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J. VAN SLVKC. EMrai AMislMr. McHENRY, ILLINOIS. 4. MAN in Nova Scotia is preparing to tow to New York next summer a inanaoth raft of logs, spars and sawed lumber, aggregating about 3,000,000 feet. Its length will be 410 feet, its width 55, and its thickness 35 feet. It • is pointed at bow and stern; and cost #20,000. - A PESSBILTANU woman raised a iamily of twenty-four boys. Thirteen were in the Union army and one in the ^Confederate. Eleven out of the thir­ teen were killed on the field of battle, and the one in the Confederate army lias not been heard from. Two out of the thirteen returned home, and one of them has applied for a pension. AN official in the Indian Bureau gives figures to show that the future mill­ ionaires will be Indians. They are de- easing in number at the rate of five *>r six thousand a year. The lands they <>cciipy are increasing in value, and •when only a few thousand Indians re­ main, he says, it is natural to suppose they will be very rich. Judging from the past, it ia very natural to suppose that the longer the Indian Uvea the "worse off he will be: . I'- THE mask which base-ball catchers '•siow wear was the invention of Fred Thayer. He was training the Harvard nine, in the winter of '76 and '77, when Hnrrold Ernst, one Of the fastest of pitchers, was on the nine. Jim Tviig,who caught, said he would not stand behind ..the bat unless he could get some sort of protection for his face. The result was that Thayer fixed up a sort of cage, •Which has gradually become the im­ proved mask of to-day. A WASHINGTON correspondent writes ' that tlie false teeth that are responsible lor the peculiar expression seen in the portraits of George Washington are in the Baltimore College of Dentistry. The lower plate is carved out of one piece of ivory, teeth and all. The upper plate was carved from ivory, as near like a plaster-cast of the mouth as possi­ ble, and the teeth, also of ivory, were riveted on. The upper plate split after it had been worn awhile, and the pieces were fastened together by two thin <strips of iron riveted to the plate. THERE is a woman in the Chicago postoffice whose employment is to cor­ rect misdirected letters. Her brain is a business directory of the United States, and she knows where to locate every firm of any sort of promiuence. If a clerk calls out a misdirected letter, as "Smith, Jones & Co., Chicago," she will very often indicate the correct ad­ dress, as Louisville. Milwaukee, or Springfield, Massachusetts, without taking her attention from the work she is engaged in. During her term of Service some 200,000 misdirected letters tiave been saved from the dead-letter office. DR. JOHN BROOKS, who died recently in Samoa, Missouri, left the following directions concerning his burial: "Place me in a square oak box, dressed plain Inside and out, without staining, var­ nish, or cover; no lining; make a pallet of my blankets in the bottom of my box; no pillow; lay me ou my right side, with one hand under the side of my face, the other hand folded on my breast, with my knees drawn up as if I was sleeping, but no shoes; cover me with a white sheet folded back from luy shoulders just as I would fold it in my sleep; my grave to be walled with brick and bricked over the top to keep out the rain." VIENNA papers publish a letter from Suakim which states that the monu­ ment is now completed that has been erected to the Mahdi by his successor, Sheik Abdullah. It is outside Omdnr- nmn, the town opposite Khart oum, on the sppt where the Mahdi's tent stood, and. where he i:; buried. The monument is in the form of a round tower, about fourteen feet in diameter, built of stones and bricks. The wall is whitewashed on tho outside, and an inscription is painted on it in large black letters sot- ! ting out that the "Embassador of God" rests !>eneath. Within the tower is the grave, on which the Mahdi's sword and silver helmet are placed. Four der- visliers watch continuously by the grave, reciting prayers. MARTIN IRONS is 52 years old, a wid­ ower, and the father of two living chil­ dren, a boy of 9 years and a girl of 7. was born in Dundee, Scotland, and when 8 years old Accompanied his par­ ents to New York, where they settled, jmd where the family have since lived. Young Irons was given by his father a common-school education, and began work as apprentice in a machine shop When he was 16 years old. When he was 18 he left his home and went to Jfew Orleans, where he remained until ,1856, when he moved to Hannibal, Mis­ souri. He was married ten years ago, *tind shortly afterwards removed to •JBedalia, where he joined the Knights of X»abor, and was by the order elevated .to the rank he now holds, district snaster workman of Assembly 101, which includes between 8,000 and 10,000 mem­ bers. UTICA OR Y.) News: For the past few weeks two large eagles have been noticed by farmers diving five miles north of Little Falls, and last Friday lone of them created a great excitement iiy endeavoring to carry off a 5-year-old laou of Joseph Davis, who lives near the old Strow tavern, two miles from there, .on the old Ritter road, in the town of •Mnnheim. Mr. Davis and a hired man r^jwere engaged in building and repairing fences, when they were suddenly .