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?nrg lllaindcalet I. VAN K.YMC, Emm mi PaMWiMr. HOIENRT, •1. J 1 • ILLINOIS IJOSA BONHBUB is getting to be an old îromau. She began painting when only "19 years of age, and she is now 58. She hm often been paid $500 a day for paint­ ing. Two WKLL-KNOWN London banking ftrma, -with the co-operation of a French syndicate, have taken the Italian loan. 'To prevent danger in the transportation of so much gold, $80,000,000 will be L sent in the course of two years. ACCORDING to a French paper, the first sheets of M. Littre's great dictiona­ ry were sent to press in 1859, and the last in 1872. The manuscript contained nearly 500,000 sheets. The work of -composition was only interrupted during the war. ^ THE best thing the late Lord Bea- -consfield did for England, financially, was the expenditure of $20,000,000 for a • controlling interest in the Suez canal, which paid a net profit to the stock­ holders last year of $2,500,000, ENGLISH people are growing alarmed at the decline of church attendance there. Reports from fifty-seven parish -churches were obtained for May 1,1881, and it was found that, with a total seat­ ing capacity of 32,455, there were pres­ ent that morning only 6,731. e FORMAL notices of contests for fifteen eats in the next House of Representa­ tives at Washington, in most cases ac­ companied by voluminous testimony, are now on file in the Clerk's office of the House. Thirteen of these contest­ ed cases are from the South, Alabama alone having four. One is from Maine and one from Iowa. few exceptions they have been poor and ' hard up' all the time. They do not average 50 cents a day the year round; and no men work harder, or more hours a day. They live on the coarsest and cheapest food, with no luxuries, and wear the cheapest of clothing. But they toil on, month after month and year after year, hopefully atod courage­ ously, infatuated and driven forward with the belief that they will ' strike it rich' one of these days, and then they will have a rest and a good time 'down at the Bay1 or at the old home ' in the States.'" THERE is a fox-terrier which some time ago made his appearance on the London, Brighton and South­ west railroad, and attached himself to the conductor* of the trains with such pertinacity that about eighteen months ago he was presented with a collar inscribed: "Jack, London, B. and 8. West R. R. Co." One day he was watched, when his movements were found to be as follows : He arrived from Brighton by a train reaching Steyning at 10:50; there he got out for a minute, but went on by the same train to Hen- field. Here he left the train and went to a public house, not far from the sta­ tion, where a biscuit was given to him, and, after a litfle walk, took a later train to West Grinstead. where he spent the afternoon, returning to Brighton in time for the last train to Lewes. He generally sits clo^Lto the conductor and looks out of the WMMIOW. WHEN Judges as well as doctors disa­ gree who shall decide ? A few weeks ago Judge Hardin, of the Marion Cir­ cuit Court, Kentucky, decided that the 'State has a right to prohibit the run­ ning of trains on Sunday. Lately, - Judge Jackson, of the Jefferson Circuit Court at Louisville, decided that the •State has no such power. The Court of Appeals will probably sit upcn the ques­ tion. AN interesting story is told in Elmira of the attachment of an old gander to a blind horse. The gander, noticing the difficulty the horse had iu going around, would all day go in front of the horse leading by a cackle. At night the gan­ der would accompany the horse to the stall, lie under the trough and the horse would supply the gander with food. At length the horse died and the gander refused all food and soon died. LAST year 12,000 young men of the •military age left Germany for the United fttates, and this year it is probable the number of our immigrants of this class will reach 20,000. The period of mili­ tary service in Germany is from the age of 20 to 42, and if this, emigration con­ tinues the army will be greatly weak­ ened by it. Prince Bismarck is seri­ ously alarmed by this tide of emigra­ tion, but finds no effective bulwark to prevent its flow. P Ait is has a laboratory in which what people eat and drink is analyzed. It would not do in this country ; if people knew just what they were eating they would practice Griscom's theory on half or two-thirds of our so-called luxuries Butter made from dead carcasses, candy from glucose and wine flavored with old boots and drugs would not go down quite as easily if jthe ingredients were marked on the bill of fare, but as long as American stomachs li^ld out the thing is likely to continue. THE Census Bureau gives us the grain product of the United States for the year 1879. From these tables we learn that from 62,326,952 acres planted in corn there were raised 1,772,909,846 bushels; from 35,487,065 acres in wheat the yield was 287.745,626 bushels ; 36,- 150,611 acres of oats produced 407,970,- 715 bushels ; 2,005,466 acres devoted to barley gave us 44,149,479 bushels; the 1,844,321 acres sown in rye brought forth 16,918,795 bushels, and the 856, - 304 acres of buckwheat gave a return of 9.821,721 bushels. The total acreage for cereals in 1879 was 118,065,619, and the yield nearly 3,000,000,000 bushels, or an average of fifty-four bushels to each individual of our 50,000,000 of population. BtrRBKLti was for many years a circus performer. He always said that he dis­ liked the business and meant to quit it as soon as he found his daughter, for whom he was constantly looking. His wife