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o,,/™. V"f - . . < ; , V' •* :-*:C 4?;.-. I. VAN SLYKE, Editor ILUNOia MYSTIC, Conn, BOUTS of a rat. '-1v &»:, .* SPRIKG is a month earl j from East to sT.*' %f«l * V< 4,; A MILLION-POUND bank note is kept Bank of England.. • *; , - , Ix costs $25,000,000 yearly to govern J liondon with 4,500,000 population. ,, BRAZIL has a prohibitory teriflfon v*iumd-organp and monkeys. THE Emperor of Austria has given Order's that his son's name shall never flbe spoken again in his hearing. J THE library of the British Museum Twill not hereafter supply novels to Readers until five years after publica­ tion. ________ , Two HBOBOB8 have been seized with leprosy in Elberton, Oa. One has turned white, while the other has broken out in spots. # PRESIDENT HARBISON'S typewriter, Hiss Sanger, is said to be the first iro- ever employed at the White House a clerical capacity. ' SAMUEL CUMMENOS, of Boston, while leaning against a rail in his grain mill, ^ began sneezing, and sneezed so hard lie dislocated his shoulder." <A HOTEL at Greenville, Me., on r Iffoosehead Lake, is said to be the only •One in the world that serves trout on its : table every meal in the year. COL. WASHBUBN, the new Minister to Switzerland, is not only said to be the idsomest man in Massachusetts, but "lie is something of a poet as well ; ^ THE Texas umbrella tree is becoming :f|k favorite for shade purposes in Cali- . fornia. It is not only shaped like an 'mmbrella, but there is no time of the .year when it doesn't leave. i.$: JOAQXJIN MILLER has been appointed %y Gov. Waterman a member of the California Foiestry Commission. The at has taken great interest in the pro­ ration of California's forests. gj^t^mdnumreto, hmitol AFFAIRS IN ILLINOIS glittering crystals and gems of every f ~ SENATOB STANFOHD, of California, has *-*=---4#ent his check for $5,000 to the com- .1 * Jiiittee in Boston engaged in raising a - 'fund of $100,000 for Mrs. Philip H. ^Sheridan, widow of the late General. ^ -J PBESIDENT HARBISON dislikes to wear , %loves when walking, preferring, when «he weather is oold, to thrust his bare Aaijds into his overcoat pockets for . warmth. He never wears a frock over- v>at. ' , - EX-SEOBETABT VELAS AND ex-Post- ar General Don M. Dickinson have been on a still-hunt among New York Capitalists for money with which to un­ dertake some enormous enterprises in t^e West. />+'?* • • 1 111 11 • I,, - AMONG some old papers in London, !itecently, a genuine likeness of John 2&unyan as he appeared in his prison v*0ell atBedford has just been discovered, for which the owner demands 1,000 guineas. A WESTERN agricultural paper has ,, proposed a national potato contest for 'Women. 1} the aim is to induce women tb cultivate potato patches instead of ; ^ ||ieir flower gardens the oontest will probably fail, - - ^ GOTTLEIB VON BALLERSTROM, a San JTrancisco bootblai6li%fjnuch given to painting the to/wij./but who always claimed he was^'of noble extraction, has f j|Jlen heir toi|500,000 by the death of relative in Germany. --i ! >t • THE first metrical work produced in Hiis country is said to have been a | translation by George Sandys, colonial •ecretary of Virginia, of Ovid's " Meta­ morphoses." It was prepared in 1621, ;/'-fnd was printed in London in 1626. »y" Miss SALLIE BURNETT, of Hazleton, * Snd., who recently administered a terri­ ble horsewhipping to a young man who : liad traduced her character, is recom- I' mended by the Bloomington Panta- z\: jraph for Superintendent of the Males. p! 0 THE mortality of the Chinese resid- tug in New York is greater, in propor­ tion to their number, than that of any . 4>ther race, though most of them, says the New York Sun, eat American food. . They are apt to find that the climate is father hard upon them. |£l!-A New YORK burglar got into a gen- tline pickle the other day. Officers dis- •' igovered that some one was feloniously ;• «t work in a butcher shop, but after they had entered could not find the man until they looked in a pork barrel, yhere they discovered him up to his - ||eok in brine. fv A PROSPEROUS soap agent, who has a j S J| fine residence on the Hudson, writes to his wife every day. She keeps the envelopes in a scrap book, which shows w Hrhere her husband was on any particu- ' , lay day for years back. This is proba- ; "J>ly the only device yet heard of by which a wife could keep tab, on a 4rum- f ; :*|fcer husband. - THERE'S nothing small about Texas, geographically at lejast. It has one . «ounty that is larger than the combined States of Massachusetts a%l Connecti­ cut. When the scholars in the public Schools are called upon to name the 264 bounties in the State the teacher al- * '.ways divides the exercise with recess |nd then adjourns for the day. i ll ¥ ̂ THE fine compact sand which f^ves «uch firm footing upon the beach at 4nastasia, Fla., is scarcely half an inch lb depth. Below it lies a be«J of loose, broken shell. Under the microscope a - flinch of tliis debris from the ocean bot- !•• torn is transformed into a myriad of hue. THE Marchioness of Granby wore at Queen Victoria's last reception the dress in which her husband's great-grand­ mother, the "beautiful* Duchess of But* land, was married in 1775. It was a white and gold brocade woven in a design of rosea and leaves. With it the Marchioness wore a train of heliotrope velvet and some of Nell Gwynne's jewels in the shape of a splendid dia­ mondcoronet and a pearl wi|K uncut ruby clasp. AN old lady living in Portland, Me., offered for sale to an agent of one of the Vanderbilts ten years ago, a painting by one of the old masters, an heirloom, which straightened circumstances com­ pelled her to part with. The price asked was $300, and the agent was instructed to offer her-that sum per annum for the work as long as she might live, the painting not to be taken from her until after her death. She is now 80 years old and still drawing the $300 a year. AMONG the hereditary jewels belong­ ing to Duke of Cumberland are Queen Charlotte's pearls, valued