The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

ILLINOIS INCIDENTS. P • • , • ' " : SOBER OR STARTLING, FAITH- FULLY RECORDED. The Biffin Conference--Defendants in -- t t|ie Lewistown Incendiary Case Freed--Bold Robbery Near Belleville --Successful State Fair. • M e t h o d i s t s a t B i f f i n . Methodists of Rock River Conference have been in session at Elgin, and over i 400 ministers attended. Bishop JDaniel A. Govasell presided. The routine work ,was accomplished quickly and without' incident. " As delegates to the general conference, J. B. Hobbs, of Chicago, and --iN. G. Vansant, of Dixon, were chosen, with W. Potter, of Joliet, and C. W. Whipple, of Rockford, alternates. A. reso­ lution tha.t presiding elders be elected in annual conferences was adopted by a vote of 78 to 48. The conference voted for lay representation in annual conferences and against the election of stewards and trus­ tees by the congregation. With only one idissenting vote the question of women '< delegates to the general conference was approved. A resolution to remove the \ time limit of. pastors was defeated. It was voted that all officers of church should •be elected by the church members above 21 years of age. A resolution was adopt­ ed advocating the appointment of a bishop ito a defined district for a period of four 'years. It was also voted to ask the ap- - : pointment of a layman to the bishop's f ' c a b i n e t . V , : ' • Court Directs Acquittal." The trial of Oscar Baughman, Alder- man; Ellis Brown, ex-night watchman; arid Frank, alias Chase Henry, a former night watch of Lewistown, charged with v' ^ setting fire to the Fulton County court kt)Use on the night of Dec. 14, 1894, has resulted in the acquittal of the accused The defense explained the testimony of the defendants as to how the alleged con­ fessions came* to be extorted from them FAMOUS FULTON COUNTY COUKTHOUSE. Brown and Baughman told a story of brutality on the part of the detectives that the State's attorney was unable to impeach. Dr. Hanson, of Lewistown, tes­ tified as to Baughman's fearful mental and physical condition on his arrival at Lewistown., The attorneys did not care to argue the case, and the Judge's opinion was a most scathing arraignment of the conspiracy and foul means used in getting the alleged confession, which could not be admitted. Pastors Attack Saloonmen. .. An. attack was made on the saloons in Blomington Sunday, when four influential pastors of the city preached sermons on the action of Mayor Heafer in recently welcoming to Bloomington in his official capacity the Illinois State convention of liquor dealers. In the arraignment the assertion was made that during the stay of the liquor dealers the saloons of the city were allowed to run wide open all night under police protection, while sounds of carousal split the air of night until sunrise. The preachers who in­ veighed against this laxity of administra­ tion were Elder Gilliland, pastor of the Christian Church; Dr. William P. Kain, Second Presbyterian; the Rev. N. T. Edwardc, First Congregational; and the Rev. C. F. Winbigler, First Baptist. Their sermons were heard by large con­ gregations and were red:hot philippics against the present State of affairs. Audacious in Their Crime. An audacious safe burglary was com­ mitted early Friday morning at Freeburg, on the Cairo Short Line, seven miles from Belleville, and all for $22. A safe was taken from the general store of Huber Hamill and hauled in a wagon to a spot near the Short Line depot, where it was blown open and rifled. The burglars first opened the toolhouse near the depot, from which they took several crowbars and other implements. Then they stole a heavy log wagon from the sawmill of George Darmstaetter and backed it up in front of the store. They secured all the money there was in the safe. It is sup­ posed there were four or five of the burg­ lars, as the heavy wagon could not have been drawn by a lessvnumber. At Quincy a convention of the Women*® Christian Temperance Union'was held. The .corner-stone of the new $123,000 courthouse of Rocjt Island County was laid in the presence of 2,000 people. William J. Tritt, a prominent Bloom-v ington wholesale merchant, died, aged 54, from a malignant carbuncle on the neck. Dr. Charles Bain died in Murphysboro, aged 70 years. He was one of the oldest and most successful physicians in South­ ern Illinois. Five thousand persons attended, the re­ union of ex-prisoners of war, held at Mount Vernon. Congressm'an Hopkins ad* dressed the veterans. Gov. Altgeld granted, a pardon to Charles Fincher, who was convicted from Massac County in 1893 of forgery and sentenced to the penitentiary for five years. Michael Fitzgerald, a wealthy Galena citizen, was notified by telegraph that his only son, Frank, was -killed in a gold mine at Telluride, Col., while on a pros­ pecting trip. An Afro-American league was organ­ ized in Rockford, with a good membership. The league has already begun arrange­ ments for the entertainment of the State league, which