had eloped from him in 1867, tak­ ing along their child, then 2 years old, and he lioped some time to recognize the girl among the crowds that he daily saw at the performances. In Pittsburgh, a few weeks ago, he discovered a face that he felt sure was the one he had been. seeking. He deserted the show, employed detectives to hunt out the girl's history, and collected a great deal of evidence of her being his daughter. She believes so, and wishes to join Bur- reli ; but the family who had brought her up refuse to relinquish her, and the case will go into court. ALL at once the astronomers have changed front, and say that the present great comet, instead of being a mere nebulous thing, has body anil substance. They think they have discovered enough carbon in it to burn, and that it is prob­ ably a world on fire. Iu the infinitude of space there must be countless com­ ets. Jlerschel said that they could be counted by millions, but billions would be better. If the comet be a world ablaze, there is some reason to believe in the orthodox idea of a general con­ flagration of our planet at some distant age. But the astronomers know very little of comets or planets or suns. A grand and profound mystery surrounds them all. The finite mind has its limits and can never pierce infinity. What little creatures men are when they can­ not tell whether the side of the moon seen by them has or has not an atmos­ phere ! FACTS FOR THE CURIOUS. CELESTIAL HORSEMANSHIP. " HUB of the Universe," a popular des­ ignation of the city of Boston, Mass., originated with Oliver Wendell Holmes. MAKING tooth-picks of wood is by no means a modern ides. The Romans used wooden toothpicks in preference to quills. THB name Gotham was first applied to the city of New York by Washington Irving in "Salmagundi,' because the inhabitants were such wiseacres. THE first circus in this country was managed by a man named Ricketts, in 1780. Gen. Washington and his staff patronized the performance in Philadel­ phia, and it became quite a fashionable amusement. IT has been supposed among antiqua­ rians that the clapper is a modern addi­ tion to bells, and that it did not form a part of those employed in Japan or China. Mr. Henry O. Forbes, how­ ever, says that when in Java he saw in the possession of a gentleman there a bronze bell dug up on the site of one of the old Hindoo settlements, of which now only the graves remain. It had lost the clapper, but the hook to which doubtless a clapper was attached existed still. THE source of the common saying, "consistency thou art a jewel," has puzzled many a scholar, and whether or not the following authority may be relied upon as the starting point or as only using a borrowed idea we cannot assert. In a ballad entitled "Jolly Robyn Roughhead," published in 1764, in a little volume of English and Scotch ballads, the poet bewails the extrava­ gance in dress which he considers the groat enormity of his day, and makes Robyn address his wife as follows : Tush, tash, my laneie! «uch thought* resign. Comparisons are cruel; Fine pictures suit to frame* aa fine; Consistency's a jewrell! PYTHAGORAS was a Greek philosopher, who was the son of a jeweler of Samoa, bora about 580 years before Christ. At an early age he traveled, going to Egypt, where it is said he resided twenty-five years. Then it is related he went to Babylon, Judea, and it is even asserted he penetrated to Gaul and India. He established a school in Italy, and effect­ ed some reformation in the inhabitants. He was persecuted, however, the friends of a reiected student of powerful family compelling him to withdraw to Meta- pontum, where he soon after died, prob­ ably about the year 500 B. C. THE finest floors are said to be s<>en in Russia. For those of the highest grade tropical woods are exclusively em­ ployed. Fir and pine are never used, as in consequence ol their sticky char­ acter they attract and retain dust and dirt, and thereby soon become black­ ened. Pitch pine, too, is liable to shrink, even after being well seasoned. The mosaic wood floors in Russia are of extraordinary beauty. One, in the Sum­ mer Palace, is of small squares of ebony inlaid with mother of pearl. A consid­ erable trade is done in Dantzic and Riga by exporting small blocks of oak for parquette floors. There is an active de­ mand for these iu France and Germany, but none in England. What the Thumb Does. Have you noticed that when you want to take hold of anything--a bit of thread, we will say--that it is always the thumb who puts himself forward, and that he is always on one side by himself, while the rest of th6 fingers are on the other ? If the thumb is not helping nothing stops in your hand, and you don't know what to do with it. Try, by way of ex­ periment, to carry your spoon to your mouth without putting your thumb to THE San Francisco Bulletin tells the story in a few words. Thousands of men who have homes and are in com­ parative comfort should read and study the lesson and be content. The Bulletin says: "There are not less than 2,000 prospectors in the mountains of Cali­ fornia at the present time. Most of them have been prospecting for ten or twenty years. They are all poor. With ' it, and you will see what a long time it will take you to get through with a poor little plateful of broth. The thumb is placed in such a manner on your hand that it can lace each of the other lingers, one after the other, or all together, as you please, and by this we are enabled to grasp, as with a pair of pincers', all objects, whether largo or small. Our hands owe their perfection of usefulness to this happy