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iSSfcsa^^ |£f£|rmg ftaiakal I. VANSLYKE. M|rM<NMWMr. er IfcHENRY, m«< ._",,"."'«j ILLINOIS, THE English system of naval pumsn- ments is to be revised, and minor of­ fenses, instead of being treated to the cat and sweat box, will now be pun­ ished bj fines uid stoppage of leave. / IT is estimated that pin factories in Ifow England tarn out 10,800,000,000 pins yearly and the other factories in the States bring the number up to 18,- 000,000,000. This is equal to about one pin a day for every inhabitant of thf United States. A SARATOGA man has a skunkery. The skunk hunters visit the animal's haunts with a long stick and a bottle of chloroform. On the end of the stick is a wad of cotton saturated with chloro­ form. When a skunk is found tlie chloroform stick is placed under his nose and soon he rolls over. He is then picked up, placed in a bag, and when the bag is full the skunk-catcher re­ turns home and places the animals in a yard. It is said they become very tame and can be played with like a kitten. How. HENRY SMITH, of Milwaukee, elected to Congress as an Independent Labor candidate, feeling that political consistency required him to flock by himRelf, declined to enter the cauous of either party. Bemarkicg upon his isolated position in relation to commit­ tees and the practical work of legisla­ tion, Mr. Smith said recently to a news­ paper correspondent: "1 never wished so much for independent men in my life as I have since I sat here in this House. We only need six more men to control the organization and shape the make-up of committees." IT is estimated that about 50,000,000 pounds of cotton-seed oil were used in the United States during last year in the adulteration of lard, and that it was mixed with about twice as much of other material, most of which was pure lard with the leaf left out. This total of 150,000,000 pounds is a little less than one-half of the exports, or about 30 per cent, of the whole production. From this it may be inferred that cotton-seed oil forms about one-tenth of all the material which is sold as "lard" in the United States, and nearly all of it is used in a few well-known establishments in New York, Phila­ delphia, Chicago, St Louis, and Kansas City. • WILLIAM ROCKAFELLER, the head of the Standard Oil Company, had a very narrow escape from being killed by a pet buck deer at his oountry residence. The buck was a favorite of Mr. Rocke­ feller, and he would often feed from his hand. One morning recently the oil magnate went to the stable where the buck was kept, intending to feed it. He was in the act of offering some green stuff to the creature to eat, when its lowered its head, and, rushing at Mr. Rockafeller, knocked him down. The buck was preparing for a second attack, when one of the farm hands ap­ peared upon the scene and seized the animal. Mr. Rockafeller would no doubt have been killed but for the timely arrival of assistance. He was for some days confined to his bed nnder a doctor's CATO. THE late Governor Marmaduke, of Missouri, was a man with a record--a fighting cavalier of the earlier South and of the England of another century. At West Point he changed shots with a fellow cadet, both duelists escaping un­ injured. His seoond duel was deadly, his antagonist, Gen. Marsh Walker be­ ing shot through the body. , Marma­ duke fired at the word, disconcerting Walker, who set about taking an aim to kill. Thereupon Marmaduke, on his second shot, fired to kill, and killed. For his desperate charge on a Union battery at Shiloh he was made Briga­ dier on the field, and afterward Major General for services in the Arkansas campaign. He was a dashing soldier but thoughtful of his men. He ended his war service in captivity, having gal­ loped into the arms of the Federals when conducting the rear guard on the retreat after the defeat received from Gen. Pleasanton in the Missouri cam­ paign. , EX-ATTORNEY GENERAL WAYNE MAC- VEAGH, of Philadelphia, is one of the noted "diners out" of his day. His sar­ casm and wit are welcomed in spite of the severity with which he often gives intellectual thrusts at his fellow-guests or host. Men thus coming in contact with him for the first time are likely ,to fear his tongue as a two-edged sword. Occasionally he meets his match. Such was the case at the dinner-table of George A Roberts, President of the Pennsylvania Railroad, in Philadelphia, a few days ago. MacVeagh is solicitor for the road. His companion at Mr. Roberts' table was Archbishop Ryan, of Philadelphia, the distinguished pre­ late, one ot the brightest and ablest men of his church. As the dinner pro­ ceeded, Mr. MacYeagh had sent little barbed shots at every man at the table without finding an opportunity to touch the Arohbishop, when something was said by the latter about the kindness and goodness of their host, especially in the matter of railroad passes. "Since our President is so good, why don't yon give him & free pass over your line to Heaven?" queried Mr. MacYeagh. Quick as a flash, but with the mildest tone and the most penetrating manner, the prelate replied: "I should not like to separate him from his solicitor." MacYeagh made no attempts to find a weak spot in the Archbishop's intellectual armor. A NEW mode of telegraphing was re­ cently triad by the military authorities of Belgium. It is a combination of the electric and optic telegraph. The op- tic sWm. |F oiade UD of a bal- •* £ t - * * v -J*** <>• . X*. .A < . ' , ' loon held at any