guardians had been those augels who were neutral during Lucifer's revolt against God.-- Boston Herald. A Novel Performance. A tent was pitched near Hot Springs, Ark., and the announcement of a show brought a crowd. When all the money obtainable for admission has been re­ ceived a stalwart negro wrestled with a monster bear. The combat was fierce, and passed from play to work as the beast warmed up. The spectators screamed with excitement, and it seemed to be a question of life or death with the negro. Bleeding and exliauted, he finally got the bear off the stage, amid overwhelming applause. The assembly insisted upon an encore. When the tumult had reached its height the negro appeared, carrying a bag. After acknowledging the kindness of the spectators, he stooped down, and draw­ ing a knife from his pocket commenced to fumble s with the bag. The people supposing this to be some new trick, preserved a breathless silence. Then he cut the bag open, and there issued from it a swarm of bees. As the insects buzzed forth there was a movement of the crowd, then a panic, and finally a wild rush for the exit. Some got out by cutting slits in the -canvas of the tent with their knives. A LONDON paper describes an Ameri­ can girl in that city who "wears a gown with a flight of embroidered swallows, beginning on her left shoulder and end­ ing at her right foot; and swallows also fly about her parasol." The American youth in London is also addicted to "swallows," but they don't begin on his left shoulder. They begin under his nose and run down his throat.--Norris- town Herald. THESE are nine tile factories in Piatt county, and they are all behind their orders. " > A STARK county farmer has raised over 1,000 bushels of onions this season. SEVERAL' deaths from the "milk- sickness" have taken place in Effingham county. A BABT born' in McLean, a few days since, weighed only two and one-half pounds. A SALOON-KEEPER at Clinton was fined $24 and costs for selling a glass of beer to an habitual drunkard. „ THE Peoria Turnverein are agitating the question of the erection of a hand­ some Turner Hall to cost $25,000. EMMA JACOBS, a 19-year-old German girl of Peoria, quarreled with her father, and then took her own life. A. O. WILLIS, of Plainfield, recently picked up a young rattlesnake in front of the Evangelical Church of that place. RUMORS are current at Peoria that Jay Gould is considering the feasibility of establishing union stock yards there. IT is estimated that there is fully $750,000 worth of school and church property in Peoria that is exempt from taxation. AN old lady named Shepherd, who has lived in Adams county for more than half a century, made her first visit to Quincy last week. THE newr distillery recently erected by the Woolner Bros., of Peoria, has started up. The distillery has a capacity of 5,000 bushels per day. GEORGE B. GRANT and others have incorporated at Springfield the National Starch Company of Chicago, with a capital stock of $1,600,000. THE great American bottom shows a specimen of corn, grown near Kaskas- ki'a, that had fourteen ears of fullygde- veloped and perfect grain. THE Grand Jury of Madison county has returned an indictment against George White (colored) for the murder of his housekeeper, Mrs. Annie Garrett, in January last. FIFTT teams are employed in putting 4,000 yards of dirt on the city levees at Cairo, at an average cost of 17 cents per yard. The next high water will find Cairo in a first-class shape to receive it.- As AN evidence of how property is advancing in value on the bluff at Pe­ oria, the Tran,script says it is only neces­ sary to state that lots on Ellis street wliicli were offered at $300 each four years ago cannot be purchased under $1,200 at the present time. THE Appellate Court of the Third district lias decided that William Jayne is the rightful Mayor of Springfield. Judge Crook, the acting Mayor, has taken an appeal to the Supreme Court. The Mayoralty term which has been in controversy has almost expired. AT Bloomington, Jailer Huston was temporarily blinded by a handful of sawdust thrown from a spittoon by a prisoner. Two thieves managed to pass into the street. A citizen named Mike McHugli came to the jailer's assistance and stopped the general delivery.. One of thofee who escaped was 890a--Capt­ ured, after three shots had been fired at him. Early Illinois. Under the head of "Farm Talks," Ben Perley Poore contributes to the Boston Budget some early reminis- cences of the early days of Southern Illinois: u Beading glowing accounts of the im­ mense agricultural products of Illi­ nois, which produces beef, pork, wheat and corn enough toieed an empire, I was reminded of an interesting account Qf the early agricultural history of that State, and propose to give some of its leading features. Two hundred years ago, in 1682, religion and agriculture were located where Kaskaskia now stands. This was the same year in which Philadelphia was laid out, 100 years before any permanent settle­ ments were made in either Kentucky or Tennessee, and twenty-eight years be­ fore the foundation of New Orleans. The villages of Caliokia and Peoria commenced their existence about the same time and