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c§eat{j flamdealer tv. • I. VAN SLYKE, BMarMtifaMMicr. McHENRY, ILLINOI& "No MARRIED man wonted" is the way aomo New York merchants now put it •when they advertise for clerks. They pay such low wages that they reason a married man must steal from the store, or his family must go hungry and ragged. JULES VEBXK, who was shot by his crazy nephew, is almost wholly recov­ ered. The famous novelist is about 53 years of age, his hair is turning white, and his once supple and elegant figure is beginning to give way to a comfort­ able rotundity, but his intelligent face i« still full of youthful ardor. He has liis own yacht and spends maeh of his time at sea. V ij*- , ADVICES from Richmond, Va., are to the effect that the tobacco crop of 1886 is estimated to weigh out only a half crop; that only one-fourfh of that has color. The good tobacco of the new <Jrop is selling higher than new tobacco has sold since 1875. For the rest of the crop, frosted and frog-eyed, the plant­ ers are receiving only or 4 cents a pound. This, in a nutshell, says the correspondent, is about the condition of the market for the 1886 crop, and it is certain that Virginia and North Caro­ lina will have a greatly reduced average. REBECCA, the 16-year-old daughter of the Rev. Dr. John R. Paxton, the pas­ tor of the Forty-second Street Presby­ terian Church, New York, had been suffering from curvature of the spine, and on the recommendation of the fam­ ily physician an apparatus with loops to go under the chin, and pulleys and braees were put up in the house. With the aid of her maid servant Miss Pax- ton daily exercised on this machine. One night, after leaving her father down stairs, she attempted to go through the exercise unassisted. One of the ropes accidentally slipped from the chin to the throat and strangled her to death. • BEFORE Merlatti completed his fifty days fast, several sentimental ladies of Paris addressed a letter to Merlatti's father in Italy asking him to exercise his parental authority to dissuade his son from continuing his work of self- destruction. Signor Merlatti, Sr., re­ plied as follows: "My son, that fool, is no longer a suckling, and I am no •wet nurse who can force naughty cliil- * dren to eat. If the art of painting is so unprofitable that a man devoted to it must have recourse to such tricks in order to make a living, then per dio, I don't regret a single one of the whip­ pings I gave my boy years ago on ac­ count of his dream of becoming an artist." CHICAGO consumes 100,000,000 gallons of water daily, but recently has had trouble getting it. The water is pumped from a crib tit the lake, but recently the ice formation in the lake having broken against the sides of the crib, was drawn into the gates, and impeded the free flow . of water. The ice has to be re­ moved before water can run with its wonted gurgle, and for the purpose of keeping the gates clear, a tug is sent to the crib. After mooring the craft, her -wheel is put in motion, and the action dislodges the masses of ice and causes them to float "wide." As long as the lake was frozen over in places there would be difficulty about the water. If Ijake Michigan would freeze quietly and solidly there would be no trouble. Two tugs hired by the city at $895 per month, are engaged in keeping the crib gates clear of ice. . AN admirer said to Frank James in St. Louis: "Frank, ain't you afraid some of the Minnesota detectives will kidnap you out of this State?" "No; I am willing to go up there and stand trial, hut you can bet I'll never be kid­ naped." James will not talk much about old times, but it is well known that he was not on good terms with Jesse at the time the latter was assas­ sinated. The proposition of Jesse to kill Jim Younger on the retreat from Northfield, because Jim was wounded and left a trail of blood, alienated all the Youngers and also his brother Frank. . Cole, so it is said, came near killing Jesse on the spot. The Youngers and Frank are still good friends, and the latter speaks of Cole Younger as one of the greatest leaders and bravest fighters of the war. Speaking of the many risks of capture he took while being hnnted James said: "Every time a good actor came to any of the cities near where I was under cover I in­ variably went to see him, and bought the best seat in the house, too. I have seen Booth a dozen times, Adams, Cushman, McCulloi^h, Forrest, Jeffer­ son, Keene, Clara Morris, Matilda Heron, and all the old timers. I saw them chiefly in Southern cities. I didn't see Bernhardt as Bhe only played in the yery large cities." /* JPHE privilege of talking with a^RO* mafa 111 years old is not to be expected Xoften in a lifetime, writes a Vienna cor­ respondent of the London Times, and one must therefore value such an inter­ view as I had this afternoon with Mag­ dalene Ponza, the oldest of the Em­ peror Francis Joseph's subjects, who entered her 112th year on Christmas Eve. She was born at Wittingau, Bo­ hemia, in 1775, when Maria Theresa sat on the Austrian throne. George IIL Itad then been but fifteen years king of England, Louis XVL "who had ruled a little more than a twelvemonth in Prance, was still in the heydey of power, the independence of the United States of America had not yet been de­ clared. Napoleon and Arthur Welles- ley were as yet but six years old. Mag­ dalene Ponza retains full possession of her mental faculties. Unfortunately she can only speak the Czech language, tad abe aoithgr w* write. •er, she answers questions briskly enough through the youngest of her surviving grandchildren, herself a wo­ man of 60. Magdalene Ponza's age ii authenticated by the outdoor-relief cer­ tificate of the Viennese municipality, which, with magnificent generosity, al­ lows her 4 florins and 40 kreutzers-- about 6s. 6d.