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""'V, . i BY HUGH WILSON. ABBEVILLE, S. C., WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 17, 1877. VOLUME XXIV.---NO. 32. Christmas Time. Heap on more wood!?the wind is chill; But let it whistle as it will, We'll keep onr Christmas merry still. Each age lias deemed the new-born year The titte.it time for festal cheer : ********* And well our Christmas sires of old Loved when the year its course had rolled, And brought blithe Christmas back again, With all his hospitable train. Domestic and religious rig! it Gave honor to the holy night: On Christmas eve the bells were rung ; On Christinas eve the mass was sung : ' That only night, in ail the year, Saw the stoled priest the chalice rear. The damsel donned her kirtle sheen ; The hall was dressed with holly green : Forth to the wood did merry men go, To gather in the mistletoe. Then opened wide the baron's hall To vassal, tenant, serf, and all; Tower laid his rod of rule aside. And ceremony doffed his pride. The heir, with roses in his shoes, That night might village partner choose ; The lord, nnderogating, share. The vulgar game of " pi>t and pair." All hailed, with uncontrolled delight, And general voice, the happy night, That to the cottage, as the crown, Brought tidings of salvation down. The lire, with well dried lo?,'s supplied, . Went roaring up the chimney wide ; The huge hn 11 table's oaken face. Scrubbed till it shone the day to grace, Bore then upon its massive board No mark to part the squire and lord. Then was brought in the lusty brawn, By old blue coated serving man ; Then the grim boar's head frowned on high, Crested with bays and rosemary. Well can the green garbed ranger tell How, when, and where, the monster fell: What dogs before his death he tore, And all the baiting of the boar. The wassel round in good brown bowls Garnished with ribbons, blithely trowls. There the huge r-irloiti reeked ; hard by rmm iKtrnuge ttioou, ana i.iirisuna6 pie,; Nor failed old Scotland to produce, At Kuch high tide, lser savory goose. Then came the merrv maskers in, And carols roared with blithesome din ; If uumelodious was the song, It was a hearty note, and strong. Who lists may in their mumming see Traces of ancient mystery. White shirts supplied the masquerade, And smutted cheeks the visors made ; But, oh ! what maskers richly dight Can boast of bosoms half so light V England was merry England, when Old Christmas brought his sports again. 'Tw&s Christmas broached the merriest ale ; Twas Christmas told the merriest tale ; A Christmas gambol oft would cheer The poor man's heart through half the year. ?Sir Waller Scot/. YES, OR XO. Terrible -weather?quiie an old fashioned Christmas?the sn.rw falling fast, iii llakcs as large as dimes, and an icy, penetrating wind sweeping across tho country, with a lieroe determination to have its own way. Everybody saul it was tlio coldest winter ever known; hut that is tlio animal saying. At the Elms, the seat of a country gentleman, in one of tho Northern States, a largo party had assembled to spend tho Christinas holidays. Mr. Fowler, the owner of the Elms, w.is a man of both taste and liberality, and enjoyed nothing holier than to gather his friends around him. lit? was a widower, with one child?Lucilla, a sparkling, sprightiv girl of nineteen or twenty. The party consisted of several friends and neighbors of Mr. Fowler, and their wives and daughters. There was, of eourso, a proportionate assembly of young men, and among tliom a certain Captain "Wilfred Herbert, a great admirer of Lueilla's, without, as yet, having actually declared himself. It needed not much discernment, however, to perceive that ho v:as devotedly attached to the young lady, while she 011 her part was not ind ftVrer.t to him. But just h t me tell you a word abr.ut Lucilla. She was one of those dear, bewitching ereaturcs that wiil make you tlnnic that yrm are ; very nice son i;i a fellow, and tbat yint are just the kind of a man that the always admired; then, without any perceptible effort, will cause you to suppose that you are a groat blundering thing that astonishes himself by his own conceit in supposing that lie, for a moment, could compare himself with her; but underneath all this, there was a woman's nature that could be loving, and even sincere. Now her fiither, who, strange to say, could not read young ladies like a book, seeing only a coquette in his charming daughter, was much pleased by the preference paid her by the handsome youug officer, who came of an excellent family, and in addition to Ids profession, had an ample private fortune, and, in his parental solicitude, was desirous of seeing her happily settled with some deserving ami Higibjc young man. Mr. Fowler himself was verging on seventy years, having married late in life. It was about midday ami tho scon'* in the grounds of the Elms was animated nud striking. They were of great extent, and in summer most beautifully laid out. Now, however, their beauties were veiled beneath a waste of snow. The immense elms, yews and e<-d?rs which skirted the law 11, so extensive as almost to resemiue tne open space m n part, were weighed down l>v fantastieal Jy shaped conglomeration snow, and the lawn itself was a vast sheet of white, reminding one as much of Siberia, ami its sable ant I mink hunters, than of an American landscape, and a party of American ladies and gentlemen. The guests of Mr. Fowler?some thirty in num!>or?seemed to be enjoying themselves amazingly. Some of tlie young men had, for the amusement of the Indies, contrived to make a huge figure of-ySnow, aiut they and their fair com panions were now engaged in pelting the giant with snowballs. Others had rigged out, Rnsnran funhion, some pretty little sleighs, which, drawn by three ponies adorned by small silver bells, and each capable of containing two persons, afforded an opportunity for flirting not to be lost by young people snowed up in a country house. Most of the young ladies were clothed in fnr suits from head to foot, while the gentlemen, in fur caps and jackets, contributed their share to a very picturesque tableau. The tinkling of the sleigh bells, and the merry shouts of the party engaged in pelting the snow giant, formed a most pleasing accompaniment to the hilarity of the scrr.e. Miss Fowler, who had been sleighing in turn with half the young men of the party, while Captain Herbert stood apart, gnawing his tawney mustache, and eyeing her with ill concealed vexation, had left the merry throng for one moment to confer with her father on some matter of domestic economy. Very pretty and piquant looked Lucilla Fowler, muffled in a suit of richsabl.es, her black eyes twinkling like those of a squirrel and her nose displaying just the faintest suspicion of red in the frosty - air. She laughed, chatted, mimicked and flirted outrageously. "You will have to take care what you are about, Lueilla, pet," whispered Mr. Fowler to his daughter, warningly, "or Herbert will 'cry off.'" "He has never been 'on' yet, papa," returned she, tossing her head indignantly. " He has never asked me, and if he did, I should say ' No.' " " Oh, pooh ! pooh ! !" said the old gentleman, good humoredly. " Tell that to some one else, Lueilla; it won't go down with me." And he turned away from his daughter and began talking to some brother landed proprietor about the scarcity of beets and seeds, and the prices fat bul?locks were fetching at the country town. Captain Wilfred Herbert, who had been watching an opportunity, marched up to Lueilla, a cloud on his handsome face. t l II'MI -.1 ~ " ? 