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I. VAN SLYKE, Editor and Publisher. McHENBY, ILLINOIS. MnmxAPotis has erected flie tallest electric mast in the oonntry. It Is snr- ttonnted by eight lights, each of 4,000- «andle power. It lights up the most dangerous portion of the city, and any-1 where within a radios of one mile dif­ fuses light enough to enable one to tell the time of night by his watch. HKMB is a pretty steep story ^Mk Boston: A woman recently applied for State aid, and the blank was produced and the usual questions' asked. She answered them freely until it came to "Tour age?" "Have I got to teU that?" riie asked. "The blank requires it, ma'am," was the reply. "Well, then," •he said, "I don't want any State aid," and she bounced out of the office in high dudgeon. ' , THK Panatna Star and Herald AD* vanoes the unique theory that many of the vessels that have never been heard of after sailing may have been sunk by meteors. In view of the fact that de­ structive meteors fall about once every 876 years, and that to hit a vessel at sea would be like making a bull's-eye hit at a gnat's heel on a barn-door, the Star and Herald's theory seems a trifle visionary. A BAND of feypsies camped in Mis­ souri. A farmer in the neighborhood was painfully twisted by rheumatism, and they straightened him out with |pnysterious lotions and ceremonies. This won his confidence. They told him tljat a large sum of money was buried on his farm, but they did not know exactly where. Their instructions were to bury all the cash he had for eight days, and then to dig it up, where­ upon the place of the concealed treasure would be revealed. He obeyed, and at the end of the prescribed time his $5,000 and the gypsies were gone. A MICHIGAN man is said to have dis­ posed of a family of six or seven daughters in the following way: They were all of marriageable age, if not more, but none of them got married, although all the young men of the place were made welcome at the house. The old gentleman finally changed his tactics. He locked the girls up in up­ per rooms, nailed up the front gate and announced th&t the first young man who came around would be received by a shot-gun. This had the right effect, for the girls were one by one stolen away and married. GENISCAIN, the Parisian waiter who swallowed a spoon and had it removed by an operation known as gastrotomy, is dead. He was progressing finely, ssbeisting cs a diet cf rsss. asd soup, but was seized with a desire for some­ thing more substantial. During the absence of his physician he ate a loaf of bread and a large piece of cheese, which caused inflammation, resulting in the suture being broken. A French loaf of bread is usually four and a half feet long, with a crust about as hard as the I scales of an alligator. That alone was [ -enough to loosen the sutures of a lap- welded, double-riveted steaui boiler. SAN FRANCISCO Chronicle; The "dummy" money in the window of a broker's office on Kearney street is proving a dear advertisement to the proprietor. A fortnight since two en- I terprising young thieves smashed the plate-glass window with a brick and grabbed a lot of counterfeit green- 1 backs, under the impression that they were* good money. Yesterday after­ noon a. glazier charged Mr. Anthony something like $70 for putting in a new pane of glass. The job was finished last evening, and at 7:45 a young thief I named James Nearv, alias Nealv, alias [Ryan, demolished it with a cobble I slung in a pocket handkerchief. 1 Through the aperture thus created he I grabbed a pile of neatly-turned brass I disks of the size of $20 pieoes, the top lone being a bona-fide double eagle. As I he thrust his hand in he toppled the pile lover, losing the $20, and only securing [ twenty-three of the brass counterfeits. THE land offices of the United States lare doing "a land-offioe business," as is •indicated by the statistics of the trans­ lations of 1882. The returns at hjrnd I are from the Northwest, and hence do lot include the business done in the |South and in New Mexico, Colorado, Ttah, Kansas, Nebraska and Other Sec- ions to which emigration has been irge, and where the entries of land have undoubtedly been numerous. The >tal acreage taken up in Minnesota, )akota and Montana amounts to 13,- 100,842 acres, 996,083 acres of which rere railroad lands. The offices in raesota entered 2,023,653 acres, in >akota, 9,686,446 acres and in Montana )4,660, It is estimated that the en- ies added 15,760 people to the agri- ltural population of Minnesota, 28,- to that of Dakota and 1,450 to that >f Montana. The largest land offices the Northwest are at Fargo - and Irand Forks. The collections at the former place were $698,492, and at the itter $697,736.19. STTSIE WASHINGTON, of Louisville, Zy., was engaged to young Barret, of le firm of Grinn & Barret. He had >, after she told him on the eve of leir marriage that she did not intend marry him, but that she .loved and rould wed instead, Mr. Wingfield, of Chicago. Next day he returned to the koung lady's house when Miss Wash- igton was not at home. Left alone in le house, through the open door of his jve's chamber he saw, lying on the Boiling up the in a large bundle be took them away wit* him. WlfenMiaa Washing­ ton retttiiid she found tine things gone, and, on learning from the servant who had been there, at onee suspected what had become of them. After crying awhile from mortification, she deter­ mined to have him arrested for stealing. She started out for a policeman and told him about the affair. *A warrant was sworn out for Barret's arrest, but that individual had got out of the city. Miss Washington, heart-broken at her loss, postponed her wedding with the Chicago man on the plea of "nothing to wear." THE Franklin (N. Y. ) Reg inter has discovered who struck Billy Patterson. Mr. Patterson, the father of Mm|. Bonaparte, was a wealthy BaltimoriariC Upon one occasion, while Mr. Patter­ son was in Franklin looking after his property, a general row occurred among the