meets there next June. At Rockford, S. W. Treat has docketed a suit for $10,000 damages against W. G. Parquhar for slander. Treat claims that Farqxihar called him a perjuror in public during a Wrangle; over a real estate deal. Both men are old and prominent citizens. Dr. Elliott F. Rogers, of Chicago, an in­ structor in chemistry at: Harvard, com­ mitted suicide by taking poison in tha laboratory. Rogers has been despondent of late, and while studying in Leipsic two years ago he showed signs of mental aber­ ration. ; •/I'-.Y'; ;.y • ' ' The treasurer of the Illinois State Board of Agriculture has made a statement showing that the gate receipts at the State fair aggregated $38,035.50; as against $34,319.25 last year. The amount re­ ceived from concessions and other sources is not yet known. Blighting frosts swept over Minnesota, Wisconsin, Northern Illinois and portions of Western Michigan Saturday night. Fruit growers and celery pickers in these regions were warned twefity-four hours in advance of the coming of this frost, but it is improbable that they were able to fully protect themselves. Through the death of James H. Riggin, at the Southern Illinois insane asylum, the pioneer institution of learning in the West, McKendree College, at Mascoutah, becomes the beneficiary to the estate, valued at $14,000. The father of the de­ ceased was one of the founders of Mc­ Kendree College. At his death he left the money for the maintenance of his un­ fortunate son, and at his death to g£ to the endowment fund of McKendree Col­ lege. The son was 61 years of age, and had been insane for thirty-five years. The Secretary of the Fruit Growers' Association of Southern Illinois estimates the crop will not exceed 71 per cent, of the crop of 1890. but states the acreage of bearing orchards has increased 18 per cent, since then. All the reports show the recent hot weather has sun­ burned a great deal of fruit on the trees, and high winds have caused more wind­ falls than was oyer known before. The growers are not disposed , to accept the low prices offered by buyers and many are preparing to store< their apples and market them later on. Secretary of State Hinrichsen has made his semi-annual report, £rom which it ap­ pears he has paid fees into the State treas­ ury during the last six months amounting to $42,020. Of this amount $34,710 was from corporations licensed,1 $1,982 from notary public commissions, $431 from commissions of justices of the peace and police magistrates, and $4,731 from mis­ cellaneous sources. The new law in­ creasing the fees for corporation licenses has been in effect three' months. The fees for these three months have amount­ ed to $24,332. For the same period in 1894 they were $11,438 and for the same period in 1893 $11,522. Charles N. Smith, widely known in the base-ball world as "Pacer" Smith, is in the Decatur jail charged with an attempt to murder his wife and daughter and with the murder of Miss Edna Ruchert, aged 17, sister of Mrs. Smith. He first shot the little girl and then at his wife, who fled. He fired twice, but missed her, one of the bullets striking Edna Buchert in the breast. She died in a few minutes. Smith was arrested with the revolver in his hand. Smith has asked the sheriff to take him away from Decatur. He fears ho will be lynche/l^ It is probable that lit­ tle Louise, the \hild, will recover, but she will be-partly paralyzed. Smith has been repeatedly arrested for misdemean­ ors. CAPTURING MAKIiETS OF THE WORLD. 63,925,655.-. 1895 Gorman TRAM PA WERE USEFU L. Export <$ Corn Jar the tuio fiscaV years, ending June 30;-1894 and I89S CANADIAN FARM COMPETITION. American Agriculturists Find that Our Imports Are Increasing. V Americah farmers look with a little anxiety along the Canadian border, as they find that our imports of Canadian farm products are increasing. From an official report just issued by the State Department at Washington we have compiled the following table, showing our imports of Canadian farm products received from Ontario, Que­ bec and the Maritime Provinces, dur­ ing, the three months ending March 31, 1895. Imports from Ontario, Quebec and Mar­ itime Provinces, for three months ending March 31, 1895: Apples $32,731 62 Barley 221,116 46 Illinois Fair Clears Money. The financial success of the Illinois State fair is very gratifying. The, re­ ceipts are several thousand dollars in ex­ cess of what they were last year, when the fair not only "paid out,'r but left a handsome surplus in the hands of the treasurer to be used in contributing to the success that has been scored this year. State News in Brief. At Moline Nels Pierson, a mail carrier, was dismissed from the service. He had been found in a gambling house, but ac­ quitted of crime. At Rockford the Rev. W. W. Leete, of the First Congregational Church preach­ ed against Sunday baseball and announc­ ed a crusade next season. Mrs. Elizabeth J. Brown, of Spring­ field, died in Duluth, Minn., aged 70. She was the widow of the Rev. John Howe Brown, D. D., a well-known