McHenry Public Library District Digital Archives

McHenry Plaindealer (McHenry, IL), 14 Jan 1880, p. 3

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I ^ v ^,*m;V "Tf .>• ^ r • Ttiisw Ki#.j >» L±> •*•:»• -> t" <•.*/• .•„. s_;s: ' • •»• -.,. ..-̂ r, • .,. a i.'.-1",:..,.' ,----. H 4# V* ; Ijfolfetttg ipawdwtict *. TAX SLYKE, EDITOR ASP IHULISHSB. ~HCHENRY/ . ^ "^ILLINOIS DAB wm, famous for his theory of the -descent of man, has been awarded the prize of 12,000 francs offered at Turin for the moat important discoveries in J 'the physiology of plants. , ' ; THERE are large numbers of* milters -and ranchmen who are preparing to en- ter the northern part of the Ute res- l~ervation in Colorado next spring, ander 1 ̂ *e belief that it will be opened for set­ tlement by Congress. A Mtw theory as to the cause of the disaster at the Frith of Tay is of Gilkes, the builder of the bridge. It is that the wind, which was blowing a gale, took the train off the rails and against the girders, which brought down the entire span. THE first case under the Seltx laV in Ohio came to an abrupt termination at Lancaster, the Judge ordering the jury to return a verdict of not guilty, on the ground that the offense as set forth in the indictment--intimidation of a voter unknown to the statute*. AN old pirate dying in the poor- house at Oassopolis, Mich., confessed that he pulled the plank from beneath Mrs. Theodosia Burr Alston, the daughter of Aaron Burr, and that ail the crew and passengers with her on the ship, en route from Charleston to New York, met a like fate from their pirati­ cal eaptors. • THERE is considerable excitement in Atlanta, Ga., over the leasing of the Central railroad of Georgia by the I* Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis company. The latter guarantees 6 per cent, interest on the stock and bonds of the former for six years, and 7 percent, forever afterward. This gives a through line from St. Louis to Savannah tinder one management. THE Albany Law Journal takes a business view of leap-year, and tells its readers the law of this particular sort of year. The 28th and 29th days of February are regarded in law as one day, so that a note dated on the 28th day of February, 1880, this year, paya­ ble one day from date, Would be due on the 4th of March, the same as if there were but twenty-eight days in the month. . A MODERN Brutus of the female sex has been discovered in Montana Terri­ tory. Though 70 years of age, she -crossed the mountains over a rocky trail to be present at the trial of her daughter, accused ol murder, and to •say to her, in the pr9senoe of tihe hushed court, when asked if she were guilty, "Tell the truth, my daughter, if it takes you to the scaffold." The court and spectators were so a'ffected that the Judge ordered an ad journment. JOHN TAYLOR, the Mormon, preached a bitter sermon at Salt Lake, recently, declaring that polygamy would be prac­ ticed in spite of the Federal courts. Like the Abolitionists of old, he ap­ pealed to a "higher law," and asserted that it was the duty of the Saints to obey the commandments of God re­ gardless of the statutes of their ene­ mies, and leave the results in His hands. A request on his part for the people who would practice polygamy, law or no law, to dignify their intention, brought up the hand of nearly every person in the vast congregation. HON. JOHN BRIGHT, the Liberal •statesman of England, at a recent ban­ quet, spoke of the greatness and the .prospective progress of the United States. He said: "Its population .now has reached to 50,000,000, which is nearly half or about half more than the 1 "Whole population of Great Britain and Ireland at this day. I have no doubt there are scores in this rooih who, be­ fore they live to the age I have at­ tained to, will live to see the day when ~the population of the Unitedy States ' jVill be more than double what it now jts, and that it will pass 100,000,000 of J»ople " , , UNDER the present law marriages in • .England cannot, without a costly Uicense, the fees of which go to the ' Archbishop of Canterbury, be solem­ nized except between the hours of 8 a. fn. and noon. A member of the House -Of Commons has given notice of a bill :4o repeal this law and allow them to be •celebrated in the evening. It tnay pass •he House of Commons, but the long Experience with the bill repealing the law prohibiting marriage with a de­ ceased wife's sister makes it improbable 4hat it will run the gantlet of the , House of Lords. The conservatism of that body is always to be relied upon, '^specially when, as in this case, a pre­ rogative of one of its members is in THE New York banks, are ill a de- midedly healthy condition, a person may . reasonably assume, if the generdhs / presents which most of them made to U their employes on New-Year's day are to be takes as an indication. One fiank gave $1,000 apiece to each of its *#lerks; another gave its Cashier a pres- ,u «nt of a check for $1,500; another gave #>#&oh employe a sum equivalent to 10 >|>er cent, of his salary; the Fourth Na- ^Koaal Bank gave from $25 to $450 «§pieee to its clerks, and the Continental tOKft £0 (tr.fir\ -- a--l *** fy »pM»e. owl liberality is to be commended, especial­ ly if the bank officers are distributing their own, and not the money of their stockholders and depositors, and the recipients ought to be good