--a month, The venter- able dame lost the last of her teeth thirty years ago, but she has an ex­ cellent appetite, eats meats minced, drinks a little beer daily, and hobbles about her room without much difficulty with the help of a stick. Sixty years of her life were spent in her native village, more than thifty years in an­ other village, and she was past 90 when she came to Vienna, seventeen years ago. All the doctors who have seen her pronounce hers to be one of the most extraordinary cases of longevity on record, fpr she complains of no ail­ ments beyond a slight asthma. Her worn face, with its countless wrinkles, does however, look preternaturally old. NEWARK physicians are watching with great interest the recovery of Alfred J. Shipley. He-submitted to the appli­ cation of galvano-cautery late in No­ vember for the removal of a cancer which involved nearly one-half of the right side of his tongue, and is now convalescent, and is prevented from exercising his vocal powers to their full extent only by restrictions put upon him by his medical advisers. He «an articulate plainly, but he is warned not to speak except when speech is abso­ lutely necessary. On July 1 Mr. Ship­ ley first noticed a pain on the left side of the root of his tongue, but he did not worry about it till the pain became excruciating "find he encountered diffi­ culty in swallowing. Then he called in his family physician, Dr. Milton Baldwin, who remarked: "Iguess you are a Grant man," and told him that the trouble was caused *>J a cancer known as epithelioma. Dr. Baldwin took the patient to' the German Hos­ pital, where a consultation was held, and cutting out the cancer was pro­ nounced to be a dangerous operation. Mr. Shipley was sent home. Dr. Bald­ win then laid the case before the New­ ark Medical Association, and it was suggested that the cancer might be re­ moved successfully by galvano-cautery. It was resolved to try this plan, and on November 23 Mr. Shipley was placed under the influence of chloroform at his house, and in the presence of nine physicians the operation was per­ formed. A needle threaded with silk was passed through the tongue, and that member was drawn out of the mouth as far as possible. Then the base of the cancer was encircled with a loop of fine platinum wire, which was held in place by pins thrust through the cancerous growth. When every­ thing was ready a current from a power­ ful battery was sent through the plat­ inum wire, heating it to incandescence. For an instant the interior of the pa* tient's mouth glowed with white light. Then the loop was drawn forward, and the glowing wire cut rapidly through th% base of the cancerous growth, leaving a bloodless wound in its track. The caucer when removed was as thick and as long as a man's thumb. Two days afterward Mr. Shipley was able to sit in a chair and take liquid food with comfort. Ss *r • fimm m . . „ > ' : PAMiHl.lt MANUtBS TO UR. John Boyle, O'Reilly's Career. John Boyle O'Reilly, the poet and novelist, was born in Dowth Castle, Ireland, and entered the English army, the 10th Hussars, Valentine Baker's crack regiment, in his eighteenth year for the purpose of propagating Fenian- ism. Col. Baker, on hearing of his arrest and court-martial, exclaimed: "O'Reilly has ruined the l>est regiment in the British army." O'Reilly was condemned to be shot, but on account of his youth, partly, the sentence was commuted to banishment to Western Australia On the convict ship O'Reilly started a paper called the Wild Goose, and edited it all the way out for his brother convicts. Having escaped from the bush, he started across the Indian Ocean in a rowboat, without a bite to eat or a drop to drink, and for three days and nights had not only to fight hunger and thirst but the sharks that charged on his frail craft. Picked up by a Yankee whaling-captain from New Bedford, O'Reilly's surrender was de­ manded by a British sea captain at the Cape, South Africa. The Yankee cap­ tain hid O'Reilly in his cabin, threw a grindstone and O'Reilly's hat overboard, and then swore that the Irish rebel had jumped into the water and committed suicide. The British officers on search, having heard the "plump," believed the story, and the Yankee captain gave O'Reilly 100 guineas to sail to the United States. Shortly after his arrival in the United States O'Reilly refunded the money, and published his first volume of poems: "Songs from the Southern Seas," dedicated to the Yankee whaling- captain, and the volume was brought into his room two honrs after the cap­ tain had died from yellow fever in the West India Islands. On learning this Mr. O'Reilly wrote a graceful and pathetic article on the old captain, en­ titled : "A Tribute Paid Too Late."-- The Interior. An Aged Manuscript. In a Museum.--Jackson--And what is this that is attracting so much atten­ tion ?" Billings--A manuscript three hun­ dred years old. Jackson--It will be likely to appear now pretty soon, I presume. Billings--Appear? I do not under­ stand you. Jackson--You say the manuscript is three hundred years old ? Billings--I said so, yes. Jackson--Well, if it be that old, it must have been accepted by some prominent magazine immediately after it was written, which, you must know, encourages us to expect its publication some time during the present decade. It will doubtless appear as a comment on a current topic, or perhaps it is a new joke. It is astonishing what a thirst those magazines have for humor. Why, my dear sir, they go so far as to print very serious matter under the head of humorous. An aged manu­ script, I must say. It will doubtless lie extensively copied." --1- Arkansaw Traveler. THE worst of crosses is never to have A Business for tout Men Whs lUreo't Anything Better to Do. [Philadelphia Pnn.