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cftcuvn f laindcalfr J. VAN SLYKE. Editor rnd Publisher. IfcHENRY, ILLINOIS. A ora has just been cast for tlie British Government that weighs 200 toos and is forty feet long. A LOUISVILLE woman asked for a di­ vorce on the gronnd that her husband •will not allow her to see the morning paper until he has first locked it over and cnt out all advertisements of dress goods. ' NEAR Gilmore, Nebraska, is being bpfft a feeding-stable, 300x800 feet, containing 3,750 separate stalls, and in which it will be possible to fatten yearly 11,250 head of cattle, for which purpose it is estimated that 500,000 bushels of corn and 7,000 tons of hay will be re­ quired- ° ~"THE Charleston News and Courier WBifs there is a deplorable condition of morals among the colored people on the Sea islands. If left to themselves they will sink to the lowest level of degradation in a few generations. There is a wide ""field for missionary effort in the region which should not be overlooked. MB. D. L. MOODY soys about long ptayers: "If, when Peter found him­ self sinking in the waves of Galilee, he had insisted on putting before bis peti­ tion, 'Lord, save me,' the regular prayer-meetinpr round-about introduc­ tion, he would have been forty feet un- ofer water before he could have asked of the Lord the help he needed." WHEN Rubinstien was iu this coun- tiy "Joslx Billing" was introduced to him, and the pianist in Conversation presently endeavored to impress on the Yankee an idea of his high family rank. "Indeed," he said, "I have ascertained that my ancestors were prominent men in the Crusades, and one of them ac­ companied the Emperor Barbaro3sa." "On the piano, I suppose," said Josh. COL. WILLIAM A. STILLOWAY, a sol­ dier of two wars, considered the most learned printer of the day, resides in Springfield, Massachusetts. He once set up the Bible entire in Greek «nd the Now Testament in German, French, Spanish, and Hebrew. The old man is new without money and without friends. Recently he walked the streets two days and nights Without food and without a place to sleep. THE origin of the feud between John B. McLean, of Cincinnati, and Senator Pendleton is thus stated: McLean is warmly attached to his sister, the wife of General Ilazen. Some years ago Mrs. Hazen meeting the Pendletons at some reception or social gatheriug, re­ ceived the impression that they meant to snub her. She told her brother jibout it. He was young and fiery, and in his indignation over the fancied alight of his sister, resolved to bring Mr. Pendleton down a peg or two. He told his sister that he would do it, and he has devoted a good many years to the fulfillment cf that promise. spends much of her time in searching j for him in the rooms "and gardens of her cliateail at Bonchant. In her j calmcr moods, she holds receptions, j These are limited to the ladies of the < Belgian Court, and toward all these ' the Empress maintains an exttemely ; dignified and imperial mien. One j phase of Carlotta's instantly is remark- ! able. She has conceived a violent pas- j 6ion for making frequent purchases of ' costly court costumes. She is per- <] mitted...to indulge this passion, and as : she buys with exquisite taste the cos­ tumes are subsequently sold, generally without loss and often with great profit, to ladies of high standing in Brussels. : THE new Emancipation iSill re-! cently passed in Brazil provides for the immediate freedom of all slaves over the age of 60 years, and will release about one hundred thousand. It also provides for a registration of all slaves under the age of 60,-with an exact val­ uation to be fixed upon each one of them by the enumerator, the maximam price, depending upon their physical condition, intelligence, and mechanical knowledge, being $350. Ah emancipa­ tion fund is established, consisting of 5 per cent, of the revenue of the Gov­ ernment, for the purchase of such slaves as their masters are willing to sell, the freedmen meanwhile reim­ bursing the Government by working for it at the regular rate of free wages until they have earned a sum equal to the cost of their freedom. At the end of five years a new yaluation will be made, which will of course be less than the present standard; and at the end of thirteen years all persons in bondage will be free. The only unfavorable criticism' mado upon the bill comes from the planters themselves, who dej clare that the agricultural products of Brazil will suffer because the freedmen will-not work. , • • EMORY STORRy. of (li« tireat Jurists*^' when Storrs was in Londoi. he was dined by Lord Coleridge. Among the afternoon speakers,was one gentleman who expressed his great admiration for the energy and success of the interior metropolis of America, but ho frankly confessed his displeasure at one thing. He had been informed that in the city from which the it. Thirdly, like most mountaineers, the Styrians consume large quantities of milk and butter, as well as other food rich in fats, when the oily matters to a certain extent unite with the arsenic, forming an nrsenical soap, which does not so readily enter into the blood, so that the total amount of arsenic actually assimilated is propor­ tionally small. From this we soe that if the Styrian partakes of an unusuil amount of this deadly drug lya is at the guest for the evening ^ hailed commercial" honor was at so low j same time' not only less susceptible to an ebb that hundreds of merchants . its influence bv his hereditary descent failed in the course of a year, always ; " " " with larco liabilities and small assets, j and, after the storm had blown over, COL. HIGGINSON writes to a Boston newspaper that the "shock" caused in Boston by Matthew Arnold's lecture on Emerson related, in the opinion of many