111 V(Ml Kit'l?Il nun lliv iivw, lULiOn Fowler? ' I think it's my turn." "Oli, I don't know about anybody's 'turn.' I was half engaged to Mr. Fitzgerald. ttesides, I really think I've Jiad enough of sleighing for one day." "Just for ten minutes, pleaded the young (iliieer. "No, I think not," returned the willful beauty, who, like other beauties, having hooked her fish, delighted in the torment she put him to. "It becomes fatiguing after awhile." " Well, then, shall we join the snowballers ?" "Oh, dear, no! When last I saw them, poor Fi-fee-fum had lost his nose, his oars, b/.fh arms, and everything else. There would be no fun in pelting at the stump new. One might as well throw at the trunk of a tree." "Oil, Lueilla," said he, earnestly, " what makes you treat me in this manner r" " In what manner j" asked the little eonnette. affecting supreme unconscious lies.;. "You will neither sleigli with me nor join the snowballing party, though I have asked yon a dozen times; yet you have joined nearly all the other fellows in both pastime?." "Have I, really? Well the other ' fell.' MS,' as you call them, arc all particularly pleasant, agreeable young men." "Am I not pleasant to you, then?" "Not just now. You really look like some melo-dramatic tyrant. Besides, you don't expect nie to praise you to your face if" . " Lucilla," said the young man, with such passionate energy that it startled Iter, " why torture me thus? Don't you know that I love you with all my heart and soul ?" Yes, she knew it well, and her heart beat fast with joy and triumph ; but the demon of coquetry had possession of her, and she answered, though in a softer tone: "Really, I had never thought about it." " Think about it now, then," continued the young officer, speaking rapidly, and in tones of deep emotion; "think about it now, dearest. I do love you, and think your father will approve of it. Will you be uiy wife ? Say ' y.vs '!" But Lucilla, though she had given her heart in return for Wilfred Herbert's, was not to be carried by a storm in this provoking way, and she sun I: "No." " You cannot moan it," exclaimed Herbert, in great limitation. "Why not,?"' replied Lneilla; but even as she spoke she repented. " Why not? Can I not choose whom I please V' " i'ou love some one else," said the young man, moodily. Lneilla gave him one little bit of comfort: "No, I do not," she said, honestly. "Thank Heaven for that! I5ut won'i you answer me, Lneilla ?" " Not now," she said, wavering. Then her woman's heart wished to surrender, and she added, with a tremulous sigh: " What if I say ' No,' iigain ?" Foolish yonng captain, lie might have seen that this was a wish on the yonng kdv's part to capitulate; but he did not. lie replied, firmly: "No woman shall ever say ' No ' to me twice." This roused all the pride in Lneilla'* nature; it was almost a repulse. "Good morning, Captain Herbert," she said, as she turned indignantly away, " 1 have so no busines:; to transact with t- a! I 1. >? .HI".. JVlinx, [III1 li:msr'Ki'fjnr. And fIso walked rapidly toward the house, leaving the y miiir man half sorry, half triumphant. "I have i.ffrontcd h< r," ho thought, lcokiug after her. "I5ut I am sunshe loves me." A'ld with a lightened heart he j 'nod the other visitors on the lawn. All through the evening, Lueilla maintained a distant eoldii'-ss toward the vu'.'g (flicer that made him feci exceedingly uneasy. If her heart hod been touched by his avowal of the afternoon, it was evident her pride was deeply eflVnded. She would neither dance with him nor sing with him as usual. And whoa it became absolutely neeessarv to reply to any remark made hy him, she did so with the barest possible civility. Lueilla herself was far from comfortable, and she availed herself of the plea of a headache to excuse herself to her guests i _ i.-__ i i.__ aim rt'uri: tu hit umi iwm, H<?r maid, Dorcas, was arranging tlic VQnng lady's liair for tlio night, when ji low tap at the door was heard, and one of the under housemaids presented her" with h note. " From Captain Herbert, please ma'am, and I was to beg for an answer before you went to bed." " What eoolness," thought Lueilla, but she said : " Did you tell Ciptaiu Herbert E had to bcil, Mnry ?" ''Oh, yes, please ma'am," said the girl, with anarch smile; " but he said it was of great importance." " Very well ; you may #o, Mary. I will give Dorcas a note to give to Cuptain Herbert's servant." And Mary departed. With a beating heart and heightened color, Lucille opened the note. It ran thus " Dear Lucilla?I cannot rest until you answer me. Forgive me if I spoke like a coxcomb this afternoon. Give me an answer, I entreat. Will you have me? Write simply ' Yes,' or 'No.'' Lucilla, with compressed lips, took up a pen and ink and wrote on a single slip of paper " No," then twisted it into a note and gave it to Dorcns. " Deliver this to Captain Herbert's servant immediately," she said. And Dorcas left the room, after bidding her mistress good night. Lucilla loved Wilfred Herbert, but her il4l *w*f tiniTnil. lir?r vipl<! She was determined to punish him for his dictatorial ways and his presumption of that afternoon. What! was he to be captain over the citadel before it had yielded? Lucilla, be it remembered, was nn only and spoiled child, and had been used to having her slightest whim consulted. Who was Wilfred Herbert, that he should presume to constitute himself her master ? Her heart told her that he was the man who could subdue her willfulness, but her pride refused to submit to the yoke. Suddenly she remembered young Herbert's words of that afternoon: "No woman, shall say ' No' to rue twice," and she had said ' "No" twice. At least she had said it once and now she had written it. Good heavens ! she had lost him then. Lucilla grew pale and sick at the thought. She rose up in her bed with a motion as if 8he would meet Dorcas. At last she knew she loved Wilfred Herbert. Not submit to him, indeed! Why, it would be her joy to recognize his right to demand of her a return for the love he bore her. Lucilla Fowler had been hitherto a willful, impetuous girl. Suddenly she had become transformed into a loving, submissive woman. Beatrice's words: " And Benedick, love on : I will requite thee, Turning my wild heart to thy loving hand," rose to her mind, and the spoiled beauty and coquette, overwhelmed with shame for her own willfulness, opened her eyes to her own faults, clearly and without disguise, and sinking back in despair on her pillow, burst into, a passion of : tears. Lucilla scarcely slept all that night ; but when Dorcas came in the morning with the hot water and the intimation that it was nine o'clock, she felt almost ashamed lest her maid should remark her heavy eyes and haggard appearance. " ^ ? --- TJ. " J? ' nease, ma am, x m very sorry, oegan Dorcas, penitently, "but I forgot all about it." " Forgot all about what?" asked Lucilla, listlessly. "The note, ma'am, for Captain Herbert. It's Christmas time, you see," pleaded the lady's maid, apologetically ; " and when I left your room last night, ma'am, to take it to the captain, I met Mrs. Knox, the housekeeper, in the corridor, and she told me there was a hot curry of turkey, and mince pics, and elder nines, and I don't know what else, ready in her room, and asked me to go down ; and so?and so?and?hee?lice, ma'am "?here Dorcas put her apron to her eyes, and began to sob ; "I forgot all about the letter, ma'am, till this morning," she continued ; " but when I went up to the captain's room, just now, he was up and gone out. Oh, ma'am, I do hope it ain't no consequence." A light broke on Lucilia. " Where is the note now, then?" she asked, joyfully. "Here, ma'am." And Dorcas drew it from her bosom. Lucilia seized it, while she almost screamed : ?