height above the ground* Inside of the boat floated by the balloon, or en the bottom, of the boat, six electric lamps were attacked, which were connected with an electric battery on the ground by means of wires running along the rope which held the balloon captive. On the ground there was a Morse telegraphic apparatus. An experienced operator spelled a message, the characters of which are registered on a common Morse apparatus by shorter and longer strokes upon a running band of paper. The shorter or longer the line is on paper the shorter or longer is the time corresponding to it during which the electric current is working. Instead of marking time on paper, the apparatus used at the experiments made at Ant­ werp keeps the six lamps attached to the balloon blazing in bright light Any man understanding the Morse alphabet is able to read the characters given by the successive flashes of light of the eleotric lamps. A number of messages were thus spelled and correotly read by posts at distances of several miles. The balloon was only solne 300 feet above ground. The higher it is allowed to ascend the greater is the distance at which its characters can be seen and understood. JOHN GRIMSHAW, the hero of there- cent attempted express robbery on the Missouri Pacific Railroad in the Indian Territory, has been in the messenger service for fifteen years. This is the second express robbery in which he has figured, and in both cases his rep­ utation was vindicated as a trusted and daring employe of the express com­ pany. His first experience occurred about ten years ago while he was serv­ ing as messenger on the Wabash road. The car was entered by robbers about twenty miles out of St Louis, and al­ though Grimshaw made a brave effort to protect the property in his charge he was overpowered and the outlaws went through the car. After they had com­ pleted their work of rifling the car they placed Grimshaw in his box and locked him in. When the cars reached St Louis no messenger was to be found, and it was not until the box was opened that Grimshaw's plight was known. The robbers had completely cleaned out the car. Grimshaw was arrested and conducted to the South­ ern Hotel. He was suspected of being implicated in the robbery, and his story of the affair was discredited, it being maintained that it was impossi­ ble for a person to remain locked up in a tight box as long as he claimed to have been there. Almost in despair Grimshaw finally sent for a physician with whom he was well acquainted and asked his advice. He was told that if he had remained in the box the length of time he claimed, he could do so again, and by doing so would give cre- dence to his statement concerning the affair. Grimshaw accepted the advice and getting into the box remained there not only the fnll length of time but twenty minutes longer. He was then released, but for two years he teas watched by detectives. The robbers were afterward captured and made a full confession and he came out of the affair so well vindicated that he has ever since been one of the most trusted employes of both the United States and Pacific Express Companies. traxps in oldeh time* What the round-skulled Gael has done to the ehort, long-skulled people who preceded him the Saxon did lo the would be wnniHsh enough to take the jobatsueh and such a wage. When thus addressed thelndian will, in most cases, yield to a magnanimous impulse and consent. with some haughtiness, to GaaL He took his tilled land from j do it himself. him; in those days it was not much, Still, one may say there is hope for ---- » « * *» --J * -J • «• . W..I *_ Jt' "• m , r n Queer Business ef a New York Firm. This is the queer legend that stares one in the face from over the door of a shop in Pear street, near the Produce Exchange: : AXXAICAH BAG IiOAKIJtO COMPANY. I. ' . The business of the occupants is to rent grain bags to shippers, who find it more profitable to pay rent than to own the bags. In the long voyages across the sea the rats make innumerable holes in the bags, and the shippers say it is expensive to keep sewers for mend­ ing them. Then, too, the shippers are saved the trouble of looking after them. The loaners provides these bags at a rental per trip that comes to nearly half their value. With regular over­ hauling and patching tfie average grain bag will make the trip ten or a dozen times, and so pays for itself many times. It takeB many thousands to^t out a single ship, and millions of them are often afloat at once, everv one of them turning its penny for the company. Agent* receive tliem on the other side and ship them back in bales, duly certi­ fied to by the American consul as truly native bags. So recommended they pass through the custom house unchal­ lenged, and are made ready for another voyaga Thus the characteristic restlessness of the nation extends even to its grain bags. That is to the democratic bur­ lap sack. There are aristocratic iiags that travel in style and for what they are worth. They are made of cotton instead of jute. After carrying corn to Portugal,^ the Canary Islands, and the West Indies they are mode into clothes for those they have fed. The grain bags that are sent to Cuba come back filled with sugar and are thenceforth unfit to be loaned. Filling and sewing up the grain bags is a business by itself and employs a small army of bag-sewers, who are paid by the loaners. Two hold the bags and fill them at the elevator and two wield the sail-maker's needle. Two hundred bags and hour is fair work for the New York bag-sewer, who claims that he can outstrip his Boston or Baltimore brother two to one. Five dollars a day is his average pay in the busy reason. Coffee sacks coming from a hot cli­ mate required an overcoat when they reached New York. Every one gets a short burlap wrap before it is sent further by land or sea. These extra sacks are of a special make, and it is a curions fact that none were ever known to return East Other sacks of the aristocratic order occasionally find their way back, but the coffee sacks never does. What becomes of them is ft mys­ tery. They are turned out by New York bag-makers at the rate of 2,500,- 000 a year. "Nevertheless," said the pioneer in the business, "in forty years 1 never saw one of them return."