others, not so much to the sub­ ject of the lecture as the author. He recalls an anecdote of Mrs. Elizabeth Montague, who, while in Paris, was in­ vited to hear Yoltairo read an essay on Shakspeare, in which he attempted to show that the great poet was not a great poet. When Voltaire had fin­ ished reading the hope was expressed by some one present that the essay had not caused her pain. "Why should it pain me?" she said, calmly, "I have not the honor to be. one of the friends of de Voltaire." THE last link connecting British sport of the present time with the first half of the nineteenth century has been broken by the death at Streatlam Cas­ tle at a ripe old age of Mr. John Bowes, who was not only by far the oldest member of the English Jockey Club, excepting perhaps the Earl of Strat­ ford, but who had been an owner of race-horses, without interruption, for more than half a century. As a proof of how far back intcPthe past the name pf Mr. Bowes carries one, it may be mentioned that all the owners of horses which won the Derby from 183<ito 1801 inclusive, have long since passed away; but Mr. Bowes won the great Epson race as far back as 1835--the colt which then carried his colors to the front be­ ing Mundig, a son of Calton. . ACCORDING to the bargain made be­ tween the British and Turks in regard to the English occupation of Egypt, Turkey implicitly sanctions the English occupation; England recognizes Turk­ ish suzerain#; two Commissioners are Turkish and English, to be appointed with powers which amount to a general right of supervision of the Khedives administration. The English occupa­ tion is to continue till these two Com­ missioners agree to order a restoration "of the Khedive's authority and the indi­ cated frontier is defined. Then they will report to their Governments, who will consider what onght to be done next. This adjourns evacuation to the Greek Kalends. It is doubted in Cairo whether the Sultan will ever appoint a Commissioner to execute the conven­ tion, but Sir Drummond Wolff's diplo­ matic success is conoeded. THE Empress Carlotta recently cele­ brated the forty-sixth anniversary of Iter birth. Dr. Smith, the specialist charged with the custody of the unfor­ tunate lady, reports that he can find no basis for any hope that the Empress will have any permanent recovery from Jier malady. He says she is possessed by a persistent delusion that Maximilian is alive, that he is forking out a bril­ liant destiny, and that he will soon be Emperor of the whol* world. She THE Liberals of England lately pub­ lished a novel kind of a campaign doc- i ument. It is a little book composed of I Short articles contributed by a large J number of the ablest tnen of the party, ; giving definitions of Liberalism and ! reasons for being a Liberal. Mr. Glad- : stone's contribution is as follows: i "The principle of Liberalism is trust ; in the people, qualified by prudence, j The principle of Conservatism is mis­ trust in the people, qualified by fear." , Mr. Chamberlain's is: "Progress is the ! law of the world. -Liberalism is the ' expression of this law in politics." The Earl of .Rosebery says he is a Liberal , •'because I wish to be associated M-itli the best men in the best work."- Rob­ ert Browning's contribution is in tho form of a sonnet, as follows: , ; WHY AM I A LIBERAL? j Why ? Because nil I haply can anil do, i All that I am now, all I hope to be, W henco comes it, savo from fortune setting^ free ^ Body and soul the purpose to pursue, .God-traced for both 1 Of fetters not a few, Or prejudice, convention, fall from mo. These shall I bid men, each in his degree, Also God-guided, bear, and gayly, too. But little do or can the best of us; That little is achieved through liberty. Who then dares hold, emancipated thus, His fellow shall continue bound. Not L Who live, love, labor freely, nor discuss A brother's right to freedom. That is why. Mr. Browning would have acted more wisely for onco to have stooped to plain prose. The sentiment of his son­ net is unobjectionable, but when a man want, to explain why he is a Liberal, or a Democrat, or a Greenbacker, or a Prohibitionist, he had better divest himself of his singing robes. Tho ob­ ject does not lend itself to poetry, and we hope it will never become tho fash­ ion of political conventions to draw up their platforms in a series of sonnets. In this instance Mr. Gladstone's prose is greatly superior to Mr. Browning's verse. ' Deforming tlife Feet The process of deforming the foot of an American child is usually about as follows: As soon as the victim is able to walk, a pair of straight-souled shoes, rather narrower than the feet is pro­ vided for it. In the course of a few weeks, the shoes, being wofn the one habitually on the right and the other on the left foot, begin to take the shape of the respective feet. This is no soon­ er observed by the careful mother than she exclaims: '"Why, Johnny, you're wearing your new shoes all out of shape; you must change, and wear them on the other feet" And, if Johnny forgets, finding the change by no means conducive to comfort, he is whipped to aid his memory. It will readily be understood how well adapted these shoes, now conformed to the natural curves of the feet, are to straighten out the curves of the oppo­ site feet. By this simple means, re­ peated as often as the feet begin to as­ sert their independence, and persist­ ently carried out. it often happens that by the time the child is 6 years old, its great toe will be seriously deflected from the rectilinear position, which it ought to occupy, and the curve of the sole partially straightened. Fortun­ ately, both lasts and ready-made shoes can now be obtained which approxi­ mate quite closely to the natural shape of the foot; and not only can the foot of the child be preserved perfect as it grows up by using such lasts and shoes, but a foot which is already somewhat distorted may even be coaxed back more or less nearly to its original shape.