boys, in which he became involved. In the confusion, indeed, some one struck Mr. Patterson a tremendous blow and this so angered him that he walked through the crowd, inquiring in stentorian tones, "Who struck Billy Patterson?" Mr. Patterson was a large and powerful mail, and, under the cir­ cumstances, no one among the fighters appeared desirous of holding himaplf responsible. The inquiry passed into a by-word and even to this day the inquiry can be heard, "Who struck Billy Patterson?" The original Billy pur­ sued the inquiry with astonishing vigor, but without avail, and at his death, curiously enough, inserted a clause in his will setting apart $1,000 to be paid to the person who should give to his heirs or executor the name of the who struck him. The fight in which Billy Patterson was struck occurred in 1783, and it is passing strange that 100 years after a claim should be put in for the reward. And yet a correspondent of the Register says that such is the case. A Mrs. Jennie G. Covely of Athol, N. Y., daughter of George W.. Tillerton, has written to the ordinary of Franklin county, claiming this legacy of $1,000. She states that she is an in­ valid, aged and infirm, and in great need of the money. In 1783 her father was quite a young man, and being in great fear of Mr. Patterson fled the country at once and never heard of the reward or legacy. She says she has often heard her father speak of the fight and the blow he gave Mr. Patter­ son and the fierce anger of the latter. The thumb of Tillerton's hand was dis­ jointed by the blow and was so severely injured that it remained a useless member to the day of his death. As the facts she gives correspond so exactly with the facts of the case, the corres­ pondent presumes that Mrs. Covely will receive the legacy without delay. , Madagascar and Its People. The island of Madagascar, the larg­ est and most important of the African islands, is situated in the Indian ocean, separated from the east coast of Africa by the Mozambique channel, which is in its narrowest part about 250 miles broad. The length of the island is about 1,030 miles, average breadth 225 miles, and the area is estimated at 230,- 000 square miles, or about seven times that of the State of Indiana. The population is about 5,000,000. The general surface of the country is moun­ tainous, some of the highest peaks ris­ ing from 6,000 to 12,000 feet above the sea level. There is, however, consid­ erable arable land on either side of the mountain ranges. There are several rivers, navigable for small boats, and several natural seaports. The climate is exceedingly diversi­ fied, both in temperature and salubrity. In the lowlands and along the coast the heat is intense, but in the interior the mercury Beldom rises above 85 deg., and on the mountain summits ice is sometimes found. The rainy season continues from December until April. The coast region, with few exceptions, is extremely 'unhealthy to natives of the interior as well as to foreigners, the rank vegetation and stagnant water causing a deadly fever. This is also the case in many interior valleys. One elevated spot near Tananarivo is so un­ healthy that banishment to it is consid­ ered equivalent to condemnation to death. Among the plants peculiar to the island is the ravenala, or "traveler's tree," so called because at all seasons its trunk* when an incision is made, yields a cool, sweet and wholesome bev­ erage. Its wood is used in the con­ struction of dwellings, and for many do­ mestic purposes. Mahogany and ebony also abound. Madagascar produces rice, which is the principal food of the people--tobacco, sugar, cotton, indigo, and various spices; also cocoanuts, bread-fruit, plantains, bananas, yams, and a great variety of tropic and tem­ perate fruits. The coffee-plant has been introduced and thrives well. Do­ mestic poultry of all kinds are raised in profusion. Cattle, both wild and tame, are numerous, and are generally humped as in India. Sheep and pigs are found in some districts. The sheep, like those of the Cape of Good Hope, have long legs and fat tails, and are covered with hair instead of wool. Horses have been recently introduced. Rock salt is an important article of inland trade, and it is said that there is coal in one of the rivers. The rivers swarm with crocodiles, some of which are twenty feet in length. Serpents of great size are found, but.few are venomous. The Selfish Hunter. A Wolf,having chased a Hunter across fields and through forests for several miles, at length had the mortification of seeing his Prey escape him by climbing a tree. "Are you coming down?" he asked as he looked up and licked his chops. "Not very fast!" "I don't complain of that," panted the Wolf, "but what hurts my feelings is the fact that you didn't climb a tree on the start, instead of giving me this use­ less chase. Pray have some respect for other people's feelings hereafter." THERE is a deal of sound common sense in the proverb, "The shortest answer is doing the thing." THERE are only three counties in Pennsylvania in which tobaooo is not cultivated. - ' ONE school district in Maine, con- saining eighteen farms, received over 110,000 for apples last year. INVESTIGATION shows that of the fiber in hay and straw, from 40 to 60 per cent, s generally digested by ruminant ani­ mals. UORN is thought to grow better if the rows run north and south, so that the ran will shine equally on each side of ihe stalk. THERE are more than 200 breeders of Short-horn cattle in Michigan, owning at least 4,000 cattle that are worth >1,000,000. MR. H. C. PEARSON, of Pitcairn, N. Y., grows eight bushels of seed from three-fourths of a pound of seed, having only twenty-nine eyes. IN Ireland the sod cut on boggy ground is piled up in heaps until dry, then burned into a species of charcoal. This is then pulverized and mixed with well-rotted stable or hen-house manure Or night soil in equal proportions. Placed in drills where turnips or car­ rots are to be planted, it is said to make them attain a monstrous