(alarmed by a frantic appral for help by jthe little boy, who had wandered a short *|listance away from where they were at work. The men looked in the direction from whenc? the voice emanated, and were startled in discovering that a mam­ moth eagle, measuring about seven feet from tip to tip, was viciously tugging at the child's garments in order to get a. good hold, so that the child cbuld be carried into the forest and made its prey. The men came to the rescue of the boy and fought the eagle off with clubs. They were so excited that no effort was made to capture the bird. THE card-loving class ha T a new game, which bids fair to pin progressive Eu­ chre to the wall, says an exchange. It is decidedly the jolliest game of cards yet invented. It is called "Hearts," and was brought from New York a few- weeks ago. "Hearts" is somewhat sim­ ilar to whist, except that the essential element of the game is to have no hearts left in your hand or in the tricks that you may have captured at the conclu­ sion of the game. The cards are dealt as in whist; suit must l>e followed. There is no trump--the idea of each player being to get rid of all the hearts he may have and avoid l>eing compelled to take in any of his neighbors. In the effort to do this consists the fun. Any whist player can see how easy he can be loaded up with his neighbor's hearts if he have long suits of other cards or high cards of any kind. At the conclu­ sion of the playing the player who has been saddled with the fewest hearts rakos ih the pot, which is a chip for each heart--or thirteen in all. One beauty of the game is that, unlike whist, one can chatter and talk, and the dreadful struggle to avoid capturing hearts leads to no end of merriment. The game of "Hearts" will soon be a craze---es­ pecially among the ladies, for whom it lias great fascination. , ""Hyr----- HENRY M. HOXIE, Tide President and General Manager of the Missouri Pacific Railway system, who has been brought into great pronynce before th> country during the strike on that net­ work of railways, has had an interesting career. He was a poor boy in Polk County, Iowa, at the time when immi­ gration was pouring into that State. He became the hostler of a country hotel and thus became acquainted with many prominent men who stopped at the es­ tablishment on their Western way. At tho time of the outbreak of the war he had grown to manhood and had entered local politics. Somewhere in 1864-5 he became Chairman of the Iowa State Central Committee and managed his State so successful ly, rolling up majori­ ties approximating 50,000, that he was made a United States Marshal as are- ward. Just aftey the reconstruction he removed to Palestine, Texas, and there became connected with the manage­ ment of the International Railroad. He soon showed that he had in him the qualities of a great railroad manager. When Mr. Gould bought up a large numl>er of the railroads of the South­ west and had consolidated them under the general name of the Wabash sys­ tem, Mr. Hoxie was cliosan Vic 3 Pres­ ident and made his headquarters at St. Louis. He is a shrewd, quick-witted man,, of few words, but prompt in deci­ sion and action when he has once made up his mind. Pleasures of Self-Satisfied Beauty. Happv is the person who has sound reason for satisfaction with his or her own personal appearance. I once hoard Samuel J. Tilden say, in jocose but half-earnest self-condemnation for ever having gone into politics, that pertly men were the- only ones suitable for statefiuiausliip. What lie meant was that personal influence, especially among politicians, depended consider­ ably on an imposing physique. A poli­ tician lias to be all the smarter when he is small. It is undoubtedly true that a man often chooses his pursuit in life, with direct reference to his being able to look it. The lean, lank,* and sallow fellow is apt to become a poet: the chap with an uncommonly straight nose goes to West Point if he tan; the possessor of a sober, honest face gets into a bank, the sorrowful visage sends its owner into the ministry, and. so on. The most interesting study of self-complacency and perfect certainty arising from a know-tliyself kind of knowledge is af­ forded by the New York society belle who chances to be beautiful. Gilbert has a habit of making the sopranos in his operas assert their own loveliness placidly. It win so with Patience and Yuni-Yum, and the examples seem to have been potent, for I have observed that our social beauties are hardly less openly conscious of their charms than their professional sisters. It was one of the almost perfect creatures at a Patri­ arch's ball to whom a rapt and some­ what bewildered beau remarked: "You are quite the loveliest girl here-- you are, indeed you are." "But have you looked around thor­ oughly?" she calmly inquired. "Oh, yes; I've seen every woman in the house, and I assure you that you're by far the most beautiful." "Then Miss hasn't come," the belle said in a casual manner that outdid Yum-Yum's declaration that she is the most attractive girl in all the world: "there's nobody else in society with whom I am comparable." How can any pretty girl help finding out her comeliness when persons reflect it as quickly as mirrors do ? At every step she sees admiration expressed in glances, and hears it in some form of words. Why shouldn't she accept the unanimous opinion ? When sh? treads on the mass of gout and rheumatism that an old curmudgeon calls his foot, and sees him grab up the agonized thing, she does not fly from his impend­ ing wrath, for she knows that she can face it out with the fair visage that nature has given to her. "Blest if you ain't the only one in the house that could l»e so infei nally careless and awkward," he raged; and then he looked up at her, his grimace became a distorted sort of grim smile, and he apologetically added, "without getting damned for it." This was simply one more victory of matter over mind.-- New York letter. , Ax Eastern paper has fo? i|« niotty "The pen is mightier than the »w6i\l, but the scissors are easier to ha-idle." Solomon didn't get away with «U the wisdom.