--The Sanitarium. Mysterious Joke. A joke i« a mystery to some people. In a certain court in this State, on a time the proceedings were delayed by tho failure of a witness named Sarah Mony to arrive. After waiting a long time for Sarah the court concluded to wait no longer, and, wishing to crack his little joke, remarked: "This court will adjourn without Sarah-Mony." Everybody laughed except one man, who sat in solemn meditation for five minutes, and then burst into a hearty guffaw, .exclaiming: "I see it! I see it!" When he went home he tried to tell the joke to his wife. "There was a witness named Marry Mony who didn't come," said he, "and. so the court said, 'We'll adjourn without Mary-Mony.' " "I don't see the point to that," said his wife. "I know it." said he, "I didn't at first; but you will in about five' minutes."--Lewis ton {Me.) Journal. ^ Dio LEWIS says that wearing large, thick heavy boots and blue hand-knit stockings will improve a woman's com­ plexion. reappeared in the mart richer than be lore, and with head as high as ever. Of course such an aspersion as this upon the fair name of Chicago--which Storjs ever zealously defended--could not lie permitted to go unanswered. "I assure you, gentlemen," said he a a few moments later, "the speaker lias been misinformed. I am glad to be able to correct his error, and how shamefully he has been imposed upon by his informants will appear to yon when I declare to you that during the twenty years I liaye lived in Chicago not one business failure has occurred there involving a sum exceeding $10,- 000 or $15,000. Not one, sir, in twenty fears. Failures in Chicago? Why, gentlemen, our glorious young giant of the West has but one language--that of old mother England--and the word 'fail' never found a place in its lexi­ con." The Englishmen, both astonished and captivated, cried, "hear! hear,!" with much enthusiasm. The guests, principally solicitors, knew enough of business affairs to see that if Chicago had had no failures in twenty years her record was indeed remarkable, but they were not sufficiently familiar with American trade to be able to contra­ dict, or ever seriously doubt, the truth of the Westerner's statement. So they applauded vigorously and enjoyed the discomfiture of their daring townsman. After a time, howdver, an inquisitive Englishman cornered Storrs and in­ quired : "Wasn't that statement of yours about there being no important failures in Chicago for twenty years, slightly ex­ aggerated, Mr. Storrs?" "Exaggerated! Not in the least, sir. Nor a particle, sir. It was simply a d lie!" Most Chicagoans will 'remember Charley Reed, now a lawyer in New York, who was, about ten years ago, a Cook County attorney. During the whisky-ring prosecutions Reed was quite conspicuous in his professions of ability to "take care of" the prosecuted distillers, and was much given to being interviewed by the reporters. "Charley Reed gets up in the morn­ ing," said Storrs. "and looks about for a reporter. Then lie goes and gets a cocktail, and looks for another re­ porter. After breakfast he lias another cocktail and another reporter, and I guess he averages a cocktail and a re- poiter once an hour iintil midnight." Storrs loved to describe a pompous man. Of one he said : "A large, bustling, bumptious, self- sufficient sort of chap." And of another: "How I would like to stick a pin into him and hear the wind whistle out the hole." "What makes a city renowned?" once inquired. "It is not pork. It is not trade. It is not these heaped-up piles of wealth. It is men. The men who contributed to the Parthenon died ont of human record 2,300 yearo ago. Phidias remains the man who adorned it. But the names of Socrates, and Solon, and Plato, and of Pericles, and Phidias, and Praxiteles will make it fa­ mous forever." He never said a better thing than at the meeting to raise means to build a permanent library and art building on Dearborn Park. Somebody had re­ marked that he didn't believe the en­ terprise would prove a good invest­ ment. Retorted Storrs: "I want Chicago to rise to the emi aence where it can do something that won't pay."--Chicago Herald. Arsenic Eaters. If must not, however, be supposed that any one takei to hedri, or arsenic eating, quite 02ienly. On the contrary, it is generally begun in secret, and at the increase of the moon, and in some Villages with superstitious observances. A very small dose is at first taken once a week--bread and,butter is the favorite medium--then twice a week, and so on until, when the individual arrives at a dose daily, the dose itself is increased till as much be taken as in ordinary circumstances would kill two or three individuals. But it must be understood that those people can consume the drug altogether with impunity. When they first begin with their very small doses they are seized with nausea and burn­ ing pains in the mouth, throat, and stomach, and are probably very much more uncomfortable than a boy who has taken his first cigar. But one peculiarity of arseuic eating is this, that when a man has once begun to in- -dulge in it he must continue to indulge; for if he ceases the arseic in his system poisons him; or. as it is popularly ex­ pressed, the last dose kills him. In­ deed, the arsenic eater must not only continue his indulgence--he must also increase the rquantity of the drug, so that it is extremely dilHcult to stop the habit; for, .as sudden cessation caused death, the gradual cessation prodnces such a terrible heart pnawing that it may probably be said that no genuine arsenic eater ever ceased to eat arsenic while