boys for the next year and not steal a cent. THE practice of looking passengers in the railroad coaches is a cn^toiu that would never be tolerated in America. The very fact that the door was locked would stir an irresistible impulse in the liberty-loving bosom of the average American to kick it open. There is even in England a sort of mild idea of this kind afloat. A gentleman of De­ troit, reports the Free Press, who has traveled a good deal in Britain, says that most of knowing passengers there provide themselves with the small square keys that will unlock the door of the British railroad carriage. Those nervous passengers who do not like to travel with locked doors, yet have no key, can easily make one with a piece of silver of the requisite size. Strange as it mayappear, the door is unlocked in this way by slipping the silver in the guard's hand while the appropriate words are whispered in his oar. A CORRESPONDENT of the Nation colls attention to the statement in the "En­ cyclopedia. Britannioa" that, if the f natural resources of America--that is the two continents of North and -South America--were fully developed, it would afford sustenance to 3,600,000,000 of inhabitants, or three times the esti­ mated population of the globe." But, as the United States has nearly one- third of the arable land, the United States alone might support a popula­ tion equal to that of the globe at the present day, and then would not be as crowded as England now is; there being 389 to the square mile in En­ gland, while even in America the popu­ lation mentioned would give but 364 to the arable square mile. But, at the rate of increase since the census was first taken in. 1790, we should attain this population before the close of the next century. The population, within the last ninety years, has doubled every twenty-five years, which, if there be 100,000,000 in 1900, would bring it up to 1,200,000,000 in 1987. In all human probability, however, the rate of in­ crease will grow constantly und the pressure of population upon food be indefinitely postponed. # SELECTED MISCELLANY. "AT-OOOD knight is never at lance.--Italian Proverb. THE world will never be in any man­ ner of order or tranquillity until men are firmly convinced that conscience, honor and credit are all in one interest. --Steel*. WIT loses its respect with the good when seen in company with malice; and to smile at the jest which plants a thorn in another's breast is to become a prin­ cipal in the mischief. BE thou like the bird perched upon some frail thing, who, although he feels the branch bending beneath him, yet loudly sings, knowing full well that he has wings.--Count Agenor tie Gas- parin. CHRI8TOPHEB CLAVIU8 (A. D. 1600) was on the point of being dismissed from a Jesuit college as a hopeless blockhead, when one of the fathers took it into his head to see if he had any skill in geometry, which hit his genius so luckily that he afterward be­ came one of the greatest mathemati­ cians of his age. An argument for an elective conrse of study. Many a genius is a harp with only on& string. THE man who had no property to de­ vise should not be unhappy. " I give and bequeath to my dearly beloved wife and children a gopd name." Isn't that a good start to a last will? If a man can honestly and proudly write that, then descend to possessions that are expressed, in figures, so much the better. But there is the best authority for giving the preference to the intangi­ ble bequest. A WORSE thing can happen to a man than bankruptcy. His lack of business ability may be the cause of that--his inability to compote with his neighbor who ha* a larger capital and greater experience. But whatever the cause he need not be dishonest. If he is not he will have no trouble in making peo­ ple believe he is honest, and then his good name is left, which is worth more than the greatest sucoess won by ways that are dark.--Golden Rule. A MEMORABLE COLD SNAP. without moving; but and* w»ly, as if by one impulse, they all st j|ed on an excursion along the wire, themselves as they went, w nicety of expert tight io^R Beaching the end of theii dropped one by one into the hands of an assistant who stood rei iy to catch them.--8L Nicholas. ' V 1 V . (t»laucing lfc all the walkers, trip, they large and them in it for the it to be Swiden and Remarkable Free*« of 1S30. rFrom the Bnrllngton (Iowa) Hawk Eye.] On the 20th day of December, 1836, occurred one of the most remarkable phenomena ever recorded in the annals of the West. Six years before, them had been an unusual fall of snow, cov­ ering the earth to the depth of three to foUX IC-Cv, Z-U'« ..j Cut of suffering among the people. This is always referred to as the winter of the " Deep Saow." The " Deep Snow" and the ** Sudden Freeze" mark the settle­ ment of many families, the purchase of many farms and the birth of many children. The " sudden freeze" was occasioned in 1836. as in 1879, by a current of ex­ tremely cold air passing diagonally acrosti Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, but it followed a narrower path and w®s more marked in character than the freeze this year. The cold wave that heralded Christmas this year was more widely diffused, and although it swept down from the far northvi est with great intensity, sending the mercury down to 56 deg. below zero in Northwestern Minnesota, it lost much