size. The ex­ periment is worthy of a trial by farmers who can get the bog mold without too much labor or expense. DR. JOHNSON, of Indiana, says: "In dairy products we in the' West, with our method of using five acres of high- priced land to keep one dairy animal a year, can not compete with the in­ tensified farming of the East, where they keep one animal a year on one acre of land, and that, too, of a natural fertility much inferior to ours, and, more than that, where by means of silos and ensilage now they are keeping two animals to a single acre." PROF. ARNOLD says the points in fa­ vor of dairying are: First, a dairy farm costs 10 per cent, less to operate than grain-growing or mixed agricult­ ure. Second, the annual returns av­ erage a little more than other branches. Third, prices are nearer uniform and more reliable. Fourth, dairying ex­ hausts the soil less. Fifth, it is more secure against changes in the season, sinoe the dairyman does not suffer so much from wet, frost and varying sea­ sons, and he can, if prudent, protect against drought. THE hog, like the horse, has no extra stomach to store away food, therefore if fed but twice a day and what he will eat, he overloads his stomach, and if the food is not pushed beyond the point where it will digest, the stomach is filled so full that a considerable portion of the food fails to come in contact with the lining of the stomach, and thus a very large proportion of the nutriment in the food is lost. Experiments prove that a hog thus fed wastes more than one-half of the meal given him. We have no doubt the same is true of the horse, when fed large quantities of hay and grain, aud fed but twice a day.-- Massachusetts Plowman. WE do not say this hastily, but with the conviction derived from feeding late-cut timothy and bright oat straw. With four feed racks in your yard--two well kept with timothy, one with prai­ rie hay and one with bright oat straw-- the latter was consumed first, and the others neglected until the last vestige of the oat straw had disappeared. It was the instinctive act of the urchin re­ peated. He took his cake, pudding and pie first, and reluctantly finished oh uia dinner on in* drier and less-palata­ ble bread and butter. Our late-cut hay was merely a "fill-up," to give their digestive apparatus the necessary dis­ tention so necessary to ruminants, and that is about all late-cut hay is good for anyway .--Chicago Herald. THE following are the points desir­ able in a practical farmer's hogs: Fine short nose, dished face, fine ears, good width between eyes, eyes not too prom­ inent; a straight, broad back of uni­ form width from shoulders to ham, short legs and fine bone. He should stand well up on his pins, fat at any age, and, if well reared, make a weight of 250 to 325 pounds at 11 months. Now, does the foregoing description of a model farm hog fully describe the well-bred Berkshire? I think all will agree that it does, and 1 am satisfied that if the reader will notice the char­ acter of all the various breeds of swine he will find that the most popular ones are those which come nearest to the model farmer's hog presented above.-- Cor. Farmer's Review. THE dairy cow must be good for milk, butter, cheese and beef. To get her, we need a grade Short-horn heifer--the higher the grade the better. She must be so fed and cared for as to produce a good growth of frame without excess of fat, and bred so as to drop her first calf at about 2 years old, the calf to be soon taken from her, and she milked by hand, and kept in milk as long as pos­ sible. Her pasture should be well drained and supplied with an abund­ ance of good grass and pure water. Her stable should be warm and clean, and her feed liberal; corn meal, bran, oil meal and early-cut hay are excellent for this purpose. I am not certain but that feeding grain lightly the entire year would be profitable. A better quality of her product may be made on the farm than in the miscellaneous creamery. Increased fertility to the »oil is an incentive for keeping her on the farm, and, finally, keeping such a TOW is continually a source of pleasure uid profit to .the owner.--Dairy and Farm, Journal. ONE of the verv best efforts that hu­ mane societies have ever made is that of inducing horse owners to do away with the blind bridle. There are cases where, perhaps, blinds are useful, but usually they are useless, and not only that, but their tendency is to hurt the eyes. They are a great impediment to the free sight of the horse, whose eyes are so set that it looks rather sidewise instead of di­ rectly in front. With a blind on, there- fore, the animal has no fiee range of vision. In addition to this, if the blinds press against or strike the eye, the latter will most likely be damaged. Under all the circumstances the prac­ tice of putting blinds upon our bridles is about as foolish as checking up a horse's head until the only thing that it can see is the sun and sky. Some may think that blinds look well, but even that is doubtful. We are of the opinion that a blindless bridle looks just as well on a horse as anything that can be put on its head. In our towns and cities where humane societies have an opportunity to create public sentiment in regard to the matter, many of our most stylish turnouts have no blinds on the bridles. --Western Rural. Core of Wagen Wheels. The severest strain in the cart or car­ riage comes upon the wheels. The fel­ loes especially are exposed to alternate mud and drought, according to the pre-, vailing weather. The paint soon wears off, and the wood absorbs the water from every mud-puddle through which the the wood attrinks ana w>» jppwgwa looee. The remedy is a new iiHpg of the tire, and a bill from t|p;|^MBnnith. It is much cheaper to clean ll& the carriage occasionally, and give we wheels a dressing of linseed oil as not as it can be put on. The wood will absorb a good deal of the oil and will RMOJI the rim so as to make the tire tight. It will prevent the rotting of the wood and make long-lived wheels. When the wheels have soaked up all the oil they will take put on a good coat of paint.