life lasted. It is curious that while, on the one hand, the human_or- ganism is so remarkably sensitive to arsenic, a man may, on the other hand, indulge in these poisonous doses for years. This is probably owing to the fact that arsenic acts on the skin, and thus is being constantly carried out of the system, and also because it is read­ ily eliminated by tho kidneys. Now, this prevents any accumulation going on in the tissues. and thus what might seem almost mythical is at least brought within the range of possibility. It has been calculated that this process of elimination has to be carried on for fourteen days before a given dose is entirely removed. But yet the fact re­ mains that these Austrian peasants can swallow arsenic to an extent and with an impunity unprecedented in tho an­ nals of toxicology, for the solution of the problem we may oft'er the following considerations: First of all, .the human organism may become acaustomed to most if not all poisons, if they are ad­ ministered at first in exceedingly small doses; and in this way a poison, as is well-known, may become a "'mithridate" to itself. Secondly, though the human organism is extremely sensitive to arsenic, yet some constitutions may be less so than others; thus, for instance, the arsenic eaters of Styria are all of them robust mountainers, whose fore­ fathers have eaten arsenic from gener- tion to generation, so that, as may be supposed, each generation has become more arsenic-proof than the one before,, and his habits, but his food supplies him with some sort of an antidote.-- --Chamber's Journal. SLATE-HUNTING IN AFRICA. Grant's I'lnn After Vicksburg. After the fall of Vicksburg I urged stroupelv upon the government the propriety of a movement against Mo­ bile. Gen. Rosecrans had beon at Murfreesboro', Ten&fisgfiP, with a targn and well-equipped army from early in the year 18l>3, with Bragg confronting him, with a force quite equal to his own at first, considering it was on the defense. But after the investment of Vicksburg, Bragg's army was largely depleted to strengthen Johnston, in Mississippi, who was being re-enforced to raise ttie siege. I frequently wrote to Gen. Halleck suggesting that Rose­ crans should move againt Bragg. By so doing he would either detain the latter's troops, or lay Chattanooga open to capture. Gen. Helleck strongly ap­ proved the suggestion, and finally wrote me that he had repeatedly or­ dered Rosecrans to advance, but that the latter had constantly failed to com­ ply with the order, and at last, after having held a council of war, replied, in effect, that it was a military maxim .'not to fight two decisive battles at the same time.' If true, the maxim was not applicable in this case. It would be bad to be defeated in two decisive battle fought the same day, but it would not bo bad to win them. I, how­ ever, was fighting no battle, and the seige of Vicksburg had drawn from- liosecrans' front so many of the enemy that his chances of victory were much greater than they would be if he waited until the seige was over, when these troops could be returned. Rosecrans was ordered to move against the army that was detaching troops to raise the siege. Finally he did move on the 2-fth of June, but ten days after Vicks­ burg surrendered, and the troops sent from Bragg were free to return. It was at this time that I recommended to the General-in-Chief the movement against Mobile. I know the peril the Army of the Cumberland was in, being depleted continually not only by ordinary casu- alities, but also by hnviirg to detach troops to hold its constantly extending line over which to draw supplies, while the enemy in front was as constantly being strengthened. Mobile was im­ portant to the enemy, and, in the ab­ sence of a threatening force, wri9 guarded by little else than artillery. If threatened by land and from the water at the same time, the prize would fall easily, or troops would have to be sent to its defense. Those troops would necessarily come from Bragg. My judgment was overruled, how­ ever, and the troops under my com­ mand were dissipated over other parts of the country where it was thought they could render the most service.-- Gen. V. Grant. Whitewashed Savages. A missionary stationed at one of the South Sea Islands determined to give his residence a coat of whitewash. To obtain this, in the absence of lime, coral was reduced to powder by burn­ ing. The natives watched the process of burning with interest, believing that the coral was being cooked for them to eat. Next morning they beheld the missionary's cottage glittering in the rising sun, white as snow. It was so beautiful iu their eyes that they danced, sang, and screamed with joy. The whole island was in a commotion. Whitewash became the rage, and happy was tho coquette who could enhance her charms by a daub of the whitewash brush. Then contentions arose; one party urged their superior rank; an­ other obtained possession of the brush and valiantly held it against all comers; a third tried to upset the tub in his ea­ gerness to get some of the precious cosmetic. At last, to quiet the hubbub, more whitewash was made, and in a week not a hut, a domestic utensil, a war-club, or a garment but was as white as snow; not an inhabitant but had a skin painted with grotesque de­ signs; not a pig that was not whitened; and the mothers might bo seen in every direction capering joyously and yelling with delight at the superior beauty of their whitewashed babies.