Presbyte­ rian minister. She was a favorite cousin of Mrs. Lincoln and accompanied her to Washington when Mr. Lincoln was first inaugurate,! President Nettie Smitfy, aged 18, living at Co­ lumbia, died i i great agony from the bite of a spider, n Will R. Reeder, formerly a police offi­ cer of Murphysboro, was attacked by Bert Stamps, Henry Williams and "Dug" Jordan, three young nee-c *p.ughs, and was severely woundeti, ?;W'0 ({flan waa killed. Supervisor Alfred P. Wells, of Rock­ ford, is dead. He was city clerk for a while, and was connected with the Rock­ ford National Bank. Two of Mr. Wells' children reside in Chicago--Martha V. and Fred K. Wells. John Brisbin, eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. Torrence Brisbin, died at Sycamore of consumption. He was 27 years of age and leave a widow. At Rockford fire broke out Saturday evening In the four-story brick fly-net and collar factory building of the Hess & Hppkius Company. The company will lose" $30,000 on stock and buildings, with $20,000 insurance. Their immense tan­ ning establishment adjoining, with a stock of'hides and other material in it valued at $SO,000, was saved, although damaged somewhat by water. The wind carried the sparks for half a mile, and only the greatest vigiliince of the citizens prevent- *d a "general blaze. Fifteen families were driven out of thei homes in the Lindell Block at Chicago at 1 o'clock the other morning by a fire that started in one of the stores on the ground floor. The block contains flats and busi­ ness houses and the dwelling apartments were filled with sleepers. • Everybody was interested in the report of Statistician Farmaloe at the Methodist conference at Elgin, showing the achieve­ ments wit-h increase and decrease of the year in growth and strength of church membership, church contributions to pas­ toral support, benevolences and other church work. Among the more important items were the following: Probationers in the church, 3,284, an increase of 554; full church members, 46,785, increase of 1,87S; preachers in conference, 223, in­ crease of 19; Sunday schools, 402, in­ case of 9; Sunday school officers and teachers'. 7,106, decrease of 17; Sunday school scholars, 59,370, increase of 1,165; number of churches, 365, increase .of 4; valuation of churches, $4,068,438, in­ crease of $12S,4S0; total debt of confer­ ence, $278,925, increase of $4,683; total expenditures for pastoral support, $284,- 564, decrease of $4,199; Freedmen's Aid and Southern Educational Society, $5,523, decrease of $1,371; Women's Foreign Mis­ sion Society, $13,831, decrease of $237; Women's Home Missionary Society, $9,- 962, decrease of $4,481; total benevolent collections, $12S,015, decrease of $4,031. Joseph Martin, a Fairbury farmer, was held up by two men. Each robber wore a mask. They robbed Mr. Martin of everything. The authorities are being assisted by the citizens to catch the rob­ bers. J. P. Tillotson, a member of the Chi­ cago Board of Trade, committed suicide by throwing himself into the lake. Finan­ cial losses, the result of an unsuccessful speculation in wheat, are said to be the cause of his self-destruction. Mr. Tillot­ son was 45 years old and leaves a widow, to whom he was married only six months ago. Dr. T. J. Dodge, of Baldwin Park Sani­ tarium, and a prominent physician at Quincy and at Hamilton, died. Some time ago he cut his corns with a knife. Blood poisoning followed and suddenly resulted in death. He was 61 years old and leaves children and considerable prop- The State Board of Equalization com­ mittees have added 35 per cent, to Cook County personal property, 55 per cent, to lands and 33 per cent, to'lots;" These percents will be materially reduced, how­ ever, in the wind-up, as Cook County gets the benefit of $34,000,000 of the Bufplus that has been created in making the equalization. ^ . Beans Dried apples Eggs Grain Hay and straw...... Hides and skins Horses Meat Onions and turnips. Potatoes Poultry Seeds Sheep and lambs Tobacco leaf. Wool 190,248 27 1,000 00 87.798 94 9,726.93 53,301 26 181,467 77 153,742 98 1,751 70 12,340 09 86,163 39 6,768 00 55,029 32 46,480 92 64,703 77 359,977 71 eign maker offering wool goods in this market, and while his prospects of suc­ cess are not as good as on worsteds, it may be set.down as a certainty that he will know beforehand pretty close to what he can do. The foreign maker is here to-day, through his representa­ tives, making preparations to gather in a share of the woolen goods busi­ ness; The domestic manufacturer who closes his eyes to these conditions and rests confidently upon his own strength may have cause to repent his blindness and overconfidence.--Textile Manufac­ turers' Journal. Total for three months.