at $750,000, about which, for twenty years, Queen Victoria and the Hanoverian King quar­ reled with majesterial dignity. The Queen maintained they belonged by right to England. The King insisted they should have been sent to Hahover in 1837, on the death of William IV. The other jewels belonging to the Duke are valued at $2,000,000. His gold and silver plate weighs twelve tons. THE Bev. T. De Witt Talmaga, in a late sermon, gave this explanation of what Bob Ingersoll calls "the whale story": "And as to Jonah remaining alive in the monster's belly for three days, why, the fact is, the gastric juice had no chance--Jonah kept bobbin' around so. And what more natural than that the monster should after this regurgitate Jonah on shore? The sea monster was as tired of Jonah as he wast of the fish. There's not the least bit o! improbability or impracticability about it" • - THERE are at present some two thou­ sand women employed in drug stores throughout the country. When the Women's School of Pharmacy was first organized in Louisville there were but two women engaged in the business, and both of these were in the laboratory of one of the professors. During the last term more applications for gradu­ ates to fill responsible positions in drug stores Or laboratories of manufacturing chemists have been received at the Louisville school than the total number whioh the school has graduated sinoe its commencement. THE loss of the Parisian syndicate which undertook to control the price of copper is now estimated at about $30,- 000,000. It is believed that all the heavy investors in the speculation are, from a financial standpoint, ruined in­ dividuals. The original paid-up capital and reserve of the Comptoir d'Escompte is swept away, and with that amount the private means of the company are invaded to the tune of $20,000,000. Cornering the market upon the prime necessities of life is not only a vicious and demoralizing business, but it is also most liable to be in the end a disastrous one to the operators. THE Chinesse Minister at Washing­ ton expends more money in telegrams and cable dispatches than the Gdvern- ment of the United States. In commu­ nicating with the Chinese Government he makes use of a cipher, but as his dispatches cost $4 a word his bills are enormous. His expenditures in tele­ graphing reach an average of $1,000 a week. One day recently he spent $2,- IirttBESTINO ITEMS 04THBBIO FROM VARIOUS SOliBCJES. 000 in sending dispatches to China re­ garding the Milwaukee riots. His ca­ ble messages to China go to Havre, from there to Aden, then across the Arabian Sea, through Hindostan and Siam, to Pekin. AN old Dutch doctor named Sturfle Setzer, who lived in Franklin County, Ga., was the subject of a strange visita­ tion. His house was situated about half a mile from the graveyard, out of which a brilliant light would rise night after night, and, passing over the tre'e tops, settle over his house and remain stationary for a tiitie, when it would again rise above the trees and sweep through the air in the direction from wheiice it came and sink into the earth at the graveyard. On the night of Setzer's death it shone more brilliantly than ever before--it hovered over the house for a long time, and as the dying man drew his last breath it arose in the air, and, like a flaming meteor, moved swiftly to the graveyard, sunk into the earth, and was never seen again, There are many who witnessed this strange phenomenon and saw the blazing spec­ ter on the very night that the old Dutch doctor died. Preparing for Journalism. . Fond Sister--Why do you sit up so late, Harry? You will rtlin your health. « Ambitious Youth--Can't be helped, sister. The opportunity of my life has come. I am to have an editorial posi­ tion o» a great Chicago paper next week, and I am studying night and day to prepare for it--brushing up, you know. "Is that what you wanted at sty Bhetoric and History of Athens?" "Yes, I left those books at college or lost them somewhere. I have been go­ ing over the entire classic course again, besides studying up all the noblest models of English literature, both Dpgtrv and prose.^, I'm bound to make my mark ou my very first article ii thorough preparation will do it." Chicago Editor (a week later)--Ah! Good morning. Glad to see you so prompt. Beady for work, I suppose ? Ambitious Youth--Yes, sir. "Well, take that desk there, and get as up a stirring editorial on 'Freights dn Hogs and Hog Products.'"--Pkila- delphia Record. A LAWYEB is never so bttod bat he ean cite authorities. * Wtat pvXM|Mwi Arm Bolti*-- Matters of General mid iowl Interest -- Mw* »iul D«athi--Aooldvnts and Grlma* • ftnional Pointers. • ' THB ORIGINAL O. A. B. POST. twenty-sixth anniversary pf the original Grand Army post was celebrated at Decatur with speeches, music, and a grand camp-fire, wh'cti was participated in by members of the Grand Army from that and adjoining towns. It was in De­ catur, twenty-three years ago April 6, that the now powerful Grand Army of the Republic was conceived. From twelve charter members of the first post ever formed, it has grown to a membership of over 400,000. The originator of the order was Dr. B. F. Stephenson, Surgeon of the Fourteenth Illinois Infantry. Before the war he was a resident of Petersburg, this State, bntnt'erward settled at Spring­ field. On April 6, 1866, he visited De­ catur, and imbaed twelve men wko had been in the service with the idea of band­ ing themselves together for the perpetua­ tion of the memories and friendships of the great civil war. These men were M. F. Kanan, Mayor of Decatqr; George XL j Steele, County Treasurer; John T. Bish­ op, of Bradford, Pa.; Chris Biebsame, of Bloomington; I. N. Coltin and B. F. Sibley, of Decatur; Isaac C. Pngh, John H. Kale, James W. Booth, George H. Durnnig, Joseph Brior, and Aquilla Toland, of Decatur. The firft six are the only surviving charter members. The otheta have long since been numbered in the "bivouac of the dead." The original officers of the post were Capt. M. F. Kanan,. Pest