--Montreal Gossij). , ^ A Very Common Devil Fish. A poor, but honest, editor was fish­ ing on a pass, in a free boat, off the Florida coast. Hh laid his line aside for a moment, while he took out his note book to jot down a few Surging Thoughts. Suddenly an octopus, with arms thirty feet long, reached up over the side of the boat and eripped him with three of it's long, terrible, clinging arms. A cry of horror rose from all the crew, but the editor wrote calmly on. The octopus reached up two more arms and took a firmer grip, and began to pull. Every man on deck fainted, but tho editor sat perfectly still and calmly wrote on. When the crew re­ covered consciousness, tho astonished sailors saw the exarperated octopus slowly sinking into the ocean depths, with five strained and disabled arms hanging limp and helpless, while the editor was just raising his eyes from his note book. "Bless me!" he said, "where am I? Oh, yes. I seel Did anybody touch my shoulder? I de­ clare. I thought I was back in tl}e old sanctum, with old 'Veritas' on one side, and 'Constant Reader' on the other, holding me fast while they toid me how to run the fourth ward caucus, and what the city council ought to do in the matter of the Oak Street sewer. Ha; I must have been dreamiDg." And he calmly went on with his Thoughts.--Burdette, in Brooklyn Eagle. •_ k Straightening Up a Chimney. It was discovered on examination not long ago that a chimney eighty feet high at a machine shop at Holyoke, Mass., was about forty-two inches out of perpendicular. The method em­ ployed in righting was quite simple. A harness was located under the cor­ nice, and two others below the first. Two lever jackscrews were placed un­ der the gerders of one of the harness on one side and six jackscrews simi­ larly on the other side. The earth was then loosened aboat the chimney on the opposite side from that of its in­ clination and water poured in, after which the jackscrews were turned gradually, and the earth again loosened and dampened with the hose. After this process had been several timgs re­ peated the earth was puddled, and the whole stands now properly righted.-- Exchange, The Sarbarou* and Cruel Work of a Horde of Banditti. We discovered that this horde of banditti was under the leadership of several chiefs, but principally under Karema and Kiburuga. They had started sixtecii months previously from Wane-Kirundu, about thirty miles be­ low Vinya Njara. For eleveD months the band had been raiding successfully between the Congo and the Lubiranzi, on the left bank. They had then un­ dertaken to perform the same cruel work between the Biyere and Wane- Kirundu. On looking at my map I find th it such a territory within the area described would cover 16,200 square miles on the left and 10,500 on the right bank, equal to 84,500 square miles--just 2,000 square miles greater than Ireland--inhabited by about 1,000,000 people. I was permitted in the afternoon to see the human har­ vest they had gathered--rows »upon rows of dark nakedness, relieved here and there by the white dresses of the captors. There are lines or groups of naked forms, upright, standing, or moving about listlessly. There are countless naked children, many more infants, and occasionally a drove of ab­ solutely naked old women bending over a basket of fuel or bananas, who are driven through the moving group by two or three musketeers. I observe that mostly all are fettered; youths with iron rings around their necks, 'through which a chain, like one of our boat-anchor chains, is rove, securing the captives by .twenties. Children over ten are secured by three copper rings, the mothers by shorter chains, around whom their respective progeny of infants are grouped, hiding the cruel iron links that full in loops or festoons over their mother's beasts. After real­ izing the extent and depth of tlie mis­ ery presented to me, I walked about in a kind of a dream, wherein I saw through the darkness of the night the stealthy forms of the murderers creep-? ing toward the doomed town,"' its in­ mates all asleep, when suddenly flash the light of brandished torches, tho sleeping town is involved in flames, while volleys of musketry lay low the frightened and astonished people. The slave traders admit that they have only 2,300 captives in this fold, yet they have raided through the length and breadth of a country larger than Ire­ land, bearing lire and spreading car­ nage with lead and iron; 118 villages and forty-three districts have been wasted, out of which is only educed this Foant profit of 2,300 females and children and about 2,000 tusks of ivory. To obtain these 2,300 slaves they must have shot a round number of 2,500 people, while 1,300 more died by the wayside through scant provisions and -the intensity of their hopeless wretcli- ness.-^Stanley's Book on»the Congo Cauntry ' The Genesis of Fashion-Plates. In these plates every line is charged with meaning. The carriage of the head and arms, the way of holding fans or parasols is that of well-bred de­ moiselles or ladies. The lissome waists, the shapely necks and compact hair- dressing, belong to the well-born class who follow the lashious abroad, and it is as much a pleasure to study the groups and expressions as any pictorial story by Willems or Madrayo. Turn the page in the same number, and Ber­ lin is apparent in the stiffer, more care­ less figures and outre inventions of dress which seek novelty rather than grace. The drawing is poorer, the faces those of the German shop-giria or low-class women who dress for oc­ casions, who lay the hand to view on the bodice or hold it up with first and little fingers out to improve the shape, who wear preposterous petticoats gath­ ered all around the belt, or Marguerite costumes with girdles that Bpoil the waist, broad bands of trimmingt which cu&$> the whole figure, or cor-' sages of the pretty milliner style. En­ glish-drawn figures are from seven to thirteen feet high in proportion, drawn by pupils of the schools of design, who make half a guinea by copying cos­ tumes mounted on wire stands, adding laces