[ "Anything for me?" One of the ad­ vertising clerks in the business office ofa big daily paper glanced at the initials on a card which the inquirer showed him, and passed three letters across the counter. The person to whom they were addressed, a blonde young man with a small, well-trimmed mustache, close-cropped whiskers just under his ears, and a last year's mus­ tard-colored boxcoat, opened the first letter, grinned, and showed it to a friend. "It's deuced funny--to them," he said. "Half the answers are guys. Read this." It ran: Please forward by express sample lot of your "passable manners." SALLY. "Let's see your advertisements again." said the friend. The other produced it, and it read: --• Young man of passable appearance and man­ ners is willing to escort respectable ladies to places of amusement evenings. Address L. B. M., office. "Your ad. isn't big enough," said the friend. Perhaps that is why the yonng man talked so openly when a reporter struck him. "The business isn't as good yet as it ought to be," he said, "but I struck an engagement of five performances out of seven last week. One stayed through and paid me $3. ^Tlie others were to take and call for'^jand paid $1.50 apiece. Of course I couldn't live on that I'm a card writer by profession." "Where did the ladies come from ?" Two of them were staying at hotels. One was from Lancaster, and another from a place down in Maryland. * Each one, I suppose had come to the city for a week of shopping and mild dissipa Jiou, and knew no other way to take in the theater. Two others were young girls who lived, one with a widowed mother and one with a maiden aunt The other is an old lady on North Fif­ teenth street, wL% is passionately fond of the theater,,and has nobody to take her. I have made a regular weekly en< gagement with her." • "What's your mode of procedure?" "If they want me, they write me to call. I go in the afternoon, show my references, which are good, and make arrangements as to whether they want a carriage or not, for instance, and whether I shall wear evening dress, in which case I charge $1 extra. Then in the evening I appear, send up my card, and no one knows, 1 think, that I am not wasting my own money in taking my affianced, my mother, or my wife, as the case may be, to the play, and, by jove, I don't myself sometimes." "You mean then--" "Nothing, nothing," said the young man, giving a slight curl to his left whiskerlet. "Still, you'd be surprised, sir, to know how much even a hired es cort is to some women. 'Pon my word, they hang on my arm--I don't mean all of them--wlion we cross the gutters, and they chatter--I really believe they're a good deal more interested in keeping up the make-believe that I am. In fact, I am quite certain that the Lan­ caster woman--she ordereil me a dress suit, by the way--has formed her idea of a city society man from my make-up. But you mustn't say anything about that.' It would injure the business "You spoke of staying through some performances and merely talking to and calling for others. Can you make two engagements in a night?" " 'Places of amusement,' my advertise­ ment reads," answered the hired es­ cort. "There are a great many amusements besides the theater--lectures, concerts and tableaux. Most of these are out an hour before the theaters close. In Boston, where there are so many old maids, you know, and yet such a large amusement-loving population, I almost always bad two engagements a night." "You have lately come from there?" The hired escort sighed. "I have," he said. "Would that I could have staved there." "Ah!" "Yes; I took a young lady three times to the museum. Tlje third time--well her father was an invalid. I am very glad he was. If he had possessed his full vigor I do not think I would have been able to do what I did--that is to M#.n ' Communism in Practice. It is generally thought that Socialism is an untried experiment in this country, and this supposed mystery invests it with a fascination which exerts a strong influence upon the minds of discon­ tented persons. But it is not an un­ tested theory of life. There are sev­ eral communes in the United States-- one at Mount Lebanon, in New-York, another at Sliakertown, in Kentucky, and others in other States. Thirty odd years ago there was one at Cheltenham, near St. Louis, established by M. Cal>et,an intelligent French Communist. But it was shortlived. After a few years-of trial it proved unsatisfactory and the property was sold out. The establishments at Mount Lebanon, N. Y., and Sliakertown, Ky., have been maintained for fifty years or more, and show no signs of going to pieces. They are thrifty communities, devoted chiefly to agriculture, garden culture, the grow­ ing of seeds, the canning of fruits and the simpler kinds of manufacturing, Both are in the hands of Shakers who wera practical Socialists before Henry George was heard of. They hold all property in common; there is no indi­ vidual ownership; no person is a pro­ prietor; no one owns the land he culti vates, nor the crop he raises on it, nor the product of his own handicraft. All things go into a common fund, and all wants are supplied out of this fund. The strong and weak, the old and feeble and the young and virtuous are on the same level. All thing belong to the association, which is a real govern­ ment ; and when a member leaves he takes nothing with him. Here, then, are examples of perfect communes, far more perfect and well- ordered than even the Socialistic agitators dare to hope for. Yet the Socialists and Communists do not even seek to multiply them in the land, as they have a right to do. A thousand such communities may be established without let or liinderance nnder our laws. But this is not done. Why? Because the commune is not adopted to masses of men. They are tame and peaceful pictures of repose, well suited to the old, broken-spirited and unambitious, who are weary of the world and anxious to retire from it; but thev have no at­ tractions for the youthful, the enter­ prising and the ambitious. They are abodes of contentment for those who are contented yith little--and, per­ haps, they are very good places to study and practice philosophy