arrangement, which has been bestowed on no other animal ex­ cept the monkey, our nearest neighbor. TI»M Description or a At- feaapt to KM« m Baralaf Braaca. (Bill Kye.] When a Chinaman does most any­ thing in his own peculiar Oriental style, it is pretty apt to attract attention; but when he gets on a bucking bronco with the cheerful assurance of a. man who understands his business, and has been conversant with the ways of the bronco for over two thousand years, the great surging mass of humanity ceases to surge, and stands with bated breath and watches the exhibition with unflag- giug interest. A Chinaman does not grab the bit of the bronco and yank it around until the noble steed can see thirteen new and peculiar kinds af fireworks, or kick him in the stomach and knock his ribs loose, or swear at him till the firmament gets loose and begins to roll together like a scroll, but he does his hair up in an Oriental wad behind and jabs a big hair­ pin into it and smiles, and says some­ thing like what a Guinea hen would say if she got excited and tried to report one of Bjoernstjerne Bjoernson's poems back­ wards in his native tongue. Then he gets on the wrong side and slides into the saddle, making a remark as though something inside of him had broken loose, and the grand diffi­ culty begins. At first the bronco seems surprised and temporarily rattled intellectually, and he stands idly in the glad sunlight and allows his mental equilibrium to wabble back into the place while the Chinaman makes some observations that sound like the distant melody of a Han­ cock Club going home at 2 o'clock iu the morning, and all talking at one and the same time. By and by the bronco shoots athwart the sunny sky like a thing of life, and comes down with all his legs in a cluster like a bunch of asparagus, aud with a great deal of force antt expression. This movement throws the Chinaman's liver into the northwest corner of the thorax and his upper left hand deuodes- simo into the middle of the subsequent week, but he does not complain. He opens liis mouth and breathes in all the atmosphere that the rest of the universe can spare, and readjusting his shirt- tail so that it will have the correct incli­ nation toward the horizon, he gently tickles the bronco on the starboard quarter with the cork sole of his oorpu- lent shoe. This mirth-provoking move­ ment throws the bronco into the wildest hysterics, and for twenty minutes the spectators don't see anything distinctly. The autumn sunlight seems to be mixed up with blonde bronco, and the softened haze of Octol*er seems fraught with pale blue shirt-tail and disturbed China­ man, moving in an irregular orbit, and occasionally throwing off meteoric arti­ cles of apparel aud his ^re-historic chunks of ingeueous profanity of the vintage of Confucius, marked B. C., 1860. When the sky clears up a little the Chinaman's hair has come down and hangs iu wild profusion about his olive features. '1 he hem of his shirt-flap is seen to be very much frayed, like au American flag that has snapped iu the breeze for thirteen weeks. He finds also that he has telescoped his spinal column and jammed two ribs through the right superior duplex, and he has two or three vertebrae fiorting about through his system that he don't know what to do with. The casual observer can see that the Chinaman is a robust ruin, while the bronco is still in a good state of preservation. But the closing scene is still to come. The bronco summons all his latent energy, aud humping his back up into the exhilarating atmosphere, he shoots forward with great earnestness and the most reckless abandon, and when he once more bisects the earth's orbit and jabs his feet into the trembling earth, a shapeless mass of brocaded silk and coarse black hair, and taper nails, aud Celestial shirt-tail, and Oolong profanity aud disorganized Chinese remains, and shattered Orieutal shirt destroyer, comes down apparently from the New Jerusa­ lem, aud the coroner goes out on the street to get six good men and a chemist, and they analyze the collection. They report that the deceased came to his death by reason of concussion, sup­ posed to .have been induced by his fall from the outer battlements of the sweet bye and bye. Life In Texas. " Tou am de squarest man in Austin," said old Uncle Mose, entering a drug store and taking the clerk by the han C The drug man blushed modestly and said he always tried to do his duty as u Christian and an American citizen, re­ gardless of age, race, sex or previous condition. " 1 knowed .light off you was a Chris­ tian, sah. No man in de drug bizness 'ceptin' a follerer ob de Lord would hang out sich a sign as you has got. Hit shows you am a Christian fust, and a pizen mixer afterward. I was jest spell- in' it out. Hit am de best advioe eber I got in a drug store." "What sign are you talking about, Uncle 1" asked the somewhat-bewildered druggist. " JJat ar," said the old man, pointing to a placard on the wall, which read : "Tasteless Medicines." "Dat ar am de best advice in de world, taste less medicines. I neber had tasted no medi­ cines, no how, and dat ar am de chief reason I'se alive and kickin' yit But fou am de fust Christian druggist eber struck," and the old man strolled cut just in time to avoid stopping with his head a package of hair restorer that the infuriated druggist hurled after him.