--Chicago Ledger. BEADED grenadines will be in favor for summer wear; some of the de.'dgUF are very elaborate. BWABV8 IN CBNTEAL AMERICA. Bwl--a em-- That Tiutl()r f# Tk«lr Foracr Kxistenoe. Stories about diminutive people are found in many countries, not as of real beings, but shadows that come and go and are called by various names, such as fairy, fay. elf, pixie, etc. Nowhere are such little people more talked about than in some parts of Central America,, notably in British Honduras and Yuca­ tan, where people little more than four feet high are very numerous even at the present time. Whenever the natives are questioned about the ancient tem­ ples found in their country they say "The pigmies built them," and although no importance is generally attached to that*answer it is a strange fact that on the east coast of Yucatan, as well as on the adjacent islands, there are whole cities, in ruinous condition, of houses that could not possibly have served for people more than three feet high. I have measured many of these houses, which are strongly constructed of hewn stone, writes a correspondent to the New York Tribune, and found the doorways not more than three feet high and eighteen inclie wide, while my head nearly. touched the ceilings of the largest rcoms. No one can dissuade the natives from the idea that the ghosts of these diminutive people roam about at night. They say: "But we do see them; thev are no lugger than a child 4 years old, and they wear big hats. They throw stones at us, shake our hammocks, and hammer on the bench when we grind corn. " -- It is affirmed that very diminutive people still dwell among the hills in Honduras and Guatemala, but no one seems able to put liis fingers upon them, which would lead to the belief that if there are any still living, as so many as­ sert. they must be very few, and suc­ cessful in hiding. Nevertheless, it is credibly related that one day in the year 1825 some woodcutters, wandering along the banks of the Mono River in British Honduras, in search of mahog­ any trees, were startled upon reaching a place called Meditation Fall by a strange little being that suddenly emerged from the bush, stared wildly at them, then turned to flee. The men pursued, overtook, and brought the odd creature to their camp. It was a dark- skinned girl, not quite three feet tall, and with no other covering than her hair, which fell in thick black masses to lier feet, completely covering her. She was very wild, but not stupid, and find­ ing that no harm was done to her, she talked to the woodcutters in the Maya tongue, that they also spoke, that being the language of the Indians in those parts. As the weather was cool, oue of the men gave her a red flannel shirt, which clothed her from head to foot. For a day or two she refused to eat, but afterward seemed contented. She said her people were all the same size as herself, and that they were then living near Meditation Fall, where they had planted a corn-field, but that they gen­ erally dwelt three or four miles away in a deep valley. After she had been in camp about ten days some of the men proposed to go and see her people. She manifested delight and ottered to guide them to the spot. Reaching the place where they first met her she led them into the forest, then made a motion for them stop and be silent. A hubbub of voices, as of many people talking, reached their ears, and the girl whis­ pered to them that she would go and announce their coming, as otherwise her people would run away and hide on hearing footsteps. Away she went and soon not a sound was heard. The men waited patiently, but their diminutive guide did not return. Convinced that she had very cunningly eluded them, they went forward, and in. two minutes found themselves in a cornjfield. There were embers iu two or three places, and small piles of corn, as if prepared for transportation. The ground was much trodden, but no living creature was in sight. They searched in vain, and re­ mained some time in the field, hoping that the owners would return for the corn but they never saw tl\e girl again, nor any of her people. < )ne of ul>se very woodmen gave nie this account, and similar stories have-been told by others; but all such stories might be doubted were it not for the cities of diminutive houses, which any traveler may examine for himself. Tlie Pen. Probably there is nothing in such ex­ tensive use, to-day, as the pen, unless it is the bad language which ac­ companies its use. I am afraid to state the number of million pens which are manufactured every year, lest some­ body should accuse me of being a blood relation of Eli Perkins; and if this story should once get abroad, my repu­ tation would be ruined. The pen has now been in use a .num­ ber of years, and has l>ecome quite an antiquity. In fact it has long been an indespensible little instrument tr> some persons, and for lovers' use nlone is well worth the price of admission, There are some objections, to bn sure, which might be urged against the pen. In the first place, there is the ink. I do not believe that there is a genuine and actual black ink in existance. If there is, I shall be happy to send a postal card for a sample bottle. Every ink that I ever used has been terribly, frightened at something--possibly at the impetuosity of my language when it first began to flow from the pen. I 'have got so that when I see "jet black" or "raven black" on a bottle it fairly sets me to raven. I can't write with disli-water--please don't ask me to. There are some inks called "writing fluids," which are warranted to be green when distributed upon the paper and afterward to turn to a "deep per­ manent black." This is true, to a cer­ tain extent. I once kept some of this green landscape-garden for four mortal days, to see the great chemical trans­ formation take place. On the fifth day the writing did change to a deep and permanent black. I threw it into the fire. Pens are of two kinds, those that wear out and those that don't. The latter aro made of gold, and the only objection to them is that it is almost im- posssible to lose one of them. I have known a person to pay $4 for a gold pen and keep it as