< All ivin rr/wvl nrirl 1 Ynn ilonr- rmrwl wit, /v/u hwvu ' vw> girl!" Dorcas started back in amazement. What, no scolding? Had her mistress gone out of her senses ! " You may have that purple merino of mine, if you like, Dorcas," pursued Miss Fowler, "and that nice warm' jacket. I shan't wear it again." Then a light broke in npou Dorcas' brightened mind also. " Oh !" said Miss Pert to herself, " some lovers' quarrel, I guess, and she's altered her mind, and she's glad he ain't g.)t her note. All!" Hut the wary lady's maid kept her ideas to herself, and thanking In r mistress delightedly, proceeded to assist her to make her toilet. + * * * + * * * When Wilfred Herbert took his seat at the breakfast table, he was in a state of terrible suspension and uncertainty, and utterly unable to account for Lneilla's radiant demeanor. Was she glad to be rid - f him? Had his note been delivered to her? If so, how was it that he received no answer ? He tormented himself with these questions till everybody remarked his absence of mind. He helped his next fair neighbor to deviled kidneys instead of game pie, and electrified the housekeeper, who presided over the tea and coffee, by asking for more sugar in his cap of coiFee, when he had already taken live lumps. Mr. Fowler rallied the younj? oflieer on his absence of miiul, and suggested that where liis treasure was, there it was to he presumed liis heart was also. The younglailies asked him if he "had his considering cap on," while one acute d::msel suggested that perhaps Captain H. was entangled in the f .wler's snare. Breakfast over, Lucilla, anxious to make amend*, and too happy to care much about overleaping the conventional fence of maidenly propriety, advanced toward the young officer. " You have not had your answer yet, Captain Herbert," die said; "if you can oiiie with me two minutes into the conservatory, you shall have it now." Bewildered. but tuuiultuouslv happy, the captain f< >! lowed Luciila into the place specified. She came to the point at nice, without any beating about tlie bush. "I wrote you last night," she said, placing in his hand the note which Dorcas had returned to her. Wilfred Herbert turned it over with a puznled look. There was the one anxious little wor.l " No." "What do^s this mean?" he asked, doubtfully. "It means," answered Lucilla, blushing and smiling at the same time : " No." I answered vou, last night; " Yes.'' this morning. sir. I say. Colors viewed bv candlelight I)o not li' ik the same by day. Then, like p. pood, honest girl as she was, she told him tlie whole story. " .T)>rcas ought to he pensioned," lie said, rapturously. " You do love me, then, darling, alter all?" "Yes," replied Lucilla, blushing, "although I have both said r.iul written " No." "Never mind, Lucie, dearest, sweetest, host," said the young man, taking her in his arms uurepulsed, "you know two negatives make an affirmative." ? A French Commune. A French agricultural paper gives an interesting account of a remote garden commune called RoscofT, in Brittany, where immense quantities of vegetable? are lvjsed for the French and English markets on land now valued at from 81,000 to SI,-WO an acre, which tradition assorts was reclaimed from the sen. During 1875 some 12,887 tons of vegetables, valued at $290,000, left the port. Besides this, immense quantities arc sent ofT by "rail from Morlaix, whither they are conveyed in old fashioned lumbering carts, for in most respect*the Roscoflians are still very primitive. The principal articles grown are potatoes, onions, artichokes, and broeoli. The temperature in winter rarely does any of these harm. Scarcely any manure is used but that of murine plants Known as goeinons. The Winter and the Poor. T!io ('hrinfiaii Infr/fif/oircr hns taken up the cause of the poor, most appropriately at. this season. It fiays: At no time have the.ie unfortunates been bo largely re-enforced as they have this your by persons who belong to the industrious laboring and artisan class, who are masters of some calling and who are able and willing to work. Merchants have reduced the number of their clerks, factories are running on half time or have st< ipped work,building has almost entirely ceased; and as a result wherever we turn we see a score of men waiting to do one man's work, and thousands cannot procure the privilege to labor at any expenditure of effort or solicitation. Discharged. Four hundred employees of the United States bureau of engraving and printing at Washington were discharged ?nearly one-half the* force of the entire bureau. About two-thirds of them were worn in, many of them being press-girls who have been employed by the printer ' individually. These discliarges are due ! to the recent action of the government ingiving the work of printing revenue ! stamps to the bank note companies ini stead of to the on graving and printing I bureau. THE POSITION IX MEXICO. How Mutter* Stand it* Nearly as Can be AHrrrt allied. The position of affairs in Mexico is ; somewhat intricate, and possesses a re- i mnrkable difficulty in the way of being j easily understood. In the year 1871, j Juarez and Diaz were the rival presiden- j tial candidates, nud Diaz was defeated, j Juarez dial in office, and was succeeded j by Chief Justice Lerdo. When Lerdo's ' term of office expired lie became a candidate for u second terni. Whether he was i elected or not is a disputed point. He j claimed that lie was and assumed the i office. j. Judge Iglesias, as chief justice of the i supreme court, was the person desig- ; nated by the last edition ox the constitu- i tion to become president in case of a va- j! cancy in that office. He declared that j Lerdo was not elected, and that he 11 illegally held the position. There being !' no president elected the judge himself j assumed to be president and assumed ; the reins of poAver, being sustained by; all the clergy. i Diaz, who was defeated first by Juarez .' in 1871 and had been waiting ever since for an emergency, now said that it was j not worth while to bother about his per- ! sonal claims. All he wanted was to se- 1 cure the triumph of his friend, Iglesias, ; ] and to that end he woidd command the . . Iglesiastical army. His assistance was accepted, and he marched to the attack ! of the capital. With his success we are I already familiar. President Lerdo ran away, but was caught and locked up. His general, Escobodo, was executed. Diaz entered Mexico and announced that he was the only genuine Mexican president nil others, ineludiiur Lerdo and Iglesias, being impostors unwort'iy of ' the slightest attention. This is now the actual condition of 1 affairs in Mexico, Diaz being pros:'.lent. 1 What Lcrdo and Iglesias propose io do ! about it, the future alone can disclose. ] ' i ? A Wife's Last Letter. Last August Eliza Ebolin left the j house of her parents at Gibson Station, I. T., and fled to Deuison, Tex., where ( she married a telegraph operator named T. G. Small against the wish of her fath- | cr. She lived happily with him for two months, when he left her and went in search of employment. About the latter part of September he secured the posi- ^ tion of night operator on the Missouri ^ Pacific railroad at Washington. She 1 heard where lie was and went there to meet him. He learned of her coming J and ran off. She returned to Sedalia, Mo. She arrayed herself in her bridal ^ robe?, took poison, and lay down and , died with the last letter slir had received ] from her husband clasped in her hand. In a large blank book was the following, directed to her husband: The last act of niv life, I say. George, I tlio for yon. George, darling, why did your heart freeze against me, when you thought so much of me a short time since V We were ho happy j together, and now so miserable. Why do you < deny me. George ? You can deny me to the < ears* of men, but voir cannot deny me to (]od. ' When death takes" charge of your body, where 1 will your soul be, George V Only think of this 1 unforgiving deed 1 commit for you. Keep the j ring on your hand, where I placed it. J.et it 1 * il ! 1 At.