-- Texas Sifting$. The Potent Papers. A couple of boys in a New York town learning that the odor and noise of sev­ eral pigs were disagreeable to the owner's neighbors, offered for a small sum to abate the nuisance. Whether their offer was accepted or not does not ap­ pear. At any rate they proceeded to business by%uying two papers. With these they" properly prepared the apples, potatoes and other garbage which was fed to the animals with most successful results. The swine went into a rapid decline and had to be slaughtered. The parents of the boys were obliged to settle with the owner, but the neighbors felt relieved. Of course the reader will be curious to know what two papers are useful in killing hogs. For if once known, there are stray curs and mid­ night cats enough to insure them a large circulation. To know also where they are published, and whether they are daily or weekly. Perhaps without giv­ ing names, it will be sufficient to say that one was a paper of pins, tho other of tacks.--Free Press. Air Tour Houses. Too many houses are built up the back in America. There are no through draughts. Front and back open, aud a current set a-going--that's fresh air. Air stagnates, and curtains drawn, blinds down, carpets on floors, doors clo-ed and one bit of a window just opened; goodness ! where's the life to come from to breathe in so many cubic inches even of oxygen ? Now then, Ifci the morning open the street door for an hour ana set something airing, some current into those stagnant air layers, 'that stuff each other up, and can neither move up nor down, nor in nor out Ladies are faint, children droop, babies die, men swear-- and all for want of a little fresh air just passing through the house. Look to it, and open your house door the first thing in the morning, and if you can set a cur­ rent going do it.--Food and Health. THE FAULT DOCTOR. minora tflswa. THE wife of Hon. E. M; Haines died recently inWaukegan. OVER 15,000 people attended the races at Chicago on the 4th of July. AT least 400 buildings--great and small --are now in process of construction at Peoria. THB volume of business at Peoria is indicated by its bank clearings, which average about $1,000,000 per week. ILLINOIS planted 3,810 acres of vine­ yard last year, which produced 1.047,- 875 gallons of wine, valued at $809,547. THB artesian well-diggers at Canton, Fulton county, have been greatly hin­ dered by the shale crumbling and filling the hole. THB Board of County Commissioners of Cass county has allowed small-pox bil's to the amount of $480 to persons in Beardstown. THE new Chicago City Directory, just issued, gives Chicago a total proximate population of 541,711, a gain' of 37,406 within the last year. THE Presbyterian Church at Mon­ mouth, Warren county, now being TVuilt, will, when finished, be the finest Speci­ men of architecture the city has ever had. ' EDWARD MrnPHY, an election judge in the Seventh ward of Chicago, who was detected in frauds, has been sen­ tenced to one year in the Bridewell and fined SI,000, THE fiftieth anniversary of the found­ ing of Bloomington was celebrated on the 4th inst. by a viust concourse. Sen­ ator David Davis presided. At night the city received an electric illumina­ tion. REV. E. J. WOOD and wife, of Plain- field, Will county, celebrated their "golden wedding " July 7. The now- venerable couple became man and wife at Martinsburg, Lewis county, N. Y., in 1831. AN audience of between 10,000 aud 11,000 people wituessed the base-ball match at Chicago on the 4th. The Bos­ ton and Chicago clubs were the con­ testants, the former winning by a score of 13 to 12. A PREMATT'RE explosion occurred in the coal mines at Astoria, Fulton county, which resulted in the instant death of a young man named William Sheeler and the serious injuring of Elmer Taylor, son of Dr. Taylor. THIS year there will be only about fifty pieces of land forfeited to the State in Peoria county. Most • of these are poorly-descril)ed pieces. This, for a tax levy of over $600,000, is a pretty good showing. JACKSON SHEPPARD, of Tazewell county, made a vow in 1860 that he would never get his hair cut till a Dem­ ocratic President was elected. A growth of more thau twenty years obliges him to braid it. THE Department of Agriculture esti­ mates the Illinois wheat crop as follows: 1881--estimated acreage, 3,219,016; 1880--reported acreage, 3,126,000; in­ crease this year, 93,016. 1881--estimat­ ed yield, 5l,137,32U %Mttla; 1880--re­ ported yield, 513,767/200 bushels; de­ crease, 2,629,878 bushels. A CONFERENCE participated in by the Illinois State Board of Health and by a number of leading physicians from other States, was held in Cliicago a few days ago, to discuss the best means of preventing the importation and dissem­ ination of small-pox. The discussion showed that those present thought the system of inspection pursued at the various seaports is rather lax, and that some measures should l»e taken to in­ sure a more rigorous system. Enforced vaccination of immigrants was favored. A BAD disaster occurred at the State University i*iChampaign. A large gang of workmen were engaged taking flown the old University building, and had piled a large amount of brick on one of the upper floors, when it collapsed, car­ rying away the lower floors to the base­ ment. John Reynolds and William Boke, workmen, went down with it. The former was badly cut on the head, his leg broken and his knee crushed. The latter had a rib driven into his lungs and was otherwise hurt. Both are probably fatally hurt. IN the case of the Chicago branch of the Bank of Montreal, the Commissioner of Internal Revenue decides that it is contraiy to souud public policy to ex­ empt from taxation funds of a foreign hank employed in competition with do­ mestic institutions. He therefore rules that the bank is liable for taxes on all capital brought