and accessories of their own fancy. The faces foolish, with big, dark eyes, like opera girls, and vicious temper under linos of dove-like meek­ ness, suggesting the younger sister or impatient shop-girls who tried on the cloak and dress for models. The draw­ ing grows worfe and worse, till it is a mere shadeless outline, less offen­ sive than tho meanly-sketched figures which toll of ill-placed economy in the fashion-sheets, which are, as a rule, conducted on the principle of paying littlo for illustrations and nothing for contributions*--and show it, too. In this country tho fashion journal, which appears on tinted and hot-pressed paper, with contents of every feminine interest from Abraham's wife down, presents its readers with costume fig­ ures of impossibly bad drawing, heads set at right angles with the neck, wooden shoulders, patent grin, and amputated hands with three fingers apiece. How £an they be better, drawn as they are by a 11-year old boy from one of the central drawing classes, who is glad to earn fifty cents to $1.25 an hour at such work. The " wretched work passed off in the most pretentious papers is enough to afflict the nerves of the eye permanently, while tho poorest ought to be prohibited by law. of mental blindness to outer circum­ stances. A further advance along the line of intellectual degeneration is seen in the persistence of vivid ideas, commonly anticipations of evil of some kind, which have no basis in external reality,, Johnson's dislike to particular alleys in his London walks, and Mme. de Steal's bizarre, idea that she would' suffer from cold when buried, may be taken as examples of the painful de*- lusions or ideesfrxes. A more serious stage of such delusions is seen in the case of Pascal, who is said to have been haunted by the fear of a gulf yawning just in front of him; which sometimes became so overmastering that he had to be fastened by a chain to keep him from leaping forward.-^ The Nineteenth Century. / CARRYING THE MATT*, The Postmaster General's Annn l̂ Be# : t port of the Operations of Hit { ,r „\*(,. * - Department. .J- •» J v 1' Espeniltores and Revenues--The trorersy with the Steamship « Companies. The Finer Kinds of Woods. Mr. John Hawks, the European buyer who makes annual trips to 1&- rope, and to Mexico and San Domingo, came into the office, and, in speaking of mahogany, said: "That's the great wood. It is sold by the ton of forty cubic feet Most European woods are sold by gross weight--that is, by the pound, such as French walnut, rose­ wood, and boxwood, used by engravers and the type foundry, tulip coea-bola from Brazil." "Where do you purchase these woods?" "Mostly in Marseilles. There are Armenian and Turkish merchants there who deal in the woOds. Talk about strict business men! Why, I went to an Armenian merchant's office one day to pa^F him $27,000 in cash. Had the money in my pocket. I had a the unit 'of cigar in my mouth, and he said : 'Ne ]>ermitte* pas defdiner ici* (you can't smoke here, sir)," "Ain't those Armenians a stupid set?" . "Stupid, heathen stupid, no, sir; they are sharp, keen traders. Why, look here," and going out into the lum­ ber-yard he pointed out a pile of sev­ eral hundred chnnkB or knots of French walnut. They would weigh from 300 pounds to a ton, and work­ men Were engaged in chipping off the rough edges. "There's $20,000 worth of walnut burls; you'd think they were old stumps, but they are not; they are excrescences, and grow on the outside of the trunk from the roots to the branches. The natives chop them out and haul them in with camels. Some­ times accidents happen; going down a steep declivity the knots get in a hurry and come a booming, and down "go camel, knots, and all; generally the camel is killed. Well, how to tell you how smart these heathens are. If they find a rotten place in one of the logs they'll scoop it carefully out, fill it up with rocks, neatly cover over a piece of the wood and smear camel's ordure all over it, and fetch it into market, and have the unblushing effrontery to charge, 30 or 40 ceuts a pound, rock and all." "What's this wood used for?" "On account of its brightness and brilliant contrast of color it sets off our black walunt, and makes the fig­ ures more pronounoed. The wood has only been used -in the United States about fourteen years, and has entirely superseded the use of- our walnut crotches in furniture manuracture These burls are steamed and run through a cutting machine, which pares them off into thin layers, perhaps one- twelfth of an inch in thickness, and, being capable of high polish, are much used in the finer grades of veneering." --Cincinnati Enquir*er. Mental Disturbance. The lowest grade of mental disturb­ ance is set>n in that temporary appear­ ance of irrationality which comes from an extreme state of "abstraction" or absence of mind. To the vulgar all in­ tense preoccupation with ideas, by calling off the attention from outer things and giving a dream-like appear­ ance to the mental state, is apt to ap­ pear symptomatic of "queerness" in the head. But in order that it may find a place among distinctly abnormal features this absence of mind must at­ tain a certain depth and persistence. The ancient story of Archimedes and the amusing anecdotes of Newton s fits, if authentic, might be said perhaps to illustrate the border line between a normal and an abnormal condition of mind. A more distinctly pathological case is that of Beethoven, who cOnld not be made to understand why his standing in bis night attire at an open window should attract the irreverent notice of the street boys. For in this case we have a temporary incapacity to perceive exterior objects and their relations; and a deeper incapacity of a like nature clearly shows itself in poor J ohnson's standing