Com­ mander; George B. Steele, Adjutant; George H. Durnnig, Quartermaster Chris Biebsame, Officer of the Dajr; J. T. Bishop, Outside Guard; J. *W. Booth, Surgeon. The post grew to a membership of eighty, but was disbanded and reor­ ganized several times. County Treasurer Steele, of Macon County, has in his pos­ session the minutes of the first meeting of the post, in which it is stated that the post was organized by Dr. Stephenson, who conceded to it the honor of being the first. The frequent dispute as to what place belonged this honor was settled at the National Encampment in St. Louis in 1887 by the production of these minutes. Mr. Steele also has the original charter granted the post. With the growth *and development of the Grand Army the post was finally reorganized in 1882, and is now known as Dnnham Post 141. The anniversary of the organization is cele­ brated yearly in Decatur, and at the re­ cent meeting all the survivors of the char­ ter members except Bishop were present: THB OOVBRNOR'S PBOCIiAMATION. --Gov. Fifer has issued the following proclamation for the observance of the 30th of April: STATE OP ILLINOIS, I EXECUTIVE OFFICK. f At the RUggMtion of many worthy citizens, I do hereby designate Tuesday, the 30th day of April, 1839, as a dav of thanksgiving and patri­ otic instruction. I'his is deemed fitting, as ou this day 100 years ago the valor and far-seeing statesmanship ol tue revolutionary fathers, after many years of unparallelled difficulties and dangers, culminated in the union of the thirteen halting and wavering colonies into one Federal republic by the inauguration of George Washing­ ton as its first I'residont. It is a day that will be forever memorable in our national history and in the annals of the human race, marking as it does the greatest achievement ever made in the science of civil government and demonstrating the capacity of mankind to govern themselves. For a century wo have lived and prospered un­ der these institutions, and to-day we are the happiest, the freest, and the moRt prosperous people in the;world. Nd nation ever had greater cause for rejoicing and for thankfulness to the Supreme Being than our oi\n; no peo­ ple ever held a more sacred trust than the American people. I recommend, therefore, that business be laid aside and that the day be made one of rejoicing and thanksgiving. In everv schoolhouse, church, and home in the State let our youth be tauglit the lessons of patriotic devotion to country. Let those, too, who have from other lands sought refuge on the shores of the republic l*> instructed in the duties and responsibilities of American citizenship. With a fraternal feeling for all, let us as we step from the old century into the new forget the bitter strifes and animosities of the past and remember only that we are one people, with one flag, one country, and one deBtiny. Let the wealthy ana prosj>erbuH deal justly by those who toil for their dailv bread, for it is on the broad shoulders of such as these that rost our financial prosperity and the safety and security of our free institutions. Other nations have failed and we know why they have failed. It is the old, old atorv. "Virtue and truth produce strength, strength dominion, dominion riches, riches luxury, and luxury weakness ami collapse," We s'hould strive at least to avoid the rocks on which others have been wrecked. This can be done only by living a simpler life, inculcating a loftier patriotism, and by the practice of a large charity. By adhering to these virtues the republic of Washington and Lincoln will endure through many centuries. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the great seal of the State to be affixed this 8th day of April, in the year of our Lord 1689. JOSEPH W. FIFKB. By the Governor: I. N. PEAFSON, Secretary of 8ta|<e. --Louis Heffner and Mike Hurley*, two of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy engineer strikers, were tried in the Cir­ cuit Court at Virginia for the killing of John Logsdon at Beardstown last June. Logsdon was one of the engineers who had taken the places of strikers. The jury after being out but a short time brought in a verdict of not guilty. The defendants were heartily congratulated by their friends and brother engineers. --Chauncey Ladd died of paralysis at his home in Quincy, after an illness of eighteen dajs. Deceased was born in New York State pixty-three years ago, and he had been a resident of Quincy for thirty years. He engaged in the whole­ sale dry goods business, but recently opened a collection office. --William A. Gerken end George H. Crumbaugh, of Bloomington, have brought suit for $20,000 damages each, and the Crown Boiler Mill Company for $ 10,000, against George H. Cox, a prominent and wealthy businessman of Bloomington, who, the complainants alleged, conspired with William Wentz, of that city, to mis­ represent the value and earnings of the Crown Boiler Mill, which they, with Wentz, bought for $42,000 from Cox, and which they now claim was not worth half the value represented. -- The fifth annual meeting of the New Home Life Association was held at Nash- ville. By a unanimous yote of its 2,300 members it decided to transfer the entire membership to the Covenant Mutual of Galesburg, which had heretofore been ex­ clusively an Odd Fellow insurance com­ pany. - * --Charles Friend, whose home is at 399 Flournoy street, Chicago, was killed in a saloon at St. Joe, Mo., by the accidental discharge of » pistoL He was traveling for Horton, Cato & Co., a Detroit condi-' ment house, and had bean in Joe only two days. --Th» P«*ilion or summer theater, at Bloomington has been destroyed by Are. It was valued at $3,000, on whkih there was no insurance. --Barney McCann and Larry Larkin, two horse-thieves, who had been carrying on a lively business in Chicago until March 29, shipped a dozen fine horses to Denver on that day, under the plea that they were fast horses. Several gentlemen, who had lost their horses in the meantime, reported to the polica, and Detectives