manner with Kaskaskia, and those then-French villages formed the nucleus of the first colonies established, west of the Allegheny mountains. Fort Crevecteur was erected by La Salle on the northern bank of Peoria lake:, a mile and a half above the present city of Peoria, some few years before the col­ onies were settled, and the Rock Fort, or Fort St. Louis, was established soon after on the "Starved Rock," which is situated On the south side of the high, rocky bluff of the Illinois river, about six miles southeast from the city of La Salle. These forts were garrisoned for some years by French soldiers, to secure the Indian trade and to keep possession of the country. Father Allowes, a Jesuit, located in the Indian village on the exact site where old Kaskaskia now stands, and commenced to Christianize the natives. The Rev. Mr. Pinet, an­ other Jesuit priest, commenced his Christian labors in the Caliokia village of Indians, which occupied the same place that the present town of "Cahokia does. The traders also assembled in these In­ dian towns, and thus, by Christianity and l>enevolence, they were changed into civilized and happy colonies of whites. "v Agriculture made its first entrance into Illinois around these villages in the year 1682. The French pilgrims from Canada immigrated to the country with the pare and holy principles of Chris­ tianity, and lived in peace and friend­ ship with the numerous tribes of sav­ ages, which w6re legion at that time in the West. They had scarcely any wars with the natives, but resided with their neighbors, white and red, for 150 years in perfect harmony. These French colonists never disturbed any one on account of their religion, nor persecut­ ed Quakers or any other sect for differ­ ence of opinion. But these immigrants wete not good farmers. About one- half of the population depended on the Indian trade and voyaging for a living, and the other half were husbandmen and cultivated the fields. These colonies were established where the soil was. fertile and easily cultivated. A very small amount of labor raised much produce. Large, common fields were inclosed with few rails in the fence, the rivers, bluffs or lakes generally answer­ ing for some part of the inclosure. Wheat, mostly of the spring variety, and a hard, flinty kind of Indian corn were cultivated in sufficient quantities to support the inhabitants, and much for exportation South. The villages of Prairie du Rocher, Fort Chartres, St. Philips and Prairie du Pont were added to the former colonies, Mid a preat por­ tion of the whole bottolh was in culti­ vation at the highest points of French prosperity in Illinois. It is statedbv au­ thors that great quantities of flour "were shipped to New Orleans, in olden times, from the Illinois and Wabash colonies. / The agricultural implements of the French were defective, and not of the character that would be tolerated at this day. The poverty of the country and the want of skill forced the people to use carts without iron. In alluvial soils, where rocks or gravel did not ap­ pear, these carts performed tolerably good service--much better than sleds. The plows were honored with only a small point of iron on the front in the ground, and that tied to the wood with rawhide straps. The beams rested in axles,"supported by small wheels, also without iron, and the wrhole concern drawn by oxen, horses not being used in the plows by the French in pioneer times, and the oxen were yoked to the plows by the horns. • Straps of un- tanned leather tied a Straight yoke to the horns of the oxeh, anil a pole or tongue coupled the yoke to the wheeled carriage, on which rested the beam of the plow. At this early day the French farmers used no small plows, and had none. In the war of 1812 they obtained the knowledge from the Amer­ icans of tj|ie use of the small plows to work among the green corn. Before the war the French and Americans were strangers and learned nothing from each other. For more than a hundred years the French plowed in their corn about the 1st of June, aad turned under the weeds, out of their reach. They planted the seed corn in the furrows as they broke the ground, and turned the furrow slice on the corn planted, opened a ' few furrows more and planted an­ other row of corn, and so on, until the field was completed. The weeds were kept down with the hoe or brier scythe. Sometimes strange-looking Indian pumpkins were planted' with the corn, and at times, though sel­ dom, turnips were sown between the rows. Potatoes were not raised to much advantage--not sufficient for the French inhabitants of olden times. The Americans have always raised an abundance of these roots iu Illinois. For many years there were no sweet potatoes cultivated in the country. Not much corn was raised by the French in pioneer times, as they did not use it to any great extent for bread, and their stock wintered out, for the most part, ifi the range. In summer the pastur­ age was excellent, and all kinds of stock were generally fat. Corn was sold to the Indian traders on which to support the voyageurs and couriers du bo is, and some used to fatten their hogs. The history of one year of Frencli agriculture will serve