--American Agriculturist. HOUSEKEEPERS' HELPS. Son GINGER CAKE.--One cup of molasses, one of fried meat gravy and boiling water, half and half, one tea- spoonful of saleratus and one of ginger, flour enough to make a soft dough. COLD WATER CAKE.--One cijip of white sugar, two eggs, pieoe of butter half as big as an egg, seven table-spoon- fuls of cold water, one cup of flour and a heaping teaspoonful of baking pow­ der. Pnm.--Beat very light the yelks of six eggs: add one pmt of milk, a pinch of salt; the whites of the eggs* beaten to a froth, and flour enough to make the batter like thick cream. Bake in caps in a quick oven. MINNESOTA CORN BREAD.--Two cups of flour and two of meal, one of sweet milk &nd one of sugar, one-half cup of molasses, a teaspoonful of salt and one of saleratus, put it in round tin cans and steam one hour, then bake half an hour. CRUMPETS.--Mix' together one quart of sifted flour and two teaspoonfuls of good baking powder, and a little salt; then add two teaspoonfuls of melted butter and enough sweet milk to make a thin dough. Bake quickly in muffin rings or patty pans. JELLY CAKE.--One and a half cups sugar, one-half cup'butter, three eggs, half a cup sweet milk, two and a half cups of flour, one teaspoon of saleratus and two of cream of tartar. Beat the sugar and butter well, then add the well-beaten yelks and stir in the milk and then whites beaten to a froth; sift the saleratus and cream tartar with the flour. GINGER COOKIES.--Make a hole in the center of a pan of flour and then pour in one enp of sugar, one of molasses and one of fried meat gravy. Take one egg, one table-spoonful each of cloves, ciunamon and ginger; put two table- spoonfuls of saleratus in a cup and pour on six table-spoonfuls of vinegar, add to the rest and mix very hard, roll thin and bake in a quick oven. LOBSTER CROQUETTES.--To the meat of a well-boiled lobster, chopped fine, add pepper, salt and powdered mace. Mix with this one-quarter as much bread crumbs, well rubbed, as you have meat; make into ovates or cones, with two table-spoonfuls of melted butter; roll these in beaten egg, then in pulverized crackers, and fry in butter or very sweet lard. Serve dry and hot, and garnished with crisped parsley. GRAHAM GEMS.--To one pint of Gra­ ham flour add salt, one pint of sweet milk and one egg. Stir in the flour slowly till it becomes a smooth (not thick) batter. Use no soda or yeast. Bake immediately. The best gem-pans are of cast iron with twelve sockets, which must be first heated, thej^greased, filled »uu iusianiir remrauii --ne ov­ en. If new, the pans should be first scoured with soap and sand, then greased, heated and rewashed. Gems mav also be made without the egg, with milk and water, or all water. They may also be made of rye flour or corn meal. The corn meal requires an egg. This recipe is sufficient for twenty-four gems. To be eaten warm with butter. GRAHAM GEMS.--One pint sweet milk, stir in Graham flour until the batter is a little thicker than for grid­ dle cakes; add salt, one teaspoonful of sugar and one egg well beaten; use cast-iron gem pans, grease and make very hot before the batter is put in; bake immediately after filling; never use soda or yeast; be sure to have the gem pans hot when filled and a smooth, not thick, batter, and a hot oven, and success is certain. Try these gems for breakfast, you who have never made or eaten them, if you wish to have some­ thing very nice and wholesome on your breakfast table, and, my word for it, you will eat wart with nio coffee < or jelly. lii wtm or ibch. Bewlt CMM to B« Fixed an tlin Date o^tbo PrcaMaafi Inangru ration. [From UM Boston Traveller.] In very early times, when March 3 was supposed to be the last day to which Congress could extend itself in the odd year with propriety, it would occasionally be found hard at work as the 3d passed into the 4th. As the 4th of March is the day for the in­ auguration of the executive department of the Government of the United States, that date has beoome the first in this nation. It was fixed upon in 1788 by the action of the Continental Congress, which, on the 13th of September, adopted the following resolve, preceded by a preamble which set forth in order the reasons for the action of that Con­ gress at that time, "That the first Wed­ nesday in January next be the day for appointing electors in the several States which before the said day shall have ratified the said constitution; that the first Wednesday in February next be the day for the electors to assemble in their respective States and vote for a President, and that the first Wednes­ day in March next be the time, and the present seat of Congress (New York) the place, for commencing the proceed­ ings under the said constitution." The first Wednesday in March, 1789, fell on the 4th of March, hence the precedence of that day in our history under the constitution, It was not till the 30th of April, 1789, however, that Washington became President, owing to various circumstances, but in 1793, when he entered upon his second Presi­ dential term, he was inaugurated on the 4th of March. Were 1883 an in­ augural year, the ceremonies would have been postponed to the 5th of March, as the 4th of March fell on Sunday. Next vear will be the leap year, and the 4th of March will be on Tuesday; and the next President will begin the twenty-fifth Presidential term on Wednesday, March 4, 1885. Our cent­ ury of Presidents will be completed on the 4th of March, 1889; and the Presi­ dent to complete it will be chosen in 1888-9, if we shall insist that the work must be done by a newly-chosen Presi­ dent. Properly, we should say, the man who shall go out in 1889 'will be the completing Chief Magistrate of this nation, as will regard the first century of the nation's constitutional life. It will be soon enough to discuss the matter almost six years hence. Possibly the 30th of April, 1889, the hundredth an­ niversary of Washington's first inaugur­ ation as President of the United States, would be selected as the most fitting day on which to have a national cele­ bration of the beginning of our career as a people with a fixed government of limited powers, and with the principles of liberty admitted in every way--save where the colored race were concerned. The Romance of the Argonaeta. As the winter of "48" waned, the companies, one after another, set sail for the land of gold. The Sunday pre­ ceding they listened to farewell ser­ mons at the church. I recollect seeing a score or two of young Argonauts thus preached to. They were admonished from the pulpit to behave temperately, virtuously, wisely and piously. How seriously they listened! How soberly were their narrow-brimmed, straight- up-and-down little plug hats of that period piled one on top of the other in front of them! How glistened their bair with the village barber's hair oil! How pronounced the creak of their tight boots as they marched up the aisle! How brilliant the hue of their neckties! How patiently and resignedly they listened to the sad discourse of the minister, knowing it would be the last they would hear for many months! How eager the glances they cast up to the church choir, where sat the girls they were to marry on their return! How few returned! How few married the girl of that period's choice! How little weighed the words of the minister, a year afterward, in the hurry-scurry of San Francisco life of '49 and '50! What an innocent, unsophisticated, inexperienced lot were those forty-odd young Argonauts who sat in those pews. Not one of them then could bake his own bread, turn a flapjack, reseat his trousers or wash his shirt. Not one of them had dug even a posthole. All had a vague sort of impression that Califor­ nia was a nutshell of a country, and that they would see each other there frequently and eventually all return vour valuable paper, we take -tii« lloer-l>r about the same time. How ty to write, although we know not liew it will be received. We shall not be surprised If It is entirely rejected; but good brjl we k ol, mission regardless of house. J co„M,qiM.|jC(>B. Gen. of the the Elf[ good story is told trates the style of campaign speech- making in which rival candidates in that State meet and discuss public is­ sues. Gen. Wolford and his opponent met at Jamestown, where about 3,000 people had gathered. Gen. Frye led off in an hour's speech, closing by say­ ing : "This is the best Government the sun ever shone upon, and the freest. Who ever heard of such magnanimity as was shown by this Government to the Confederate soldier when the war was ended?" Gen. Wolford arose and said: "Gen. Frye, I would like to ask you a question." "Certainly," said Frye. "Well, what did they do with the great and good soldier, Gen. Robert E. Lee, when he surrendered at Appo­ mattox?" Then, without pausing for a reply, he answered his own question: "I will tell you. They tied his hands behind him, tied his feet, put a rope around his neck, and hung him on the spot. Baise up, Bill Skys, and tell what you know about it. Yon were there. Bill arose, and said slowly: "Yes, I was thar; it's so, gentlemen." Wolford then proceeded, before grant­ ing Gen. Frye time to collect himself at the audacity of the witness' dishon­ esty, and said: "What did they do with Jeff Davis? Why, I will tell you. They took him to Fortress Monroe, put . him in the hull of a gunboat, and kept him there until he died from rheumatic pains. Baise up, Bill Skys, and tell what you know about that; you were there." Bill arose and answered: "I was--I was thar. I was one of the pall-bearers." Then Wolford, as a sort of climax, said: "They would have killed me. too, had they not been afraid." Turning to Frye, and pulling a six-shooter, he "fairly shrieked: "What have you to say to that?" "Nothing, answered Frye; "there's nothing be­ tween you and L"--Washington Cor­ respondence. THERE are people malicious enough to say that the rest which Jay Gould wants is the rest of the railroads. realized that one was to go to era and one to the Southern d one to remain in San Fran- . the three never to meet again! tering gold mines existed in ns even during the preaching rmon. Holes where the gold vn out by the shovelful, from days* Mr. Enfley Barnard, of this place, and Alios S trail Ely. of Nunda. were on the 22d of March, united fn the holy boudJ occasional bowlder or pebble of mairlmonv. Mav the happy coupler1 out and flung away. _ • - -1 here which illtis-T *»£.rt>ung Argonaut--church being e U1US dismissed--took his little stiff,shiny plug and went home to the last Sunday's tea. And that Sunday night, on seeing her home from church, for the last time, he was allowed to sit up with her almost as long as he pleased. The light glim­ mered long from the old homestead front parlor window. The cold north wind without roared among the leafless sycamores, and clashed the branches together. It was a sad, sad picture. The old sofa they sat upon would be sat upon by them no more for years. For years? Forever in many cases. To­ day, old and gray, gaunt and bent, somewhere in the gulches, "up North," somewhere hidden away in an obscure mining camp of the Tuolumne, Stanis­ laus or Mokalumne, up in Cariboo, or down in Arizona, still he recollects that night as a dream. And she ? Oh, she (Jried her eyes and married the stay-at- home five years after. A girl can't wait forever. And, beside, bad re­ ports, after a time, reached home about him. He drank. He gambled. He found fair friends among the senoritas, and, worse than all, he made no fortune. --Prentice Mulford. The Romance of Aleck Stephens' Life. In one of the early years of the '40s Mr. Stephens, theh a young man, paid a visit to the home of Mr. Darden, in Warren county. There he met a flaxen-haired, blue-eyed girl of 16, beautiful in face and lovely in charac­ ter; piquant, witty and gifted with a mind rarely cultivated. An attachment grew up, which for years did not pass the formal bounds