long as three weeks. Steel pens do not last as long as this, but they are more expensive in the end. The expensive end is the one you write with. It commonly lasts until it strikes a soft place in the paper. ' Two hundred steel pens a week is a fair allowance for a man of economical habits. A per­ son whose tastes were more exorbitant would buy better paper and get along with fewer pens. have often wondered why the pen was composed of two nibs. I asked a man. the other day, and he said it was to allow for breakage. When one nib breaks, you' liave the other one to fall bock on. My theory is that the pen-makero put in two nibs to increase breakage. It se^ms to me that one good, stout nib would stand the strain words better than two. feeble of long ones. I mar be mistaken. I only throw out this theory by way of' sug­ gestion. I have used a pea--O, not exactly that--I bare used pens for about twenty-five years ruining. I presume that I have lost gold enough in that time to fill the upper incisors of a flock of sheep, or plate the sleeve-buttons of a colored dandy, and I certainly have contributed my share to the support of the steel-producing industries "of the country, but I have yet to find the pen which comes up to my kjeas of what a pen should be. I have tried all kinds, not omitting the stv'.>graphic pen, in the use of which I ruined a pair of lavendar:eolored p<^.*r and discovered four new forms of K* eecli not mentioned in the expurgated editions of Webster. On the whole, I have come to the con­ clusion that the pen is a fraud. What­ ever virtues we may have endued it with are the virtues of necessity. It is going to take a back seat within the next fifteen years. And after it has sat there for a little while the world will hear a very small sound, as though something dropped.--1'aul Faaittor, in Chicago Ledger. Penurious Royalty. Louis Philippe was mean In the sense the Americans attach to the word, and had no preceptiqn of any kind of grandeur. He cut down ruth­ lessly, to make money of them, trees in his parks which had weathered the storms of many hundred years. His meanness was the ruin of his dynasty. From St. Petersburg to Madrid and London to Athens thrift now reigns. There is hardly a sovereign who feels that the income allowed liini Jbythe nation over which he reigns i^tiot for him or her but for the dignity of the crown, and to act as a head-waiter on national industry. The czar and czarina themselves, colossal as their private fortune is, are intent on making it much greater. Stinginess i«r tradi­ tional in the House of Holienzollern; but their civil list allowances have been never great, and they shrink from no duty, however hard or irksome. They have public spirit in a high degree, and command resjiect. The late king of Sweden bequeathed his only daughter the largest fortune that was ever known of in Scandinavia, and it would have been counted a great one all the world over. His father was Bernadotte, the son of a Bernais lawyer of small provin­ cial practice. In Belgium the royal family is also a plutocratic one. Although Leopold I. was fleeced bv fair harpies in his old age, he left to each of his three chil­ dren about a million sterling. Yet M. Etienne Arago remembers when he had to go in debt for some French embroid­ ered muslin which li? bought to make presents to the sisters of his (in 1816) master, the Czar. Empress Elizabeth is prodigal, and thinks she can never spend enough on her stables and dog kennels: but the Emperor is anxious to swell his investments and the crown Prince and Princess pare cheese. In Italy the King saves to pay his father's debts, and nobody, therefore, com­ plains of his thrift. Ludwig of Bava­ ria is not of his time. His brother of Wurtemburg is not personally extrava- gant,f:like our James I, but is profuse through favorites. The one now domi­ nating him is an American, who suc­ ceeds au American. At Lisbon the King dowager has amassed so much as to be able to spend - millions of francs on his country house near Cintra, and iu furnishing it and the palace where he and his amiable wife" live in winter. Maria Pia, being passionately fond of dress, Dom Suis pinches in the stables and wherever else he can. He, how­ ever, only saves out of his income. His ministers plunder by means of frequent loaus, but he is not suspected of re­ ceiving a share of tlie hauls they thus periodically, make.--London Truth. Too Lively a Place For Hint. "Yes, I've been up to Chicago," said a passenger from way back in the country, "and I kin t^ll you it's a stir- riner place nor Jonesville. It made me dizzy to go through tlieni streets on an afternoim, an' a man hez to keep his eves open ef he don't want to be run into. Know how 'tis myself, 'cause one .clay I stopped to look at suthin' or 'nutlier on Madison street, when I was knocked down an' walked on." "By a horse?" "No, but by pedestrians on the side­ walk. Ef you step on them sidewalks ver a goner, sure's shootiu.' Notliin' goes slow in that town. Even the old people an' cripples git around faster'n I kin. Why, only yesterday I wanted to cross some street or other. Before startin' I locked up an' down to see what was comin'. liout a block away was several kerridges comin', but I thought I had lots of time, an' so I started. When I'd got 'bout half way across I heard a yell an' then I jumped, an' wliizzen' by me went a peculiar lookin' vehicle with a man up on top of it drivin'. It went by so fast that it mighty near took mv breath away, an' as soon as I could gather a little wind I asked the p'lece- nian on the corner what it was that had gone by. " 'Is it a fire ?' says I. " 'Fire!' says lie. 'I should say not. Ef it had been a fire engine it is takin' yez to the morgue I'd now be. An' I've a moind to pull ye in. anyhow, fer bad manners an gettin' right in front of a dacent funeral.'" "That disgusted me with Chicago, an' I lit out fer home by the next train. It's too stirrin'a pla?e for me."