$1,564,349 13 Yearly average 6,257,396 52 The total of these exports exceeds a million and a half of dollars for three months, or at the rate of $6,257,396.52 a year. It is clear that Canadian farm­ ers are coming in direct competition with the products of American farms in every principal article that our farm- el's can furnish for the home market. The largest imports were of wool, next coming barley, beans, hides and skins, horses, eggs, potatoes, leaf tobacco, hay and straw, seeds, sheep and lambs, ap­ ples, onions and turnips and poultry. When Canadian farmers begin to sup­ ply the American towns along the bor­ der line with Canadian farm products, then tl*1 American farmers who used to look to these home markets for an out­ let for their products must turn elsd^. where and go further south, paying more freight before they can sell their goods, and also coming into competi­ tion with other farmers and naturally depressing the value of farm stuffs ev­ erywhere through a glut in the market. Later in the year the exports were un­ doubtedly larger. Give the home mar­ ket to the American farmer. Will It Come to This? More Free Goods Under Protection. From the latest report of the Bureau of Statistics we are enabled to present a summary of our imports during the last six years, as follows: Year ending June 30. Dutiable. 1890 . .$523,641,780 1891 . . 478,674.844 1S92 . . 369.402,804 1893 . . 421,856,711 1S94 . . 275,199,145 1895 . . 368.729.601 Free of Free of duty, duty. Per cent. $265,668,629 33.66 366,241,352 43.35 457.999,658 55.35 444,544.211 51.31 379.796,006 57.98 3(53,22S,274 49.62 In 1890, when Oie^IcKiuley law went into operation/only one-third of our total imports/were free of duty. Dur­ ing the fiscal year of 1S94.nearly two- thirds of our total imports came in free of duty. But in 1S93, the first year of the Gorman tariff, less than half of our imports were free of duty. Japan as a Manufacturer. Consul Troup, of Yokohama, sends to the Foreign Office an interesting report on Japanese trade during tlje past year. The significant feature of liis statistics and observations is the growth of the imports of raw materials, showing that Japan is becoming more and more a manufacturing, and consequently an exporting, country. She is, neverthe­ less, a good customer of ours, her busi­ ness with Great Britain and its depen- cies amounting to nearly five millious and evincing a tendency to increase. In-addition to the numerous articles Japan" makes for herself and others, she has recently taken to manufacture iron pipes and electrical appliances. It is thought she will be able to turn out the whole of the 60,000 tons of piping required for the completion of the Tokio waterworks; she manufactures her own dynamos and the telephones used are all of native fabrication.--Ry- land's Iron Trade Circular. Woolen Mills in Danger. The life of the domestic w-orsted man­ ufacturer is in the balance. The wool­ en manufacturer has not yet been seri­ ously disturbed, except indirectly, as the foreign worsteds displace the wool-1 mi goods, but' it is credibly reported that the coming season will find the for- Examine the Books. ' The fact was that during that trying season, when nearly all the manufac- tering industries in this country were at a standstill, the keenest sufferers were the middle classes; for the first time in their lives they were brought face to face with starvation. Why7 Because there, was no employment for their hands. Business was dead. And that, we believe, was since the beginning of the Cleveland administration. As to the stringency, it has no doubt been real. If one doubts it. let him ask the butcher, the baker aad the candle­ stick maker. They are especially fitted to tell whether the stringency, so far as "private lines are concerned," was real or fanciful. Their books will give evidence of the stringency, Aslc to ex­ amine them. And we believe that these books were kept during the Cleveland administration.-^aily State Gazette, Trenton, N. J. Why the West Grows. The home market for American farm­ ers exists wherever there is a factory or an employment which depends in any way upon manufacturing. The marvel of American industry has been the diversification of industry gener­ ally during the last third of a century »--•particularly toward and in the West. Take, for example, the prodigious man­ ufacturing industries of Illinois, hot to speak of Indiana and Ohio. Manufac­ turing industry has likewise, although a little later, been developed in the Southern States. Even west of the Mississippi River vast manufacturing interests have been developed with unprecedented rapidity --down to the timewhen the Democrat­ ic party two years ago took hold of the Government under pledge to revolution­ ize industry to the basis of "low tariff or free trade."