-- New York Evening Sun. THE London Field syas that a man who can ride with hounds when they cover eight or nine miles within an hour "accomplishes a feet which takes him and his horse out of the' common .. • 1 ' • -A * v . > . - . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . * J -V. : nine-tenths of the island being forest and marsh; and he gave b'm no ohanoe of setting near him and bringing in some of the wild country. That was not done till later, when the monas­ teries, true agricultural colonies, set the example of making the desert smile. The conquered had nothing to do for it but to submit to slavery or to "move on." If he moved on with a lot of friends he might settle down some­ where in Wales, or on the Cornish moore, or in the wild district called Cumbria (Cymri's Dand), from Chester to the Solway. But there would gen­ erally be somebody to turn out, so, if he were alone or with a few, begging or robbing--the two were interchange­ able--was his only resource. Whether or not "race" was the cause, tramps were very numerous in Saxon times, else why the stringent laws against them ? Then, as now, they had a coaxing way with them; to wheedle is from "waedlian," to beg. In summer the woods gave them shelter and food. In winter they often starved, despite benevolence like that which Bede re­ cords of King Oswald, who, feasting his bishop at easter, heard that a crowd of poor were sitting around the door. A silver dish had just been brought in, full of rare meats. "Take it," said Os­ wald, "give the food to the poor, and brake up also the dish into little bits so that each may have one." Then the numbers of the wanderers would always be recruited from those who consented to4 remain in slavery. To be a slave under the best of masters must have been a trying change, and few masters were good, or mistresses either, in days when a lady thought nothing of having a girl flogged to death for dress­ ing her hair badly. Many, therefore, would run away; become "flymas," that is, tramps, through whom the tramp nature has been perpetuated. The old natives of Great Britain were short, dark people--Basques, say some, Eskimo say others; the tall light-haired Gael beat them out from almost every­ where, except parts of South Wales. Then the Cymri, another Celtic people, came across from the Cimbric Cher­ sonese (Denmark), landed in Aberdeen, spread over Scotland as Picts, and, coming southward, were met by the tide of Saxon, or (as new lights prefer to call it) "English," invasion, and turned aside into the Wales. In Saxon times the beggar, unless he found refuge in one of them thinly scattered monasteries was in evil case. He belonged to the dangerous tribe of "masterless" men, people for whom no one was answerable; and those who sheltered him wore fain to do it by stealth, for if a man stayed with you more than a couple of days you were accountable not only for anything he might then do but also for his anteced­ ents. In King Edgar's canons (drawn up by Dunstan), the true rule for feasting is laid down: "When one fasts let the dishes that would have been eaten be all distributed to God's poor." The tithe, as yet only a voluntary charge, was divided into three parts--one for the church fabric, another for the poor and for strangers (of whom many were wandering monks), another for the priest One cause which swelled the army of tramps was that when, on his death bed, a master freed his slaves they became the "men" (serfs) of his heir, instead of being able to go where and live under whom they pleased. Of course, if the heir was a hard man there would be a stampede of his serfs, whose position, little above that of bondsmen, made the personal character of their master all important In many parish books about three hundred years ago, we find such entries as these: "Payd for wippin tow pore folk, ijd." "Payd and given to a pore man and his witt that was wipped, iiijd." I This was double the usual tariff, which Is represented by: "Gave the tow when they went, ijd," Truckee Indian. In and about Truckee there are some 150 Indians of^the Washoe tribe who differ from the run of red men in that something can be said to their credit. For the greater part of the year they •w inder about in quest of fame, fish, and the pine nuts, or seed, which they grind into flour; but just at this Beason they gather in town, where the bucks find honest employment in cutting tip the winter's supply of fuel for white residents, and the squaws in washing clothes. 