of its destruc­ tive farca l>efore reaching Iowa and Illi­ nois. It also came down from the polar regions and astonished the people of the Pacific slope and spread out, in fact, in a greater or less degree, all over the United States. The sudden freeze of 1836 waS not perceptibly felt east of Cincinnati, and in Illinois and Indiana its width ex­ tended from Ottawa south as far as Ter re Haute. Within thar, limit its ef­ fect was fearful. It came with a strong wind, accompanied by a heavy black cloud and a roaring noise, not unlike distant deep thunder. Its velocity was about twenty-five miles an hour. The most remarkable feature of the phe­ nomena was the intensity of the>old. Nothing like it has ever been known since. The wind in its fury and power blew the water into little sharply-defined waves, which froze as they stood, leav­ ing the ponds, creeks and rivers crusted with a vetv rough coat of ice. The snow, slush and mud were suddenly congealed into a mass strong enough to sustain the weight of a team and wagon. Some of the incidents related in the experience of people exposed to the storm are almost incredible, but well attested. The storm passed over Bur­ lington about 10 o'clock in the forenoon of Dec. 20. We have no local record concerning the effect here, but across the river tiie people had some strange experiences. The early morning waa warm and rainy or misty. The snow had melted to a thick, watery slush and the gutters and little streams were full of water. Men were about their daily avocations without their coats. Sud­ denly the cloud appeared. Its loud and . , ,, ,, . -- deep notes of warning gave them f toys was 8ol<i for hardly time to grasp their coats and get |over which he had been ac- to a place of safety. Cattle, hogs, and cunau|atmg tor twenty yeats. Scarcely fowls were frdzen in their tracks. un-J ?uy u»ole or mechanical toy had able to extricate themselves. Many | ®n ma , Europe of which he had died before help could come. Many I n,ot,a specimen, but his assortment in SAO »t Forts. ' There is no sport amttig winter games more exciting and aniusing than snow-ball war!are. J All the boys must join in building the fort, selecting the highest point of the play-grounds, or, if the grounds are level, the corner of a will or fence. Supposing the top of a mound has been selected as the plact where the works are to be built, the fi|st thing to do is to make out the plan *f the foun­ dations. The dimensions depend upon the number of boys. A circle, twelve feet in diameter, or a sqnaija with sides of ten feet, will make a fojrt that will accommodate a company ojf ten boys. It is better to have the fqrt too small than too large. The chi^f engineer mu6t set his men at work rolling lurge snow-balls; the smaller boys can com­ mence and the larger rnieai take them in hand when the balls hav« gained in size and become too heavy for the younger boys. Make these balls of snow dense as posciW^, then ($lace upon the lines traced foundation. We Will sup^ a square. In this case, c«re must be taken to have the eorners of the square opposite the mot.t probable aporoach of the enemy. This will leave the smallest point possible exposed to the attack, and the inmates of the fort can, without crowding each other, take Mod aim at the foe. After the four aides of the square are covered by large snow-balls, all hands must pack the snow about the bottom, and fill up each crack and crevice, until a solid wall is formed. Then, with spades and shovels, the walls should be trimmed do^rn to a per­ pendicular on the inside, but slaoting upon the outside. The top of the wall may be two feet broad and the base four feet. When the wall is finished, prepare a mound of snow la the center of the square for the flag-staff. This mound will bo very useful as a reserve supply in case the ammunition gives out. A quantity of snow-balls should next be piled up, inside the walls, at the four corners. This done, the fort is ready for its defenders*-*#*. XicJiQ- k19. . . . Seme Men's Hobbles. A banker, well known in the finan­ cial world, died in one of the Atlantic cities, at the age of 80, leaving a prop­ erty valued at millions. After his tor a ! persons were frozen bo severely that death ensued in a few days, and others were crippled for life. The effect was terrible, and is best illustrated, perhaps, out of the many instances on record, by the experience of a gentleman living in Springfield, 111., who was out with a drove oi hogs, when the storm came suddenly down upon them. They abandoned the hogs and drove rapidly to a honse a mile or two away. When they arrived there some had their hands frozen and could do nothing for the eluded, also, the most trivial of chil­ dren's playthings. Another, a citizen of Philadelphia, one of the foremost jurists of his day, had a fancy for col­ lecting fairy tales. His shelves con­ tained thousands of these volumes in every language. Manias for china, old brasses and rare editions are so com­ mon among scholarly m#n the in­ congruity or the pursuit does not stcike us. The peculiarity of a hobby, Indeed, is that it is usually at edds with the general character of the person who ex­ hibits it. It is a bit A Mule That Wasnt for Sale. He was showing the man the new bay mule that he was working in a team witJi the old gray. "You warrant him sound and perfectly kind and gentle?" the