-*. T 1. isever i?e removed iroia me imiiui mm i im?u ( kissed so many times. When the glitter shines, think of Lid:!; when you meet a happy face, ' think of Lida ; when you see one in distress, 1 think of Lida: when "you ever love another, i think of Lida: and as long as you live, think of j Lida, and you come to die, then think of ( Lidn. Never take another girl from her home ' and bring her to death. George, I would have ' fur^iven you for your cold neglect of me, but < you would not stand and see mv face. ' George, iny heart was true to you, and my affection for you as true as the snow that falls, and will he j i:iitil the angel of cold death ki.wes my lips, whicl i is but a few moments away. Y?ju will ] never forget me, George, dear, and never have 1 reason to tlee again, t am no more. I die with ] your last hitter in my hand, and don't wont them j to take it away from me. I wanUthis letter to go to the grave with me. Farewell, George, dar- 1 ling; I love you now! You have murdered < Lida, and yet i love you ! George, you are my husband : you know yon are. I go to the grave j that you may live. Will you drop one loving tear for me ? George, keep my trunk and clothing; that is | all I have to leave to you. Take out all, and take care of them for the love you had for me ; I and in the blank book read tin- many words j composed by my own lips and hands?your , Lidn. George, it is a hard battle between life and death, and I willingly prefer death rather than live without you. 1 am done with life, and ' now go down in prayer, and beg God to love you after I am dead. I now take my last drink. , It is a glass of poison ! Kate fluxion's Escape. > Miss Claxton gives n thrilling account ] of her escape from the Brooklyn Theater, . in which she says : There never was u j braver man on earth than Studley. lie , stood by me cool anil collected as the , best mail of the "Six Hundred," and kept the fulling fire off me. When the", flames swept down upon us ami flight . was imperative, and no gojd was to be done by staying, I gathered my woolen i petticoat firmly in each'hand, and fought the livo- from me as I dashed through it. , I stopped only once, and that was to seize p ><>r Murdoch, ami try to drag him | off, but lie was pulled away from me. ' Then I fought my way through with that woolen petticoat; it was my sulvatiou. I either heard Maude Harrison in her , room ami got her out or met her at the ! door of it. Then I remembered the underground passage to the box office, :ind went for it, for the burning stage , began to fall in upon us. The horror of ' the few minutes in that dark place?only | wide enough for one to pass at a time? is indescribable ; I knew that the door at : the end was usually locked, and might be now ; but the Good Providence that directs even the fall of the sparrow made a whim of mine the means of our escape. In tho morning of that dreadful day? merely for fun?I had insisted upon having the door opening from the box office to this passageway unlocked, and I went through it to my dressing-room, f,, Hio utfirrn ilnni* Tin-hoy was reluctantly given to my agent, with many injunctions to lock the door behind him. He promised to do so, hut dropped it in his pocket instead of putting it in the door on tin; inside, as he should have done. He says that his tinkers w< re cold, and that, went he put them into his pockets* ho vowed he wouldn't take them out for all the keys in Brooklyn. 'JMioso cold fingers, by God's mercy, saved all our lives, for after wo had stumbled through that passage and up the stairs the door yielded and wo tumbled into the box office. The smoke was suffocating. The Sioux Treaty. The Sioux commission has made its report to Secretary Chandler. By the terms of the agreement the Sioux surrender all claim to any country lying outside the boundaries of their permanent reserve as defiued by the treaty of 1868, and to so much of said reserve as lies west of the one hundred and third meridian of longitude, and as is included between the north and south forkB of the Cheyenne river, east of said meridian. The United States government thereby secures full possession of a tract of country which includes the Black Hills and is defined by natural boundaries. The Indians grant a right of way over their reservation for three roads from Missouri river to the ceded territory, the routes to be designated by xt__ mi i?? r lilt) ircsiuflll.. xutvy uiwi uKiut- ui it? coive all subsistence which may hereafter : be furnished at such points on or near | the Missouri river as the President may \ designate. The area ceded in the treaty j is estimated at from ten to twelve thou- ; sand square miles. ; I The Spaniards in Cuba. In the Spanish Cortes recently a leading member said, speaking of the Cuban matter: "Spain can do no more than what she hns done. While soldiers were wanting here with whom to resist the different factions in arms against us, heavy contingents were sent to Cuba. Since the year 18G8 we have sent there 111,380 men, of whom 73,000 have died ; there. What results have we obtained ? j Tf tTrt flin /iff!/-.in! rdnflftfl (111(1 ' the news published by the government, j these results lmve been satisfactory; if; we believe the truth, the sole result has i l)een heavy losses, as I will prove. The j losses of the insurgents in the space of i three years ami a half were, according i to the government reports, 128,000 kill- j ed and prisoners, and the surrenders ! 110,000, with a constant insurgent force ' of from 0,000 to 8,000. These 128,000 ! casualties prove either that the dis- I patches were incorrect, which I do not | lielieve, or that the insurgents, after the | fashion of the Ecija boys, are replaced as ! fast as they disappear. Either of these I explanations deserves the attention of I Congress." The Ecija boys referred to above were I i celebrated band of forty outlaws, who ! infested for a long while the roads in the I vicinity of Ronda, in Andalusia. Troops were continually sent against j ;hem, and the officers in command of i inch troops invariably reported that they } ;iad killed sundry of the band. But as ; :he band always kept up its effective t force of forty men, Lou Ninon do Ecija J jecame a byword in Spain for false mili- | ;ary reports. Another member said: " This war in j Cuba is abnormal in its character. The jnemy lives in the bush as well as he ; ivould in his house. 11 one ot tneir i men should full out exhausted 011 a ! march, in a few moments he is taken up j uid carefully tended. If one of our : nen gives out on a march, he is a dead | nan within a few minutes. They re- j juire no rations, because they live on ' tvhat they gather in the woods. All, therefore, that they have to cany is their j small supply of ammunition. By their j spies they are kept informed of our I 3very movement. They know the moment at which the rations which our j :roops must necessarily curry will give jut, they lay in wait for them, they fall j upon them, nnd although they may be j repulsed, as our men are obliged to return to camp for provisions, it follows 1 ;hat wo arc always obliged to retreat ivitli heavy encumbrances, consisting principally of our wounded. Then the jnemy reforms and hangs upon our rear, j <o that although we may have been victorious in the right, it is a very shady rictory in the end. Judge, therefore, I repeat, whether our generals in command ire not entitled to some excuse." Thanksgiving Day in tlic West. A Western paper, discussing Thanksgiving day, says it is not a success out- | side of New England and the Middle States. It adds : You may succeed iu raisin# a brook trout in a stream that flows from an artesian well, if you give it care and liver enough to eat. It*will look like a trout such as you used to mtch up in the mountains or New Hampshire, but when you come to eat it you ivill find that it tastes as insipid as a sucker caught in a muddy, shallow lake in the month of August. Apples will row in China, but their taste is between that of a white turnip and apiece if lmsswood. It is much the same with x Thanksgiving dinner eaten south of Long Island sound and west of the Hudson river. The turkey, pudding and pastry look all right, but they are sadly t ivatiting in seasoning, and 110 addition from the castor or spice box will give them the requisite