1 In these days the yards of all provi­ dent Truckee people are cumbered with hugh piles of "slabs," "butts," and other refuse from the logging camps, dnd, as a general thing, you will see a straight-haired Indian wrest­ ling with ax and saw to change the unwieldly chunks of wood into mania- ble sticks. Indians are, as a rule, so shiftless and idle that the Spectacle of these tpiling aborigines is one which considerably startles a stranger in town. The sqftaws, on their side, hero­ ically overcome their inborn abhorrence for both soap and hard labor by doing family washing, and they do it very well in a plain sort of way. The moral regeneration of the In­ dians in Truckee dated from the time when the Chinese were driven out of this mountain village. Before that happy event the Indians there pos­ sessed all the unpleasant qualities of their brothers of the forests and plains; they begged, stole, and made themselves disagreeable in the accepted aboriginal fashion. But when the Chinese, defer­ ring to the wishes of the community, considerately left, the Indians seemed to acquire a sense of their importance in the social body and accepted proffered employment with inoradible readiness. As workmen they have but one, and that a pardonable, fault--they are ex­ tremely sensitive. They must be ap­ proached with honeyed words, for they are by nature disposed to revolt against the nienial offices which in defiance of ancestral prejudices they have come to fulfil. If you should say to one of them imperative^, "I want you to come ! and cut my wood," he would turn coldly j away from you. When an Indian cuts I wood he does not receive, he accords a ! favor, and he proposes to have that fact distinctly understood. It is some* thing, ho thinks, to have the descend­ ants of a long line of noble warriors laboring humbly at your woodpile, and there is, he thinks, an aristocratic tone otherwise unattainable about the wood which he has cut. •> So those who know the Indian as he is will never say to him: "I want you to come and cut my wood." They let the Indian know, with a pretense of un- premeditation, that they have wood to cut and they wonder dreamily, if there Stales who. the Washoe Indian in Truckee.-- San Francisco Examiner. A Demons of the Wood. From the Tyrol, from Switzerland, from Germany, from Brittany come well ascertained aocounts of the popu­ lar belief in certain wild spirits of the wood, who are painted in all the most frightful shapes the imagination can suggest, and are characterized by their delight in every possible form of malev­ olence. They kidnap and devour children, bewitched the cattle and lead men to lose their way in the forest They can assume anv size, from the most diminutive to the most gigantio; nor is any form of bird or beast an im­ possible personation of them. The Skongman, the forest spirit of Sweden, is like a mau, but tall as the tallest tree. He decoys men into the woods, and, when they have hopelessly lost their way and begin to weep for fear, leaves them with mocking laughter. The conception is well nigh identical with that found among the natives of the forests of Brazil, showing with what uniformity similar conditions pro­ duce similar effects; upon the human mind. But the Russian spirits Ljesch-- from a Polish word for wood--are even more significant, for not only are the usual diabolical attributes assigned to them, such as the leading of men astray or the sending to them of sickness, but also the conventional diabolical feat­ ures. Their bodies are after the hu­ man pattern, but they have the horns and ears of goats, their feet are cloven, and their fingers end in claws. The Russian wood spirit is, in fact, the devil of mediaeval imagination and noth­ ing else, a fact which strongly supports the inference that it is from the wood and from the wind rustling over the tree tops that the idea of the supernat­ ural agency of devils first took posses­ sion of the imagination of mankind. It is in no way inconsistent with this theory that beside devils of the forest there are those of the air or the water. The conception is one which would have met with no barrier to the ex­ tension of its dominions, and the devil of the tree or forest would from the first be olosely associated with, if at all distinguished from, the spirit that moved in the trees and was powerful enough to overturn them. In this way the wild spirits of the woods would pass insensibly into those spirits of the air which our ancestors identified with the wild huntsman, and which En­ glish peasants still often hear when they listen to the passage of the whistlers. -- Waverley Magazine. Hew a King Cured Dyspepsia*,» ̂ Henry YIIL one day lost bis way out hunting, and as he had started the chase at Windsor and found himself outside the abbot of Reading's house at dinner time, he must be allowed to have got some distance from his bear­ ings. Clearly, however, the next thing was to dine, and this he did at the abbot's table, the bat-eyed churchman having taken him for one of the royal guards. A sirloin was produced, and the King "laid on," much marked by the abbot, who had as much appetite as a peahen. When the roast had al­ most disappeared before the royal on­ slaught the churchman could contain himself no longer. "Well faro thy heart" he exclaimed to the supposed man at arms; "for here in a cup of sack I remember thy master. I would give £100 on condi< tion that I could feed as lustily on beef as you 4a Alas! my weak and squeezie stomach will hardly digest the wing of a small rabbit or chicken." How cruel a case of dyspepsia in the Middle Ages 1 I recommend it to the notice of the faculty as a proof that there is nothing new under the sun, not even in this "new disease that is stealing upon us alL " Meanwhile the King pledged his %ost and departed. Some weeks after the abbot was committed to the tower and fed for a short space on bread and water--a novel treatment for loss of appetite which threw the pious patient into the most horrid dejection, "yet not so empty was his body of food as his mind was filled with fears as to how he had incurred the King's displeasure." At the very climax of this emptiness a sirloin of beef was set before him, when the good abbot verified the proverb that two hungry meals make a glutton. He, in point of fact, rivaled the King's performance at Reading, and just as he was wiping his mouth out jumped the King from a closet "My lord," quoth the King, "deposit presently your hundred pounds of gold, or else no going lienoe all the days of your life. I have been yopr physician to cure you of your squeezie stomach, and here, as I deserve, I demand my fee for the same." Too replete for repartee, the abbot "down with his dust," and presently returned to Read­ ing if somewhat lighter in purse so much more merry in heart than when he came thenoe.--English Illustrated Maqazine. Erroneous Use of Ward#. We call attention to some linguistic offences which are committed every day by intelligent people: "Guess," for suppose or think. "I guess this is right," should be "I think," etc. Guess means "to hit at random," as "I oan't guess how many cents you have." "Drive," for to take riding. He drove the horse, not me. It should be, "He drove me to town in his carriage." "Some," for about or probably. "It is some five miles to town," should be, "It is about five miles," etc. "Right away" for immediately. "Come right away," should be "Come at once," or immediately. "Party," for person. Party is a gathering of people, not an individual. "Who is that party?" when one is meant, should be, "Who is that person or individual?" "Posted," for informed. As, "He is not posted on that matter; post him on the subject" Post means to put up a sign or to drop a letter in the posto.Hce. "Stopping," for staying. As, "He is stopping with us," for "He is staying With us. "Try and come, do write," etc., for try to come, to do so, to write, etc. "I shall try and come to see you soon," should be, "I shall try to come," eta "Funny," for odd, strange. As, "It seems very funny to mo that he does not come," should be, "It seems very strange," etc. Funny is something amusing, full of fun. "Depot," for station. "I will go to the Allontown depot," should be, "I will got to the Allentown station." A depot is a terminal point. Station, a place along the route. "Healthy,* for wholesome or healthful. "This is not healthy, "should be, "This is not whole­ some." "This fruit is healthy," means that it is sound, not rotten. "This fruit is healthful," means that it is con­ ductive to health.--Exchange, &i£s: -"rw:. HOSTETTER, the bitters man, is worth }• „»<, jlVV i ,LJ J ,t. „ , Ai? ,.••£'^4 .71.1 :-.U ,h... SAM HOUSTON'S LONG-KEPT 8ECBBT TlwBeMon Wfcjr H« DcaerM BBS Brlds MrtVMtt»UnAm« UMIMUM* The blank in the history of the fa­ mous Honaton has at last been filled up. It will be temembered that after living for some time among the Cherokee In­ dians, and fighting in the war of 1812, he settled in Tennessee, began to prac­ tice law, was twice elected to Congress, and in 1827 was eleoted Governor of Tennessee, and in January, 1829, be was married to the belle of Tennessee, and in less than two months after his marriage he suddenly resigned the Governorship, deserted his wife and home, and disappeared. This ereated an intense sensation throughout the country, as Houston was regarded as the most promising man in the South. The cause of Houston's resignation of the Governorship; his desertion of his bride, and his abandonment of the path of civilization has always been a mys­ tery. He never revealed it himself to his civilized friends. A staff corre­ spondent of the St Louis Republican, sent to Tahlequah, L T., to write up thn Indian troubles, obtained from un­ doubted authority facts that dear up this mystery. ( When Houston resigned the Gover­ norship he made straight from Tennes­ see's capital to the Arkansas River. He fell in with a band of Osage Indians near the present site of Fort Gibson, told them he desired to live with the tribe, and he was welcomed. He donned a breech-clout and blafiket. shaved his head to the crown, and daubed his face with paint. He cut himself off entirely from civilization and lived with the Indians. For a time he was a leader, and mar­ ried an Indian girl, but afterward he beeame a drunkard. While under the influence of whisky he told the story of his flight from Tennessee to John Jor- ley, an Indian companion. Jorley told it to Wolf Star, and from the latter the correspondent got it Houston's wife married him to please her parents. She had been previously engaged to a young man in Nashville, but, under parental iufluence, broke off the engagement and accepted Houston's offer of marriage, and, in view of his prospects^ it was thought she had made a brilliant match. He loved the young woman and was made to believe that she returned his affection. Houston had no knowledge of the previous en­ gagement, and his wife managed to maintain outward oheerfulness for some time. He returned home one night about 11 o'clock, and his wife was in bed and she was weeping. The hus­ band was solicitous and the wife fret­ ful. He asked what caused her tears, and she gave no satisfactory answer. He importuned her, and at last she told him. She said she was a bad, wioked wo­ man ; that she did net love her husband, but loved another man; that she never could love her husband or forget the other man, and that her life was miser­ able. She confessed that for some time before she had been engaged to marry Houston she had maintained illicit re­ lations with the other man. Houston never said a word, but immediately went to his office, wrote out his resigna­ tion as Governor, saddled a horse, and rode into the wilderness. This is the mystery of Houston's life as revealed by himself. Houston kept a little store among the Indians, and always had a barrel of whisky on tap. He drank all the time. In this way he lived for a couple of years. He finally went to Texas, where his brilliant career as a soldier in the Texas war, as President of the Texas Republic, and Senator from the State of Texas is well known.--8L Louis letter. C- Tnrturs as Boycottcrs. I Bhould not for a moment- imagine that the Crim Tartars have learned much of the Irish agrarian science of boycotting through the channels of the Russian press, as the Rus­ sian vernacular is only very imper­ fectly understood among them. let they have developed during recent years a system of boycotting the Ger­ man proprietors in the Crimea which appears to have been highly successful. The lands formerly apportioned by the Crown to 30,000 Tartars in the Crimean peninsula have through the nomadic habits and ignorance of these people been gradually and easily acquired by the princely and other large proprie­ tors for what may, in these instances be very appropriately termed old songs. These lands nave been sub-leased in most cases to the ubiquitous and enter­ prising Germans. All these estates are worked by Tartar labor, and so long as the proprietor was there or a descend­ ant of one of the old Tartar chieftain families, things went smoothly. A Ger­ man agriculturist with capital a few years ago discovered in these broad tracts and cheap bargains a promising field for enterprise, with the prospect never absent from the Russo-German's vision of gradually ousting and sup­ planting the native. This, however, re­ quired time, but the German reckoned on the long-suffering patience of the industrious, sober, ignorant, and stolid- looking Mongolian laborer. The result has proved the German proprietor to have been a long way out of his san­ guine reckoning. In many cases he acquired estates covering areas of from 50,000 to 200,000 acres, but the entry of the German into the possession of his estates was the signal for a rapid migration of every Tartar laborer and herdsman. The Tartar proprietors, who were his neighbor^ refused the services of their horses, oxen, and cam­ els at any price, no matter how tempt­ ing. The store-keepers in the neigh­ boring towns and fairs would not sup­ ply the German's wants. This Tartar boycotting lias now succeeded in driv­ ing the greater number of the German proprietors to abandon their estates and holdings at ruinous losses. The Gov­ ernor of the district has now submitted a project to the Imperial Government for the repurchase of these lands and their division among the Tartars. It is further proposed that in addition to these Crown grants of small holdings to some 25,000 Tartars the Government shall in all necessitous cases supply each Tartar family with a few necessary agricultural implements and a yoke of oxen. There is little doubt that this project will not be accepted by the Government--London Daily News. Suicides In Large Cities. The following statistics have been published relative to the proportion of suicides to population in large cities: Per Million. Per Million. Paris ... 40-2 Florence. ... 180 Stockholm ... 354 Berlin ... 17.t Copenhagen ... 302 New York ... 144 Vienna ... 287 Genoa ... 135 Brussels ... 271 London ... 87 Dresden ... 240 Bom* ... 74 St Petersburg. ... 206 Naples. ... 34 THE bee, though it finds every rose has a thorn, comen back loaded with honey from his rambles, and why ahould not other tourists do the same?--Hali* burton. Gnat's ftnt Start la life. The old white oak at honton, Ma, under which Gen. U. & Grant was sit­ ting when lie received his first commis­ sion as a Brigadier General, although not mentioned in the history of the great war, is the scene of an important; turning point in the history of the great. leader. The tree is just about the j center of the Arcadia Yalley. It stands back from the old country road on a slight elevation and is reached from the south by crossing a tumbled down foot bridge across a crooked little creek, which winds its way down toward the river. Almost from under the roots of the tree trickles a little spring of clear water, which has lately been inclosed in a marble basin, fittingly inscribed with the motto: "He Came. He Drank. He Went to Victory." Over the spring kneels an angel in bronze with out stretched wings and clasped hands as if asking a benediction. A few steps away is the monument of a United States soldier in fuU uniform leaning on the muzzle of his musket, his face turned toward the tree as if he were a sentinel placed there to watch the sacred spot The soldier monu­ ment was erected by the survivors of Grant's first command in the war of the Union, the Twenty-tirst Illinois Volun­ teers, On the pedestal of the statue is the inscription:--"Erected to the Mem­ ory of U. S. Grant by the Twenty-first Illinois Volunteers. General Grant had just been ap­ pointed colonel of a Very demoralized regiment. After many trials he had reached what to him was the limit of his capacity as a military leader, as he himself stated in his letter to the Ad­ jutant General of the army. He di­ rected him to take his regiment to Quincy, 111., where he Remonstrated his ability to practically prepare troops for active service. .While on his way • to Quincy he was ordered to go to Iron- ton, Mo., and there look after the rail­ road property at that place. At that time there was quite a post situtated in the valley under the command of B. Gratz Brown, there being a fort on Shepherd Mountain and one on Pilot Knob. The latter was afterward evac­ uated. On his arrival at Ironton Grant went into camp to await transportation by boat Here commenced his real military career. Up to this time his ambition had not aspired higher than the position of Colonel, which he had obtained. Meanwhile he had been under discussion at Washington, the entire delegation recommending him most highly to the President, who con­ ferred upon him his first star, the com­ mission dating May 17, 1861, nearly a month before he was appointed colonel and before he oven applied for the com­ mand. He was totally unaware of what was going on regarding him at head­ quarters, and it was while sitting under the old tree a messenger rode up to the camp and delivered the Colonel the pa­ pers which made him a General and started him on his great career. He was immediately put in charge of the Missouri district, which included Southern Missouri, Southern Illinois, and Western Kentucky and Tennessee, and made his headquarters at St. Louis. A few months after the post in the Arcadia Valley was removed as the operations went southward, but the old oak will stand for many generations to commemorate the event--SL Lonis Post-Despatch. Robbing a Train. Gen. Basil T. Duke, of Kentucky, was one of the ideal heroes of the border-state soldiers of the Confed­ eracy. He went into the war with the devotion of a knight errant, and he made the fighting as hot as he knew how for our people all along his lines. Some of his soldiers were a rather turbulent, lawless, reckless, and dare­ devil band, and they began early in their career to levy contributions on friend and foe alike. They made it decidedly uncomfortable for the Fed­ erals, and when there was not enough of Union plunder about, Basil's soidiers robbed the Confederate sympathizers with equal alacrity and thoroughness. The General had complaint after com­ plaint poured in on him, and he had to take some step to curb the acquisi­ tiveness of his rollicking raiders. So ho established a provost guard. Of course they were always behind the audacious men. One day some of Basil's raiders stopped a railway train in Central Kentucky. It was full of passengers, and the boys began to rob them indiscriminately. They wanted everything in the train, from"a pair, of good boots to a gold watch, and they pretty generally succeeded in making a clean hand. In the smoker sat a great, lank, raw-boned Wisconsin soldier on his way back to his regi­ ment Basil's fellows knew the boy in blue had nothing of value with him, so they passed him and kept diving into the pockets of the passengers "Hey, Johnny," called out the Wis­ consin man, "come here a minute," beckoning to one of the most energetic among the lively searchers. "Oh, you go hang yourself, you bloody Yank," was the answer. "You haven't lost a cent, for you had noth­ ing. But the provost guard when we get through will attend to your cas&" "Now, look here. Johnny, you'll be most darnedly fooled if you don't get right along into this neighborhood--- you hear me!" "Well, what in--»- do you want any­ how?" said the raider, rushing back to the Boldier. "Now, look-a-here, partner, I ain't going to stand by and see a fellow- soldier deceived, even if he is a reb. That ere son of a gun on the seat in front of mo has hid 1iis pocketbook under the cushions." The reb looked and the pocketbook was added to the spoils of the day.-- Mase&ange. A Roland for an Oliver. Capt Jack Mellon is a practical joker who never loses his temper even when the joke is against him. One day a convivial crowd in a Truthful James saloon sent for him to come there im­ mediately. He went supposing import­ ant business was on hand, and found an able speaker saying: "Gentlemen, 1 promised to show you a wonderful agri­ cultural product in fact the biggest Mellon ever raised in the south; here it is." Capt Jack took in the situation and said: "It is on me, boys; order what you like." After the beer had disappeared Capt Jack said in his smil­ ing and sweetest way: "Now, gentle­ men, I wish to introduce to your notice something still more wonderful in the agricultural lino, and will now show you the biggest beet in the world." Every one present turned immediately to the man who had put up the melon job, and the captain gracefully retired. --New Orleans Picayune. ONE of the most distinguished cricketers of England, B. Hawke, be­ comes Lord Hawk? on the death of hia father. .M •f. ' --Two mtoen st wo* it near Fairmonnt were crashed to a mass of slate falling upon tluNB. -The Grand Jury at Dwpter an indktm--t ogains Maroa, for the mmdsr of DWk who was fatally stabbed in Deaslaf summer. --Theie lives at MoatiosBo Stickle, who taught Uncle Disk to play the fiddle. The fifst Oglosby learned was "How Tedtoos Tasteless the Hoots." --Fire at Maroa, destroyed the store-rooms of J. B. Bace, Moeer £ man, J. F. Crocker, Mis. J. M. Mrs. H. E. Kent, besides property ownen. The total 090. --Wallace Lord, of Poctias, is: with parties in Norfolk, Neb., machine-shops and patent stone fa»hl<| ; that place. They have offered tfeil'-ap. bonus of f1,500 worth uf land sad buflA* ;--3 --George Hainlaine, of Blancfc»gfp% shipped an ox to Chicago a few that measured 9 feet in length, wae'fiT hands atid 3 inches high, and weighad^^t ̂ pounds. He was contracted f or last wftpr at 10 oents per pound. --A. C. Atberton, of Cairo, was letafy 4 - robbed of $480 which he had trailed in Mi cellar. He caused the arrest of Mr.-:s|A 4 Mrs. Bly and Mr. lupd Mrs. Lucia, ing them with the theft. There to at pnsr < ̂ ent no evidence against them. ̂ --The widow of the late A. B. Whit- meyer has been appointed station the East Side Chicago <fc Northwestern da- pot at Rockford. She is at pnssut ia Chicago, but will take charge of the aline soon. Mrs. Whitmeyer is said to be the only woman who will occupy a podttaotf this kind in the employ of the It is also stated that she is the only station agent in the State. --A colony of A. L. Mar's bees waed*> " ; stroyed recently, near Pava, by ssme. thieves, and the loss is not a small oae,«i it contained an imported Italian queen frees Cremona, Italy, worth at least $10or 9I&, . The loss is irreparable, as one year mask intervene before another can be inpoiMl and a great risk is sustained in ths transfer ' from Italy. On two importations of twsfc»; / ty queens only eight came over alive. > --Recently James Herringtan, of Dees tur, received complaint from his broifcert, as resident of Hardin County, Ohio, UwtlM had not reeeiveda letter from Jaawa'te thirteen years and would like to hear fiBMS him. Thereupon all the family inlstliaie > took a hand in writing a letter, tllWb, when completed, was jast far^f>fies iMt and three Inches in length, cut and pealsd in a single strip. Mr. Heriington estops* the number of words in the latter at --At the Farmers' Institute recently held . in Lincoln, papers on oorn cultwa wsse read by the Hon. David Gem and the BasL~ £. E. Chester. Gov. Oglesby aMrssted the institute in the afternoon. He utile had just made the last near Elkhart and considered it of his life. He cautioned fanners afltfait' : ' allowing themselves to be carried awaf lqr ̂ newspaper sensationalism, and urgedtibesa- to give more attention to book*. Fotittse ;v was not referred to. --The will ef the late Thomp»ea D. Wileoxon, one of the wealthy pkmeeis at Freeport, who died reoenfly, hasbeasifVad for probate, and at the same time a deed executed by him in Chicago la Jwee, 1IH, was filed for record, which oonveyed the Opera House and Postoffice bloeks to hie two daughters and youngest son, soaa* pletely disinheriting hie oldest son, Shoe. D. Wilcoxon. His other property had else been disposed of by deed, so there to fin reality nothing left of the estate that haa not been divided. Thomas D. VihwDas will commence suit to break the will, and has engaged the services of the . ; Hon. William Barge, of # Dixon, as hia' .. counsel. J. Crain, of Freeport, will rep» - resent the estate. One of the legatees re* sides in Chicago, another ia IndiaaSb end the third at Freeport. They elahn that .< their father purposely left Thomas D. Wilooxon out of his will, because it won understood that the latter would inherit the entire fortune of an annt, valued at $25,000, upon her demise. The eetate toi controversy is valued at $60,000. »• • B. Hitt, State Swamp I«pfe Commissioner, has gone to Waahiegtoei for the purpose of arguing the swamp-kuMt claims of Illinois before Congressional committees and departments. Amoag twenty-three cases he is to argue are thooe involving claims to the amount of for the following counties; Gallatin.... Buroau Henry. Fayette Christina. Lawrence Lake Tazewell. Cass ... 510,371 ... 3,OSS ... 17,273 ... 6,814 IS, 760 1,001 WamnaadHen. deraoe $ Uonltrte Mercer Kane SB 91^459 Champaign lS,S9a eOJiClay 7.SBS 17,437 8,*>0; Total. S147^ai Indemnity certificates were onee issued to the State for nee of these cor.ntiss. The certificates authorized the State to |oa|ta 117,908 acres of public lands. Thsie la not, and was not at the issue of the WrtW cates, any public land in Illinois to satisfy the indemnity, and the Government BMSt pay the State cash in lieu of lands, foe it will not allow of the entry of these oerti&> cates except in Illinois. Senator FarweB has already introduced a bail directing S settlement. --About 100 delegates attended the taaflh annual meeting of the Nations! Tile M<ar era' Association, at Springftsld. In his annual address President Pike of C3MMS discussed at some length the mfiusnea of tile drainage on the healthfulness of the State by the redaction of the amount eft marshy snrfaoe. He estimated that prior to 1880 there had been 45,000,000 Maes! feet of tile drain laid in the State, end that the total laid to date is fully 5(MM»0tW» feet, or nearly 95,000 miles. At a moderate charge for tile and for laying it, this had been accomplished at a cost of net Isoa $15,000,000. He combated the lisaikoi tile draining increased the severity et d r o u t h s , o r r e n d e r e d f a r m c r o p s l e s s a k f e a . to endure them, and urged the vaaj < site in each case. 8. T. K. Dwight react a paper on "Tile OrntnsgO tot Seasons of Drouth." He has beealapfll to find the slightest proof ot any hod ia- suits, while the facts anifoitaly SUHlHt>|a statement that tile-drained ha" larger and better cropa than unfflort. ke< season wet or dig.