Morgan and Boyd went to Denver, got their men and the horses, and returned with them to Chicago. --T. St, Peter, a stylishly dieMed yoong Frenchman of 105 Port Btreet, Montreal, asked to be locked up at a Chicago police station. His request was granted. He soon became mildly insane, presumably from the excessive use of intoxicants. He was afraid to stay alone in the cell, and the Sergeant allowed him the freedom of the office. There he mistook the police­ men for devils and oitizens for angels. His friends removed him to his home in Canada- --The Clayton Masonie Belief Associa­ tion is preparing to wind up its affairs and go out of business. The following special notice has been issued: Ct-ATTfW, 111,, April 1. DEAR SIR AND BROTHF.B : You are hereby no­ tified to attend a special meeting of the Masonie Belief Association in the Masonic Hall in Clay­ ton, Wednesday, the 15th day of May, 1089, at the hour of 1 o'clock p. m. The purpose of the meeting is to take steps to close up the business of said association according to Jaw. All mem­ bers paying the sixty-third assessmout (issued April lTafcording to "its provisions will be enti­ tled to Toto, and they are earnestly requested to be present and take ;>art. Done by order of the Board of Directors. Youra .fraternally, A. 8. MCDOWELL, Secretary. The association was organized nearly fifteen years ago, and since that time has distributed over $200,000 among the families of deceased Masons. For the last three years the assessments have been steadily growing heavier, occasioned by the largely inoreased death rate. Less than 500 responses were received to the last assessment. The law provides that when the membership falls below 500 the association may be dissolved, or it may reinsure in some other association. The Board of Directors have been easting about for some time; but so far have found no reliable company in which to reinsure, and the only thing left to do is to close np the business. The only cause assigned for the collapse Is that members die too rapidly, and the addition of new members will not equal the -lapses and deaths. --Prof. Harry Leroy, the aeronaut of Decorah, Iowa, took a thrilling and highly sensational aerial ride at Quinoy. After some difficulty the balloon got away with its human freight in fina . style, and on reaching an altitude of 4,000 feet the aero­ naut grasped the oonoentric ring of the parachute attached to the side of the bal­ loon and leaped into space. The first few hundred feet of the drop was rapid enough to cause several lady spectators to faint, but the apparatus finally became inflated and circled toward the earth as gracefully as a bird, landing the bold navigator a half mile from the starting point none the worse for his ride. The ascension and jump were both very successful, and Prof. Leroy was the lion of the hour. --A strange man wandered into the premises of Henry Achtemait, near Paloma, Adams County, and asked the privilege of occupying a cabin on the farm for a few days. Achtemait urged him to go to the poor farm, but without avail. From that time nothing was seen of the stranger by Achtemait for several days, when he found the man dead in the cabin. Upon examination of the body, Atehemait found the man had received a bullet wound in the calf of the left lag. and that the wound, from lack of atten­ tion, had finally caused his death. Among his effects wen a bunch of skeleton keys and files, a bottle of powder and three feet of fuse. There seems to be little doubt that the msn was shot while com­ mitting a burglary, and had escaped only to die. He left no scrap of paper to tell his name or stoiy. He was apparently a man of 50 years, stood about fire feet ten inches high, with brown mustache and light-blue eyes. He wore jk rait of dark clothes and a woolen shirt. --Charles Hutchiason, a Chicago pack­ ing house employe, was killed and his brother-in-law, Patrick Beynolds, is ac­ cused of the crime. Beynolds is married to Hutchinson's sister. Hutchinson and his mother lived in the Beynolds house. According to the police, during the night Hutchinson, who is 22 years of age, rose from his bed, and, entering the room where his 6ister and her husband were sleeping, demanded that they close their window. Beynolds ordered the young man out and Hutchinson struck his broth­ er-in-law in the face. Beynolds seized the water pitcher and struck Hutchinson with it with so much foroe that the han­ dle was detached. Hutchinson again rushed at Beynolds and the latter struck him with the jagged handle of the pitcher, one of the edges of which severed Hutch­ inson's jugular vein. Neighbors reported the matter to the police, and the entire family were locked up at the police sta­ tion. At first they refused to talk, but finally Mrs. Beynolds made a full confes­ sion. --Jackson Lucas, of the firm of B. L. Lucas & Bro., dry goods dealers of Bloom­ ington, is dead. He had lived there since 1623, and was seventy years old. --Throughout Southern Illinois the growing winter wheat ercp presents a bet­ ter prospect than jbas been known at this time of the season in the past ten or twelve years. Young clover is also in excellent condition. The farmers have finished sowing oats, and the acreage is considera­ bly above the average. The fruit is as yet uninjured by fro3t or other damaging in­ fluence, and with favorable weather in the future the yield will be very large. The season is at least a month in advance of last year. --In the way of government patronage, among other things, this State got an As­ sistant. S»e5st2rry-cf tire foreign missions, $22,500; one United States Marshal, Indian Territory, $5,000; one member Cherokee Commission, $5,000; one Assistant Commissioner of Patents, $3,000. Total, $40,000. --The election in Chicago carried with it a murder. John Carr, a colored man, who had a quarrel with Ed Brown, another colored man, was stabbed by the latter in the back with a pen-knife, the knife penetrating the liver and inflicting injuries from which Carr died. SIMPLY AS