flavor. The cook is not to blame. She had not the requisite conditions for success. Houses in the West, especially, are j not adapted to celebrating a Thanks-1. [jiving in. There are too many rooms, md none of them are large enough. Few of them have been occupied by more than one generation, and it is impossible to have a first-elass Thanksgiving in a new house. As a rule they are warmed I?v furnaces or air-tight stoves, while i'hank-jgiving calls for open fires, with wood to feed them A brick oven is necessary to cook a Thanksgiving dinner properly, avd no Western'house has one. Most houses in Hit' West wore built to sell, or trade, or to put a mortgage on. Such houses were never designed to celebrate Thanksgiving in. A house for this purpose should be built for a family mansion, and used as such as generation succeeds generation. Not less than throe generations, and four is a better number, should sit down to a Thanksgiving dinner. Unfortunately for celebrating Thanksgiving in the West, the people are chiefly young folks. There is no one to toll how much better they had things seventy or eighty years j ago ; no one to sing revolutionary ballads, or to tell stories of the early Presidents. Temperance in Madagascar. Mention has been made of the tempermice reform movement inaugurated by the queen of Madagascar. The following is a copy of her singular edict: " I, j Itnnovalomanjaka, by the grace of God and will of my people queen of Madagascar, defender of the laws of my kingitem, and this is what I have to say to you, my subjects : God has given me this land and kingdom, and concerning the rum, oh, my subjects, you unci I have agreed that it shall not he sold in Antananarivo, or in the district in which it was agreed it should not he sold (Querina, the central province). Therefore I remind you of this again, because the rum docs harm to your wives and children, makes foolish the wise, makes more foolish the foolish, and causes peo- ' pie not to fear the laws of the kingdom, | and especially makes them guilty before God. All this shows the rum to be a bad thing to have in Antananarivo, for at night (under its influence) people po about with clubs and light, and they light each other without cause, and they stone each other ; therefore, why do you love it, oh, my people ? Hut I tell you that trade in good things, by which you can earn money, makes me very glad indeed, oh, mv people. This, then, is what I say to you, oh, my people : If you trade' in rum, or employ people to trade in it. here in Antananarivo, or ill the district spoken of above, then, according to the laws which were made formerly, I consider yuu to he guilty, because I am not ashamed to make laws in my kingdom which shall do you good. Therefore, I tell you that if there are people who break my laws, then I must punish them. Ts not this so, oil, my , people, say ? Ilunovaloinaujaka, queen of Madagascar, August 8, 1876." Disasters in Theaters. While the Brooklyn Theater calamity is pre-eminently the most terrible the United States has ever been called 011 to bewail in the number of its victims, and in the horror of their fate, in Europe it has been exceeded by the burning of a playhouse in Amsterdam, in 1772, when 800 people wero killed; by the destruction of the Saragossa Theater in Spain, in the Biime year, when 1,000 people per ished; by the destruction of the l'alais Royal in Paris, 1781, when 500 people were burned; and by the fall and consequent conflagration of the Cafo D'lstria Theater in Italy,*by which disaster over 1,000 men and women lost their lives in 1794. OUT OF WORK. i Wlint nrc I lie DIcrlianicH nf'tlie (Jront Cii ie.** i lo Do this Winter? A newspaper reporter lnul n talk with an intelligent carpenter, of New York j city, who is an old trades unionist, and well known among mechanics. He said: "I could take you to the homes of linndreds of mechanics in this city and show J you sights that would convince you at once of the great want that prevails j among the workingraen. You would see [ scanty furniture, rooms almost bare, j children but poorly clad, a wife anxious j looking and sad, a workman out of em- J ployment and not knowing how lie is j to support his family. You would see i at a glance that poverty was there. It is i not difficult to tell, on going into the few | roomsoccnpied by a workingman'sfamily, ' whether there is comfort or want. I ! know myself dozens of families who have 1 sold the best part of their furniture and 1 * * ^ i ?*n 1- -A. ! who nave purte(l with wiiuiever uiuuuuy ; or little valuables they possessed. How else could they have lived? I have now ; been out of work myself over five i months, and though an unmarried man ! I have found it a pretty tough time. I, can too well understand how so many i mechanics have gone to Blackwcll's island for a shelter for the winter. When ! there is so great destitution so early in the season it can be ensily imagined how terrible will be the suffering during the i next three or four months. I cannot i conjecture how the workingmen are to j find shelter for themselves and their families while this dullness in trade continues. I know how it has been with a , number of them so far as the landlords are concerned. Notwithstanding the j well known condition of affairs in busi- i ness, and the fact especially that the men j are idle through 110 fault of their own, the landlords liave been inexorable in demanding rents. " To my knowledge workingmen liave already shifted two or three times from j tenement houses, having^been put out by landlords on account of not being able to pay. How long this method of j procuring rooms to live in will continue ; I know not, but this I do know, that the number of the houseless will be increased ! by thousands if the landlords choose to i demand the rent. It can do the landlords very little good in the end to act so mercilessly, for the tenants coming in will be just as poor as those going out, and cannot pay in advance. By leniency and generous dealings these property owners would make more money in the end. However, so far this season they will not see the matter in tliis light. But I tell you, and I tell what I know to be the undercurrent of feeling among thou-; sands of the idle mechanics, that the workingmen of this city are not going to starve this winter, nor are they going to he shelterless and see their children dying of cold and hunger either in almshouses or in the streets. Patience ceases to be a virtue at some point, and the workingmen of this city have exhibited for over three years an exercise of that virtue unparalleled in the history of great commercial cities. It will be a terrible day for New York when the workingmen grow desperate. But what is it that drives men to desperation if it is not hunger ? Is it not plain that unless some relief comes to the men and their families there will be at the very least during the next three months 100,000 human beings?workingmen, their wives and children?daily without bread? Suppose that relief comes, will it come in such a wav that the men will not be humiliated to the lowest in accepting it? Will they he thrown it to make them feel that they must at once consider themselves to be paupers ? This "would be bad. " The class of men now idle are not the same that needed so much the great help they got a couple of winters ago. The necessity now strikes in among the families of men who, but a few years since, were well to do and had comfortable 1 homes; who were sturdy nnd iudepend--i. 1 i ..e t ill', IIUU WCl't! [JIUllU IU U^IIUIIUOO in the community. I feel persuaded thut when Mie wealthy come to the conclusion that it is good to help the unfortunate mechanics, the appreciation of that help would be vastly increased if, us far , as possible, the workinginen were themselves allowed to be the judges of where it was most needed, ami were the dispensers to each other of such tickets or orders for food as the money