--Sioux City Journal. " Sound Western Progress. Protectionist sentiment continues strong and active in the great West. In the South it is also developing more and more. Why? Because the value and benefit of manufactures are better known and understood among places that have few or no factories, than in the industrial centers of the East. The resolute, energetic pioneers who are building up States such as Montana, the Dakotas and Washington, regard the establishment of new industries as the only sound basis of prosperity. Such men study practically the growth of commonwealths and become, as the result, zealous protectionists. -Qne Instance in Which They Per- fermed a Beneficent Service. "I don't mind seeing tramps riding, on<~ my train," said an old freight engineer at Walls yesterday. "You see, I have a ftrarrn spot in my heart for the knights of the rQad and I don't think the. aver­ age tramp is half as bad as he is point­ ed. We ought to. do something to re­ form these fellows, and it ought to be done in-a kindly way. Why do we send thousands of dollars to foreign coun­ tries and hundreds of missionaries to be eateja up or slaughtered When right here at home we have so many who need conversion and reformation much wofcse than the cannibals and the heath-u en Chinee? The tramp won't eat the missionary who goes to convert him and will not behead him like the Turks. The tramp is looking for something to sat all the time, but he doesnJt care for missionary steaks, and would rath­ er have pie or ham. But I was going to tell you why I like the tramp. The rea­ son is because I owe my being alive at this moment to about twenty-five of them. How did they save my life? Well, it was this way. I was running a freight engine on the Chicago divis­ ion of the Panhandle when the inci­ dent I am going to, relate occurred had the 413 at the head of thirty-one cars of stock one dark night, and waa bowling along on the smooth level track between English Lake and Royal Can ter, when we had to stop to cool off a hot box. We had no air brakes on freight cars in them days, and the stopping of a long, heavy train took con­ siderable time,/ .-"'.v.'/ "Well, when we got started again, 1 put on a full head of steam and we Went down "through the little .town of Denham at a 45-mile-an-hour pace, but were stopped by a red light at Royal Center and got orders to wait for a west-bouud freight at the top of the Lo- gansport hill. If you have ever been over the Chicago division you noticed the long, steep hill above Logansport, Well, to be brief, when I got to where I ought to have stopped, I forgot my orders. The air-brake pump was the cause, for it was leaking, and I was thinking I would report it to the round­ house men at Logansport. Well, when I remembered the order to stop and take siding, I was going down hill at a 30-mile-an-hour gait. I had no sooner thought of my awful error when the fireman shouted: 'Stop her, man; for God's sake stop!' He had reason to bo excited, for right ahead of us, coming up the hill, assisted by a pusher and both enj*ines making the sparks fly, was the fast freight. I pulled the whistle and old 413 let out a long, startling, despairing shriek for brakes. .At the same time I 'plugged' her and put on sand. I knew we could not get those two brakemen to set enough brakes to give us any chance for our lives, so We got down on the- steps prepared to jump, but the high, steep bank was too much for us, and instead of jumping we started to run back over the cars. I wondered what was reducing the speed of our train when I reached the second car, but the mystery was ex­ plained when I saw a man at every brake screwing up the wheels as if the very devil was making him do it. Well, do you know that we got the train stop­ ped just as the west-bound train's en­ gine bumped ours, and there was not much damage done. What stopped us? Why, the fact of the matter was that when we stopped to cool off that box some twenty-five tramps boarded the train and were sitting on top of the cars. When they sa-w what I was whistling about they took to setting the brakes, and no train was ever stopped by air as quick as them fellows stopped that freight. When they saw that a terrible collision had been avert­ ed they began to cheer like fiends, and I could not help but join in and cheer too. That's how the tramps saved my life, and that's why I have a kind of tender spot in my heart for the knights of the road."--Pittsburg Post. afterwards one of oxalic acid. The. sulphuret acts on the Iron. To kill and prevent book- worm*--Take one-half ounce of camphor, powdered like salt, one-half ounce bitter apple, mix well, and spread on the book shelves. Renew every six. months. /To polish old bindings--Thoroughly clean the leather by rubbing with a piece of flannel; if the leather is broken fill up the holes with a little paste; beat up the yelk of an egg and rub it well over the covers with a piece of sponge; polish it by passing a hot iron over. Do not allow books to be very long in r too warm a pljfce; gas affects them very much, Russia leather in particular. Do not let books get damp or they will soon mildew, and it is almost impossi­ ble to remove it. Books with clasps or raised sides dam­ age those near them on the shelves. Russia as a Competitor. A number of manufacturex-s at St. Petersburg have approached M. Witte with the request that special facilities shall be granted for the export of cer­ tain Russian products to Hamburg, whence they are destined to enter the markets of the continent. The wares chiefly affected are cotton, woolen and silk goods of Russian manufacture, por­ celain, soap and confectionery.