man said. "Perfectly," said Farmer John. "My wife and children drive him, and he is a perfect pet. Comes into the house like a dog." "Easy to shoe?" "Well, I guess so; fact is, I never had him shod. I don't believe in it; he works better without it," replied Farmer John. "How does he act when you put the crupper on?" asked the man. Farmer John hesitated. "Well, pretty good, I guess," he said; "fact is I never put it on." "How does it get on?" asked the man; "who does put it on?" "Well, I kind of don't know," said Farmer John; "fact is, he had the harness on when i got him, an' it fit him so well, and he seemed to bo so kind o' contented in it, that I sort of never took it olFn Aim." "And how long have you had him?" asked the man. Farmer John chewed a wheat straw very ^meditatively. "Well," he said, "not to exceed more'n two years, mebbe." And the man backed a little further away, and said he would "sort of look around a little further before he bought, like." And Farmer John never saw him again, not even unto this day. A FRENCH paper of New Orleans praises the women of that city by say­ ing that the fairest and most carefully- reared ladies, reduced to poverty, have so readily adjusted themselves to cir­ cumstances that they can do their own housework, even to the washing and cooking, and work with the be­ sides to support the family. A GORGEOUS new bonnet does not turn the head that wears it, but it gives a good twist to those who pa** it in the street*. teams. The next day they started out "• 1118 a Dlt °* childhood left to find their hogs. Coming to where j » careless nature among the sterner they had left them, they found a pvra- °/uwhlch manhood is made. James mid«ef porkers. The hogs huddled" to- # ' . e3oat gardened and dishonest getter when the storm struck them, i ? swindlers, had a passionate love those on the inside smothering, those ' f?r cai?a,nes' an<* was surrounded by on the outeide freezing. As the wave i w6m,»ail *?ei Our geniai poet, Oliver passed over McLean county, 111., it en-! * Holmes, delights in grave- countered a party of men working in I °as. 8 ^ knows every one the field, one of whom had with him a W^1U f°rt.v miles of Boston, "and very heavy overcoat. It had become I. °^ i spring opens, he says, smil- ratiier wet with tho mist. ami. <lh t.h« I ,n8° °, 8ee how my dead men do. The doctor, also, is fond of work­ ing with tools. -The portable stereo­ scopic glass is Hre invention. One of the most eminent surgeons in the country delights -in writing poems, and very bad poems they are. Thero can be no doubt that an innocent hobby (and hobbies generally are innocent) is a safety-valve for the escape of nervous excitement in men who use their brains to an exceptional degree. For this reason they usually do much toward softening and humanizing the charac­ ter. Whatever is to be a boy's trade or profession, encourage in him a taste for musio, or art, fishing, gunuing; some hobby, in short. Before you till the boiler and build the fire, provide the safety-valve. -- Boston Youth's Com­ panion. THE REVOLUTION m MAINE. The Garcelon outrage in Maine has now fceen carried to the full extent of usurpation. The Governor and his Council have persisted in their delib­ erate misconstruction of the law and their defiance of the Supreme Court. The Fusion members who were not elected took their seats, with two excep­ tions. A quorum was thus obtained in spite of the withdrawal of all the Re­ publicans except Eugene Hale, who re­ mained to represent the Republican protest, and the fraudulent Legislature was thus organized. This body, in the condition of its original organiz ition, is as much a creature of ex-Gov. G»roe» Ion s as if no election had been held in the State, and the majority of the peo­ ple have been as completely disfran­ chised as tho subjects of any despotic Government in the Dark Ages. The Republicans reckoned without their host when they counted upon the refusal of some of the "counted-in" Democrats to serve. The scheme to steal the State was deliberate, and com­ prehended the co-operation of all par­ ties necessary to it To look to the Democratic party for any sacrifice of partisan advantage to principle or jus­ tice ia simply quixotic. If thero shall yet be any retreat from the infamous scheme in Maine, it will be before a force of public opinion which the Demo­ cratic party will no longer dare to defy, or with the consciousness of guilt be­ fore a menace and fear of violence. So long as unscrupulousness and bravado will serve the Democratic purpose there will be no serious defection in the ranks of the revolutionists. Garcelon exhibited an efirontery that was astonishiug, even as coming from him, when he submitted the Supreme Court opinion to his creatures " and in­ voked their careful consideration of the same," after having openly defied it himself. The rulings of the court ap- d plied especially to Garcelon's actions. He was officially informed by the high­ est tribunal in the State that he had misconstrued and violated the constitu­ tion and the laws. He was instructed that it was his duty to issue the certifi­ cates he had withheld. But he refused to comply with all or any of the virtual mandates of the court, and then, for­ sooth, he invokes serious consideration for that court's opinion from his co­ conspirators! It was very much like advising a careful administration upon the possessions of a man who had been murdered and plundered. The Garcelon crowd wpuld never have dared to go to the extreme of actual revolution if it had not received tacit approval and actual encourage­ ment from the Democratic party at large. This oircumstance places the Democrats in the attitude of demand­ ing supreme control of a Government whose underlying principle--the popu­ lar vote--they are deliberately seeking to destroy.