within the jurisdiction of the United States. The total amount claimed from the Bank of Montreal is $108,317.36 ; from the Canadian Bank of Commerce, $51,292 ; and from the Mer­ chants' Bank of Canada, $5,834.14. CHICAGO Inter Ocean : " It is worth mentioning as a coincideuce that over two months ago the President received a letter from one Kutz, claiming to be a Chicago Communist, in which the ruffian said the President was as much of a des­ pot as the Czar of Russia; that iu all republtcH peoole are oppressed by the rulers; that this is particularly true of the United States. Kutz concluded the let­ ter with the opinion that President Gar­ field might l>e served with a big dos^ of dynamite and uitro-glycerine. The President read the letter at the time it was received, and was amused at its im­ pudence ; but the painful fact that the oniv man who threatened and the only man who attempted the life of the Pres­ ident hailed from this city, in which he was nominated, is not gratifying." THE following is a decision of the Illi­ nois Supreme Court, on appeal from the Appellate Court for the Fourth district of Illinois, < n a case appealed to the latter court from the Circuit Court of Clay county. We copy from the Legal News: . . ! AU injunction will not lie at the suit of a stockholder in an incorporated fair associa­ tion, restraining tho company and its officer from permuting, for a pecuniary reward, gamblers to congregate ana ply their vocation upon the grounds of the company during it* annual exhibitions, when it dots rot appear from the bill or otherwise ttiat, the complainant or the company has thereby snstaiued se tie pe­ cuniary injury or loss. It is no part of the mission of a court of equity to administer the criminal law of the Htate. or to enforce the principles of religion and morality, except so fsr as it m*y be incidental to the enforcement of property rights and perhajw other matters of equitable cognizance. The lioensing of gambling-tables on fair-grounds is foreign to the objects and uurposes of a fan- association, and is clearly uUra vires. If such licences art granted, ttie'officers alone would be responsi­ ble, unless authorized by the stockholders, in which case it wculd be such an abuse of the company's franchises as might warrant tho State in reclaiming them. DB. LIKRBNIX recommends soap­ suds, made of any soap on hand, to sprewl over burned surfaces. Their ac­ tion in relieving pain and reducing in­ flammation is due to the presence of the alkali, and they possess, he thinks, evi­ dent advantages over powdering with bicarbonate of soda. EGOS ON TOAST.--For this a perfectly- fresh egg is necessary; put a pan half full of hot water on the stove, break vour egg carefully in it, cover, and put back on the stove till the white is firm. Take out of the pan with a skimmer, and slide into a bowl of hot water while ?ou make and butter your toast, 'ake up the egg carefully on a perfor­ ated skimmer, shake dry, trim off any ragged edges, and serve immediately on the toast. Sprinkle a little salt and pepper on the egg. If this is well and neatly done it is appetizing for a sick person. DK. FBUX L. OSWALD makes an elo­ quent plea, in an article published in the Popular Science Monthly, for the ad­ vantages of physical exercise as a pre­ ventive of and cure for bodily ailments. He urges it as the proper remedy, cur­ ing the symptoms by removing the cause, for some of the besetting vices of youth, which he ascribes to an excess of potential energy for which our sedentary mode of life provides no outlet. He urges, also, that in large cities parents owe their children a provision for a frequent opportunity of active exercise, just as they owe them an antiseptic diet in a malarious climate. IF a person should eat his dinner to­ day at 12 o'clock, to-morrow at 2 and the next day at 3, and continue in this irregular manner for a couple of weeks, his nervous system would be apt to be­ come entirely deranged, for the reason that the individual has prevented this natural tendency of the nerves to have a fixed and periodic time to demand the food, and, as a consequence from such irregularity, indigestion is the result, and, on account of the intimate connec­ tion of the nerves and the brain, a very serious and detrimental effect upon the latter is produced, causing mental inac­ tivity and loss of memory. But, on the other hand, if we should eat our dinner to-day at 12, and to-morrow and the next day at the same hour, we will find that this periodicity has been established, and the little messengers, the nerves, will warn us exactly at 12 that our regular period has arrived. It therefore follows that if we comply with that request every day promptly we find good diges­ tion, quiet nerves, letter memory and a more active mind to be the result. CONSTIPATION.