--By- land's Iron Trade Circular. A. Time They Forget. One of the cuckoo organs stepped to the little door and with flapping wings shouted: "The great corn crop will make good old-fashioned Democrat times." Indeed, and did it allude to the times when for want of a market "corn was burned?" Those were good old-fashioned Democrat times, but they are out of fashion now.--Grand Rap­ ids (Mich.) Herald. Fixing the Price of Lambs. The best lambs are selling now in the best part of Kentucky's farming coun­ try for 1% cents a pound. It is the tariff and not the silver question that fixes the price of the lambs that the farmer has to sell--Louisville (Ky.) Commer­ cial. What These Widows Do. Arabian women who have to go into mourning stain cheir hands and feet with indigo for eight "days, and during that time they will drink no milk, on the ground that its white hue does not harmonize with the mental gloom. The British Lion's Gorge. msmEm With Incriminating Papers. One of my most interesting acquaint­ ances at that period of my life was the Count Gonfaloieri, the friend and com­ panion in prison of Silvio Pelico, who wrote "Le mie Prigione." The evening before we were to land at Venice ho came to me when I happened to be alone on deck, and after ascertaining that no one was within hearing, he asked me if I would grant him a little favor. I was ready to do anything I could for the gentle, courteous old man. and begged him to tell me how I could serve him. Then he said, lowering his voice to a whisper, that he had certain compro­ mising political documents with him which, if discovered by the custom­ house officials, would consign him back to prison, and might even endanger his life. He was a marked man, under sus­ picion, and everything he possessed would be carefully examined; but the luggage of a young English girl travel­ ing simply for pleasure with her parents would scarcely be looked at, and even if these incriminating papers were found among my letters it would not be supposed they could be there for any revolutionary purposes--would I there­ fore consent to take charge^of them and convey them safely on shore for him? I could restore them to him at the hotel. Of course I consented, and safely ac­ complished his commission, with no other result but a rather comical look of dismay, on my father's kind face when I told him I was assisting in the plot, I believed, of a secret society against the Italian Government of the day. I never saw Count Gonfalonier! again after I restored his seditious pa­ pers to him, and he did not live long afterward.--Blackwood's Magazine. • A - . ' - W ' ' ' T ' * ' - • >. ' . . V gggg I Care of Books. Even to those who are most careful and particular with their loved and treasured libraries accidents will hap­ pen, and the human bookworm is at his or her wits' end to remove^the difficulty, which threatens perhaps tojruin forever one or more of the choicest volumes. An English magazine lately published the following items, which will proba­ bly be found useful by any librarian: To remove ink-stains from books--A small quantity of oxalic acid, diluted with water, applied with' a catnehhair pencil and blotted with blotting paper, will, with two applications, remove all traces of the ink. To remove grease spots--Lay pow­ dered pipeclay each side of the spot and press with an iron as hot as the pa^er will bear without scorching. To remove, iron-mold--Apply first a solution of sulphuret of potash and jBHBaBBa Rider Haggard's Last Book. Few authors have been more, se­ verely criticised than Mr. H. Rider Haggard, and perhaps much of his cas- tigation has been deserved. His un- trammeled imagination dries at times lead him Into wild extravagances. Every one remembers, as an instance of this, the underground river in "Allan Quafermain," where fire leaped up through the wa.ter, and where there was a ravine infested by crabs of enor- ,mous size. For weeks after the ap­ pearance of "Allan Quatermain" those crabs were thejoy of the,critic's heart, and as the climax of Mr. Haggard's absurdities called forth the now faimdus wail from one of his readers, who longed to find the spot J.; Where the Rudyards cease from Kip­ ling, And the Haggards Ride no more! But to be fair to Mr. Hagard, there Is one thing he can and does do. He writes, above all things, an interesting story, and this, in the eyes of lovers of fiction, goes a long way toward equalizing matters. His last book, "Heart of the World," is no exception to the rule. Once begun, the average reader will not lay it down until he has come to the very end. This fact justly entitles Mr. Haggard to a place among the best of our writers; for men with a finished style we have always with us, but authors who can thoroughly interest their readers are deplorably few and far between.--Munsey's. VALUABLE DOG COLLARS. _ " 1 Gold add; Precious Gen)* Often U«e4 JttXfeeir Decoration. 