IT HAFPKHKP. BootMUo Story at m' FKack Coaplm. A young married man of Lyons fell in love with a young married woman. They met secretly, adored each other, and agreed to fly together--to put the seas between themselves and their families. But there was a slight diffi­ culty in the way. They had little money for a long journey, and they wanted to be fa#, far away--in America for choice. Then an idea came to the man that they would take their small capital of a few hundred francs and go to Monte Carlo and make it into a for­ tune--a fortune which would enable them to live in peace and plenty on the far-off shore. So it came that one day, with a small box and a portmanteau, the fugitives arrived at Monte Carlo and put up in a little hotel where for eight francs a day you can have bed and board. They had only a few hun­ dred francs with them. In the letter which they had left behind they ex- ploined that from the first their ar­ rangements were complete. They fore­ saw the possibilities of the situation. They would play until they had won enough to go to America or they would lose all. And if they lost all they would die together and give their friends no further trouble about them. They were a few days only in Monte Carlo. They risked their louis only a few at a time, and spent the remainder of the days and evenings in strolling about the romantic glades and quiet pathways of the beautiful gardens whispering together of love and looking into each other's eyes. The end came quickly. One evening they went up in the soft moonlight to the fairyland of Monte Carlo. They entered the Casino. They had come to their last few golden coins. One by one the croupier's remorseless rake swept them away, and then the lovers went out of the hot, crowded rooms, out from the glaro of' the chandeliers and the swinging lamps into the tender moonlight again. Down "the Staircase of Fortune" arm in arm they went, along the glorious marble terraces that look upon the sea, on to where at the foot of the great rock on which Monaco stands there lies the Condamine, It was their last walk together. The lovers were going home to die. That night, in some way which I was unable to ascertaiu, the guilty and ruined man and woman obtained some charcoal and got it into their bedroom. They then closed the windows and doors and prepared for death. They wrote a letter--a letter which an official assured me was so touching that as he read it in the room where they lay dead the tears ran dawn his cheeks. Then the girl--she was but a girl--dressed herself in snowy white and placed in her breast a sweet boquet of violets. Then the charcoal was lighted and the lovers laid themselves out for death, side by side, and passed dreamily into sleep, from sleep to death, and from death to judgment. It is not a moral story, it is not a new story. I have told it simply as it hap­ pened.--George Ji. Sims, m London Referee. • (jura Chewing; Dr. DeArmond believes that gum chewing will cure certain cases of dys­ pepsia, and reports such an instance occurring in a man whose trouble was that after meals and until digestion was completed, wliicu seenied aa intermina­ ble length of time, he had pains in his ; stomach, a feeling of fulness more dis­ comforting than painful, and a constant tendency to eructation of food. My treatment, he says, of the case was very simple, and quite as satis­ factory as simple. I directed him to lay in a supply of chewing gum, and after every meal to chew a lump for an hour or two, swallowing the saliva. That settled that case, and I got my fee quite as willingly as if I had given a six ounce bottle of medicine. This patient tells me that he has never been troubled since he commenced to chew the gum, except after a meal of sauer­ kraut, pigs' feet, or other monstrous provender. The writer's idea as to the rationale of the remedy is given as follows: There is a very grievious error in the statement that saliva is valuable princi­ pally to aid in* deglutition and mastica­ tion" The saliva is possessed of a peculiar power in a remarkable degree of changing starch into sugar, in which it state is absorbed. Now it is not to be supposed that this transformation can be made in the al­ most immeasurably short space of time of mastication and deglutition. The transformation also takes place in the stomach for a period of fifteen or twenty minutes after deglutition has taken place. The saliva being alkaline in its reaction, and the gastric juice acid, is no reason why the presence of the alka­ line saliva should interfere with the ac­ tion of the g^sftio juice upon the food in the stomach. Were this true, the best way to hasten and encourage stomach digestion would be to follow that plan our railrosd companies observe, when they allow you ten minutes for dinner. You could then wash the food down with water or other liquid, and thereby not burden the stomach by the saliva; but it so happens that the saliva acts as a prarapter of the secretion of the digestive fluids of the stomach. In experiments that have been tried it has been found that if the flow of saliva is directed elsewhere than in the stomach, digestion takes place slowly, and some­ times not at all. Then we must under­ stand that the use of saliva in degluti­ tion is simply a mechanical one, and is the very least and most insignificant of its many uses. The writer condemn, however, the habit of chewing gum at all hours.