--Chi­ cago Herald. Wealth of Principal Nation*. The subjoined is the estimate given in Mulhall's "Dictionary of Statistics." It is only an approximation, of course, but probably is as near the correct frnth as such approximations ever are: Argentine Republic. #1,6T«0,0 >0,000 Australia. -r......... 4,950,0;)(),000 Au.-tria I8.OGO.OOfl.OOJ Bel (j mm". 4.03J,003-000 Canada 3.25J.OUO.OOO Penmark ' 1,830,000,00 i France .. "40.300, 'W0.003 Germany 31.61").OJO.O.K) Greece i 1.055,000.000 Great Britain and Ireland...... .... 43,600,000,000 Holland '. 4 935.00;\000 Italv 12 755,1)00.0)0 Mexico 3,19J,0X1,'10 1 Norway. ........... l,41t\00 ',0u0 Portugal 1.855.000.00 Spain. 7,'J(<5,0:!0.000 Sweden -•• 3,475.000,1 00 Switzerland.... 1 630.0 JO. c00 United States 47,475.000,000 The Artful Kentnckian. A good storv is told of a Kentuckian who was fond of fine whiskey and always kept his jug. He it was that said: "I never saw any mean whiskey. Some is better, but all is good." One night when lie had company at his house he was observed to take 6ut one guest at a time and treat him to a choice swig. Returning, he would fake another out. When asked about this lie said: "Why, by drinking with them singly I get half of my whiskey myself. See?"--Atlanta Constitution. J6HH HEOWITS NEPHEW. r.aai j JhtMM In- m N«w Char-- twin itaitP' llfMint Tlr|inl«n> - Mr. Larry Jerome- in coming ov«»r from Now York one day found himseft next to a young man from Virginia, who turned Out to be as inquisitive as he was fresh. Seeing that his companion pined for information with an appetite truly omnivorous. Jerome squared him­ self for a howling time. He lured the inquiring Virginian into the smoking compartment, and by the use of various arts whereof he is- master, launched him ni a raging sea of inter­ rogation. Having discovered that the youth was from Virginia and saturated with the peculiar ideas of Ma. section, Jerome tired his boom: "I'm going to Richmond.* "Yon are. Why I'm from " "My uncle.* said Jerome, "was once quite prominent in connection with Virginia. I don't talk about it much, because I still feel sore. I'm trying to get over the passions and wounds of the war, you know--terrible thing; the war, wasn't it ?'* "Yes, terrible. But what "I'm doing it, though. , I'm getting so I can travel through West Virgiuia without wanting to kill the leading citizens. The bloody chasm is almost bridged. If it were not for my uncle I shouldn't feel so queer about going to Richmond. I'm rather afraid of my­ self, though. My uncle, you see--" "Who waa your nncle?" said; the Virgianian, beside himself ,witli curiositv. "Oh, I didn't tell you? Why, John Brown was my uncle." "John Brown! You don't mean--". "I mean the sainted martyr, Jonn Brown, who was hnug at Charleston-- hung by a set of bloody outlaws. Why, when I think of that infamous butchery." shrieked Jerome, waving his arms wildly about and making his eves pro- tude, "I want to wallow in Virginia blood. I feel as though the sacrifice of the Mayor and City Council ot Rich­ mond wouldn't take off the edge of my furv. Yes, sir, I do." 1 "Sir," bawled the Virginian, as thec train shot into a Baltimore tunnell, "I am a Virgianian. You insult me. You insult my State." Then the train shot into the open, disclosing the youth, flushed, excited, ready to fight the whole veteran corps and trembling all over with passion. "Sit down, sit down," said Larry sad­ ly, pulling the reluctant youth* back into his seat. "That's all over with me. Can't you let a stricken nephew grieve over his martyred uncle ? I'm too old for fighting. I talk--that's all." The Virgianian sat down ratlier gingerly, looking at Jerome with doubt­ ful eyes, as he went on pensively: "You ought to have seen me when I was with my regiment in '02. I loved the battle. If I've killed one rebel I've killed a hundred. Always with my sword, sir--always. Those fellows all. wore their hair very long, didn't they'? It always amused me to see thinr heads lying around where I had been, and all that absurd hair tousled about. Did you ever notice it? No; I supjiose you must have been too young." "It wouldn't have amused me any­ how," said the Virginian stiffly. "Wouldn't it, indeed! How odd! Now, I always laugh oil consumedly at our fellows who got killed. You know I commanded a regiment of Vermonters. George Edmunds--he's a Senator now, but he was oue of my lieutenants then. Gallant fellow, George was! Too much dash--too reckless you know, wanted to kill rebels all the time. I used to argue with him, but it was «o good. He wouldn't'take time to sleep. Just wore himself out. I never expected to see him go through. He was shot right through and through once with grape. That's what gave him that red nose-- really disfigured the poor fellow, I declare. But, as I was saying, I used to laugh at our fellows when they got killed. Heartless sort of thing to do; I couldn't help myself. You have heard--ever been to Vermont? No? Then you don't know, but you may have heard, what big feet Vermonters have. Well," my fellows had such big feet that they couldn't fall down. When they were shot they would die standing, and then we'd have to go round after the rebels had run away and push the boys over with poles, liefore we could bury 'em. Funniest thing you ever saw. Hello! Here we are in Washing­ ton. Very glad to have met you. See you in Richmond?" And Jerome bustled out of the car, leaving the Virgianian speechless, and the colored porter doubled up in con­ vulsions on the floor of tho pantry.