for nearly 150 years; as I believe, in that long period not a new principle was engrafted into A mathematical similarity reigned in all the French colonies until the Americans introduced new agricultural principles among their French neighbors. . The Passions of Islam. Mme. Blanche Lee Childe (the wife of a nephew of General Robert E. Lee), in a series of papers giving her impres­ sions of Egypt, says: "Then the prin­ cipal dervish begins a litany, and all the disciples reply 'with a kind of growling that resembles nothing hu­ man. Lionesses or hyenas might utter such responses. A few Mussulman spectators leave our group and join in the ceremony, murmuring, 'Allah, Allah,' at each res^wnser The sounds of lamentation, grow keener, the music in a strange and takiug rythm keeps up the measure with quickening blows on the tambourine. Nothing can be imag­ ined more heart-breaking tliun these appeals to Allah, these sighs thilt come in waves like the groaning of a surf. How wonderful these faces are, admiral types of suffering, of, ecstaey, of mad misery,* of supreme longftig, of inex­ pressible anguish. "The expression of the human conn* tenance can go' po farther than this nor grow more intense. At this mo­ ment in the wierd drama, as the circle of those frenzied creatures widens and comes back upon us who are looking on, huddled up in a corner of the hall, a vision suddenly rises upon me of those ferocious beings, howling, gasp­ ing and turning upon us as their prey. In a few seconds the Christian dogs would be torn to pieces without hope of succor. We are barely some twenty poor, scrimped, awkward, feeble tour­ ists, absurd in our European garments, and we should quickly become a mere legend. Before us is brutal force de­ veloped--splendid, free motions, strong as those of a panther, passion nervous, and religious magnetism excited to the highest point. Their convulsions, their cries are full of frenzy, but of frenzv regulated, kept in hand, deliberate, and far more redoubtable, therefore, than any spontaneous rage. You feel that whatever one of these demons, (demons for the moment), might do would be done at once by the others. But all of this is and remains a vision. We shall not pass to posterity in the story of a celebrated massacre." • Neighbors. There are many kinds of neighbors. There is the variety which we might call the casual neighbor: it has nothing special to do, and so is always dropping in to see what you are doing, it does not stay long enough to be consecutive or interesting, aud comes much too often to be welcome; it breaks the thread of the letter you are writing, and scatters the seed of the flower you are planting. Then there is the unavoidable kind: it is continually coming with invitations to dine, or to tea, or to drive; it is angry if you do not accept them, and deeply hurt if you do not very shortly, return them. Then there is also the inevitable or relentless, whose coming is like Fate, foret^d by note or mes­ sage. This variety usually lives at some distance, and so comes early in the day, puts up its horses, takes off its hat, and settles down with a bit of work, lest its thrifty fingers might be idle. For this there is no remedy. You may flee from-iE?NQthers sometimes to the fastnesses of\_t]ie-^Ockv caves, whence no seeking ServanW-an hunt you forth; but here there is ndthingjo do but give up your walk or drive, ' vour paint dry upon the palette, know­ ing that just'that study of color would have been the best of your life, and sit smiling, and be as- pleasant as possi­ ble. / A real Utopia would be where the neighbors were neither too near, nor too distant; their rules of life should be broad and charitable; their hours should be too precious to waste in futile coming and going; and thei^ hospitali­ ty and comradeship should be unvary­ ing and true. I have knpfwn some whose coming was a festival, "and their going was a grief.--Atim <£y. *** Harper's Magazine. CURIOUS ASP srnafriffq, A Stf'iss experimenter hal TOOTUeetf- artificial mother-of-pearl which' cannot be .distinguished from the genuine. ONE of the problems of the time is tin> obtain silk direct from worms. It' it £i solved a grand industrial triumph wiU have to be chronicled. Our silk-wornk whose cocoons mq bt nnrftfami Trill be valuable. THE proportion of matter assimilated from different kinds of food varies greatly, according to investigations of Mr. Max Rubner. Of the nitrogenous matter in fresh meat and eggs, onlv 2M' to 2.7 per cent, is rejected; in milk, IE to 12 per cent.; in peas, bean*, 10.2 per cent. It is inferred thai* healthy body can not be sustained OQ an exclusively vegetable diet. THE weight of a cubic inch Of hanftr mered platinum, in ten-thousandths a pound is .7356; of native platinum, ' .7982; of pure gold, cast, .6965; gold, hammered, .7003; of copper, cast, .3119; plate copper, .3146; copper wire, .3880; silver, pure, cast, .2788; silver, hammered, .3802; cast iron, .2607; wrought iron bars, .2817; wrought iron wire, .2811; rolled plates, .273?; lead, cast, .4106; lead, rolled, .4119; Quinc* granite, .096; Susquehanna granite, .0971; Vermont marble, .096; Italian marble, .0972. '• THE enormous amount