--Halts Journal of Health thinks it doubtful it consump­ tion numbers as many victims as are stricken down by the various diseases that result from habitual constipation. True consump tion is an inherited dis­ ease. It may remain always dormant, but when aroused to action, decay com­ mences at a point circumscribed, and gradually extends, unless arrested, uutil so much of the lungs become involved that vital action ceases. The evils of constipation result from inattention to the calls of nature, and usually com­ mence with children whose habits are not closely looked to by their parents. The processes of nature are always active while life lasts. When effete matter is retained a moment beyond the time its expulsion is demanded, the system com­ mences its efforts to get rid of it. When the natural egress is checked, the absor­ bents carry the more-fluid portions of the poisonous mass into the circulation, and it becomes diffused throughout the body. The move-aolid or clav-like por­ tion is forced into the lower rectum, where it becomes firmly impacted, thus cutting off the circulation of the small blood vessels, causing painful engorge­ ments known as piles or hemorrhoids. A continuance of the troubles ol'ten re­ sults in fissure, fistula or cancer. The trouble is seldom confined here. As a result of the blood poisoning we invari­ ably find more or less dyspepsia, with decided derangements of the functions of the heart, liver and kidneys, accom­ panied by headache and nervous debil­ ity, often verging on paralysis. Woodcock Telegraphy. On a number of occasions I have close­ ly observed the woodcock's system of telegraphy. The bird's mandibles are furnished* with extremely sensitive nerves, so arrauged that when the point of the bill rests upon the ground the slightest sounds are conveyed to its brain. Standing upon the water-satu­ rated earth of a spouty bog, our bird ut­ ters a faint, keen cry, scarcely audible at two-rods' distance, then immediately lets fall liis head till the tip of his bill touches the ground, and listens attent­ ively. If his mate hears him she re­ plies, puts her bill on the ground, aud listeus in turn. So the love messages ro btvck and forth as long as the birds have anything to say. This sort of thing usually happens in the soft twi­ lights from May to the middle of Au­ gust, though occasionally I have seen and heard it in tht broad light of a sum­ mer day. Iu June, 1868, I made the following note: "To-day sketched a woodcock in the listening attitude. Shall try to got fur­ ther studies." Five years later I succeeded in getting three more sketches aud last yeary(1880) I got four more. Many of tlgjse and kindred sketches have been obtained at the end of iudescribable care and labor. The woodcock is so shy, so attentive, so sensitive; that the least sound will cause it to skulk and hide--a tliiug it does with even greater cunning and success than the quail. The only way in which I ever have been able to get near enough to the bird to sketch its natural atti­ tudes has been to crawl on the wet ground through tangled weeds and shrubs until I reached a hiding place on the boiler of its feeding range, and there patiently and silently watch for its coming. This 1 have done over and over again for days together before get­ ting sight of the bird.--Chicago Trib- The Russian Peasants. The St. Petersburg correspondent of the London Standard gives some illus­ trations of the peculiar ideas at present agitating the minds of peasants in the interior of Russia. He says : In one province the peasants went iu a body to » large landowner nnd informed him that liis laud would shortly be divided uuong them. The proprietor induced several of the chief men to go with him •o a neighboring town iu order to dis­ miss the matter further, and on arrival there the peasants were taken to the po­ lice station, and there treated to a round number of strokes with a rod. They wer#then allowed to go home, and no doubt succeeded in convincing their comrades that the idea of a speedy re­ distribution of lands was a mistaken one. In another province the peasants in­ formed their employer, a large proprie­ tor of land and manufactories, that they had received a ukase from the Czar, or­ dering them to wreck his property. The employer asked and obtained two days' grace, and meantime he informed the authorities. The peasants were made to produce the ukase, which proved to be forged, and, after being impressed with the falsity of the order, the peas­ ants were allowed to disperse. From the above and many other instances, it seems clear that the revolutionists are not idle in turning the times to account by raising false hopes in the minds of the ignorant masses. The Match-Maker. Every community, and perhaps almost every family, has its match-maker--one who devotes herself to the sentimental interests of the race, who always is sus­ pecting a love affair in every intimacy or friendship between a man and woman; who compasses heaven and earth, so to speak, in order to throw two people to­ gether whom she fancies are each other's affinity, either in mind or purse; to whom all the pomp and circumstance of a wedding, the progress of a courtship, the tender anxieties of a lovers" quarrel, are the daily bread of her mental exist­ ence. She plans and circumvents, and devotes her talents to bringing about whatever scheme she has set her heart upon, no matter whether the pulses of her victims beat in unison with the wish or not She has not only the satisfac­ tion of feeling that she iujures the hap­ piness of those for whom she labors--a fable which she devontedly believes-- but her stratagems, the success of tliin maneuver or the failure of that, afford her all the excitement, all the mental stimulus, of a novel, indefinitely con­ tinued, with numerous sequels, always oil the way to some striking denouement. She is never in want of heroes and hero­ ines, of cruel parents and miserly rela­ tives, because she draws her dramatic person® from real life. The match­ maker is often the mother of a large family of straightened means, plain faces, and no particular vocations, who sees that a good marriage is their only deliv­ erance from want, hardship, and depend­ ence iu the future; it is usually necessity wliich develops this match-making tend­ ency in her; sometimes it is the childish aunt who takes the role, who has noth­ ing else to do