-- Washington Letter. Use for Russian Mulberries. When the Mennonites first brought the Russian mulberry trees t:> this coun­ try, or rather when enterprising nur­ serymen first obtained them, they were recommended for almost everything. It was stated that the wood was excel­ lent for posts, fuel, and timber; that the leaves were eaten by silkworms, and that the fruit was very desirable for eating, either raw or cooked. All these claims have been denied, but a correspondent of a Kansas City paper says: The famous Russian mulberry tree has not proved to be a fraud, at least as a poultry-food producer. The mulberries are excell^Jit food for fowls; and the abundance of tne fruit supplied for fully four months in a season from a single tree is simply remarkable. Every poultry breeder and grower should plant a small mullierry grove as a poul­ try-yard. It will be found of much ad­ vantage in saving other food. The cheapest way and the surest way to ob­ tain the best quality of mulberry trees is to procure select seed of the "Tartar- icar" of the Russian variety. The tree will flourish in any latitude in which poultry can be produced. The trees yield fruit very young--even the second year from the seed may begin to bear, so that there can be no fault found on account of time required to wait. Tho seed should be planted Jin spring in proper corn-planting season, and the trees transplanted into grove the suc­ ceeding fall or spring. A Mother's Sacrifice. "Now, Eliza, listen to xpe and pay at­ tention, for on these few words may de­ pend your future happiness." "Yes, ma." "When Henry comes this evening and you pass him tl e pie watch his caunten- ance closely." "Yes, ina." "If he trembles with joy ask him how ho likes your cookery. But if he shud­ ders just mention casually that your mother always attends to tlie pastry." "Oh, ma, how kind of you!" "Don't motion iV He will hate me, but when I live with you after marriage all will be explained."--Philadelphia Cail * OIL lamps are much more fashiona­ ble than gas for suites of rooms and for (esthetic parlors. wafiE-woftKEis; JL Sttrang OmnanA fop Eight fitow*?" Work, a Day, Backed Up by, jSarvew ^ Brief History of th* MoTement Ffcom the'mass of telegraphic dtopafoli£» to the metropolitan press on the morning of the 1st of May we glean the following summary of the industrial and labor situ- ation at that riafe: At Chicago the eight- hour agitation had resulted in closing alL the furniture audi box factories and in the suspension of work at most of the iron, and brass shops. The great army of meat-pack- ers threatened to strike for shorter hours. 1 Workmen in the lumber yards <le- demanded the eight-hour concession and double pay for e-xtra work. Freight-han- dlers at the Chicago* Burlington and Quincy and Chicago and Alto® freight houses struck work in consequence of a re­ fusal of the companies to adopt the eight- hour system. The workmen in different manufacturing establishments had either- struck or were threatening strikes on the same gronnd. The demands made by la- l)orers were not uniform, nor were the* an­ swers of employers to the propositions of the employes. The Furniture Manufacturers' Association at (Jrand Rapids, Mich., de­ cided to refuse the demand for a reduction of hours of labor to eight accompanied by a 10 per cent, advance in wages. It was de­ ckled to treat with employes only as indi­ viduals. The Woodbiirn-Sarken Wheel Company, of Indianapolis the largest establishment of the kind in the country, re­ fuses to pay ten hours' wages for eight hours' work. The (>.000 miners and labor­ ers in the Clearfield( Pa. ) region were ordered to stop work if the scale adopted by the Co­ lumbus (Ohio) < ouvention was not signed. The army of idle men at Milwaukee has created apprehensions lest an outbreak should result, aud arrangements had l>een made to swear in seveial hundred special policemen. A New York dispatch of the 1st inst. says: An extend?il inquiry by liradstreet'x as to tho details of the imitation liy labor nnionri gener­ ally to secure the adoption of the- eight-hour day shows that the unions have already Rained some ground and that the members will strike if necessary in large numbers to fnforeo the desired rule. Tho 35,000 anthracite miners in Kastern Pennsylvania demand the eight-hour rnle and threaten to strike. Tliey would do so to-day were they sure of the Lu­ zerne and Lackawanna region men, where the organization ia not as perfect as elsewhere. Missionary work ia^being done at the north to the end that the demand may be enforced. From Chicago word comes that a careful canvas reveals 62,000 members of various trades who will strike if the demand for eitrht hours is not granted, including !ir>,0;X) packing-yards employes. As­ sociated foimdryinen and metal-workers in Now York and vicinity to the number of 20,000 prom­ ise trouble if nine hours aro not granted theni as a full day's wi rk. At Baltimore, Milw aukee, Chicago, and Detroit tli«>iv is promised a very general demand for the eight-hour day. and ill the event of its refusal strikes will follow. It is noticeable that the furniture, wood-workers, and building trades unions are those most Erominent, as a class, in the demand for fewer ours of work per day. At St. I.ouis, Louisville, and Philadelphia concessions have been made by manufacturers, and in a number of instances compromises ha\;e been made at nine hours daily at ten hour^w afjes. In most all direc­ tions it is reported that many manufacturer* will make concessions if it comes to tho ques­ tion of a strike. There were to-day over six thousand men striking for eight hours per dty, two-thirds of whom were at Chicago and Mil­ waukee, There are records of the eiglit-hou : day having been granted to at least thirty-two thousand workmen, two-thirds of the total being at Chicago, and one-half of the remainder at Ixtuisvillo and Philadelphia. There aro also twenty-five thousand workmen at Chicago who have asked for eight hours por day, without as yet threatening a strike, fifteen thousand at New York City, and ten thousand scattering. Excluding