of friendship, but which was sacredly cherished by both. The boy lover was poor in this world's goods; fragile in frame and harassed by siokness, he did not dare to aspire to the hand of one whom he had learned to love, and yet forebore to claim. With womanly devotion the young girl read the secret in the young man's eyes, and true to her heart she could only--wait and love. One evening in 1849 a party was given at the residenoe of Mr. Little, in Crawfordville. There the two met once more; there they en­ joyed that sweet communion born of perfect trust; and there Mr. Stephens found courage to speak the wordf which for years had fought For ex­ pression, until at last he could no lon­ ger contain them. "Are vou sure that there livee none other whom you prefer to me?" asked the maiden timidly, half-shrinJringly# yet only too happy to feel that she was favored in his eyes. "In the whole universe there exists not another," said he passionately. Thus their troth was plighted; the day was set for their marriage, and all seemed auspicious for the lovers. But clouds lowered o'er their hopes; mat­ ters of a private nature which it is not within the domain of the public to know intervened and deferred the frui­ tion of their hopes. The one became immersed in politics, and, racked with physical ills, hesitated to enter a state where he feared the happiness of the oth­ er might be marred. The lady found her duty by the side of an invalid mother, who long lingered with a confining dis­ ease. Thus the years flew by; but the plighted troth was kept. Mr. Stephens never addressed another, and ever kept the image of the fair young girl in his heart. The lady was the recipient of admiration from many, but to all she turned a deaf ear. They often met later in life, and, while the idea of marriage was aban­ doned, they felt a sweet pleasure in each other's society.--Atlanta Conttti- ttltion. * Cora-Catching Oysters. ^Toehow yon that oysters have sense, I will tell you what I have seen a hun­ dred times. I have stood behind a tree on Cat Island, in the Mississippi Sound, many a moonlight night, and watched the oysters when the tide was out, and those near the spit were either partly or entirely out of water. The island is full of raccoons, which skirmish around all night looking for soft-shell crabs, fish and oysters. The oyster opens his shell to air himself, or maybe to catch unwary mosquitoes or sand-flies, when the 'coon, who is on the lookout, sneaks up behind until he is near enough, and thrusts his paw into the shell. Very often the oyster is extracted, BO quick is the 'coon's movement, but sometimes the 'coon gets the worst of it. If the oyster is anyways fly, and manages to lieai the 'coon creeping up, he waits until the paw is thrust in, and then clamps down upon it. You know what a grip an oyster has. The 'coon, of course, is fast caught in a steel trap, you might say. But if it is a single oyster and not strongly imbedded in the bottom, the 'coon pulls it out and hops off to a tree, where he pounds the oys­ ter until the shell is broken, and leis­ urely feasts upon it. His paw is sore, but he has been successful, and he is satisfied. If, however, the oyster hap­ pens to be one of the cluster fast in the bottom, the 'coon would be in a bad fix. I have seen at least fifty slick old 'coons caught in that way, and have to spend the night in the oyster bed. When the tide began to rise and they saw that they had to get away or drown, they would gnaw off their imprisoned paws and hobble away on three legs. When the water got high the oyster would spit the paw out. I've picked up a thousand such paws."--Chicago Times. > The Value of Cashiers. An Ohio merchant who kept three darks, each one of wliosi s>sds KU «w«> change and had free access to the mon- ey-drawers, was the other day asked by a commercial traveler why he did not keep a cashier to receive all moneys. "Cost too much," was the reply. "But are your clerks honest?" "Perfectly honest." "Have you any objection to my trying them?" "Certainly not; go ahead in any way you wish." The traveler went away, but^n about three hours he returned and said in a loud voice so that all might hear: "When I was here this forenoon I paid you a bogus quarter by mistake. In case you find it in counting up to­ night, lay it aside and I'll redeem it." Then the traveler, accompanied by the merchant, took position where the back door and the alley could be kept in view, and in less than ten minutes out came the head clerk and emptied a handful of silver on the head of a bar­ rel and pawed it over. The bogus quar­ ter was not there. He returned to the Btore and out came the second clerk and went through the same programme. He was followed by the third, and after he disappeared the merchant calmly observed: "I've been waiting thirteen years for trade to pick up, and I rather think Pll try the cashier system." The Bunkers. The Dunkers, a sect whose doctrines and habits of life are similar to those of the Mennonites, derive the name by which they are popularly known in this country from a German word descrip­ tive of their mode of baptism by im­ mersion, but they are called by themselves "Brethren." They came to America between 1719 and 1729, from Germany, whence they were driven by religious persecution, and first settled in Pennsylvania, where they are still more numerous than in any other State. JLiike the Friends, they practice extreme simplicity in dress and speech. They have love-feasts, practice the washing of feet, the laying on of hands, anoint­ ing with oil, use the kiss of charity, and other habits of worship. Owing to their aversion of statistics, which they regard as savoring of pride, it is not easy to obtain trustworthy accounts of their number, but it is estimated to be about 100,000. They have Bishops, elders, teachers and deacons, are opposed to war, and will not engage in lawsuits. The Fee for Being Harried. Advice to those about to get married in fashionable London circles: Select an occasion when the Vicar is taking a holiday, and then, if you are content that a humble curate should perform the ceremony, you will save a £5 note at least. Why does a clergyman ex­ pect a heavy fee when his legal remun­ eration is about 12s 6d? That he does expect it I gather from the fact that the Vicar of a West End church, to whom the best man at a recent mar­ riage tendered £5, wrote, somewhat in­ dignantly, to say that his fee was 5 guineas. Of course, the above hint does not refer to those persons who re­ quire a Bishop to make them man and wife. "• _____ A KANSAS panther came sneaking around to eat up the scraps set out for the dog, and the wotian explained : " I thought he must be a new breed, as he wouldn't leave until I broke the broom- handle over his back." THE best government is not that which renders the individual happiest, but that renders the greatest jjuaiUer happy.