in. But nine of every ten men in this country have an ambition to rise above the plane of mere contentment and better their con­ dition--and not a few seek to lift up others and better their condition, too-- and a lifeless and stagnant commune for such efforts. It be a good enough place for passive Asiatics, but not for restless Americans. --St Louis Republican. Beautifying the Skin. In the work on diseases of the skin edited by Professor von Ziemasen, Dr. Heinrich Auapitz, of Vienna, makes the following observations upon this Sub­ ject: A healthy integument is not neces­ sarily beautiful Even if all require­ ments concerning diet, residence, at­ mospheric, and climatic conditions, etc., are carried out, the complexion is often extremely bad. The general condition of health has no influence upon the beauty of the complexion, though it has upon the health of the skin. Cleanliness is a sine qua non of the beauty of the complexion, though it does not plav a great part in the health of the skin. Water is serviceable to the skin in only moderate amounts and at moder­ ate temperature. Very cold or warm baths, when used to excess, diminish the elasticity of the skin and its power of resistance to external irritants. Distilled and so-called soft water are more suitable for washing, and less irritating than hard water. The hard soda soaps are usually pre­ ferable to the soft potash soaps for toilet purposes. The quality of soaps depends upon the quality of their con­ stituents and the thoroughness of their saponification. Good soaps must not contain free alkali or any foreign irri­ tating substance. The addition of moderate quantities of perfumes does not materially change the quality. Simple, finely ground powders, such as starch, magnesia, etc., are entirely innocuous, and often act as useful pro­ tection against external irritants. Frequent application of alcohol abstracts the water of the skin, makes it dry and brittle, and impairs its nutri­ tion. This is also true of glycerine. All toilet washes containing alcohol to any considerable extent should be avoided. This is true to a still greater extent of other additions to washes, such as corrosive sublimate, mineral acids, cer­ tain metallic salts, etc. Camphor acts merely as a bleaching powder. This is also true of benzoic resin, sulphur flowers and substances containing tannic add. The use of sweet-smelling oils and fats should lie employed to a greater extent than is now done for toilet pur­ poses. This is particularly true with regard to the growth of the hair. The nutri­ tion of the scalp should be increased by the rational application of fat (for ex­ ample in the form of oil-l>aths by means of the application at night of a sponge soaked in oil upon tlie scalp) and the greater use of simple pomades. These should be applied to the roots of the hair rather than the shafts. Substances Bhould be avoided, or sparingly used, which abstract water from the skin and the roots of the hair. -SaujUiern California Practitioner. :ifg •igap f A*- v. POPULAR 8CEB5GB. Hotels tn Mexlee. There is a charm about the hotels, an air of substantial respectability, that belongs to age and has no affiliation whatever with those gorgeous estab­ lishments in American cities where the "stunning" clerk is autocrat supreme. The venerable stone walls that are adorned with dingy sculpture have settled into a character that solicits confidence and rejwae of mind, and the general homerUl%D|itobtrusiveneis of the inu soothes tmroltless soul. The time-worn and rather shabby old party who presides over the office is amiably interested in you, but he never becomes aggressive, and his attention is a passing affair. His habit of mind is illustrated by the reply given to the agent of an American excursion party, who applied for quarters at the hotel in what was the palace Of the evanescent Emperor Iturbide. "How much are your rooms a day?" asked the brisk American. "Four dollars," returned the clerk. "But I shall bring you eighty people," said the advance agent with confidence. "Four dollars and a half in that case," returned the serene old party of the second part; "that makes more trouble." The affectionate interest with which the philosophic miud must regard the eighteenth century poise of a landlord, who argue like that, was not shared by the wholesale applicant for rooms. The incident only intensified his relentless Americanism. But we have kept our old hotel-clerk waiting too long--not that ho minds it, for he has not turned a hair, and is counting the fiies that come and go in an unbusiness-like but truly Mexican style. He sees the traveler register, and calmly dispatches him by the hand of mozo up the flight of stone steps to where the guardian of the keys and letter-boxes reduces his trust by one, and then we toil up two more flights of stairs to a fine old room on the topmost of the circumscribing galleries. It is sunny and cheerful, and opens to a balcony over the interior court that is bridged by the blue sky. The view is pleasant, offering beneath a summer- house tropical vegetation and a fountain basin that is covered with green slime and suggests malaria. Thereafter, as one passes in and out of the hotel, the custodian of the key will smile and be unintelligibly cour teous in Spanish. But to the antique clerk below the guest became an estab­ lished fact when he chalked the name on a blackboard for public instruction, --Solomon R Griffin, in "Mexico of To-Day." Old Women's Whispers. If on 'going out of the house yon for­ get something you must under no cir­ cumstances turn back if you can possibly avoid it; if you do you must at any rate sit down a moment before going out again. If the first perscn you meet is an old woman it is a sign of coming misfor­ tune, while, on the contrary, a funeral procession denotes good fortune. Pigs io your left bring good luck; to your right the opposite; to avert which, grasp something