--Chicago Tribune. 09 two fingers. Finally, when tea rooms had been visited, and ten bells, rung in this way, had been counted on the performer's fingers, he arose and pointed toward the house, and toward the table, upon which the six tops were yet spinning. After a few moments, during which he silently watched the door of the house, the top that had been ringing the bolls came quickly out of tho ontranco, ran down the draw­ bridge and dropped motionless at the feet of the Japanese. That same mo­ ment the tops on the table stopped, and dropped over on their sides--"Jap­ anese Top-spinningin St. Nicholas. i born in Ireland, T11E NATIONAL CONVENTION. Hotel rather wet with the mist, and, as the wave came over the party, its owner hastily proceeded to put it on. As he raised it over his head for that purpose the cold wave swept bv, blowing the coat several ieet from where be fetood. It happened to light "head up and tail down," as he expressed it, where it stood, arms extended, frozen as stiff as a board. Japanese Top-Spinning. At certain reasons of the year top- spinning engages a great part of tue leisure time of American and English boys, and some of them become very skillful. But Japanese jugglers are the people to spin tops, and I will try to describe some of their more feats, as I saw them. I was at a Japanese juggling enter­ tainment, and when the first part of the performance was over the men who had been acting cleared the Btage, set on it a small table, a number of swords and a little house, like the doll houses sold in top shops, bowed low, and left. Im­ mediately afterward a richly-dressed Japanese made his appearance, carrying on his arm about a dozen tops, some­ what resembling common humming- tops, each with a long, thin stem run­ ning through the bulb-shaped part and protruding at the top and bottom--the top stem being oased in a loose sheath. Bowing to the spectators, the Japanese took one of the tops and whirled it be­ tween his palms for a second or two; he then dropped it upon the table, where it spun around in tha; swiftly revolving, but apparently motionless state, that boy top-spinners call "sleeping." The Japanese indicated by signs that it would stop when he told it to, and, turning toward the table, he lifted his hand as a command. No sooner had he done this than the top stopped, as if it had really seen and understood the sig­ nal. The Japanese picked up the top again, and, twirling it as before, placed it upon the table, wnere it spun itself to sleep. He then selected from the Bwords on the 3oor one with a long, keen b ade. and, lifting the top from the *abie by the sheath of the upper stem, placed the point of the flower stem upon the edge of the blade, near the hilt. The top spun for some moments in this positiou, and then began to run f-lowly toward the point of the sword. When it had reached the point, it leaned over at an angle of forty-five degrees, and continued to revolve for several mo­ ments in that difficult position, until it was caught in the juggler's hand just as it was about to stop spinning. Throwing the sword to one side, the performer again made the top spin up­ on the tabled and picking on five others started them also. He then stretched a thin wire across the stage, and taking the tops from the table, placed them one after another upon the wire, as he had previously placed the first one on the edge of the sword. TJaey spun around jfor '• few seoonds A Gate Story. "SeTena, darling," he murmured; and the old gate scarcely creaked as it swung to aud fro beneath her light weight, and the silent stars looked down with tender glances, and all Jouth hill seemed to hold its breath to listen. " Serena, my own, if every glittering star that beams above; if every passing breeze that stops to kiss thy glowing cheeks; if every rustling leaf that whis­ pers to the night, were living, burning thoughts; if every-- Oh-li-ho-ho! Ow-w! Aw-w, oh, oh, oh! O, jimmy pelt 1 O, glory! O, murder, murder, murder! O, dad rang the swizzled old gate to the bow-wows!" And she said, stiffly, that no gentle­ man who could use such language in the presence of a lady could be an acquaint­ ance of hers, and she went into the house. And he pushed the gate open and pulled his mangled thumb out of the crack of it, and went down the street sucking the injured member, de­ claring that, however lightly 105 pounds 4H girl might set upon the heart of man, it was a iittle too mnch pressure when applied to an impromptu thumbscrew. And the match is drawn, and all bets declared off.