but to look after the mat­ rimonial prespects qf nephews and nieces, whose house is a rendezvous for lovers, whose tact tides them over many dangers and shipwrecks, or it is the kindly old maid, whose highest ambi­ tion is to endow other women with the love and protection she has missed, whose sentiment has outlived a great deal of rough weather. Occasionally we meet the masculine type, who bnngles at the business, frightens both parties, and only succeeds in driving his clients into marrying contrary to liis wish. No doubt it is wiser that " love should find out a way" without any aid from an outsider; that it should be spontaneous, aud not suggested by another; and though in most foreign countries what we call match-making, or a bolder form of it, is the general custom, where no young girl selects or accepts for herself but has love and marriage thrust upon her, yet the English-speaking cupiu is uot to be coerced, is apt to resent inter­ ference aud to spread his wings at the sight of the matcli-maker, unless she approaches incognito.-- Harper's Bazar. Keeping Children at Home. A mother who had several fun-loving boys so interested them that they pre- ferred to spend their evenings at home, instead of seeking amusement out-of- doors or going off with questionable companions. The way she did it iB told in her own language : " I remember that children are chil­ dren, and must have amusements. I fear that the abhorrence with which some good parents regard any play for children is the reason why children go away for pleasure. " Husband and I used to read history, and at the end of each, chapter ask some questions, requiring the answer to be looked up if not given conectly. " We follow a similar plan with the children ; sometimes we play one game and sometimes another, always plaunihg with books, stories, plays, or treats of some kind, to make the evenings at home more attractive than they can be made abroad. " When there is a good concert, lec­ ture, or entertainmeut, we all go to­ gether to enjoy it; for whatever is worth the price of admission to us older peo­ ple, is equally valuable to the children ; and we let them see that we spare no ex- jtense where it is to their advantage to he out of an evening. "But the greater number of our even­ ings are spent quietly at home. Some­ times it requires quite an effort to sit quietly, talking and playing with.them, when my work-basket is filled with un­ finished work, and books and papers lie unread on the table. "But as the years goby, and I see my boys and girls growing into home loving, modest young men and maidens, I am glad that I made it my rule to give the best of myself to my family." What He Hadn't. A certain rich man possessed of great wealth was wont to be proud of his pos­ sessions and to refer to them often, but, withal, he was not a man of intellect. One day he had an old Irishman work­ ing for him, and he went out to oversee the job. He looked at Pat a minute, hard at work, and said: " Well, Pat, it's good to be rich, ain't it?" " Yis, su*," said Pat, who had the wit of his nation. " I am rich, very rich, Pat" "Yis, sur." ' " I own lands, and houses, and bonds, and stocks, and railroads, and--and-- and " " Yis, sur," said Pat, shoveling away. " And what is it, Pat, that I haven't got ?" " Not a bit of sinse, sur," remarked Pat, as he picked up his wheelbarrow and trundled it off full of dirt; and the rich man went into the house and sat down behind the door. A Wonderful Well. There is not far from Fsnniniore, Wis., a peculiar well, which at present is but little known. It is about eighty feet deep, the lower forty feet of which is drilled. About twenty feet from the sur­ face there enters a crevice, out of which rushes a current of air, with a force so great as to be easily felt at the top of the well; and a temperature BO low as to freeze a small vein of water where it en­ ters the well, about ten feet above the crevice. The first forty feet of the well is through a slialy sandstone so soft that it requires cribbing nearly the whole depth. Lower down, where it is drilled, there is a stratum of very hard rock several feet in thickness. Below this agaiu the rock is soft. The well is located on the side of a steep sandstone ridge from which the crevice comes in. Camel-Riding. A traveler says that, if he were asked to describe the first sensation of a camel- ride, he would say : Take a music-stool, and, having wound it up as high as it would go, put it in a cart without springs, get on top,and next drive the cart transversely across a plowed field, and TOU will tlif>n form SOMA notiou of the terror and uncertainty you would ex­ perience the first time you mounted a camel. i|«ss»iHTi> comnaawt. *T •. C DODOS-4 , _ am X like nao^qu-toj, deaf. That TOU BAN- KILLI*!?" besMhai. n, I Mr," > . % t« " B»ciu»e you won't go hum, The sleepy maid replied. That isn't ft -- Fleue try once Ban." " " Well, then, you're like," all *«, . ... " lfosquotoea, f-,"r they ilwayi bom" " " You'r» wrong agsin," and to. "Because they come 'round •very MIL ^ ^ Aid ire * nuisance, toot" ~ " "Oh, no, kwe; the reason r%fct ' la Unt I'm anM on yon," " What does that aseaa?" she >M. Explained hegratly cougbed- "OIL sow I uaderstaad." laogledHw-. m I«a're maahed becauaa yiw'ra soft,* • * PITH AND POINT. Sn cooed; he wooed; the old Ml said they could if tbey would. No omd% Ma. BARNOC writes from England , that be hm secured the novelty he hat' ' long been after. It is a screw-dnvear thapf. won't slip. A SUB8CRIBBB wants to know tea stores are painted red." It is cause proprietors of these stores employ > men to paint them that odor. '-^v. THS clothing men are advertisings--? "summer suits." But it don't suit fchfv ' fellows who have to wear last winter's clothes during the hot weather. TH*RR wan a yoong gtrl of E»u Cltira, Who wm witty, and aood, and seam fab% All the other girls found, That when she was around, Thay were just counted eat a CMSRQYMAK--" No, mj dear,' it, Is Im­ possible to preach any kind of a sermoa to such a congregation of asses.'