made of steel and the spell will be broken. If on setting out on a journey you meet a sow with pigs your enterprise will be sure to be successful To meet two magpies portends mar­ riage ; three, a successful journey; four, unexpected good news. To see one magpie and then more ii unlucky; to kill one of these birds is irretrievable misfortune. It is also un­ lucky to kill a swallow. If your left hand itches you will take in money; if the right, you will pay it out. A ringing in the right ear means that some one is speaking well of you; in the left, you may be sure that evil tongues are bnsv with you. If your right eye itches you will see some beautiful sight; if the left, yon will have canse to shed tears. If your nose itches you will hear newa 5m m THE most powerful telescopes now in use magnify 2,000 times. As the moon is 240,000 miles from the earth, it is thus practically brought to within 120 miles, at which distance the snowy peaks of the several lunar mountains are distinctly visible to the naked eye. SOUNDINGS recently made in Crater Lake, Oregon, by Capt Dutton of the United States Geological Survey, show that itja the deepest body of fresh water on the continent. The lowest depth reached was 1996 feet, and it is believed that the greatest depth has not yet been sounded. To WASH lamp chimneys so they will not crack, place the chimneys in cold water, and then gradually heat until the boiling point is reached, then allow them to coo] slowly. By repeating this operation several times the glass will become thoroughly annealed, and no fear of cracking need be had. A^GERMAN engineer named Henkels has invented a ventilating window-pane which admits fresh air while preventing a draught. Each square metier of glass contains 5,000 holes, which are of a conical shape, widening toward the in­ side. The new device has already been adopted by many of the German hos­ pitals. THE "bird-spider" of tropical America has a body inches long. The circle of the tips of the legs has a diameter of seven inches. .It is so named because it builds its nest to capture small birds, lizards, and reptiles. The nests usually contain 1,500 to 2,000 eggs. There are about 100 species of this formidable creature. , VAST arid and almost rainless tracts in Australia, according to Mr. Joseph Bosisto, of Victoria, are thickly covered with a dwarf Eucalyptus, barely eight feet high. The stem of this shrub con­ tains half a pint of water, which bush- men quickly obtain, yet inexperienced travelers in these regions often die of thirst. A CURIOUS application has recently been made of electricity to condenso dust and fumes. If air filled with smoke is charged with electricity, the smoke at once flics to the sides of the containing vessel in a way that appears almost magical. In the same way, electricity will cause fine dusts, which are iu suspension, and which are often very difficult to remove from the air, to condense, or coagulate so as to be easily removable. THE particular office of flies appears to be the consumption of those dead and minnte animals whose decaying myriads would otherwise poison the air. It was a remark of Linnaeus that three flies could consume a dead horse sooner than a lion could. He doubt­ less included the families of the three flies. A single fly, the naturalist tells us, will sometimes produce 20,000 larvae, each of which, in a few days, may be the parent of another 20,000, and thus the descendants of three flies would soon devour an animal much larger than a horse. THE aroma of red cedar is fatal to house moths; the af&na of black wal­ nut leaves is fatal to fleas. It is a matter of common observation that persons engaged in the business of mak­ ing shingles from odoriferous cypress timber in malarial districts are rarely, if ever, affected by malarial diseases, and that persons engaged in distilling turpentino do not suffer from either malarial diseases or consumption. It is said that when oholera was epidemic in Memphis, Tenn., persons working in livery stables were entirely exempt from it. It is affirmed that since the destruction of the clove trees on the island of Ternate the colony has suf­ fered from epidemics unknown before; and in times when cholera has prevailed in London and Paris, those employed in the perfume factories have escaped itsravage?. Burning the Diamond. The ancients were as sure no dia­ monds could be burned as they were that none could be broken. Adanias, the indomitable, yielded neither to fire nor force. It was not until 1609 that De Boot suspected its inflammability, nor till 1673 that it was actually burned. In 1694 Aver ant and Targinei, of Ci- mento, at the instigation of Cosmo III., the Grand Duke of Florence burned the diamond in the focus of concen­ trated sun rays, where it was seen to crack, coruscate and finally disap­ pear. They had tried to learn the se­ cret of its composition, and, like a true martyr, it had perished unconfessed; it had burned itself out like a sun. Forty-four j'ears after the death of Newton (who guessed the diamond to be some "unctious body coagulated," perhaps the vegetable secretion of the banyan tree, better to shake than the Pagoda,) a magnificent diamond was burned, on July 26, 1771, in the labora­ tory of M. Macquer, and in the pres­ ence, among others, of a well-known Parisian jeweler, M. Le Blanc, who, notwithstanding what he had just seen, stood forward and declared the dia­ mond to be indestructible in the fur­ nace, for that he had often snbjected stones of his own to intense heat to rid them of blemishes, and that they had never suffered the slightest injury in the process. Thereupon the chemists, d'Arcet and Rouelle, demanded the ex­ periment should bo made before them on the spot, liapit in jus; clamor utrinque, undique concursus; with the result that poor Le Blanc, like the savant de village, fonnd himself, at the temperature that melts silver, minus one of the most precious of his stock in trade.