--Burlington Hawk Eye. Accommodation* 8eennd for Vari­ ous State Delegations. [From the Chicago JonrnalL] . Oil tiie 2d day of June t54 delegates from all of the States and Territories oi the Union, representing the patriotism and intelligence of the great Republican party, will assemble in the Exposition building, for the pur­ pose of naming the next President and Vice President of the United States. Although the hammer has not yet com­ menced to fall, or the note of prepa­ ration to sound around the building where the convention is to meet, yet the busy hotel-keeper is already en­ gaged in picking out quarters for the different delegations. The Palmer House has closed with Pennsylvania and Indiana, and is ne­ gotiating with a number of others. Pennsylvania-will have the large new club-room of the house for headquart­ ers, and it is to be gorgeously fitted up for the Keystone delegation. As Sena­ tor Cameron, Chairman of the National Committee, will probably be at the Palmer with the delegation from his State, that house will doubtless be the headquarters of the National Commit­ tee. A fine parlor will be used by the Hoosiers for their headquarters. The Sherman House has agreed to keep Ohio, with sixty delegates, and Iowa, with twenty-five. The Iowa del­ egation will use the gentlemen's par­ lor for headquarters. Ohio has not yet engaged a room for that purpose. At the Grand Pacific hotel informa­ tion has been received from six States that they will stop at that house, and from several others who would like to stop there, with whom negotiations are still pending. The States which have secured accommodations at the Pacific are New York, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Colorado and Connecticut. All of the States named will have par­ lors-for headquarters. Where the Burden Falls. The strength of the standing armies of Europe is at present flaunted in the press as something fifte to boast of and talk about grandiloquently. A certain pomp and grandeur, from the savage habit still instinct in the human race, are assumed when discourse ir had of immense armaments, of fleets* and navies, guns and fortifications. They are often brought out in a kind of ad­ jective dress parade, and what can be done with them in the way of crushing another nation forms the rounded period and swelling theme of essay and oration. Germany is eaid to have 1,000,000 men under arms, with food, clothing, arms and ammunition in prime condi­ tion. France has nominally an immense army, but not so large, and so has Aus­ tria, Italy and Russia. But Germany. can dictate texma or overrun the terri tory of these othflr powers and have its own will with them. Looked at soMy from the drum and trumpet side there is something imposing, if not majestic, in the spectacle of a stalwart national arm that can, at a moment's warning, strike a blow which will fell a rival and shake the earth with the downfall. But a closer examination of the source and cest of it reveals weakness as well as strength. These million men under arms are a million of idlers; not only do they not produce a surplus and a<M to the wealth of the world, but they have to be fed and clothed. Somebody has to sup­ port them, and the somebody is the toilers who are not in the army, who are not idle, and who, after producing enough for their own comfort, are forced to additional labor in order to nurture this million. A standing army of 1,000,000 men would, in the United States, represent one-tenth of the laboring population --the pick and flower of it, so far as age and produc­ tive power are concerned. To support this army, a man, after working nine hours for himself, would be obliged to labor one hour more to support the sol dier and his family. On the shoulders of every nine men in this community would rest the burden of another able- bodied laborer with oil his lesponsi- bilities. In addition to this there is the dead capital stored away in the cannons, the armories, the fortifications and the magazines, whose principal use is not to reproduce, but to destroy, and this condition of things exists in f large part of Europe. All this has un doubtedly muoh to do with the ."hard times" there; for, although there are other immediate causes which account for the misery and poverty, yet in country where every tenth man is sup­ ported by nine others, the balance be­ tween prosperity and depression must be so sensitive that bad harvests, or a commercial crisis, is enough to serious­ ly disturb it, and plunge the people into distress, of which we know little on this of the Atlantic. Of course, in a broad sense, we know it, too, because the bur­ dens of the Wfcole world are rudely ad­ justed to the shoulders of the whole world, but the heaviest part of them lies upon those who are alreadj Qver- weighted. --Detroit Free Freest 'iw » Wo<jj>*o*»' of Adorns count ST. ELMO'S ized a coai-i THE fur 100 years, cently. He early life w».«i * Dir-STHBEIA wt tt a . raging in Meriden, Ida Out of nine late cases, flitpn in death. THERE were 3,425 deeds, mortgages and other similar instrument* recorded in the Recorder's office of county during 1879. THE Chairman of tfe« County Board of Supervise# it *•!*& to call an election for Coantr Clerk-- an office mm!e vacant toy destli, A FAMJi/Y row at Marshall, Clark county, a few days ainoe» teraaii»«&d in, the death of John Bragsaeher, an old ^ resident. The parties engaged were himself, wife and eon-in-law. THE report of the Warden el the % Joliet penitentiary shows that forty- -( seven convicts were received daring December; that setsntgr w««» di»> charged, and that. 1,499 remained in tte prison Dee. 3(1, twenty-two males. ' DtntnTG the year 1ST9 there wee* thirty-three fires ia Joliet, of whielt; twelve were incendiary. The loss oi| buildings was $8,808.10 and 6n goods. The total insurance mil' $84,950. The uninsured property • stroyed amounted to $3,266. THE Warden of the Southern pernio \ | tentiary reports to the Governor tkai ' on Dec. 1 there were S20 eonviets ia -.. yii t the prison. Eight were received and «• ̂ fifteen discharged during the montb, J ̂ i.j(| leaving in the prison, Dee. 31, 313, ol which number four.were females. ' ? 