1 "I can assure you that you have not" been misinformed as to gold and pre-; clous gems being used to decorate dogs* collars,'; said one of the ^best-known! dealers in such articles to a New York News reporter, "but the craze is far more prevalent in France, Russia and England than it is here. "Not many weeks ago I supplied to the special order of an English lady » dog collar that cost 50 guineas. It was a chain collar of silver andogold links alternately, and with a gold bell to hang in front. French ladies are very-fond of watch dog collars, a small gold watch being let into the front of the collar, and I have made several of thes&y But in scores of cases I supply beautifully made dollars with name plates of solid gold, and often enough With gold 'bosses' as well. Nearly all the collars of this class are intended fdr' carriage dogs and drawing room poo­ dles, and in most cases the dogs do not belong to men, though the latter order and pay for the collars as presents. "A fashion has lately had great vogue in France of putting tiny; bracelets round the forelegs of poodles, and I have seen even diamonds set into these" > circlets At the same t>me, in my own stock, I have lots of dog collars ranging in price from $15 to $100. The most remarkable collar I have ever made was to the order of a gentleman from South Africa. It consisted of nuggets of gobt and an uncut diamond, which he sup­ plied. and it was given to a well-known lady as a present" ; ' ; v Servants of the Poor in France. There is at any rate one charitable organization in France which is with­ out a parallel in England, and it has what seems to us a beautiful name-- "Servants of the Poor." The congrega­ tion already possesses four houses--one at Paris, one at Joinville, and one at Parthenay, while the original establish­ ment is at Angers. The idpa and or­ ganization were due to a Benedictine monk. "My daughters," he was ac­ customed to say, "when the poor are ill, both husband and wife have to gain their livelihood by labor, and there is no one to take care of the house. Go to them, and be kinder and more service­ able than any servant; you must ac­ cept nothing of them, neither a morsel of bread nor a glass of water. And, above all, be sweet and amiable, that you may win their hearts, and that they may see that God has sent you.!' There were five sisters at the begin­ ning; there are now sixty of these "Servants of the Poor."--Saturday Re­ view. Excellent Advice. A young man just starting upon his work in the ministry was one day talk­ ing to an aged minister in London, who* had spent a lifetime in the service. The young man said: "You have had a great deal of experi­ ence; you know many things that I ought to learn. Can't you give me some advice to carry with me in my new du­ ties?" "Yes, I can," was the response. y"I will give you a piece of advice. You know that in every town in England, no matter how small, in every village or hamlet, though it be hidden in the folds of the mountain or wrapped round by the far-off sea, in every clump of farm houses, you can find a road which, if you follow it, will take you to Lon­ don. Just so every text which you shall choose to preach from in the Bible will have a road that leads to Jesus. Be sure jrou find that road and follow it; be careful not to miss it once. This is my advice to you." Conversation Read from the' Lips. There is a curious romance inter­ woven into the life of the Bell family, best known for their connection with the telephone. Mrs. Bell is totally deaf and was, consequently, for many years a mute. Her father was a very wealthy man, who sent her finally to a school for such afflicted folk. There she became acquainted with her future husband, at that time one of the instructors un­ der whose tuition she came. They fell in love and were eventually married, and the money which Mrs. Bell brought with her enabled the inventor to es tablish himself in the world. They now have a charming home, and a summer residence on the lakes, which is almost perfect in its situation and its appoint­ ments. It is presided over by a lovely woman, who gives strangers no hint of her infirmity. She takes a ready part in all conversation, having been taught to speak and having learned to read the speech of others from the motion of their lips.--New York Times. . Electricity as Fuel. An astonishing discovery in regard to the production of electricity is an­ nounced, which, if genuine, will do away with the necessity of burning coal. Dr. Borcliers, of Driesburg, Ger­ many, says that he has fouud that elec­ tricity is generated by the conversion of hydro-carbon and carbonic oxide in­ to carbonic acid, and as this Is the same thing that takes place in burning coal he accomplishes the same end by chem-. ical means by what he calls the wet process. While a steam engine utilizes about 12 per cent, of the theoretical en­ ergy and a gas engine; 20 per cent., Dr. Borchers claims that his new process gives no less than 3 per cent. Adirondack Forests Disappearing. The Adirondack forests are being slaughtered for the raw