--Medical Bulletin. Hake the Best of It When Ton Get Sick. "I have sinned against my brother, the ass," confessed a pious old monk, when his under-fed, over-flogged body refused to budge for him. Make you the same confession, Tom. You trudged through miles of mud-puddle yesterday, and then gave yourself no irabbing down and dry stabling. Now you wonder where you got that con­ founded cough. And you, Dick, who spurred your tired eyes open night after night, in a final spurt for the essay prize, if you had listened, as Balaam did to his animal, when you heard that noise in your head, you wouldn't be tied aown to S cot with riei vous prosiration. As for you, Harry, poor lad! we all have to risk lame legs in taking a leap. Many a brave runner draws in his breath with the exultation of youth, feeling the glow of strength through all his veins, runs blithely forward, and--lands in a heap as you did. Make he best of it. All the old Dicks and Toms and Harrys are in the same plight, with their ex­ posures and overwork and risks. Pec- cavimus! We have all sinned. But well make the best of it. The beast is foundered, bo* his rider is safe, and waiting for the tide of health to turn, i His lien is yet on the great outside world still sending tributes in to him-- glimpses of blue sky, a ripple of laugh­ ter from a jolly robin, the breath of a midsummer idyl mingling roses and new-mown hoy. A pretty lordling, en­ throned on pillows, he dictates to doc­ tor and nurse. Business cares and so­ cial duties are laid aside. The fine art of invalidism is his only interest and ooncern.--A. B. Ward. Literary Annoyances. It is one of the minor annoyances of an author's life, indeed, that the world at large can never be made to recognize this plain fact, but constantly insists on identifying the writer with has books or his articles. It takes it for granted that he writes what he likes and that he chooses his themes because he is per­ sonally interested in them. Sometimes it scolds him for his evil selections: "Oh, how can you writo such horrid things!" or, "Why do you always make your plots so dreadfully bloodthirsty?" while he, poor innocent soul, with his finger to his mouth, would probably far prefer to spin out a pretty idyllic story about the domestic loves of two nice young people who after many vicissi­ tudes were happily married, or to en­ lighten the world to the best of his ability on the precise relations of the double stars to the^ unresolved nebulae. They little knoV that at that very moment a note from an editor, supreme arbiter of fate, lies open upon his table: " Why don't you give us a little more incident? Couldn't you manage now to kill off Guy and let Ethel's throat be finally cut after a desperate struggle by the insurgent Zulus ?" But oftener still --and this is far more annoying--the world makes little complimentary speeches: "That was a sweet story of yours"--good heavens! the Trial of the Ruddigore Mystery! or "How I did laugh over that clever essay on the Ethics of Bores!" pumped up perforce with a nervous headache in response to an urgent demand from- an employer for a humorous article. What is worst of all, the world even writes yon earn­ est, argumentative letters about the precious subject on which you have last written, as though you cared for it: "Have you seen my pamphlet on the South Australian corn question?" or, "Do you know that there exists at Borne a more perfect copy of the Apoleo of Lysippus than even the one you praise so highly in your interesting paper on the Development of the ^Plastic Art in Corinth?" Why, that tedious article wail written to order, at so much per column, to ac­ company plates already engraved, for the editor of a leading art magazine; and you take about as much personal interest in the plastic art of Corinth or of Corioli as a shoemaker takes in the metatarsal bones of this, that, or the other particular customer. You mugged it all up as Mr. Pott's young man mugged up the subject of Chinese metaphysics, and as soon as you had de­ livered your soul, according to contraot, of the 5,000 words, neither more nor less, sufficient to imbed those eight in­ teresting engravings in a shallow stra­ tum of insipid letter press, you dis­ missed the plastic art of Corinth for good from your mind, with a fervent hope that no malign influence would ever eompel you in an evil hour a sec­ ond time to approaoh the dry details of Hellenic sculpture.--The Fortnightly Review. , Superstitions Chinese* The Chinese are full of superstitions, and many of them firmly believe that the foreigners make medicines out of human beings. , The massacre at Tien- Tain in 1870, in which twenty foreign­ ers were killed, and among them a nam- of French nuns, was caused by the re­ ports that the sisters were killing chil­ dren to get their hearts and eyes for medical purposes, and the trouble in Corea last spring was causecl by the cir­ culation of the stories that the mission­ aries were grinding up children's bones to make medicine. This report was started by the Chinese, and the latest attempt of the kind I find to-day here at Shanghai. In appc-ars in a trj- monthly illustrated magazine which the Chinese publish and which sells for 5 cents a copy. This contains a full de­ scription of how the foreigners make their medicine, with ghastly illustra­ tions of the severed trunks and the cut up limbs of human beings. In one oat men in American olothes are bending over great furnaces in which the heads and legs of men are boiling, and beside which great baskets and tubs of cut-up humans lie. The men are stirring the steaming mass And the picture makes one think of the witches' caldron in "Macbeth." In another cut is shown the machinery for the grinding up of the bones and flesh. A dozen old skeletons lie upon the floor, and a man . with a shovel puts the ghastly mass upon the scales for weighing, in another room the medicine is packed up to be sent away, and young ladies in American dress with waterfalls and French heels are busy at it. I asked the manager of the magazine whether he believed in such stuff, and he replied that he did not know and asked if it was not really true.