3jj - - - % •• * ̂ i • / 4 J v*>/ -i •Th* \ ?; v; The Eagle and Cat. It is well known that eagles some­ times carry off hares; they are also said to be exceedingly partial to the flesh of dogs, and occasfonally they pounce upoi poor grimalkin. One in the N orth of Scotland suddenly came down upon a cat, and bore it away to her nest. The injuries inflicted by the clutch of the eagle, and the unusual mode of traveling, so confounded poor puss that she exhibited no signs of life, and was accordingly left for dead br the eagle with her young ones. But soon after the eagle had left the nest the cat revived, and, having killed the eaglets, made a hearty meal of one of them. She then made a hurried re­ treat, and effected her escape without further injury. A NKGBO minstrel, when asked what his trade was, responded that he was a caulk*. How a Top Climbed a String. The Japanese top-spinner walked to the side of the stage and untied a string, which as soon as it was loosed Bwung quickly to the middle of the stage, and then hung perpendicularly. After untying this string, the Japanese took a top from his assistant, and, twirling it in his hand until it revolved quickly enough, he took hold of the end of the string, and, placing the stem of the top at right angles to it, left things to take care of themselves. The top spun a shoit time at the end of the string, but it soon began to move slowly upward, still spinning at right angles with the string. It continued in this way to move steadily upward un­ til, at length, it had traversed the entire distance, and was lost to view behind the " flies " over the stage. When the applause that greeted this trick had subsided, the Japanese moved the doll-house to the center of the stage and placed it beside the table. He then set six tope, exactly alike in size and appearance, spinning upon the table, and, taking a seventh in his hand, indicated to the spectators, by signs, that he would send it on a journey through the doll-house. He tnen sat down on the floor, and curling up his legs, Turk fashion, started the seventh top spinning. It rau along the floor until it reached a sort of inclined drawbridge leading to the entrance of the little house, and then went up slowly to, and through, the open door. The jug­ gler waited a moment, as if expecting some signal from the now invisible top. His suspense was relieved an., instant later by the tinkling of a silver bel^ Which indicated that the top had en­ tered one of the tiny rooms. The Jap­ anese held up one finger and wait A, in & listening attitude, for a second signal. It came, as before, in the tinkling of a What WerklapmPE May Hope fin* from Electricity. Prof. W. E. Ayrton closed a lecture to 4,000 of the workingmen of Sheffield, England, on the subject of electricity as a motive power, with this picture: "We are, it is true, a commercial peo­ ple, but do we not still love our hills and our fields? There was a time when the cutler of now black, grimy Sheffield was very fleet of foot in following the chase. There was a time when 'not only in the village around old Shef- fia'd,' so says the history of jHallam- shire, 'were the file-makers' shops or the smithy to be seen, with the apprentices at work; but even on the hillside in the open country at the end of the barn would be the cutler's shed, while in the valley below, by the river, was the grinding wheel ready to sharpen the tools that had been manufactured.' And why not now? Why should not the mountain air that has given you, work­ men of Hallamshire, in past times your sinew, your independence of character, blow over your grindstone now? Why shonld not division of labor be carried to this end, and power be brought to you instead of you to power? Let us hope, then, that in the next century electricity may undo whatever harm steam may have done during the last, and that the future workman of Sheffield will, in­ stead of breathing the necessarily im­ pure air of crowded factories, find him­ self again on the "hillside, but with electrio energy laid on at his cofnmand." A Charmed Soldier. Ex-Sergeant Ignace Hoff, the well- known keeper of the Arc de Triomphe, was once considered a spy by his Pa­ risian friends. He is now, and deserv­ edly, the most popular of living French heroes, has been awarded every dis­ tinction and substantial recommenda­ tion which it is in the power of a thank­ ful nation to bestow, and is to be pre­ sented with a splendid rifle by public subscription. But it is none the less a fact, and a painful one, that when he was made a prisoner by the Germans, at the battle of Champigny, the rumor obtained currency that he was only a Prussian in disguise, who had found at last a convenient opportunity of mak­ ing good his escape. At that time, be it noted, the man had been for more than six weeks shooting, upon an aver­ age, one German a day, in view of the crowds