--Ch. P. Du Clos. Wraw the Senate com of March M bat few members were preavst. Mr. Tqrraape nracnted the report of the Jot* visiting committee to the State penal 'mtWi ttoaa. Mr. Merritt moved to recdnSSr' The to the ration prevailed, nd the bill m mt Committee on (Jorparmtiona. The Howe •*«$ provMlac for Joint MMPM ef the Home mam committees to Senate and the Bevenne law, was taken up Bills on second res ding « and advanced, after which Mat *£3 \ '! 1 ̂̂ to meet Monday the Home, the Joint of penal tnstttnttans port. With regard to Jolift, they concur to made for approprimtioiai tar the OaautfMeê tf on Penal Instttntfcms. In relation to the Nteto ; Reform School at Pontlae OMT «*E Mli- innof an addition to the inatttnttaa* iasmMli.>'-</:w - ,;;- as the school is overcrowded. ' -- -" *• « propriatton for ordinary» S mended. The committee doss net make* Ml report on the Chester penitentiary. TlirtB- -W, v; dorse such appropriation* as the CIII limit tll> OB %.. / ,>! :>v Penal Institutions has recommended. Throom- ' : mittee says farther that tt has been reqneeted fey -• the management at Chester to investigate mat- < • \ , ft ters of discipline, etc.. at the prison. tHtn» J ̂ - the findings OK the titration wili be made, and committee in relation thereto future day. AdJonrned antil A nntoR of the Senate was held on mam- " day, Mwch 36, bnt only adeaen members wet®5--" present. Mr. Whiting introduced a bill lookln* ' * * " t 'iA to the general permanent reclaiming of the over- " flowed lands of the State, and, secondarily, to help by straightening the streams, removing ' - i , obstructions and clearing out anmb to »•' •<- &> ' wet loss by overflow on the low landa The ».« «•t ; House was not in session. 's- THEBS was a good showing of Senators ait the meeting of the Senate on March 38, and - ' -H petitions were handed in in favor of I license, prohibition, and for the repeal of HNH lk • ,» - , , portions of the law in rid of the indnstttal "ohoois for girls as requires ccunttsa to pay lor . - A , girls. Mr. Lanlng offered a «eolntlMtwy5i'®r#r-^ ̂ was referred, directing the Secretary of State to ; 4. assign the Art Gallery to the Adjutant Genera! for a room for a display of the battle flags. Oa : < t motion of Mr. Ray, the Home resolution thank-' . v - 1 lng the Indianapolis Board of Trade Cor" , their charity to the suffering communities akmff * ""• 1 the Ohio river during th* late high-water. waa&, Ji ,4- passed. Mr. Edwards' bill to make jndgmente rendered in the Supreme Court and the Court of Sangamon oonnty liens on the property "*•' of judgment debtor In the county where the "" debtor resides, by filing transcript, was read third time and passed. Mr. Oillham hit: odnoed two bills to amend the Dralaage set, to l ermit the strengthening and preserving the big " along the Mississippi river. The bill to the amoubt of the judgment, instead of amount on the tax books, prima f-cle eT-, '"': idenoe of the amount dne in foreclosing tax liens, passed. The Senate struck the annual "Dog or Dogs" Tax Assessment bill. This hill : 5 44^1 seeks to reform the manner in which damages' > are proved up, and make a sinking fund to pay '"7V" the damages. This subject occupied the atten- f«;} 5» ,'K !ii tion of the Senate until adjournment. In the., ̂ •-1id House, a raft of petitions were received in favor . ' f. of high license and female suffrage and referred . to the Committee on License. Mr. Curtis Intro-*'1 ^ v*ia dnced a joint resolution calling upon all railroad-;" . <\ , .J companies in this State to furnish a complete , , * topographical survey of their several Unas, "*$$! ing the elevation of stations above the-' - I ' r level of Lake Michigan. The V> J olntion was adopted. The Harper , '̂ .5; High License bill was then reached, after the, ' *" v VS adoption of Mitchell's substitute to the resolution in regard to grain gambling. Con- w ̂ siderable parliamentary work was necessary to . uncover the bill, bnt at last the Speaker an- ' nounoedthe Harper bill in order, and it weav1 * f4 ordered to a first reading, thus putting. it on tte<, i v.-; ̂ legislative road. A message from the Governor /i ? was received returning the bill »™Tnnri«Un»- * \ • «.oo« tt T sstnsg-. - On motion of Mr. Billings,dthe vote by which t 74 . > the bill was passed was reconsidered, and the ,, » ; < question on thepassage of the bill made the * *' . special order for Thursday morning at 10:90. •. •'<"* s THERE was so small an attendance in the' ' >1^ Senate on March 28 that Mr. Ray moved to poet- . ̂ 4 pone hia bill, now a special order, to make' ' 'vi *'< jurors judges of the facts alone, for two weeka.r. v it was so postponed. House 1x111 to fix the/," - . tirn* for holding County Courts in Jersey county:' . ' jmssed, with the emergency clause. The Mil to 'M- require all persons who become suretvon nal bond in criminal cases to schediHe ,̂ sufficient property to cover amount of his obligation, was passed. -t, The Senate went into executive session and oon- - firmed B. G. Roots, Richard Edwards, P, R.?