before the town clock vainly trying to make out the hour. The pame aloofness of mind from the external world betrays itself in many of the eccentric habits at­ tributed to men and women of genius. His inconvenient habit of suddenlv breaking out with scraps of the Lord's Prayer in a fashionable assembly marks a distinctly dangerous drifting away of the inner life from the firm anchor­ age of external fact. In the cases just •euaidered ve have to do with a kind A Good Yoong Man. For soibe years past the driver of ft milk wagon, with a route in the eastern part of the city, has been engaged to a girl living at home on Sixteenth street. The marriage day has been set two or three times, but something has occurred to prevent a fullfillment. The girl probably got discouraged, and the first thing the milkman knew ho heard a re­ port that she was to be married. He traced this report to an authentic source, and further learned that she was to step ~off last night. Such treachery filled his soul with frenzy, and he armed himself with a revolver- as long as his arm, and put in an ap­ pearance at the house just as the in­ vited guests began to assemble. The object of his wrathy affections met him in the coolest manner, Baying: "Well, it isn't my fault. I waited for you three years." "But why didn't you send me word that you were going to be married?" "Oh, I hadn't time. You have no idea how busy I have been." "But this must be stopped--it shall be stopped 1" "Please don't^-my head aches," said the girl. "I tell you I'll kill somebody," he shouted. "Well, wait till after supper--come, don't be so noisy." Her father came into to the room just then and took the revolver away from the young man, and then threatened to thrash him if he didn't shake hands with the groom. When he had done this he had to stand by and see the girl married, and to afterwards eat supper with the others. The more beer he swallowed the more of a philosopher ho became. In going home he was picked up by an officer, and in Court yesterday he said to the Judge: » "I kissed the bride, shook hands with the bridegroom and lent 'em my horse to go on a bridal tour. If that don't show that I'm a good mai you may send me lip for a year."--Detroit Free Pres.*. Hotels in America. The ruling idea in America is that whatever the guest can possibly want is to be ready waiting for him at all hours of the day or night. From (5 o'clock in the morning till bed-time he can eat. Be it breakfast, lunch, dinner, or supper, there will be somthing on the table. In order to post his letters or to buy a paper or to telephone to a friend or to Send a message he has only to walk into the main hall. For a wash, a shave, boot-cleaning, liair-dressing, or the relief of his corns he has merely to sit down on i' chair, and the appro­ priate artist will be at his side in a minute. They all understand their business, whatever it may be, and no time or labor is wasted in explanations. The guest knows beforehand his own share of the program--what he will have to eat, where ho will have to sleep, and to a cent what he will have to pay. In the best-managed hotels on our own side of the Atlantic the element of strangeness and uncertainty has not yet been altogether eliminated. A per­ son never knows exactly what" may happen to him; how he may be treated, or what he may be charged even at a house which he frequents habitually But the American hotel sets your mind at rest forthwith. For so many dollars ^per day you are free of the hou?e and all its privileges, which, apart from the eating and sleeping, are very considera- bla--Blackwood?* Magazine. The annual report of the Postmaster * General shows that the total revenue of Postoffice Department during the last fiscal year was $42,560,843, and the total expendi- . tures $49,602,188, leaving a cash deficiency of $7,041,345, or, with the amount credited Pacific Railroads, a total deficiency of $8,381,571. This difference is due, first, to the decrease of the revenves, which amounte in total only to $2,947,848; and, secondly, to an increase of the expenditures to the "extent of $6,466,955, of which . 439 have been in the cash disbursements and $424,516 in the cost of transportaticlii upon the Pacific Railroads. Chiefly tlte decrease of revenue has resulted from the diminishment in the rate of letter postage from 3 to 2 cents upon the half-ounce, which was the unit of weight dar- . ing the period, while the increase - of expenditures has arisen princi­ pally from the natural increase of mails to be carried and the natural extension of the service, although other cases have con­ tributed something to both effects. It is thought.that a return of business prosper­ ity will secure a surplus during the ensuing year. " The principal results of the increase of * weigHt of first-class matter, from a half-ounce to an ounce, are a gen­ eral increase in the use of the mails, some . decrease of the proportion of letters weigh­ ing less than a half-ounce, a striking in­ crease of those weighing more than a half- ounce, and some tendency to mail, more than formerly, sealed parcels instead of unsealed. The loss of revenue for the year from this cause is estimated at $800,- 000. The reduction of the rate from 3 cents to 1 cent per pound on second- class matter 6trikes off one-half the revenne from this source, and, so far, there is no in­ dication of any marked increase in the quantity of ̂ such matter to coibpensate the loss. The special delivery system has met with public favor, and, the Postmaster General says, probably should be extended to all offices and to all kinds of mail matter. It is suggested that postmasters and their clerks at small offices be authorized to de­ liver such letters. The breach between the department and the American steamship lines is taken up. After citing the provisions of the act of March 3, 18S5, which authorize the Post­ master General to enter into contracts for the transportation of foreign mails, after legal advertisement, with the lowest re­ sponsible bidder, at a rate not exceeding 50 cents a nautical mile on tho trip each way actually traveled between the terminal points, provided that the mails so contract­ ed should be carried on American steam­ ships, and that the aggregate of such con­ tracts should not exceed one-half the sum of $800,000 appropriated, the report shows that only the routes between New York and Havana and between San Francisco and Japan and China an navigated by more than one Ameri­ can -"Company; and, therefore, it was idle to advertise for a competition which could not be had. The report shows the difficulty of adopting the many plans sug­ gested for securing legitimate competition for the carrying of the mails. The Post­ master General did not consider the adop­ tion of the mileage contract plan compul­ sory, and declined to make such contracts during the recess of Congress. It was thought best to send the mails by the swift* est ships covering the desired routes- using sometimes the vessels of one line and sometimes of another, as they were avail­ able. It was held by the department, after thorough investigation, that the rate of sea postage, 4J cents per pound for papers and 43J cents per pound for letters, was a proper remuneration for the service of carryingjthe mails, but the desirability of showigg' the friendliness of the Government to Ameri­ can lines was deemed sufficient warrant for extending to them the full inland and sea rate. The Postmaster General says that, in declining to make yearly contracts, he does not render a decision as to the policy of subsidizing American steamship companies. He says: Much has been said about employing the postal appropriation to nul American commerce. \Vhon Congress shall desire to invest the Post* office L>< partiuent with care for that object it can not be doubted it will easily chtxiso lan­ guage which will plainly convey the purpose and impose the duty. Until then, that depart­ ment can not rightfully employ the moneys ap­ propriated for the jK>8tal service to secure ob­ jects not intrusted to its care, however meri­ torious in themselves. It may bo' properly further observed of this that during many years the practice of granting pecuniary aid to American lines was pursued at so great a cost and to so little advantage that it was long ainiie wholly abandoned; that, when followed. Congress had directed it, and if that body designed its renewal, presumably it would again have declared the purpose. The steamship companies running to the south and to Asia rejected the offer of sea and inland postage, and after Aug. 1 refused to carry mails except to foreign countries with whien they had contracts. This caused much annoy­ ance to tho department, but very littlo incon­ venience to the public. Between New York and Havana the service is stated now to be three times a week instead of two, as formerly, and within a short time it is expected to be "lessened in time to about sev­ enty-four hours, a gain of a day and a half over the time of steamers. The Australian mail has not been specially interrupted, and a new company has undertaken the service under contract with New Zealand for three yt>arn. Some delays and inconveniences have arisen between New York and Colon, San Francisco and Japan and China, and to the west coast Ot Mexico, by the refusal of the Pacific Mail Com­ pany, anil some between New York and Vene­ zuela !>v the like action of the Red D Company. Except these, all the foreign mails are trans-, ported either in the same manner or a better than during the last year. Early action by Congress Is very desirable to provide such means as it shall deem appropri­ ate to relieve the inconvenience sustained on the routes indicated. The department reoog- nizqp its obligation to the business men of the country, who have forborne complaint, with bat few exceptions, rather than manifest a willing­ ness to see the Government compelled to a course which, upon carcful consideration, bad been decided inexpedient and unwise to be pur­ sued. They are entitled to the earliest practi­ cable relief which can be given. The revenue for the next fiscal year is es­ timated at $47.o00,(K>0, and the expendi­ tures are estimated at §55.000,000. Of the 178 cities where the carrier system is in operation, only seventeen realized more local postage than the expense of the service. The surplus at New York was $1,131,500. at Chicago $154,000, at Phife- delphia $2i)2,000. V NICARAGUA CANAL. Engineer Menocal's Report Upon the posed l>itch. The report of Civil Engineer Menocal, U. S. N., upon the Xiearaguan Canal route, recently surveyed by a party of whidl he was the head, is an interesting docu­ ment. The expedition sailed from New York Dec. 20. 1NM4, and arrived at the scene of operations JlbS5. The proposed route extends from the harbor of Grey town, on the Caribbean Sea, to Brito» on the Pacific. Its total length is lbH.8 miles, of which ovS.'.'S miles will be exca­ vated canal, and 130.82 miles navigation by Lake Nicaragua, the river San Juan, the basin of the river San Francisco, and seven locks. Lake Nicaragua is about ninety miles long and forty v ide, and will be connected with the 'Pacific by a canal and with the Atlantic by slack- water navigation in the river San Juan, by a short section of caual* from the" river Sail Jnan to the basin, of the river San Francisco, by the slack- water navigation through the basin and by n canal thence to the Caribbean Sea. The report describes minutely the engineering features of the three divisions into whicfc it has been cut. ^