the six thousand men now striking for eight hours, there are reported to be one hundred and Ave thousand men, exclusive of many at Baltimore and Milwaukee not enumer­ ated. who will promptly strike if tho request is not granted. This total includes the :15,000 anthracite miners, the 50,000 mentioned at Chi­ cago, and 0.0 >0 at New York, but does not cover the '20,000 metal-workers in the vicinity of New York who demand nine hours. At least 12.000 skilled workmen throughout the smaller indus­ trial cities in Pennsylvania have asked for eight hours, and will compromise on nine hours per day At many points the subject" has not be­ come actively prominent, notably at Pittsburgh, where so much of the werk ia jiioci -xvork. not dependent on hours of labor, and ivt W'heelingh W. Va. In such lines at Pittsburgh as the de­ mand has been made, thero lias been a com­ promise of nine hours. There is apparently very general demand for reduced hours of "daily labor among trades unions. It is probable that tho larger proportion of the employes' demands will be settled by compromise or mutual concessions. In others, to a significant degree, the demand for eight hours with ton hours' wages will be pressod with strikes. The nine-hour compromises have generally been passed on ten hours' wages, amounting to an advance of 10 per cent, in pay. Active r< sistance is promised by many manu­ facturers to pay '20 por cent advanced wages, or ten hours' pay for eight hours' work. In brief lirmlstnvt's reports 105,000 men who will strike-- 85,000 for eight hours and '20,000 for nine hours--6,000 men now on strike for efght hours, and that eight hours have boen granted 3'2.i 03 employes at various j oints. Thero are additionally 75,000 men who have asked for the eiglit-hour rule, but who have not stated they will strike. At leading centers alone it is prob­ able that over 2*25,000 Industrial employes are actively interest, d in the movement. & History of the Klght-Hour Movement. It is difficult to fix an exact time at which the eight-hour movement can be said to have begun. Previous to 1H5U twelve hours constituted a day's work. In that year the working hours were decreased to ten. and, generally speaking, have remained un­ changed up to the present. The eight-hour day was established in Australia thirty years ngo, and one day in each year--April 21--is celebrated in t om- Inemoration of the event--just as it is pro­ posed to celebrate May 1 in this country hereafter for a like reason. The eiglit-hour movement in this country received its first noticeable impetus just after the war of the rebellion, and a million and a half of men, mustered out of the army, were throwu upon the labor market, overstocking it to a distressful degree. Eight-hour leagues were formed throughout the country with the avowed purpose of securing a decrease of working hours, in order that there might be a corresponding increase in the number of laborers, thus affording the idle sol­ diers an opportunity of earning a living. In 18f»6 a labor convention was held in Baltimore, at which delegates were present from all parts of the United States. It pro­ nounced in favor of au eight-hour working day. Very little was said concerning any change in current wages. The stone-cutters" craft was the only one which, at that time, aecured the eight-hour day. The agitation of the movement has con­ tinued more or less actively ever siuce. Now labor is organized as it never was before, and the Knights of Labor, trades nnioDS, Central Labor Union, Socialists, and all the other organizations are unitedly in favor of an eight-hour day. Some are in favor of that, pure and simple, and believe it un­ wise to connect with it any attempt to in­ crease or equalize wages. Knights of Labor Inactive. George Rodgers, a prominent Chicago Knight of Labor, said in a recent interview: "As an organization the Knights of Labor has never taken any official action on the eight-hour question. Mr. Powderly, who is at the head ot our order, said in his address that, as an order, the Knights had nothing to do with the eight-hour movement. He said th'it where labor was strong enough to ask and to got eight hours it was a good thing, but that the movement should never e made the pretens i for a strike by tht> Knights of Labor as an organization. He also argued that tho dtmand should be ina'.le uj«->u the ground of humanity, and that eight hours' pay was enough for eight hours' work. •We have no connection whataver with the Central Labor Union, and have no delegates in that bodv. We do have delegate* in the Trades Assembly. , "This movement first originated in the Fed­ eration of Trades in September, 1884. I was , President of the Trades Assembly at that time. Tho Federated Trades had dtleyat -s from nearly all the known labor unions in the oountry. The Trades Assembly here appointed a regubir eight-hour com- mUtse, and I waa a member for some timo. Wo advocated eight hours" work for eight hours' wages, and so formulated the appeal which we sent out. Now the demand for eight hours is incumbered by oth«r claims that really do not belong to this movement. The advocates of the eight-hour aystem arj vary much em­ barrassed in that way. " ILLINOIS STATE XSIfa v| --The German. Methodist* of Sltio Mound hare decided to build a $4,000 chnrch. --The Bev. A. M.. Alcott. of Kalamazoo, Mich., has accepted a call from the Uni- versalist C'huroh of Elgin. -- An insurance agent secured »ast» Car from a Pike Counfy farmer, "raised" to $80, sold it for $72, and then quietly de­ parted- --A,high wind swept through Plymouth recently, tearing down trees and houses in a path from fifty to one hundred and fifty feet wide. --Two cousins,, of Mount Olive, fought a duel with fists because both were fond of the same girl. The girl has now cut the entire family. w ---lames Mooce, a Chicago burglar con­ fined in the penitentiary at <?etiet. crushed the skull of William Baab with a hammer, as they were nbont quitting work ia the harness shop The victim is the nan who throttled Frank Raade, and received fronw Governor Hamilton a commutation of sen­ tence. ^ --David Botta and Miss S. Botts, of XV- „ sotum, were- married by a Justice of the Peace. The bride is a school-girl, and was granted a holiday by her teacher in order that she might get married. The parents of the young couple were not invited to the wedding. --A young man named Gilbert Bullock died recently in Fountain Green Township, near Carthage, with what is supposed to have been glanders. He had been caring for a diseased horse, which is now known to have had the glauders, and was himself taken with a disease very similar to gland- , ers in horses. After lingering a week or ten days, he died. Considerable excite­ ment prevails in the neighborhood for fear the disease may spread. --A wealthy gentleman of Latham, and an ex- Baptist minister, was recently fined . $100 for selling liquor at retail withdut pay­ ing the special tax thereon. His son is the' keeper of a saloon, and the ex- divine took some of the best liquor it con­ tained to his own house to treat his friends when they called. During the time the liquor was at his house some one desired to purchase a small quantity, and in selling it = the ex-divine laid himself liable. --Champaign has an aged man who has not voted for twenty-five years until at the recent city election. The nam? of this cu­ riosity is Mark Cook, and he is now in his 110th year, having been '«orn Sept. 17, 1780, in Chatham County, North Caroliha. He used to see George Washington fee- * qnently, and was a soldier under General Jackson in the war of 1812. He lost his property in Missouri during the rebellion, and is now eking out an existance by re­ seating chairs. His first wife lias been dead over seventy years, and his second is 82 years of age. Five of the twelve chil­ dren born to him are yel alive. The old man's form is still erect, his eyesight good, and his movements sprightly. --An old bell used in the South Danville school-house has been voted by the Board of Education of that city to the Presby­ terian Society on condition that the mem- bets replace it with one as good. This bell was brought to Illinois by Enoch Kings­ bury, a missionary from New England, about the year 1834. He bnilt a little church in Danville and placed the bell upon it, having procured the bell from the wreck of a vessel in long Island Sound. The ves­ sel lay in such a position that the waves tolled the bell. This was the first church bell brought into the Wabash Valley. In the early days its ringing had a peculiar fas­ cination for a dog belonging to Levin T. Palmer, of Danville. Whenever the bell was lung this dog would run across the in­ tervening corn-field to the church and would lie down near the pulpit, remaining motionless during the entire serviees. He kept up this practice for years. -- Twenty-six Senators--being those from the odd-nujpbered districts--to retire this year, and their successors will be chosen in November next. One Senator from an even numbered district,the Thirty- second, is also to be elected to fill the va­ cancy caused by the death of William B. Galbreath, of Coles County. The Senators who retire this year are as follows, b; dis­ tricts, in numerical order: No. N'time. County. Pol. 1. George K. White... .Cook ;..Rep. 3. .loUn H. dough Cook .....»,,Rep. 5. \\\ H. linger .Cook ...Te;). 7. W. J. Campbell C.iok liep. \V. K. Masc n Cook .llejx 11. Thonu.s Cloonun Ccoi .,l>em. 1:1. M. 1). Hen ley Cootc ..Dfin. 15. K. B. Shnmwttv Will .V.V..... Hem. 17. Lymau H. Hay Grundy............h p. ID. Wm. C. Snvder Fulton.... ,.;Kcp. 21. H. A. Ainsworth Kcck Island. Hep. •23. J. W. Duncan LaSalle ......Rem. 'J.i. L. 1>. Whiting .Bureau.. .........Rep, 27. Henry Tubbs Warren ........Hep. •£). Jason Rogers Mac.m. .......Rep, 31. Henry Van Sellar.. .Edgar ........Heo, 33. K. N. Rineliart Effingham ...Peru. :iii. Maurice Kelly Adams ........Deiu. 37. R.'tert S. Pavis Greene ........rem. 39. I.. K Hamilton 8an^amon..TI P«m. 41. 1>. B. (iillham Madison, .....Peni. 41. T. E. Merritt Marion »,...,.Pem. 45. W. H. McNary Clark ..;.,....:.Pem. 47. Henry Seiter St. Clair.iDem. 49. Win. "S. Morris Pope Rep. 51. Daniel Hogan Pulaski B p. Of these, fourteen are Republicans and twelve are Democrats. --Prof. S. A. Forbes, of the University of Illinois, at Champaign, has visited the farm of John Wilson, near Mount Palatine, in Putnam County, to examine into the ravages of white ants. He found that the buildings on Mr. Wilson's farm had been almost destroyed by these insects. The ants are of a species seldom found in this country, but closely resembling the white ants of India. The insects first attacked » the walls of an outdoor cellar, honeycomb­ ing the wood to such a degree that the sides and the roof fell in by their own weight. The auts do not like the light, and worked on the inside of the wood, where they could scarcely be detected. They left merely a thin shell of wood where they had worked. Going to the house of Mr. Wilson, they gnawed away the interior of the sills, the studding, the door and window casings, the rafters and shingles* They next hol­ lowed out the sills of the granary, and weakened other parts of it so much that the floor fell, in. The cellar was completely ruined, arid the house and granary will have to be torn down and rebuilt. The ants have been at work iu these buildings four or five years. Prof. Forbes thinks they were taken* thero iu.old 'timber. He ad- viseu Mr. Wilson to destroy the timber* which the ants had gnawed, and to saturate the remaining ones with g<u*oiiue. Prof, Forbes advises railroad m*b to look out for theso pests, as they sometimes attack bridges aud culverts. •MM -g