--Letter from Shanghai*, Extent of Knowledge Now. Here is an old story in point, illus­ trating conditions: A certain man, a sort of scientist after his fashion, found an insect which in his crude way he could at once determine to be a beetle. But he wished to know just what kind of a beetle that particular one happened to be, or in other words to find out its name. So, like a good and patriotic citizen, he referred it to a specialist-- just as a sensible mining engineer with a broken leg wpnld call in the advice cf a surgeon. He went to a friend and said: "Here is a beetle. Now you are an entomologist; please tell me what that is." "Oh, no," said the referee, "I am not an. entomologist." "Not an entomologist? Why I thought that was your line." -- "No; I only wish I were," he said, sadly. "Well, what are you? What do yon call a beetle, sharp--a coleopterist ?" "No," he said, modestly, and with a depreciatory air, "no, I'm not a coleop- terist. If you insist on knowing, I might claim (now brightening up) to be a searabseist; that is, you know, alto­ gether different fr>ni being a regular coleopterist." ^ It is not so long ago that a single great mind, like that of Humboldt, could take in at a single comprehensive glance almost the sum of human knowl­ edge. sThere can be no Humboldt now. --Engineering and Mining Journal. ILLINOIS bill for the Well Meant, but 111 Said. Miss Breve--I noticed, while at the piano, that little Charlie seemed littU the BtrtiTIion ijntam of the *'*--rttftMlS rf criminals at the penitentiary «u Muwedlbrthe Senate on the 5th Inst. The honM WQ a Izingthe State Treasurer to reccta an the State from th« General Government taining the Soldiers' Home, went to ttrtrfl naif ing. as did also Badley'a bill proMMtteg tteui poRure for salo of "flaah* newspapers and fee- rest's assessors bill. Senator Stmttaa antes, hard but tinsnccefssfnl flght tor his biU umro- jwiftting $25,000 to Jefferson County for tbe rebuilding of the court house destroyed by a cyclone about a year ago. The Moaner bill, providing for the taxation of aliowiMQee free as costs in suit« brought by employes against employers for the recovery of wages, -was. on motion of Senator McDonald, taken from the table aiul sent to second readinc. The House concurred In the Chaptaan tienlnti-- requesting the warden* of the penitentiaries to examine into tbe feasibility of fh« tn nnifaHnia of twine at thoae instltnttom. Mr. Merritt offered an amendment urging the liitnois dele­ gation in Congress to remove all duties from uifuiiia and other materials naedintlMimWh facture of twine. The amendment was tabled by a party vote, with the exception of Telford Aid Keller, BeptiWicaiiB, wftsv voted with the Democrats. The HOUBO passed Miller's bill for making one of the peni­ tentiaries a reformatory institution and estab­ lishing the parole system. The big revision of. the gchool law was also Bent to the Senate. Possibly a dozen bills were sent to third reading, Imt the only one of importance came frooi Mr. Hoinjiu, which aiuiplv puts the towns taoat>" por^tud under special act of the iMglslatm* under the same footing as those inoor] under the general law of 1872 as respects and elevated roads. It brings I-ake, donro, ( Hyde Park within the provisions of the sods laws in relation to the question of street, vated and dummy roads. IN the absence of Lieutenant Governor Itaf and President Pro Tent Chapman, the finis usiia e&ilt-d U? order ou the evening of the 8tfc" inst. by Senator Thomas, of Cook, with twelve Senators present. The House bill providing tor the designa tes of one of the State peni­ tentiaries for a reformatory was read a tint time, on motion of Senator Reinhardt, MM» < ered to second readinc. On motion at bwiator Griswoid the Hons® bill providing tha.i H.W but three trustees of any eduofr t tonal institution may be non-resident s of the 8taU> was read a second time and ordered to third reeding. Considerably less than a quorum of members were present, when the House met. By unanimous consent Mr. Stoskopfr introduced a bill to provide that in all cities a tax of 2 mills may be levied as a "library fond tax." This .measure is for the purpose of mak­ ing definite certain provisions of the existing law which have been deemed by lawyers indefi­ nite, as it has been regarded as doubtful whether under the strict interpretation of the present law cities under 11)0,000 inhabitants eoakl legally levy this a .'mill tax. in addition to the present limitations. The bill was read a first time and ordered to second reading Senate bill in regard to wind storm insnmuce compan­ ies was read a first time. The bill introduced by Mr. Crafts to authorize proceedings supple- inentary to an execution against property, was read a second time, and ftfter the adoption of several amendments ordered to third r Mr. Fisher succeeded in having his bUl l ing the lav,- in regard to the incorporation of marine and inland navigation Insurance com­ panies read a second timer and referred to third reading. A MKSSAOK from the Governor announcing the following appointments was received bv the Senate on the 9th inst: For Trustee of tike Northern Hospital for the Insane, at Elgin. SkP. Sedgwick, <>f Dupage County, to succeed him­ self. For Trustee of the Institution of the De*f and Dumb, at Jacksonville, Melvin A. Cashing, of Woodford County, to sueceed himself. For Trustee of the State Institution for the Kdoc*- tion of the Blind, N. W. Branson, of Menard County, to succeed himself. For Trusts* of the Illinois Soldiers' Orphans' Home, at Normal, Duncan M, Funk, of McLean County, to succeed himself. For Trus­ tee of the Asylum for Feeble-Minded at Lincoln, Aaron B. Nicholson, of Logan County to succeed E. D. Blinn. For trustee of the Central Hospital for the Insane at Jackson­ ville, David E. Beatty, of Jernev County, to suc­ ceed himself. Senator Frisbee's Plr -- s PharmacTbm passed without ler's bill, provM> was read for a third tune and an opposing vote. Senator Fuller's bill, provM> ing that a transcript of judgment obtained In one county may be filed in another county In order to make it a lien on real estate, was read a third time and passed without opposition. Senator Lehman's bill authorising county boards to cause the removal of drift-wood from streams, was read a third time and passed with­ out opposition. Senator Karraker's Dill, amend­ ing tno bastardy act, was reau a third time and passed. Yeas, 27; nays, ft Senator Thomas' bill to permit Circuit Judges to be assigned to temporary appellate