---Corn hi 11 Magazine. ROUND THE W8RL0 ON WHEELS. ThrUiing Experience ef Tbina Ste­ vens, the Bicyclist, Throngh China. Pursued and Stoned by Howling Mobs * If Celestials, Fe Barely Escapes with His Lift. a tour of Europe and Asia on a bicycle, but was arrested and imprisoned nineteen days by the Afghans, and afterward conducted back to Persia, whence he continned his journey through China, has arrived in this city. Mr. Stevens, who started on his re­ markable tonr nearly three years ago, nar­ rates many thrilling experiences. He nar­ rowly escaped death at the hands of a Chi­ nese mob, and had many exciting adven­ ture*. He arrived in Shanghai on Nov. 18 Making a Settlement. "Yes, my friends told me they would settle the difficulty with Jones for me, but I thought I could settle it for my­ self." "And did you ?" "No; I didn't, though I tried to." '"Then it wasn't settled?" "Yes, it was." "Then your friends settled H'after aUr / '-.m- "No; they didn't." "Indeed! Then who settled it?"'! * "Jones did." "Satisfactorily?" "I suppose it was, M-'-fltfiB'StHte* was concerned." "Didn't you gain anythiqg by the set­ tlement?" "Oh, yes; I gained some experience." --Pittsburgh Dispatch. Electricity and the Inexplicable. Of the common notion that electricity plays an important part in the produc­ tion of earthquakes, Prof. Joseph Le Conte well says: "I never heard or read the slightest scientific proof of this theory. Electricity lias taken hold of the popular imagination, so that any inexplicable thing * is explained by 'electricity.' For example, vital force, nerve force, etc., are inexplicable, so many lay it to electrical force. So also with earthquakes--electricity is made the aga£$£oal." W-Lc'^ ILLINOIS LMI1 BJWATOH TOBBAXCX iattuis Senate, on the 98th ulfcV] Ity of school < «• Illinois Hon* at BamuelH. JOBM mi u Penitentiary CommlM •nrnl anar at tbe O tite tHAonl of Vottm ' . of thm Human* Soeiatjr, im«4 toMW) flrmation. Bins wew» fartrodnMd 1 bid mmtrimgn b«t»w 1IIH1 In regard to tbe cocDpletton, liiumww management of potafie nam* *y mora efficient remedy for tbe cotlMtf linaaent weMMtk, In tbn ] tentative*, * resolution report* rj mitten on State inatftntions askinflf J sen-- tolnreetlinte tbe conditional >| initltattona waa laid on tbe tafei*. 1 jection* raiand by aereml u Judiciary Committee reported bills to amend tho net tn tation in regard to tbe estates, to provide for tbe cation of jndgea, to am .., _ _ empt certain property from tarnation, aaA ' crease the number of judge* ito Oee* ~ 1'be Committee on / mended for passage tbe ___ _. _ appropriation to tbe Soldiers m i at Quincy. The Committee on ft Engrossed Bills reported favorably ! lug for the general expenses of tbe' aembly and for the necessary ex; State Government to June 1. and the quarterly payment of eotittirafl ents of schools The Senate bill 1 the same subject waa sabetttated j the House bill and placed for Sn yk number of bills were ,T , ^jbluding these: To restrict the Bmoontt • bequeathed by the same denwii--I tO»l -tivos or other tyrgona and corporattona; ihorizt' the construction of le ovsrflows; providing for comf 'destruction of property in es fense architects; to prohibit diseriaQiJMttaa'by plephono couipunies. and to ragulat* tbe MiMel r.f telephones; to allow aliena wbo 1an' jfte- Fclared an intention to become clttxens «C the JTniteti States to bold land within tbe IMMh* 'lands of all other aliens to revert to tbe %Kte : lifter three years. Both bouses adjnmrawa to the 31st. ' . .4, , . THE bill appropriating $30,000 for the eznettos of a monument to Gen. Loean passed Ik* Rtt- ate on the 1st. inst. Mr. Crawford : by the steamer Pekin, from Kiu-kiang, having all but accomplished his run round the world on a bicycle. A spare, wiry-look­ ing man of about five feet seven, he seems none the worse for his journey and the discomforts of most of the last part of it, and speaks cheerfully of his experience generally. His first serious obstacle was encountered in Afghanistan. He was the guest of the British Delimitation Commis­ sioners for several days, but by their ad­ vice turned back 300 miles to Berjande, after whioh he struck off again into Afghanistan, at a point a safe distanoe from the commission and their mes­ sages; but at Furrah, halfway be­ tween Herat and Kandahar, he was arrested by an Afghan chief acting under orders, who, after some days, escorted him back to Herat. He was well treated by the Afghaus, but they would not listen to his explanation of his journeying without a political object, and so carried him to Per­ sian territory again. He was obliged to return to the Caspian, from which he went by way of the Caspian railway, and reached Constantinople, aud from thence by steam­ er to Currachee. So that to travel 300 miles by land he had to go 6,000 miles by sea. From Currachee ne went through Lahore, Delhi. Agra, Cawnpore to Cal­ cutta, from whence he took steamer to Hong Kong. On Npv. 13 be got his bicycle under way again and started for Canton, but he found it simply useless from the badness of the roads. Fifty miles were not covered be­ tween Canton and Kiukiang. One moment he thought that he was on the highway to somewhere in particular, the next few yards brought him to the end of the pathway, which to his mortification he found ter­ minated in a paddy field. So intricate and difficult to travel were the roads that it took him over twenty-four hours to ride thirty miles after leaving Canton. Ho found most of these pathways about twenty inches wide, and high boulders blocked his way at short intervals. He reluctantly determined to give his bicycle a rest and take to a sampan. It took four days to reach Chao-choo-foo by this means, and then after a short time on sh6re to stretch his legs, he got into the boat again and did not leave it for four days more, when he found himself under the Heeling Pass and in the province