- Walker and J. C. Knickerbocker as members of; the Board of Education, and George A. Pollans- bee, Alexander McLean and George P. Kneer Trustees of the Industrial University, and thto£ executive seeetoai Bills "««» *»*»« " Bjf Mr. Ihera, the ftwml Bead bill tor < not under township organization; Needles, a bill to legalise the present and assessments under the Drainage law; v Mr. Vandeveer, a bill to make the $10 now given' to discharged prisoners only payable to those • 'a who have served one year in the penitentiary: byr> J Mr.Condee.a bill to increase the fees of the Pro-;, bate Court of Cook county 25 per cent.; by Mr. Mason, a Mil to amend the law in regard " to adulterated food so that the amount of gin- • * ><j\ *• * •' close in any article of sale assuming to be sugar shall be made known by the manufacturer and ̂ '.*% seller; by Mr. Fletcher, a bill which requires the? -!S'S members of the militia to drill, or not to be ex- - empt from road and jury duties. The bill Intro- duced and championed by Mr. Clark, to amend . " « ' • the law of corporations, was read a third ysv * T|#' time and passed. The Dog Tax bill warn V .'*'<• , ^ <• ordered to a third reading, after considerable eloquence had been wasted upon the "yellow -- ' "1 " ^ . 1?" dog." In the House, proposed constitutional * % amendments took up the entire day, one pro- 1 " ̂ viding for the amendment of the sixteenth aee- (w. • i V; tion of the constitution so that the Governor might have power to veto parts of appropriation bills., etc., and the Fuller joint resolution. . which provides that there shall be sab- mitted to the voters of the State, at the C >r next election for members of the General _ v Assembly, a proposition to amend the eonatita- J , ' '-Vi tion of this State, by the addition thereto of the ' " \ following, to-wit: "No person shall mannfaet- • •« ;̂ uro, sell, or keep for sale, in this State, any aloo- "V . i'-"1 hoi, whisky, hiuh-wines, wine, ale, beer, other intoxicatinif liquors whatever, excepting for medical, scientific, and mechanical purposes; and the General Assembly shall enforce the arti- , p;. 4 ~ cles by appropriate legislation." Discussion *• lasted until the dinner hour was called, when the House adjourned. A LARGE amount of business was trans ^ ' acted by the Senate on the 2t)th ult. Bills were ̂ 4* Introduced: By Mr. Merritt. to determine the "" '• power of towns aud counties with reierence to,4 » « . aid for railroads voted prior to the adoption of ,; ' . . i the present constitution: by Mr. McNary,to trans- V * fer Jasper county to the control of the Supreme *' V ,«,'J-- Court decision: by Mr. Rogers, to permit School " .itf- Superintendents to lease school lands five years; <;v, *. ' by Mr. Vandeveer, to change the criminal code w HO that a burglar entering an inhabited building ts-' ,1.1 U' in the night shall be punished, on conviction, for not less than five yeais, or for life; by Mr. > Whiting, to declare the lights of diahiae.^ifi The Senate concurred in the House resolution to, adjourn on Friday till Wednesday evening next. J > Under the heud of unfinished business, the mc- *" tion of Mr. Campbell to reconsider the vote by . hlcli the enacting words were stricken out of r|r :•* f. ? it 1. A M Mr. Shaw's bill to elect Railroad Commissioners „ came uj>, and prevailed, by l9to 17. The bill a!- •- " a- , lowing each pnrty in civil action to challenge six ^V jurors without cause passed, as did the bit! - * - amending the Township Insurance law so that. „ persons owning property in an insur- - ' vft, ance district may become a member"" of such district company. Bills were passed as follows: To add the dog tax in rities ' or villages of over IO.IXJO inhabitant* to the fund • ,M , ̂ • for the relief of disabled firemen; to amend the title of the law of last session, preventing the 8^ * sale of deadly weapons to minors; to refund any %~r. -1 snrpluH in the State treasury to the credit of ' \ • local bond funds of counties, townships, cities, i school districts, or other n tunic realities when , ' Jjf . the briiiis have been wholly paid: t > prevent < " 'a® municipalities from granting permission to 4,.;; • «- build elevated railroads without 1 H>tition of a majority of the land-owners abutting on the street or a.ley softght to he J , & us»d; to make the term of Supervisor two rears, « - %• half to be elected every year; to authorize a j , J Judne who anticii>ates that the regular panel of jurors will become exhausted in consequence of , . ">S ?*"• an important criminal (fase. to require the Clerk * to proceed to the office of the County Clerk . and draw from the box the jurors needed to ^ net as talesmen. The Game bill passed. In the House, the proce dings were iusmgnrated bv the adoption of a res J ution providing for the •anal spring election a Ijounuiient from Friday to next Wednesday eveniuc at 5 o'clock. An act was passed to relieve Areola and one or two other places from an embarrassment arising from the adoption of the cumulative plan of elect­ ing Aldermen. The resolution for a constitutional amendment to allow the Governor to veto sections of appropria- tion bills came up as a special order „ p o s t i w n e d f r o m y e s t e r d a y ' s b u s i n e s s . I t s c o n - i " , ' • si deration was made the special order for Thurs- ~ '1' day, two weeks from to-Jay. A conflict then arose upon the order of business, the prohibi­ tion amendment being next in order. By a de­ cision of the chair the amendments were decided not in order, which will put them off for several weeks. Free Ships Do Not Fill the Bill. Two tramps, very thirsty, are seated in a lager-beer saloon, iiivoluntarv listeners to an argument between two pretty "loaded" legal gentleman on the subject of free ships. First tramp (loq.)--"That ain't no in­ terest to ns, is it, Billy?" Second tramp--"jfo, Sam; what we wants to 'ear about is free schoonera." --Brooklyn Eagle.® ' . v" ^ 1,"'v WAVE leng&s of the eoonde emitted by a man's voice in ordinary converse- >> - * i tion are from eiirht to twelve feet and J. 'y £ ure trom eignt to twelve ofawom»'*l1wU,W,4»W Moono* <r%.: