jffc, BAVfm MAtfAMf t'§m "He'll matte a career for himself yetlike his father's," said Woodruff. That, with the sincerest enthusi asm. But instinctively I looked at him for signs of sarcasm. And then I wondered how many "successful" men would,, in the same .circum stances, haVe had the same curiously significant instinct. CHAPTER XXVI.--Continued. But he made his state of mind even clearer. His custom had been to be gin his notes: "Dear Harvey," or "Dear Sayler," and to end them "James" or "Burbank." This note be: gan: "My Dear Senator:" it ended: "Yours sincerely, James & Burbank " , As I stared at these phrases ray blood steamed to my brain. Had he spat T"'" in my face my fury would have been '» less. "So!" I thought in the first gust of anger, "you feel that you have CV been using me, that you have no fur- YV ther use for me. You have decided i. take the advice of tho33 idiotic 4a- ? dependent newspapers and 'wash your f hands of the corruptionist who almost defeated you.'.." To make war upon him was in wis- dom impossible--even had I wished, f/ And wher^inger flowed away and pity I contempt succeeded, I really did not wish to war upon him. But there < - was Goodrich--the real corruptionist, the wrecker of my plans and hppes, the menace to the future of the party. : I sent for Woodruff, and together we mapped out a campaign against the senior senator from New Jersey in all tl^e newspapers we could control or Influence. I gave him a free hand to use--with his unfailing discretion, of course--all the facts we had accu mulated to Goodrich's discredit. I put at his disposal a hundred thou sand dollars. As every available dol lar of the party fund had been used in the campaign, I advanced this money out of my own pocket. And I went cheerfully away to Palm Beach, there to watch at my ease the rain of shot and shell upon my en- •my. r,' -If:* through what you married me for. Where would^you be if you hadn't married me? You know very well You'd still he fighting poverty as a small lawyer la Pulaski, married to Betty Crosby or whatever her name was." And she burst into hysterical tears At last she was showing me the secrets that had been tearing at her, was shewing me her heart where they had torn, it. "Probably," said I in my usual tone, when she was calm enough to hear me. "So that's what you brood over?" "Yes," she sobbed. "I've hated you and myself. Why don'tyou tell me it Isn't so? I'll believe it--I don't want to hear the truth. I know you don't love me, Harvey. But Just say you don't love her." "What kind of middle-aged maudlin moonoshlne is this, anyway?" said I. "Let's go back to Junior. We've passed the time of life when people can talk sentimentality without be ing ridiculous." "That's true of me, Harvey," she said miserably, "but not of you. You don't look a day over 40--you're still a young man, while I--" CHAPTER XXVII. CHAPTER Under a Crayon Portrait. It waa not less than a month before inauguration Daily the papers gave probable selections for the high posts under the approaching administra tion; and, while many of them were attributed to my influence Roebuck's son as ambassador to Russia was the only one I ever approved of. As pay ments for the services of the plu tocracy they were unnecessary and foolishly lavish; as preparations for a renomination and reelection, the two guiding factors in every plan of a president-elect, they were preposter ous. They were first steps toward an administration that would make Scarborough's triumph inevitable, in spite of his handicap of idealism. I sent Woodruff west to find out what Burbank was doing about the places I had pledged--all of them less " honorable," but more lucrative office* which party workers covet. He re turned with the news that, according to the best information he could get through his spies in Burbank's entour age, all our pledges would be broken; the Sayler-Burbank machine was to be made over into a Goodrich-Bur- bank. I saw that X could not much longer delay action. But I resolved to put it off until the very last minute, mean while trying to force Burbank to send for me. My cannonade upon Goodrich 1b 1,090 newspapers, great aad small. A Domestic Discord. After a month in the south, I was well again--younger in feeling, and in looks, than I had been for ten years. Carlotta and the children, except "Junior," who was in college, had gone to Washington when I went to Florida. I found her abed with a nervous attack from the double strain of the knowledge that J uniothad elop ed with an "impossible' woman lie had met, I shall not say where, and of the effort of keeping the calam- . ity from me until she was sure he Jiad really entangled himself hope lessly. She was now sitting among her pil lows, telling the whole story. "If he hadn't married her!" she, ended. . This struck me as ludicrous--a good woman citing to her son's discredit the fact that he had goodness' own ideals of honor. "What are you laughing at?" she demanded. "I was about to tell her I was hope ful of the boy chiefly because he had thus shown the splendid courage that more than redeems folly. But I re frained. I had never been able to make Carlotta understand me or my Ideas, and I had long been weary of the resentful silence or angry tirades which mental and temperamental mis understandings produce. "What can be expected?" she went on, after trying in vain to connect my remark with our conversation. "A boy needs a father. You'vfe been so busy with your infamous politics that you've given him scarcely a thought." Painfully true, throughout; but It was one of those criticisms we can hardly endure even when we make it upon ourselves. I was silent. "I've no patience with men!" she went on. "They're always meddling with things tBat would get alogg bet ter without them, and letting Jtheir own patch run to weeds." Unanswerable. I held my peace. "What are you going to do about it, Harvey? How can you be so calm? Isn't there anything that would rouse jou?" "I'm too busy thinking what to do to waste any energy in blowing off •team," was my answer in my consil- Satory tone. "But there's nothing we can do," she retortetd, with increasing anger, which vented Itself toward me be cause the true culprit, fate, was not Within reach. "Precisely," I agreed. "Nothing." "That creature won't let him come to see me." • 'And you mustn't see him when he •ends for you," said I. "He'll come as soon as his money gives out She'll ee that he does." "But you aren't going to cut him - "Just that," said I. A long silence, then I added in an- «wer to her expression: "And you must not let him have a cent, either." In a gust of anger, probably at my having read her thoughts, she blurt ed out: "One would think it was your money." I had seen that thought in her eyes, had watched her hold it back behind her set teeth, many times in our mar- •i- ried years. And I now thanked my A stars I had had the prudence to get 5 ready for the inevitable moment when she would speak it. But at the same *•>?; time I could not restrain a fluBh of I? shame. "It is my money," I forced my- self to say. "Ask your brother. He'll tell you what I've forbidden him to tell before--that I have twice rescued you and him from bankruptcy." J" "With our own money," she retort- - ed, hating herself for saying it, but goaded on by a devil that lived in her «r' temper and had got control many a p, time, though never before when I hap pened to be the one with whom she 2-4- • was. at outs. • "No--with my own,** I replied tran quilly. , "Your own!" die sneered. "Every dollar yon have has come through what you got by marrying Sv s * "One Would Think She did aot need to complete the sentence. I sat on the bed beside her and patted her vaguely. She took my hand and kissed it. And I said--I tried to say it gently, tenderly, sin cerely: "People who've been togeth er, as you and I have, see each other always as at first, they say." She kissed my hand gratefully again. "Forgive me for what I said," she murmured. "You know I didn't think it, really. I've got such a nasty disposition and I felt so down, an(j--that was the only thing I could find to throw at you." "Please--please!" I protested. "For give isn't a word that I'd have the right to use to any one." "But I must--" "Now, I've known for years," I went on, "that you were in love with that other man when I asked you to marry me. I might have taunted you with it, might have told you how I've saved him from going to Jail for passing worthless checks." This delighted her--this Jealousy so long and so carefully hidden. Under cover of her delight I escaped from the witness stand. And the dis covery that evening by Doc Woodruff that my son's ensnarer had a husband living put her in high good humor. "If he'd only come home," said she. add ing: "Though, now I feel that he's perfectly safe with her." "Yes--let them alone," I replied. "He has at least one kind of sense--a sense of honor. " And I suspect and hope that he has at bottom common sense, too. Let him find her out for himself. Then he'll be done with her, and her kind, for good." "I must marry him off as soon as possible," said Carlotta. "I'll look about for some nice, quiet young girl with character and looks and domes tic tastes." She laughed a little bit terly. "You men can profit by expe rience and it ruins us women." "Unjust," said I, "but injustice and stupidity are the ground plan of life." We had not long to wait. The lady, as soon as Jui^or reached the end of his cash, tried to open negotiations. Failing and becoming convinced that he had been cast off by his parents, she threw aside her mask. One straight look into her real counten ance was enough for the boy. He fled shuddering--but not to me as I had expected. Instead, he got a place as a clerk in Chicago. "Why not let him shift for himself for awhile?" suggested Woodruff, who couldn't have taken more trouble about the affair if the boy had been his own. "A man never knows wheth er his feet were made to stand on and walk with, unless he's been down to his uppers." "I think the boy's got his grand mother in him," said L. "Let's fitv him a chance." It Was Your Money." throughout the west and south, had been reenforced by the bulk of the opposition press. I could not believe it was to be without Influence upon the timid Burbank, even though he knew who was back of the attack, and precisely how I was directing it. I was relying--as I afterward learned, not in vain--upon my faithful De Milt to bring to "Cousin James' attention the outburst of public sentiment against his guide, philosopher and friend, the Wall street fetch-and- carry. I had fixed on February 15 as the date on which I would telegraph a formal demand for an interview. On February 11 he surrendered--he wired asking me to come. I took a chance; I wired back a polite request to be ex cused as I had urgent business in Chicago. And 24 hours later I passed within 30 miles of Rivington on my way to Chicago with Carlotta--we were going to see Junior, hugely proud of himself and his $27 a weeflt. At the Auditorium a telegram waited from Burbank: He hoped I would come as soon as I could; the matters he wish ed to discuss were most important Toward noon of the third day there after we wer© greeting each other-- he with an attempt at his old-tlm« cordiality, I without concealment of a' least the coldness I felt. But m> manner apparently, and probably, es caped his notice. He was now blind and drunk with the incense that had been whirling about him in dense cloudB for three months; he was in capable of doubting the bliss of any human being he was gracious to. He shut me in with him and began confiding the plans he and Goodrich had made--cabinet places, foreign posts, and so forth. His voice, lin gering and luxuriating upon the titles --"my ambassador to his Brlttanlc majesty," "my ambassador to the Ger man emperor," and so on--amused and a little, but only a little, astonished me; I had always known that he was a through-and-through snob. For near ly an hour I watched his ingenious, childish delight in bathing himself in himself, the wonderful fountain of all these honors. At last he finished, laid down his list, took off his nose- glasses. "Well, Harvey, *tfiat do you think?" he asked, and waited with sparkling eyes for my enthusiastic ap proval. "I see Goodrich drove a hard bar gain," said I. ' Yet he came on his knees, if you had but realized It." Burbank's color mounted. "What do you mean, Sayler?" he inquired, the faint beginnings of the insulted god in his tone and manner. "You asked my opinion," I answer ed, "I'm giving it. I don't recall a single name that isq't obviously a Goodrich suggestion. Even the Roe buck appointment--" "Sayler," he interrupted, in a for bearing tone, "I wish you would not remind me so often of your prejudice against Senator Goodrich. It is un worthy of you. But for my tact--par don my frankness--your prejudice would have driven him away, and with him a support he coctrols--" I showed my amusement. "Don't smile, Sayler," he protested, with some anger in his smooth, heavy •oice. "You are not the only strong man in the party, and I venture to take advantage of our long friendship to speak plainly to you. I wish to see a united party. One of my rea sons for sending for you was to tell you how greatly I am distressed aad chagrined by the attacks on Senator Goodrich in our papers." "Did you have any other reason for sending for me?" said I very quietly. "That was the principal one," ho confessed. "Oh!" I exclaimed. "What do you mean, Sayler?" '1 thought possibly you might also have wished to tell me how unjust you thought the attacks on me in the eastern papers, and to assure me that they had only strengthened your friendship. y He was silent. I rose, threw my overcoat on my arm, took up my hat. "Wait a moment, please," he said. "I have always found you very Impar tial in your judgments--your clear judgment has been of the highest use fulness to me many times.'* "Thank you." I said. "You are most kind--most generous." "So," he went on, not dreaming that he might find sarcasm if he searched for it, "I hope you appreciate why 1 have refrained from seeing you, as 1 wished. I know, senator, your friend ship was loyal. I know you did dur ing the campaign what you thought wisest and best. But I feel that you must see now what a grave mistake you made. Don't misunderstand me, Harvey. I do not hold it against you But you must see, no doubt you do see, that it would not be fair for me, it would not be in keeping with the dignity of the great office with which the people have intrusted riie, to seem to lend my aprpoval." I looked straight at him until hil j gaze fell. Then I said, my voice even lower than usual: "If you will look at the election figures carefully you will find written upon them a very In teresting fact. That fact is: In al! the doubtful states--the ones thai elected you -- Scarborough swept everything where our party has here tofore been strongest; you were elect ed by carrying districts where oui party has always been weakest. And in those districts, James, our monej was spent--as you well know." (TO BE CONTINUED.) Our Springfield Letter Special Correspondent Writes of Things of Interest at the State Capital. NEWS OF ILLINOIS HAPPENINGS OP INTEREST FR|>i|, ALL OVER THE STATE. ^ J Springfield.--Interesting informa tion about corn is resulting from the study of the product being conducted by the University of Illinois. "Some years ago corn was a stranger," said Prof. C. S. Hopkins, head of the de partment of agronomy. "We found it here when we came--a native of the country, yet until 15 years ago we took it for granted. Then a close study of its individuality and peculiar characteristics demonstrated that it was possible to breed up corn just as we improve animals, although we have not yet learned how to coutrol the male parent. The importance of this may be appreciated when we re member that the corn crop of the country is worth $1,500,000,000 every year--2,260,000,000 bushels. We are trying to get one ear of corn to the stalk. That is what we are Working for, because some stalks are barren; we don't know why. Various people have various theories, but they have not been demonstrated. Take a hun dred ears of corn, plant them exactly alike, three kernels to the hill, the kernels from each ear In a row by themselves, in exactly the same soil, cultivate them the same way, and the yield will vary 100 per cent. We can not account for that variation. It is impossible thus to determine why some corn will grow and other corn will not, but in planting a farmer should always use the seed from the best ears, because that is likely to yield more than the poor ears. But every ear of seed corn should be test ed by a germinating pan during the winter. This is a new thing, but it is COURT WON'T INTERFERE Refuses to Admit That Football Prize Fighting and Application for Injunction Is Denied Attorney Moore. I New Seventh Regiment Armory. The new Seventh regiment armory in Wentworth avenue, between Thirty- third and Thirty-fifth streets, in Chi cago, will be completed in time for the Republican national convention, State Architect Zimmerman declares. Jt will be constructed of brick, steel, reinforced concrete, and fire-proofing,* and as contemplated will seat more than 15,000 people. The roof will be dome shape and rise 52 feet above the floor at its highest point. It will be supported by steel truss frames rest ing on gigantic pillars built op a piling and concrete foundation. There will be a basement with concrete floor under the entire structure to be used for storage aud other purposes. One of the most notable things in the j construction will be the absence of columns or supports of any kind inter fering with the free use of the floor. It will be one of the best lighted struc tures of its kind in the world. The dome will have large window spfice at both ends and along the sides, and the side walls will be pierced with win dows at short intervals. The heat ing plant will be steam and there will be a perfected forced draft system of ventilation, thus assuring comfort to the occupants, no matter how big the crowd. The opening of the windows In the dome would be sufficient to change the air every few minutes. The company quarters on the ground floor will not be built uiitil after the convention, as the floor space will be needed for the convention. The offi cers' quarters will be in the front of the building, which will be four stories high. These rooms will fur- WHERE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION MAY HEL0k» Kankakee.--Judge Frank L- Hooper. in the circuit court, denied Attorney S. R. Moore's application for an in junction to restrain the board of edu cation from permitting "prize fight- big" in Kankakee schools* Judge Hooper's ruling did not recognise the synonymity of prize fighting and foot ball assumed in the injunction petition. "Boards of education/' Judge Hoop er ruled, "have no right tv interfere With the pleasures or training of school children after school hours. A. private citizen has no right to inter fere in such matters unless he has sus tained seme pecuniary injury." Attorney Moore made a hard fight to convince Judge Hooper that the term football was a mere subterfuge for prize fighting, and as such ought to be prohibited. His argument *as „ aimed especially at Principal L. W. Smith, of the Kankakee high school, and F. N. Tracy, superintendent df schools. . / In his argument in favor of his bfltt £ the attorney qu<yted everything from •$£ | the Bible to the last issue of the Med- * i ical Journal. He pointed to the fate , % 1 of Cain and Abel as being that in < '*• store for the boys who indulge in the ^ | "brutal, violent, and uncivilized" , school game. "Rooting" he held to be ^'4 an evil scarcely less dangerous than football. * ^ "The superintendent and principal of the high school during school hours teach the boys and girls to give a cer-, -Q tain yell," he said. "They tell them ^ to go out and 'root* for their school. ' *>"§ I don't know what they mean by - •root' I went to college five years Mil I never 'rooted.' The man who 'ji does such things has no right to be ^ over children as a teacher." "Recently," Mr. Moore concluded, \ "Attorney W. J. Brock, of this city, 7 was approached by a member of the J Kankakee high school football team, '"If who said to him: "Will youse guys buy a ticket to oor football game?' If foot ball is responsible for teaching such * language that is reason alone why it should be stopped." Despite Judge Hooper's ruling; against him Attorney Moore d^t-sn't admit defeat. As the bill proper does not come up until the January j? term of the court. Judge Hooper can not dismiss it until that time. in tin. meantime Moore declares h» *Ul a#- pea|. the dedtion. , V " >k 'M MINE TO BE REOPENER WILL DELVE IN THE PA8T. Long-Buried Cities of Italy Are to Be Exhumed. All the world will join in applauding the resolution of Italy to disinter what treasures may yet remain under the debris of the age-long forgotten cities of Ostia and Paestum. Both cities were unkindly dealt with by Provi dence. The glory of Ostia, chief port of ancient Rome, receiving the corn and oil of Sicily, Sardinia and Africa, was slowly but surely betrayed by Father Tiber and flung contemptuous ly out of reach of the shallowest ships. Time, curiously enough, has, however, failed to rob her of her industry which first made her famous, and salt is still produced in small quantities from the little village of one hundred Inhab itants that has stolen the old city's name and pays the ruins homage from the modest distance of two miles. Paestum is more Greek than Roman, and one may anticipate that if an other temple of Neptune or temple of Ceres lies beneath the heaped-up duBt of the centuries It will be Athens and not Rome that will be raised from the dead. Paestum's fate is sadder than that of Ostia, for the Greek col ony on Roman soil was early smitten by malaria and an evil reputation caused her to be buried in a deeper oblivion than the wave-washed col umns of Ciiii. ~ ' Always Exaggerate. Wo are never so happy or so un happy as we suppose.--La Rochefou- ilW, FAMOUS CANALS OF CHINA. Holland's Waterways Outdone by th« Celestial Empire. Holland's canals are famous, but the canal system of China fs far more marvelous and its value to the enor mous empire is simply incalculable. No country In the world has mora navigable rivers and canals than China. The net-work of waterways natural and artificial, so covers the empire that almost as many people live upon the water as on the land. The Great canal, that wonder of ths world, runs north and south from Can ton to the extremity of the empire, and by this route the wareB of all na tions are carried to Peking, a distance of 825 miles. This canal Is 50 feet wide; it passes through, or near, 41 large Cities; it has 75 large sluices to keep up the water, and is spanned by thousands of bridges. The Only Newness. A scum--You were at the opening performance of Faker s comedy last night, weren't you? Anything new about it? Crittick--Well, the people who laughed at the jokes were evi dently pew. New York's ^umanitarianism. New York city has more asylums, homes, hospitals and organizations ftoi the relief of human suffering than aay other city the world. Good Use for Lava. Lava may be blows, into beautiM green-colored bottles, lighter ail Stronger thaa orilaiqr *1*»* being introduced rapidly; all men and the better class of farmers are taking this precaution. None of the big corn planters will use any but tested seed. We are teaching these methods to our students by practical experiments conducted in 25 different counties of the state." Approves New Canal Inlet. Dr. Rudolph Hering of New York, now employed by the sanitary district, who has been investigating the proba ble effect on the lake level of an addi tional inlet to the drainage canal, says It will not lower the lakes. The re port is to be made in the suit started by the government restraining the sanitary district from constructing arf additional inlet. Dr. Hering says that the contention of the government is unfounded and from data which he has gathered he will show that by using Lake Superior as a storage place the Michigan and Huron lake levels can be maintained. Prohibitionists Open Campaign. With the abolition of the saloon as their single aim, the prohibitionists of the country opened their national cam paign. Chairman Charles R. Jones of the national organization of the foes of liquor sent out the call to arms to every prohibitionist in every state and territory In the uniort. In this mes sage the leader asserts that the re sults of the elections In Illinois and other states induce the belief that the presidential canvass of 1908 should place prohibition in the forefront of all questions to be decided at the polls when the next president is elected. seed ] nish ample accommodation for the various committees during the con vention, Some of them will be fitted up at private expense and will be elaborately decorated. The perma nent galleries will not be constructed until after the convention. Temporary structures will afford more seating space which will relieve the crush on the ground floor. The architect has departed from the much abused Eng lish castle style of architecture which is used so generally in the construc tion of military quarters, but has pre served the solidity of a military struc ture and added much beauty to it with massive square towers. The total cost will be $500,000, of which the state has appropriated $150,000. The architect has informed the Ham ilton club that the national committee can have the interior arranged to suit its convenience, as the armory is to be constructed with the Idea of using it for national conventions. "The work ing plans are completed, and if we get to work in a month we will have ample time In which to get the build ing ready," Old Salem Shaft at Petersburg,, Se Improved.1- * < Petersburg.--The Old .dosed since the fire july 23, 1906, when the tipple, engine house and ele- if vator were destroyed, fs to be re- ^ opened. Otto F. Lenz has completed a deal whereby the shaft, formerly the property of the Petersburg Coal Mining company, passes into the ^ hands of Robert D. Sheppard, of Chi- cago, who is expected here shortly. John McCleary, of Greenview, has .• been secured to take actf*e charge of .'M the mine. , ,i4 Senate Passes Minor Bills. The senate passed the following bills: By Juul--Amending the vital statistics law to eliminate the require ment that the county pay a fee of 25 cents for each birth reported. By Dunlap--For the protection of shell fish, requiring a license from clam fishers not residents of the state. By jjerry--An amendment to the legal practice act. Deneen Stirs Up Solons. Gov. Deneen sent another special message on the waterway proposition to the house and senate. In it he calls attention to the advisability of passing an emergency law. such as is pro posed in the Allen-Lantz navigability bill, in order that obstructions may be taken out of the Illinois and Des- plaines rivers. In connection with the message to the senate, Senator Schmltt secured action which puts the Allen-Lantz bill, ordering the removal of obstruction, on passage again, with the emergency clause attached. Dedicate U. of I. Auditorium. The new $100,000 auditorium at the University of Illinois was dedicated to music and Edward MacDowell was honored as the premier American coarser when a tablet was unveiled to hitn. Hamlin Garland, the novelist, (iclifttcd an address touching espe cially on MacDowell, and Richard Watson Gilder's poem on the com poser was read. President *.^mes in troduced Architect C. H. Blackall. of Boston, a local graduate. On the first night a MacDowell program waa Siren. t Young Mpde General. Brig. Gen. Edward Young has been appointed major general of the Illinois National Guard, in command of the en tire state military force. The appoint ment of Gen. Young was wholly unex pected and is made to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Maj. Gen. George M. Moulton. The belief is that Brig. Gen. D. Jack Foster will be placed in command of the First brig ade, comprising the Chicago regi ments. To Probe Canal Board's Acts. In the house Speaker Shurtleff ap pointed the committee which is au thorized to investigate the acts of the Illinois and Michigan canal commis sioners in leasing state property along the canal. The investigators are Rep resentatives Flannigan, Church, Gilles pie, Hearn and Egan. This commit tee proposes to get busy almost im mediately in order to lay a report of the canal board's action before the house on November 26. Cuts Son Off with $5. Bloomlngton.--The will of the lft* ? Frederick Behr, disposing of $9,000 in real estate and $10,000 in personal property, was probated here. All debta®; ^ are to be paid and five dollars paid to- VJ the son, Frederick. The real and per- f sonal property is given to the widow. Caecillia Behr, for her use during her life, and at her death all is to be equally divided among the three* daughters, Caecillia Mahoi% Ida :'K Rhodes and Louisa Behr. Primary Bill in Conference. Primary legislation now is in the conference committee stages, the con ferees from the two houses having been appointed and the legislature having taken a recess until November 26 to give the committee time in which to work. Both the makeup of the committee and the time which has been allowed them indicate the hope of the opponents of the Ogleeby bill to bring out of the conference a bill entirely different from it, and by no means so radical. Mother Insane; Father Deserts ChikL ^ ; Taylorville.--Supervisor John Orr. " of Pana, filed a petition in the county court to have Ruth Genet, four year® 4^ t of age, declared dependent. He say» ^ that the child's mother is In Jackson ville insane hospital and that her fa» \ Jf ther, Gus Genet, has abandoned hi# offspring. The child is now in the custody of Miss Dockery, superin tendent of the Deaconess Pana. No More "Loop District" Reports. Illinois domestic and foreign llr# insurance companies hereafter will not be required to make a special re port to the Btate insurance depart ment on the amount of risks hold in the congested or "loop district" of Chicago. Superintendent F. W. Pot ter, of the department, decided that it is no longer necessary for such a re port to be made. The superintendent's action was the result of petitions filed hy 75 of the biggest business hoxises and property ownwfc district r- i ,n. Farmers HoW Meeting. Litchfield.--The annual Montgooa ery County Farmers' institute meetfnsp was held in this city. The attendance^ g, was large. The domestic science ses~ sion held In connection with the mM# ing was also well attended. Declines Presidency of System. Bloomlngton.--John J. Pitts, chosea president of the Corn Belt Traction company, declines to serve the cora-» pany as its head. Mr. Pitts is. not a • "stockholder In the company. Orders Phonograph tor Desfife Peoria.--A nickel show which usea a long-horned phonograph to attract attention is situated just across th« street from the courthouse'. The- pho nograph became so boisterous that Judge Slemmons sent an officer to order that the music be stopped whila his court was in session. The* orders will probably continBe fla fore* durtas the term. Triplets Born at Pana. Pans --Mrs. William Robinson birth to triplets, alt girls. Farms Briog $39gMML Clinton.--An important sale of real estate was made at Farmer City whea Master in Chancery William it. Booth disposed of the three farms of tb* 'Jr Alfred Reecer estate, consisting of a .*< total of 380 acres, for the sum of $3$»» . 420. The sale was the result of Ik '*2 partition suit Theses were five h$ir§^ th*«e 0! wnmn purchasttd tfe* Illinois Town Burns, Rock ford.--The business part at ^ Rockton was destroyed by fire; Tl* as