of Parisian admirers brought to the outposts by the renown of his prowess. He had himself received more than twenty bullets in his uni­ form, to the extent of having six or seven times to petition for a new suit, without ever being wounded. There was in his extraordinary good luck, as well as his unerring skill, something truly wonderful, whiofe earned for bitt in a few days quite a reputation. DANIEL DXOASTRO, a boy abont 14 years of age, committed suicide st Springfield by hanging himself to a harness hook in the stable of his em­ ployer, Joseph Ilodriqoee, a grocer. A Coroner's inquest was held, but failed to develop any cause, and a verdict of suicide was rendered. $ MAJ.JOHN 0'HARRA,of the Twentieth cavalry regiment, New York State vol­ unteers , who dist inguished Wm--duf» ing the late KebeUion, died in Pekpi lately of brain fever. During hia^dd&t ium he escaped from those attending £ him, going outinto the storm before heij was recaptured. THE State Bar Association elected??; the following officers at ita animal?" meeting at the capital last wpeteft President, Judge David McOulloch, o£ Peoria; Yice President First division* 3V S. L. Dwight, of Marion; Second ̂ vision, E. Gallagher; Third div&rioni 1 E. A. Ewing, of Decatur; Itatttfc d&p vision, O. H. Browning, Quincy; Fifth v , division, Thomas Cratty, Peoria; Sixtfe division, Wm. M. Kilgow, Steriing f Seventh difiaon, E. B. Sbexman, G£iî cago; Secretary, W. L. Groin, Spring* field; Treasurer, John M. Palmar.' M TEMPERANCE people of Galesbnrg ar# ̂ urging the trustees of Knox College t<*v v, take advantage of the recent decision ;V of the Supreme Court of the tJxdtdl ? States, in regard totk# «He of , tate under certain restrictions or limits ' . < ations, and which gives the collegft power to claim somts of the most vldOK able property in the city of Galafltoai£ - \ and demand its surrender. Amoiw th# • r places thus liable are the Opera Bona* r> * " ; block, Brown's Hotel, the Union Hfciel* * and other places of less value, wher# • , >' * liquor has been, or is now being wld, i* - >1 violation of express conditions in th# original deeds of sale. FOLLOWING is a synopsis of the I nual report of the State Board Health: Candidates (non-ffr*dua!es) examined in 1879. Candidates tnon-grsd nates) accepted in 1879.. Candidates (non-graduates) rejected ia 1879.'. Practitioners(gradutea) licenaedin 18T»...... Practitioners (graduates) rej eted in 1679 Practitioner* (ien years' clause) lie* used in 1CT» Practitioner* (tea year*' clause) rejected im lsW 7| ' Credentials revoked tor uaprofesaiooal con- duct ia 18TO tj$, y.ji. Total number of credentials revoked for u< * " v? professional conduct...., Midwiveti (non-graduates) examined • v jfV Midwives (noc-gradua*es) rejected iaiK?.... Jpv Ml wives (non-graduates) llcens d ia ISW ... Midwives (non-grad;iate«) licensed since or- • animation ot the board , •. Midwives licensed (srraduates ten years* " 4 '* clause) since organization of the board.... 468: J Practitioners wraduafesjliceasedsinceorgaa- ization of the board.. Non-Graduates licensed since organisation <at ' 'S . ths board SW. Number of applications from non-graduataa - now under consideration HI Number of applications from graduates now „ * under consideration Yellow fever work in the summer of <; '• % 1879: Number of railway trains inspected below Cairo gfc-Si Number of passenger packets inspected be­ low Cairo loa:,5? Aggregate inspection of boats and trains.... SSI Total number of passengers aud officers ex­ amined .80.W6 AT A meeting of officers of the State militia, last week, MaJ, Gen. Hilhaid gave the amount collected for the ' port of the militia of the State under the law of 1877 at $63,651.18. It h«®| been disbursed tor the following pur* ̂ poses: S Armory expenses $95,347.81 £ Expenses of tbe headquarters of brigade*,, regiment* and battalions 5.100.00 Camp and garrfeon «qolpw«.... 1.BMM Blankets Courts-martial... * SIMS Inspection of 1878...a . 404.33 "fflcers under i rders 81.S4 Freight 848 89 tlrst brigade encamjanent....... f.tW.W Second b ipade encampment,,.,.... Third brigade encampment. ...v w. l.tiC.U* Service of troop*. ? x A JU, "\>-' Total... Balance .... MBS.1S A resolution waa adopted in favor of a national militia . v , upon hearing which the man held I opinion!, Wf1 iMrli'if#--! ̂ I"" •• f- r * Stmt® Bo«rd ot Africultm. The board waa in session last weak and much interest was manifested. The report of the Treasurer, John W. Bnnn, was presented and referred to the Finance Committee ̂ It waa aa foliove» omitnig details: nccxim. Balance from last year Receipts of State fair Receipts at fat-siock sfeow All otuer raeeipte Total numuBanuurn, Premiums pata State Mr...,.. Premiums paid fat-stoek a)MW........ Expeiioesof fat-stock ahow............ All other expense#.... Ttotal , . •»** •••••• * * *'*• on *.£ Total.. The Woomfo Ohriiji**L Union preasstod a board to rafnao to inummmu at the next exkibi was referred to a eoaftmHtee which braagbt 'lift a * nority reporC tlMr] " of the petitiovu, Jkmt a i-n it TIS flirtfliilTiii i vol * • GAMBETTA is, as£a rule, the most ret­ icent of men. "When talking about politics he generally takes a sly glance round, and ends up with something commonplace. "Whea, however, he does burst out toil to tliwate .V&LN. 'J:*'* M'l

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