* Smart young lady--" And is that why you call them 'dearly beloved breth­ ren y " THFXK was a young man from tba _ Who i-pent all his Sundays a ti*hin'; He said Hade*, for Hel', When they didn't bite well, „ For be read the Kerised Edition. AH old man who had been badly hurt in a railroad collision, being advised to sue the company for damages, said: " Wal, no, not for damages, I'se had enough of them; but I'll just sue 'ena for repairs!" PROBABLY the meanest man on reoord keeps a boarding-house in San Domingwi An earthquake turned the edifice cleair upside down, and the very next morning- he began charging the garret lodgem first-floor prices. " THERE'S one thing I like about the new version," said old Blunderbussw "That'ere text about 'the boy being father to the man' is left out altogether I always thought that was wrong to." And he didn't know why the« went round. THB Paris Figaro propounds this con­ undrum : "Given two widows of tha same age, the same social condition, %hm same character, one of whom had » husband and the other a good oneg which of the two will have the stronger desire to get married again?" AT the summer resort--First week, ladies, is given to showing your dreeeeM seoond week, to telling where you we»| last year; third week, to talking abouil the Browns, who have gone liome* fourth week, to complaints of the house. After the fourth week life at a summer 'resort is insufferably dull. "I CAN'T think that all sinherswill ba lost," said Mrs. Nimbletung.' "There's my husband, now. He's a bad man--i very bad man; but I trust he will b* saved at last. I believe he has suffered his due share in this life." "Amen!" shouted Nimbletung from the back seal. Mrs. N. gave him such a look, but said nothing. A FKDB8T in France, the son of a fish­ erman, had every day a net spread tm his table, to remind him, he said, of itlm origin. He attracted so much attention by nis humility that he was promoted tin be Abbot After that the net np. longer appeared. Being asked the rea­ son, the ecclesiastic replfed : " It is nil longer necessary, for the fish is now caught" HKAK tt-a kl-VI of the EUR^ lilac cor. With rigliteouH indiguatiou all tua far 8tandn up aa he doth settle For h gallop with a Hhuddar, With a i'oi>i>er-l>ottunifd kett e Neatly fastened to his rudder. All the boys arouiui him mingle, Aii't tlioy «ho<it aud t i 11k it proper, Aathry hour the merry jing.e Of ihe iMHxl.t- und the copper And they »hout, i-hout, nluuit. For they know whut tin-y'ro about, And of their utter hupt>inesa there's littls iw In doubt.--/VI "SKKMS a little queer to have them saying grace, eh?" whispers one man of the world to another us they meet atth* hospitable bonrd of | common acquaint­ ance, in whoee house everything is dona decently and in order. *" Yes; but I rather like the practice." " So do I--it is a good habit" "But I thought yo« were an infidel ?" "So I am; but it la a very good habit--your soup gats ootd enough for you to eat it 1" A ocai stood on the dusty road, wbanoa all bat ki had fled; He aaw old Enibree coming down the road, and,wife his head AU postured for a butt, ha posed, and patiently dit wait The coming of the chap ha thought ha wooM anni­ hilate. >' O il Embree had a stick in hand of tonnage ratbar much, He'd christened it his " alanghtarer," and handled It aa such; And when tbe butter came he let him have it o'er tfc* eye. And gracious! how that Bmbcee-oh did maks the butter-fly! THERE is no need of inventing stories about children; they are equal to origin­ ality any day. "Do you think, mam­ ma," said a little one, "that Uncle Reuben is a good man?" "Why, my child, he is the best of all my brother^ and aa excellent man." "And mill ins go to lieaven ? " "I think so, my child. Why do you ask?" "Oh, nothing much," waking from a sort of reverie. "I was thinking what a homely angel he'd make, that's all." Lake Mono. Notwithstanding the steady influx of live large fresh-water creeks and innumerable small streams, its bitter but pellucid waters continue to give a sedimentary analysis of 45 parts soda* 40 parts salt and 15 parts borax and lime. The lake is 29x19 miles in diam­ eter, and more than 200 feet deep in places. It contains two large and sev­ eral small tufa islands, the first in mag­ nitude having an area of 2,200 acrea and the second 1,500 acres. Upon tlie second island is the crater of a volcano that was in active eruption as late aa 1858. Upon the larger island and out 100 feet from it, in seventy feet of water, are boiling springs of asphalt, and no living thing exists in the waters of the lake except the plute shrimp, a pink- eyed worm which attains a length of about three-quarters of an inch.--Bi>- die Free Presi Bespeetiay the Sabhath. The people of a New Hampshire low* are so fearfully lazy that when the wilt of a minister who had just settled is that town asked a prominent citizen if tho inhabitants generally respected the Sab­ bath and refrained from business he r^b Slied: "Confound it, ma'am, they doul o enough work in a whole week to break the Sabbath, if it was all done oa that day." IT IS dangerous to ask a woman kh questions when she is *d>ling V®* eery bill