material for producing wood pulp of spruce. About 1,250,000 cords of spri\ce wood, the equivalent of 125,000,000 feet of lum­ ber, will find their way into the wood pulp mills of northern New York in the course of the current year. This Is absorbing the fqrest^growth of many thousand acres each season. The Persian Horse. Persian horses are to be admired and liked. Their beauty is a source of "con­ stant enjoyment, andjthey are almost Invariably gentle and docile. It is in vain to form any resolution against making a pet of one of them. My new acquisition, Boy, insists on being pet­ ted, and his enticing ways are irresistl- ^ ble. He is always tethered in front of my tent with a rope long enough to give him considerable liberty, and he took advantage of it the very first day to come into the tent and make it appar- ent that he wanted me to divide a lem on with him. Grapes were his preference; then came cucumbers, bread and biscuits. Finally he drank milk ou of. a soup plate. He comes up to me and puts down his head to have his ears rubbed, and If I do not attend to him at once, or if I cease attending to him, he gives me a gentle but admonitory thump. I dine outside the tent, and he is tied to my chair and waits with wonderful pa­ tience for the odds and ends, only oc­ casionally rubbing his nose against my face to remind me he Is there, A friend­ ly snuffle is the only sound he makes. He does not know how to fight, or that teeth and heeis are for any other uses than eating and walking. He is really the gentlest-find most docile of his race. The point at which he draws the line is being led. Then he draws back, and a mulish look comes into his sweet eyes. But he follows like a dog, and when I walk he is always with me. He comes when I call him, stops when I do. accompanies me When I leave the road in search of flowers, ajid usually puts his head either on my shoulder or under my arm. To him I am an em­ bodiment of melons, cucumbers, grapes, peaches, biscuits and sugar, with a good deal of petting and ear rubbing thrown in.--Mrs. Bishop's "Journeys in Persia." --t ' Z,--.- • 'if • -9nELi Filtering Sea Water. A well-known Austrian engineer, M. Pfister, is stated to have discovered a remarkable property of the trunks of trees, namely, tbat'of retaining the salt of sea water that has filtered through the trunk in the direction of the fibers. He has consequently constructed an ap­ paratus designed to utilize this prop­ erty in obtaining potable water for the use of ships' crews. This apparatus consists of a pump which sucks up the sea water into a reservoir and then forces it into the filter formed by the. tree trunk. As soon as the pressure reaches one-fifth to two-fifths atmos­ phere the water is seen--at the end of from one to three minutes, according to the kind of wood used--to make its exit from the other extremity of the trunk, at first in drops and then in fine streams, the water thus filtered being potable--fr^ed, in fact, from every par­ ticle of the usual saline taste which is such a idrawbaek to the water obtained •'"•'••V" ^3mSBB2 ' in the ordinary manner. Whistling Pigs. C. V. Hooper. A1 Van Epps and EL Smith returned from the Iclqle range Saturday, where they had been fi^hing, rusticating and prospecting. TheyS^ls- covered a new lake* on the apex of one of the mountains, and listened to the weird and luxurious music of the whist­ ling pig, of which there are many m that high range. T^is peculiar animal resembles a fox more than a pig, and . weighs from twenty-five to forty pounds. In color it rahges from a dark or iron gray to almost white. Its whist­ ling propensities are marvelous, and,, many a time has it fooled the lonely prospector into the belief that he #as not entirely companionless in the moun­ tains. Mr. Van Ei?i>s declares they are musical wonders, and that they often give open-air concerts of the most en­ trancing nature.--Leavenworth Times. -- ; ' Useless Torpedo Boats. They have two big white elephants at the New York navy yard just now. It seems that the Navy Department does ', / not know what to do with the torpedo boats built for the battle-ships Texas and Maine. These boats have failed to make the time required for torpedo service, and those designed for the Tex­ as will not be used, and It is probable that those made for the Maine will not go with that ship. These boats cannot make more than eleven or twelve knots an hour, and, in the opinion of naval ex­ perts, that speed will be useless In bat­ tle. One of the torpedo boats of the Texas will be on exhibition at the At­ lanta Exposition. It is ptobable that all of these torpedo boats will be used at the Annapolis naval academy by the cadets. ®g Classes on English Railroads. Second-class continues to decrease on the Northwestern Railway. In round numbers there were in the past half year 63,000 second-class pasengers on the Northwestern line--10,000 less than a year previously. But first-class also declines, though not in so rapid a pro­ portion. Third-class is the rule now. , J&iwM * • "'St