of Kiangse, Then he fancied that his way was straight before him, for the roads sud­ denly improved and the bicycle, which had been for eight days borne by doolies, W&g once more put into requisition, and he spun merrily ahead till he reached Kin- gan-foo. The weather from Canton to the Meeling Pasn was very warm, but after that it grew cold and tain fell, which ren­ dered mat portion of the journey doubly difficult and disagreeable. The traveler was greatly impressed with the high state of cultivation in the provinces through which he passed, and with the beauty of some of the temples, notably of that be­ tween Tchinyuen and Lo-choo-ioo. The people everywhere treated him very well till he reached Kan-tchou-foo, where the inhabitants attacked him with stones, and matters were looking very serious when he reached the yamen accompanied by two soldiers, who were sent with him by the head man at Ta-ho. The crowd here was very noisy and threatening, and amounted to several hundred. But the populace who were crying out to "kill tho foreign devil" contrived to seize the bicycle, which, how­ ever, escaped with only one broken spoke, and it was only with the greatest difficulty that he was smuggled out of the yamen, and after great exertions on the part of the Che-hsien, who had to make several proclamations calling upon the mob to dis­ perse. But beyond two or three bruises and many indentations in his topee, from stones. Mr. Stevens escaped injury. This was by far the worst treatment that the traveler received since he started on his journey, and shows the inhospitable and suspicious character of tbe Chinese in in­ land parts. Although between Furrah aud Berjande he passed through a country called Dasht-i-Naumid (the Desert of De­ spair), where, it is said, a European never traveled before, he had not been any­ where subjected to the treatment he re­ ceived in th's city. Mr. Stevens also speaks with great disgust of the filthy hab­ its and savage fanaticism of the people of the districts of China through which he traveled. Almost all the journey to Kiu­ kiang was accomplished in sampans, the bicycle being carried by coolies. From Kiukiang he took the steamer Peking to Shanghai. It will be interesting to epicures to know that Mr. Stevens carried no commissariat with him, but lived on the food of the peo­ ple through whose countries he passed, nor did he carry a tent, although he start­ ed with one from Constantinople. He soon discarded it, and was content to put up with whatever sleeping accommodations he oould find on the way, sometimes under a tree or rock, again in the shelter of the tents or huts he came across, and still again in the gorgeous palaces of the civil­ ized rulers of the many lands of the East, from Calcutta to Constantinople. In his opinion the only roads iu China were water roads--that is, the rivers, and he longed to be able to change his bicycle for a house­ boat, only for his undertaking to go roond the world on wheels. "\ A True Bostonian. Prentice Mulford thus describes an old Boston blue-blood: "He dresses in black broadcloth winter and sum­ mer, wears a stove pipe hat, a stand-up collar of the style of thirty years ago, carries a cane, never walks faster than one mile an hour, attends the new Old South Church, carries his revolutionary ancestors always in his memory, and never forgets them. He regards this universe finished only in proportion as Boston is finished, and in his secret soul is somewhat disposed to criticise Hyd/pS: By Senator ts and shame joint rosolution in tbe Senate providing tfcfft a constitutional amendment be submitted it tbe next general election for the gonniMi of Cook County by a board of fifteen anniml--Wii •lore; for the extension of tbe limits of ,the city of Chicago, and for tbe [^consolidation of ail other governments In tte j county with the municipal government of Chi­ cago, which shall suoceed to all tbe rights Shut privileges and be snbjeet to the liabilities at Took County and the present governments wftb- in its limits. Tbe Senate appointed a OOOBBUt- tee to investigate tbe ebaxges against WUHi Mitchell, nominated as officer for tion of cruelty to animals for Bills were introduced as follows: Bell, to prevent taxation of stooksi ot loan and homestead associations. Bl tor Bell, prohibiting the bequest by a« of more than one-half of the property of whlah he or she may die possessed of, the other 1 to go according to the laws of descent By S a tor Form an, to prevent gambling in grain 1 farm produce: this bill. If passed, w Jm oat the option business cm the Cm of Trade. By Senator Shutt, to expense in the construction o( drains. By Senator Torrance, appropriating tKMUMO far the State Keform School tt Pontiao, fto bill to cede certaiu locks and dams apontbeZQtooi* River to the United States was passed, (waa. H. Deere, A. W. Kings land, Patrick H. Day, Bart Stewart and David Boss were aa Labor Commissioners, and MoKay as Trustee of the University of Illinois. The following bills were nftwd in the House: By Mr. Collins, regulating civil ser­ vice in State, city, and county inwHw.tlM bill waa drawn by tbe Civil-Siurviee Balms League of Cnlcago, and introduced by JfT. Col- lins by request; by Mr. Cooley, at $135,OCX) for the maintenance of the tional Guard; by Ur. Campbell, of _ requiring all companies operating railroads to stop their trains at every station; by Kr. Davis, requiring all those employing females to nrp> Vide seats for tbe nee of son belli failure to comply with the provisions of tbe lawiapOM. ishaole by fine; by Mr. Decker, for the •silsi idationof the three grand divisions of the 8n- g>i»me Court, and tbe location ot the same at •Springfield. SKJJATOB PLERCK introduced a joint Media­ tion in the Senate, on the Sd inst, pwWMjag far the appoin tment o f a commiss ion to i the ciroamstanees surrounding then strikes in the State. Tbe following btUa were then introduced and