of power stored up in coal is thus set forth by Prof. Rogers: The dynamic value of one pound of good steam coal is equiva­ lent to the work of a man a day, and three tons are equivalent to twenty years' hard work of 300 days to the year. The usual estimate of a four-foot seam is that it will yield one ton of goed coal for every square yard, or about 5,000 tons for each acre. Each square mile w ill then contain 3,200,000 tons, which, in their total capacity tor the production of ]>ower, are evjual tc? the labor of over 1,000,000 able-bodied, <me& for twentv vears. ' '• ' ROBERT T. COOPER. M. D., in the lin Journal of Medical Sciences; re­ ports several cases where he believe® that the deafness owed its origin in «ach patient to a tardy or otherwise abnor­ mal eruption of the wisdom teeth. That the teeth are often the unsuspected cause of deafness, first, "frqm the inti­ mate sympathy existing between the teeth and the ears, aud the consequent very obvious prejudicial effect of infan­ tile detention upon these organs. : And secondly, from observing the number of cases of deafness met w ith that date their initiation from the period o r life at which these teetli appear." You can take a £5 note of the l^ank of England, twist it into a kind of rojiB*, suspend 339 pounds upon one end Of it and not injure it in the slightest degroe. Bath tubs and pots are formed by com*' pressing the paper made out of linen fibres, and annealed--that is, painted the system, nor an old one abandoned^| ®over with a composition which becomi A mnf UnmafiAA 1 in a11: "»• _ 1 aV r 1 * <2 f H11 a part thereof, and is fireproof. Tho tubs last indefinitely, never leak, and, put in the tire, will never burn tip. You can beat on them with a hammer and not injure them. Plates compressed and annealed are very durable; you can not only wash them, but drop them _ upon the floor and stand upon them. The fork can be used for any practical purpose, and the knife can always be kept sharp. Paper can be substituted for wood, converted into picture frames and colored like walnut, cherry and the like. Bedsteads are fashioned the same as car-wheels, ouly of long strips in­ stead of rings. They are very beautiful and lasting. Cooking or heating stoves jnre A!«O annealed, and it is inv|K>ssible to burn them out; they are less costly"" tlian iron. A house can be literally constructed of and furnished with every convenience in paj>er. The printing press, type and all the fixtures of the office could be concocted of this material, and more cheaply than the ordinary kind. A complete steam engine can be thus manufactured and do all required duty. Clothes and shocks will come in the future. Twenty-nine hours ar® needed to transfer linen fibre car-wheeb A Eulogy in Sections. t The peach stones ceased rattling around tho hall, the windows went down, the munching of peanuts was hushed and Brother Gardner had a firm hold of the platform with his toes aa he arose and began: "A resident of my nayburhud died de \odder day. an' dis ebenin' de committee minted to write an eulogy on his char- . peter war' showing me a draft of what dev had prepar'd. De eulogy am in seckshuns, an' I will quote it to you: "He was a man who did not gib to de poor wid one ban' an* steal from de taxpayers wid de odder. "He nebber gin a doller to de heathen in Africa, but he alius paid his debts Bif America. "While he did hot purfess to be 1 perfeck Christian, he remembered dat only one seat belonged to him when he , trabbled. "He made no great adoo 'bout his honesty, au' yit he remembered when an' wiiar' he borrowed a hoe or a shovel. "He did not call hisself better Am •• his "fellow-man, an' yit he had a kind word fnr a boy wid a sore toe an' a ton of coal fur a naylmr wid a broken leg. "He felt dat he had a duty to do by de church, an' yit he entered a circus by de front doah, an' de sonu" of a fiddle put new speerit into his feet. V"If, he did not sing his hymms from® de housetops, neither did the world liar what he said when lie arrove home an' foun' his wife sick a-bed. de hired gal gone an' de baby howlin wid a paper of pins in his mouf.--Liuie ,KUr% Club l'aj>ers. / A Dishonest Debt. , "Yes, sir, I always pay my honest debts," declared an Arkansaw gentle­ man of the old school, addressing Ml acquaintance. "I am glad to hear you say so," ox- claimed a merchant who overheard the remark. "You bought a suit of clothes from me some time ago, and you have persistently refused to pay me. Now you blow * around that yon pay your honest debtfli." f ®» f I "I still/declare tnat I pay my IMHMH debts." ( "Well, Vhy don't yon pay me lor tbifc | suit of clothes ?" '* "It's not an honest debt.1* S Whv?>--- "Because, when I got the clothes I did not intend to pay yon. Conse­ quently the d<^>t is dishonesk*--J^4 kansaw Traveler. -- : r "WHY do women so often wander aimlessly in the murky soli tude of the dead past, brooding over days forever gone?" asked a young lady of a marrying,, widower.i "They don't, I think," htr said. "Rather they wander, especially ; at this season, in the dry goods stores of the present, often vicing articles which they have^Sfc.. y tention Of buying.* • f,;. v » ./ - ip.. ' -CvY : '