bestowed would warrant. I know that this trust would not be abused by the men, and that they themselves would be the first to expose any attempt at fraud. It would be easy to arrange the details that would secure this. If twenty wealthy men in the community gave ?3,000 each the 8100,000 so obtained would go a long way toward relief at this time. If the worst continued other wealthy men might supplement that amount with as much as was needed. I come down to figures, because it is either moncj' or starvation now; all hope of work is gone. There is no prospect of getting through the winter without something of this sort mi.. ? i: 1 u M1,? oeni? (lone, xne mumiuy iimiuj m approaching season could no) at all meet the distress which now prevails, because it would not reach the persons of whom I have been speaking." Business Before Congress. A very large number of bills are before the United States Congress which were left over from the last session, but it is not probable that one-fourth of them will be acted upon. Tlie calendar of the Senate shows that 212 bills are pending before that body, besides a number of resolutions. Seventy-four of the bills now before the Senate have been passed by the House, and 138 are Senate bills, many of them being of minor importance. 'Die calendar of the House of Representatives shows that there are forty-two bills of a public nature, and 231 of a private character pending before that body. Among the bills of importance before this Senate are the three bills amendatory of the Pacific railroad acts. The bill to equalize tlie bounties of soldiers who served in the late war, which passed the House last session, also stands upon the Senate calendar, having been reported favorably from the committee on military affairs. This bill passed two years ago, on tlie last day of the session, but did not become a law. The vote upon its passage in tlie Senate resulted in a tie, and tlie late Vice-President Wilson gave the deciding vote in the iUlinnative. The bill reducing the salary of the President of the United States from $50,000 to ?25,000 per annum passed last session, and was vetoed by the President. The House last session passed a bill to repeal tlie Bankrupt law, and the Senate committee on the judiciary reported it back without amendment, but also reported a bill providing for the appointment of a commission to investigate the operation of the several statutes in relation to bankruptcy, and to recommend legislation thereon. This bill has never bten considered by the Senate, but still occupies a place on the calendar. Por,An PiccuiiiARTTiES.?It is well known tlmt the spot at which the ships of the Arctic expedition wintered was so far north that they lost nil advantage during their long night of 140 days of the aurora borealis. Apparently they got behind not the north wind, but the ' polar light. This, however, was not altogether unexpected, but what was a i surprise to most on the expedition was , j that by wity of compensation they got ! nothing but full moons. . ? The Late Speaker Kerr. In tlie United States House of Representatives Mr. Cox, of New York, spoke of the late Speaker Kerr as follows : Mr. I Cox stated that, when by Mr. Kerr's j death bed, he asked him whether he was j readyto meet the terrors of death, the an- j swer was, that death had uo terrors for j him. He believed (Mr. Cox said) that a i just life on earth would give him his re- j ward. What, he asked, did Mr. Kerr ' believe in regard to the great future ? His faith was in his works; his religion was to be honest; he believed that his in- j tegrity and conscience were the sum of i pure, undefiled religion. He did not accept the dogmas of the church, or any j church; he did not accept all that was written or said about the Savior; but he did make the teachings of Christ a model ! for his own life. He believed in that old j creed of creeds, the loveliness of perfect deeds. With him laborarc was orare; ! work was his orison. And when lie left . to pass gently through the portals to the i other world it seemed as if nothing in: j /inriinto ma luff nf liim. He WAS a de votee of the peculiar class of pliiloso- J pliers known as Positivists. Mr. Cox related Mr. Kerr's late con- j versation with his son, in which he told | him that he had nothing to leave him but | his good name, and to guard that as he would guard his mother's honor, to live ' as he had lived, to pay all his debts if ! his estate warranted it without leaving ' his mother penniless,- and if not, to pay 1 them as far as he could, and then to go \ to his creditors, tell them the truth, aud ; pledge liis honor to wipe out the indebt- j edness. The national flag in the hall, ! now draped in honor of Mr. Kerr, was an omen painfully suggestive of the con- i dition of the country, and it was to be regretted that Mr. Kerr was not alive to give his counsel in this time of solici- ! tude and anxiety, because he loved the ! whole country and loved the States as a | unit. ! Farms and Wages In California. Our attention, says a San Francisco paper, has been called to the number of farms and" of agriculturists or persons engaged in farm labor in the Union and 1 in California, and we find that though the farms have 011 the average tliree j times as many acres in this State, there are fewer laborers to each farm. The 1 r\ r\nn t? } K HOO AAA nation 11ns ;s,oo?,uuo iamis anu u,a^,uw farmers, -while oiir State lias 23,000 farms and 47,000 fanners. Ohio, Connecticut and Nebraska have about tue same proportion as California, or two agriculturists for each farm; while New York, Pennsylvania and Illinois have three for two farms, and Alabama and Georgia have four for one farm. The larger average size of the California farm is caused by the fact that 2,700,000 acres out of (3,200,000 acres inclosed are used for pastures of wild grass, and that on account of the dry character and light, , clean soil of most of the farms, a man can cultivate a larger area than in the moist, weedy and heavy soils of the Atlantic States. There has been no notable change in the rate of wages in California for several years. Mechanics get from .$2 to $5 per day, unskilled white male laborers from ?1 to $3, and Chinamen from sixty cents to $1, without board. Masons, plasterers and plumbers receive from ?4 to So ner dav: carpenters, black smiths and wagonmukers, from $3 to $4; servant girls for general housework, $15 to $25 per month; farm laborers, from ?25 to 830 per month in winter, and from ?30 to $50 in summer, with board. Miners get $3.50 to $-1 per day, and surface laborers at mines $2.50 to $3, without board. The same work is done for half as much on the Atlantic slope and Australia, and one-third in Europe, and provisions generally are cheaper in California. The United States Supreme Court. The Albany Law Journal opposes any amendment of the Constitution which shall provide for the canvassing of the electoral votes by the supreme court of the United States, for reasons which certainly have a great deal of force. It says: At present the supreme court stands high in the respect ol' the people, and every one has confidence in the purity of the motives influencing its members, lint let it be brought into the conflicts of politics, whether as an arbitrator or otherwise, and the high regard which is felt for it will no longer remain. No matter how pure and exalted the individual, the moment he becomes involved in n. can test for nublic office he is charged with every kind of wrong, and whether the charges be true or false they have the effect to stain his reputation, and no vindication will completely efface the stain. If the supreme court takes part in politics, those not satisfied with its decision will impeach the motives leading to such decision, and many will he led to believe that projier motives did not influence it. Then, too, the temptation to do wrong will often be very great, and there is danger that it may