duty in overcrowded Appellate Courts, was gassed without opposition. Senator Hauler's ill to prohibit females under 16 years of age from being inmates of houses of ill-fame was read a second time and ordered to a third read­ ing, without debate or amendment. Senator Leeper'a bill, providing that when a person oon- vieted of t«iiitai^y shall be uornailttcu io jau for non-compliance with the orders of the court, he may not be released for insolvency within six months, was ordered to a third matting The S«crest-Paddoek stock-yards bill came up as a special order on second reading in the House, ana after much discussion was post­ poned tor two weeks. The general appropria­ tion bill was discussed, bnt no action taken. THE non-resident college trustee bill, whioh passed the House, was taken np in the Senate on the 10th inst. as a special order on second reading, and advanced to third reading. The annexation bill was read a first time under sus­ pension of the rules and ordered to second reading. The Senate then went into execution session and confirmed the appointees repor to the Senate by the Governor. The follow bills were read to the Senate by the Governor. The following second time and or­ dered to third reading: Senator Fuller's', bill to prevent the manufacture and sale of adulterated food products; the House bill appropriating #10,000 for public printingifor immediate use ;.Senator Humphrey's •bill appropriating $10,000 for the construc­ tion of bronze or marble statues |of Lincoln and Douglas; Senator Bacon's bill making appro­ priations for repairs and improvements at tin Joliet Penitentiary; Senator Deau's bill making appropriations for the Illinois Soldiers ana Bailors' Home; Senator Evans' bill tw-Ving ap­ propriations for the erection of additional build­ ings for the Hospital for the Insane at Elgin. Senator Burke's chattle-mortgaje bill was read a third time and passed. The bill authorizing tha State Treasurer to receive from the United States i?lU0 for every soldier main­ tained at the Soldiers' Homo passed wittmt opposition. Senator Eckhart's bill, giving to corporations organized under special charters all the powers of corporations organized undtr the general law, was passed. Senator Thomas* bill authorising religious societies to acquire land in excess of ten acres, the excess to ba . subject to taxation, passed without opposition. Senator xladley's bill to suppress selling, lead­ ing, giving away, or showing to any minor chlNL any paper or publication principally devoted to illustrating or describing immoral" deeds was passed. The House resumed consideration of the general appropriation bill. Mr. Cooley moved to strike out the total appropri^ tion for the State Board of Health. After an animated discussion of half an hour the motion Prevailed by a vote of 83 to 51. The bill was Off­ered to third reading. The bill requiring boards of trustees in towns and corporate authorities in cities and villages to order local improvements on the i>etition of a majority of the owners of :the frontage on anv given block was read a third Itiine and passed. The bill of the Committee on Municipal Corporations making definite ths power conferred by law upon presidents of boards of trustees of villages was read a third' time and passed. Mr. Martin's bill to exeikpt from taxation bridges across any stream form­ ing the boundarv line between this and an ad­ joining State when such bridge is a free pubiln highway was passed. THE bill to fix the pay of members of the Gatt- eral Assemblv at the rate of $10 per day for tw first 100 days "of any regular or »i>ecial session of the General Assembly, and at j-'i yor day ft* each dav thereafter, was read a second tin*# itt the Senate on the 11th inst., aud ordered to third reading. The House bill providing thait < all but three trustees of educational institu­ tions mav be non-residents of the State, was on motion of Senator Thomas substituted' for the similar Senate bill, and was read a third time. The roll was then called M the passage of the bill, resulting, yeas, S; nays, 14 As the bill failed to reoeivs the votes of two-thirds of tbe Senators present, it failed to pass with the rmergeney clans*. The emergency clause was stricken out and tin bill was passed by a vote of 3J yeas to 13najS» Senator Fuller gave notice of a motion to c*. consider the vote by which the bill was passed. The House bill appropriating $10,000 for printing needed before July 1. 188SJ, was passed without opposition. Senator Hauler's bill to prohibit any female under 18 years of ago from being an inmate of a house of ill-fame was read a thil& time and passed. Yeas, 88; nays, none. Sen*, tor Berry's compulsory education hill passed by a vote of So y.»aa with no opposing votes. The 'House rnnnaiT the Chicago drain a 40 bill, by a vote of 9-i to 4SL The Jones-Hurst bill, providing for the adoption of the Australian election system, came up as a sj>ecial order and was read a second time. Tha bill was ordered to third reading without amend­ ment. Mr. Locey's bill amending the law thafc gives the assent of the State of Illinois to tits construction of bridges across navigable rival* was sent to third reading. The following appro­ priation bills wort- read a second time and ur- dored to third reading without amendment: ill aid the Illinois Dairymen's Association; for tha Illinois Asylum lor Keebie-Mmded Chiidnas at Lincoln. Several minor bills wore adtanosdto first, second, and third reading. , , V « R ' " * - - t , .*i 1 m The Judge's Rhymes. The following anecdote is toUtC Judge Noah Davis. Not long ago ne sat at a trial in which the defeiulani had two witnesses, William True and John A. Ditto. After their testimony had been taken J udge Davis haudtm the following to the plaintiff's council; .. True swears ditto to Ditto^ < Ditto swears ditto to 1fea% And if True swears true B r And Ditto swears ditto. They are too murtfc MNt y**, --JVeic York World. "fc"" t.i S" . * w * , •u « .A.CTShit ^,/f' <y •,-X '&• --v.- £ \ i*" r "l£ vfA ' .s-i-... $