appropriately referred; By Senator Strattan. extending the time for | ment of special assessments at 00J to five years; by Senator Bou log in some minor partlvnlan tbe practice act; by Senator Ing Circuit Judges tram 1 in psaldUfe- Qtive teims any. appropriating 960,000 for t Home at Bloomington; by Senator Curtis, appropriating HH01D far buildiug &nd maintaining an industrial home for girls; by Senator Washburn pnnHI-- Tn the formation of mutual insurance (WaiWUlW to take risks on live stock; bySenatarHtattk. the Soldiers' Orpbaaa' by Senator Cbebran, making it unlawful tor insurance cosnpanies to enter into any combination to regulate or con­ trol rates in the State. The bill entasgiafftbe powers of the Live Stock Commissioaags came up on second reading, and after being amended in some minor particular*, was Orocr- ed engrossed and passed to a third A bill was introduced in the Boase fori organization of the State militia. The IQSMhlSf embedit s all the recommendations made by the UUtiois National Guard Association at tta met ting held in Chicago in November. Vha following bills were also Introduced: By lCr. Far: tell, providing for the payment ot special as sessments in quarterly installments ; 'bj Mr. Fuller, authorizing cities, towtM ana villages to issue licenses to traveling peddlers; by Mr. Hamilton of Iroquois, including injnriee to tilo ditches among prosecutions for cious mischief; by Mr. Hart, providing that when a mining right has been leased it shall be separated from the land so as to be sabjeot to taxation; by Mr. Lamont, prohibiting the sale of papers, books or other publications de­ voted in whole or in part to publishing or trating crime or lust to minors, exposing < to the view of minors, or employing min­ ors to sell them; by Mr. Lmrtf, prohibiting the marriage of idiots, sane persons, those afflicted with able epilepsy, persona supported in whole or part by public charity, or those imprisoned under sentence from contracting marriage; by Mr. McKinlay; authorizing tho Board of A0ricul- ture to permanently locate the State Fair; by Mr. Merritt. providing that Hfe-lnsaranee poli­ cies shall not be forfeited after two a issasmsuts have been paid »ithout reimbursing the bolder: by Mr. Miller, regulating tbe employment at convict labor nut under contract. It provides that the convicts shall be used in work abont tbe in­ stitutions, building walls, aud getting oat atone that may be used on roads if it can be sold at xe- lmmerative prices. There is a provision that 'whore they can do so they may make brick if the same can be sold ut a profit, and also for making such articles as can be used at other Kate institutions, including clothing. Ibe tw« penitentiary boards are consolidated and the Governor is to i e ex-officio a mem er. Mr. Fuller's bill appropriating $5 ',000 fot the ereo- tiou of a monument to the late Sena,, r Logan at any point in Illinois selected by Mrs. T "gar, passed the House. A BILL to appropriate (140,003 annually tor the ordinary and contingent expenses of tbe Illinois National Guard, and a further sum o( £5,000 to improve and extend the State ment grounds, was introduced in the on the 3d inst. Other bills were offered as follows : By Senator Higgins, diminishing the fees of ciicuit clerks ; i v Senator Johnson, pro­ viding for transferring the organization of drain- aee districts to county courts where the aggie- gi.tc assessment is more than or vrhMe the Lund exceeds four thousand acres; by Seaa- tor Bacon, of Edgar, appropriating 9133,000 tar tho ordinary expenses of the militia; by Sana- tor Kckhart, making tbe procuring of false astratioa of pedigrees of stock the same a misdemeanor within meaning of the statute; by fT«ma tor Lvuian, punishing town ooQeetors bv a fine of i'25 for each day they neglect or re­ fuse to turn over money belonging to the •Dost- ty; by Senator Washburn, apj to aid" the State school au ' exhibit at the National Chicago ne\t July: by Senator Baoou, Ot lMaar, limiting telephone exchangee in Cities of t(KW inhabitants to W> a year for each Instl imaasiS Senator Crawford's resolution (or the cattiMaC a constitutional convention was referred toiho Judiciary Committee, as was also tbe lshiiattiai of Senator Cochran for an amendment to the oon- gtitution regarding tbe trial of cases by Jnilea of less than twelve men. Senator HiU'e reaotn- tion indorsing Congrsnsian YMrnsbend's jotet resolution for the election of the United Btatsa Senators, was teferred to the Federal Helutions, although the aatbor resolution sought to have It considered, resolution thanking Senator CuUom for forts in securing the passage of the interstate commerce bill waa adopted by the ~ oi" ltepreseutatives. The following bill* introduced in the House: By Mr. Pollard, mak- iug appropriations for the Reform School at Fontiac--viz , for tbe establishment of afastsry; |:$0,0uu; for ordinary expenses. S100,00t); bv Be, ~ " \7ato8tmoB Byaa; *7<n.l? to Dennis hieago, for damages arising «• account of the quarantine placed on their nook by the live-stock Commissioners; Schoenewald, preventing the >* and sale of flour barrels, butter kins, and similar articles of cooperage: by Mr. Wells, prohibiting the ecnployiheat of minors nnder 13 years of age: ohikhren 1MB U to 16 may be employed for no mora than Sixty hours per week, without notice to the peraats or friends of eueh children it compels aU MS- ployers of such help to furnish to cuaatf thoritles lists of the employes, hours ot SM each day. and wagea paid ; by Mr. WiBtaaM ̂ imposing a tax of 3 per cent, on II e ings of an insurance company at Illinois doing* business _ by Mr. Wright, of Cook. ing the writ of distress _ tor HM|kt " ~ " toart'ot i •»resooK iter fl*> r ... -Tjn.1-rg bv Mr. Bundy, creating Deity for not taking up a permanent ^»vjdmg*£?Sa residence in Boston,M "" « > A i . - t i s ' , r k ' / l t r f i . ' J . : . i V & L ' i t d j ! L t ! th« same. v watt spy®