some time be strong enough to influence even our highest tribunal, and if such should be the case we would be well on the way toward a destruction of constitutional government. We have a court of last resort above the shadow of suspicion. Let us keep it so. The Knriiing of the Richmond Theater. The Richmond Thoate- was burned in the month of December, like the Brooklyn Theater, but the day after Christinas. Richmond had then only 10,000 inhabitants, but there were six hundred people at the play. The points of the tragedy were much like those of the present one. A chandelier set the scenery on lire, the stiiw mechanics became panic stricken, the flames burst upon the audience, and there was only one door for escape, and the windows were very high. Sixty-one persons were published next morning as dead, and in all about ?one hundred perished, among them many fashionable ladies and children, the governor of the State, the president of the bank, and members of such families as Mayo. Yen able, Botts, liraston, Galle^o, Page, Coutts, Nelson, Marshall, Stevenson, Clay, Griffin and Greenhow. A slave, Gilbert Hunt, personally rescued twelve ladies by catching them in his arms. "He obtained his freedom," wrote the annalist of the city. .Remarkable ('(ire of Croup. A remarkable cure of a case of membranous croup in Xew Haven, Conn., in a little boy two years and nine months old, is reported. The child seemed certain to die and a surgical operation was decided upon. A hole was cut in the windpipe and a bent tube inserted. Inside of this tube was one of a smaller size, the two being necessary in order to keep the t>ne through which breathing is carried on free from the obstructions of blood and membrane which were given off in coughing. The tubes were in use from Tuesday noon until the Thursday of the following week, and for five days the only nourishment administered to the patient was a little milk. His recovery is remarkable considering the exhausting character of the disease, but perfect sue- ' cess attended the hazardous operation. A Famine.?A Calcutta report pays the accounts of the famine received from Madras are worse than tliose from Bombay. Large numbers of starving people are flocking into Madras. Deaths from starvation have occurred. Much ilistrcss and disease exists in the country districts. A Careless Monarch. The king of Burmah understands that j Russia is about to invade England; in j consequence, he is putting his new mild j forts in order. He lias purchased three new Krupp field guns, and with these feels himself impregnable. He has al- i ready tried some of these guns on his j unsuspecting subjects, and finds that the ordinance answers all expectations. His } majesty personally observed the exliilarating effects of ' shell and grape and i canister on a village tliree-quarters of a . mile distant from the firing point. The villagers skipped nimbly about, to the great delight of their sovereign lord, who soon set their village aflame. Rockets were also tried with surprising effect, especially as one sudiWhly Jjurst and killed a leading palace functionary who was engaged in deftly training the missile. His majesty was so incensed at ' n fow to be ! lino til (lb lit; uiutivu ? ^ lireil into tlie shipping in Irawaddy river, which flows past liis capital of Mandalay. Two native craft were observed to sink ; before the whole of the vessels conld cut j and slip. His Bnnnese majesty is con-1 fident that with his Krupp guns he may 1 safely defy any such puny foreign power ! as Britain. On the strength of tliis opinion his majesty has united his sacred person to three more wives, and there is a "sound of revelry" in Mandalay. A Warning to Young Women. A French gentleman who was to be : married sent his intended bride a pres- j ent of diamonds worth ?3,000. Wishing to enjoy the gratification of his bride, ; he followed closely on the heels of his present, and finding no one in the parlor, ensconced hiin3elf in a window behind the curtains. Presently a bevy of girls fluttered into the room, and all began talking at once. "Oh ! did you ever see such a beautiful corbcillc f , Louise is lucky! What a generous j husband she will have !" said one. "She I ought to be happy, to be sure. But do you know what she told me just now? Why, that she had rather have the corbcillc without the gentleman who gave it." "It can't be; she never said so !" "She certaiuly did ; and there she is?ask her for yourself. Louise, didn't you tell me you would rather have tlie corbcillc alone, without M. Melier?" "Yes, I did say so; but; that's between ourselves." "Much obliged to you, madamoiselle," said M. Melier, coining forward, "you shall not have either." So saying, he coolly put the splendid present under his arm and ; walked off, leaving the ladies in an embarrassment " easier conceived than expressed. " - ? mmi 11 - What the Mikado Says. The Japanese minister presented to President Grant a letter addressed to him by the mikado of Japan, of which the following is a translation : Great and Good Friend : Now that the great Exposition in honor of the one ' hundredth year of your excellency's na tionnl government lias been eminently successful, I write to congratulate you anil the people over whom you preside. From my subjects in the United States I have heard nothing but words of kindness in regard to the manner in which they have been treated, and I believe the recent intercourse between our countries will have a tendency to strengthen the friendship already existing. I would here express the sincere hope that the incoming century will not only witness the continued progress and prosperity of your nation in all branches of industry, but also prove an era of peace. This will be handed to you in person by my minister residing near your government, who has been directed to emphasise my very friendly congratulations. (Signed) Mutsuhito. Tokio, the first day of the tenth month of the ninth year of Meiji. Love at First Slgrlit. Tiie first time that Gen. Custer set his handsome eyes upon his future wife was when no was fifteen years old, and going to school in Monroe, Mich. Going along the street one day, the rough, flaxen headed, freckled faced boy passed a little black eyed, eight-year-old gir1 swinging on a gate. She was a pretty little creature, her father's pet, iui only child, and naturally spoiled. She said,''archly, her little face dimpling with sfliiles: "Hello! you Custer boy!" Then, frightened at herown temerity, turned anil fled into the house. It was love at first sight with the wild young savage of fifteen, anil he then and there vowed that some day that small girl should be hin wife. And so she was, but only after many lovers' woes; for Judge Bacon, pretty Lizzie's father, was a long time obdurate toward the young man who he . feared was fickle and unstable, and his daughter and her suiUr submitted most patiently to his will until at last he relented. His Dinner. A financier was receiving at dinner a distinguished guest renowned for his taste, and in the course of conversation the latter spoke of having dined the day before at a house where the host had " entertained the company with some excellent epigrams." The financier's jealousy was excited. He rang for his cook, and, in the presence of his distinguished guest, asked him whether he could make epigrams, anil, if so, how it happened that he had hitherto concealed his talent. Without allowing the astonished cook to reply, the financier ordered him in a per +/-v nYA o /Null nf uiuyiui j muuiitji VKJ OUi ? C HjV <* VUI74J. w* epigrams at the next day's dinner, and at the same time invited the distinguished guest to come and see whether they"were as good as those of which he had just spoken. It's Just Awful. Mr. George "William Curtis, talking ot railway manners, tolls this story: A young woman suddenly flounces in her seat and throws up her arms, and exclaims to her follow travelers, through a companion: "Did you ever know anything so hot ? I'm stifling. Can't you open this window ? Whew! whew! Oh, dear! it's dreadful, isn't it! It's always so in those cars. My ! it's awftil!" On one Occasion, when this kind of remark had been made at some length for the edification of the company, a voice was heard from the other end of the car: " Yes'm, it's awful. But lot's try to boar up. "Taiu't nofrhin' to the sufferin's of the early Christians!" A general laugh followed, and nothing further was heard from that young woman. Do Not Drink Vinegar. T,n: )!*/? sit' 7Ti>nJfit n/lvwr>?3 over-stout people not to seek to reduce flesh by drinkiug vinegar or smoking, but to maintain as perfect a digestion as possible and avoid fat making foods, such as starch in the shape of potatoes, flour bread and rice. Spirits, malt liquors and sweets are to be abjured. The gluten of wheat is the best food. It will sustain life in full vigor, but it wil not add an ounce of fat to the body. " Do you believe it is true," asked a gentleman, <>f rather slim reputation for honesty, of a lady, "that whenever a man gets into trouble there is always a woman at. the bottom of it?" " 1 don't know but it is line," demurely replied the lady ; "I have heard that in your own case there was a certain mis-demeanor at the bottom of yonr trouble." Items of Interest. A man con take a joke best after he lias taken his dinner. Boned turkey is good if boned -with, the consent of the owner. ' One smile for the living is better than a dozen tears for the dead. "What is that which flies high, flies low, , lias no feet, yet wears shoes ? Dust. Now is the time to go around and cliase away the " wolves" from your poor neighbors' door. In Brazil diamonds are found on mountaies 6,000 feet above the sea. Thus is what makes them so high. " The largest number of "bolters" in Wisconsin at the election should have been in Door county. Probabilities: When you see a man going home at two o'clock in the morning, and know his wife is waiting for him, it is likely to be btormy. Two railroad companies in Missouri pay their hands with checks, for fear of having their pay cars waylaid and robbed while running from point to point. The following conversation took place recently in a hotel: "Waiter?" "Yes, sir." " What's this ?" " It's bean soup, sir." " No matter what it has been, the question is?what is it now ?" A lady wished a seat in a crowded hall. A handsome gentleman gave her a chair. " You are a jewel," she said. (i Oh, no, I am a jeweler; I have jubt set the jewel." To obtain the necessary sinews of war the Russian government has issued notices that from and after the first of January next the import duties must be paid in gold. A Norman peasant does not believe there is auy virtue in vaccination, because only two days after his aunt had endured the" operation she fell down stairs and broke an arm. It is stated tliat 60,0Q0 Philadelphia families will break up housekeeping on the first of January and start around the country making Centennial calls. Revenge is sweet. "Thought I'd leave my measure on your floor," said a man who fell down in a barroom. " No necessity for that," said the barkeeper. "We know exactly how much you hold." When your steak is broiled done put it on a hot dish, sprinkle with minced parsley, salt and pepper, lay on lumps of butter, and put it into a hot oven until there is no juice or butter visible. " Mother, have I any children ?" asked an urchin of ejght summers. ** vv ny, no! Wliat-put that in your head ?" returned the surprised parent " Because I read to-day of children's children," answered the acute juvenile. Tlie average speed of railroad trains from New York to the Pacific coast is nineteen miles an hour, and the San Francisco newspapers urge that it be increased to thirty, which would shorten the journey over two days. ., A minister in Lexington, Ky., lately said in the puljnt that he had seen a pack of cards and a backgammon board in the parlor of a member of liis church, and alter services several pious men scolded their wives for carelessness. " "What is the trouble among our . young men ?" Around here it seems to be that there are six working days between every two Sundays, and they feel that it -is an unjust dispensation, and that there ought to be more Sundays. The paragraphist of the future will write such items us this: "A strong wind came through a window and overturned Mrs. Weeder's crematory jar . yesterday forenoon, and her husband's timings were swept away in a twinkling." General Hawley says that the best thing he saw at the Exhibition was the American people, and that during the whole time he was there he did not see a single intoxicated person on the grounds, nor did he witness any difficulty or alter- - cation. , In China agriculture is considered the llO DIGSC 01 (ITtti DO WaaIUU mvii u<ui utvuujf To such a degree is tlie worship of this art carried thnt the annual fete day of agriculture is attended by the emperor in person, who on this day humbly wields the plow. Let Turks delight to liowl and fight, for 'tis their nature to; let bear and Lion growl and bite, for madness made them so. But, Yankees, you should never let your angry passions rise; don't quarrel; trade, work hard, lie low, nnd forward the supplies. A man named Watts, living in Sao v county, Wisconsin, saw a prairie chicken 011 the top of his wheat stack and shot at it. The wadding from the gun set the stack on fire; the lire destroyed that, the bam and the house. Loss, $2,500. The chicken flew away. In the department of Biscay, France, eveiy landowner must plant two saplings for every timber tree he cuts down. In Java the birth of every child is celebrated by planting a fruit tree, which is ns rnvefullv tended as the record of the ng-e of tlic' child whose birth- it registers. A novel attempt at suicide is reported from Delphi, Ind. One Greiss, a hard drinker, purchased ten cents' worth of powder, tilled his mouth with powder, and touched it off with a lighted coal. His mouth and face were terribly burned, but it is thought he will recover. Seven Chinamen are partners in business in San Francisco. A creditor, finding it hard work to collect a debt, learned that the money was in the safe, the safe had seven different locks, each partner had one key, and they had to be unanimous before the money could be got at. One of the customers in a barber's shop sees a dog of ungainly aspect sitting opposite intently watching him. " Why does that dog look at me so ?" " Why, sir, occasionally my hand slips, and I am so unfortunate as to snip off a bit of ear." "Eh! and what then?" "Why, then he eats it." The property of the proprietors of a faro bank in San Francisco has been attached at the suit of Parrott k Co., bankers, who charge that their defaulting clerk lost some ?35,000 of the funds of the bank at the gaming tables of the defendants. It is rumored that a number of prominent citizents will be subpoenaed as witnesses for the plaintiffs, and the affair is likely to cause some excitement. At a recent Sunday-school reunion the superintendent proposed that they form a line and march to the song " Hold the Fort." Accordingly the lino was formed with Deacon B. at the head. All went beautifully until they came to the second verse: " See the mighty host advancing, Satan loading on. ' when they were all so impressed with the exceeding appropriateness of the thing, that singing, marching, decorum and all solenni feelings were knocked into pi by a general roar of laughter at the expense of Deacon B. Disabled Soldiers. The board of managers for the United States national home for disabled volunteer soldiers say that the attendance is larger now than it lias ever been. There are .'{,200 disabled soldiers at the central branch, Dayton, 0.; 751 at the Eastern branch, Augusta, Me.; 758 at the North western branch, Milwaukee, Wis.; and (327 at the Southern branch, Hampton, Vn., making n total of 5,339.