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ABBEVILLE PRESS AND BANNER ! BY HUGH WILSON. ABBEVILLE, S. C.. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 1883. NO. 1. VOLUME XXVIII. . 31 EVENING SONG. Behind the hilltop drops the sun, The curled heat falters on the sand; While evening's ushers, one by one, Lead in the guests of twilight land. The bird is silent overhead, Below the beast has lain him down; Alono the marbles watch the dead. Alone the steeple guards the town. The south wind feels its amorous course To cloistered sweets in thickets found; The leaves obey its tender force, And stir 'twixt silence and a sound. ?John Vance Cheney, in the Century. | THE SEXTON'S GHOST. Simon Gray berry, the old sexton of liushport, was dying. liushport was a respettable little fi.-hing village, perched on a saucy-looking bluff right over the oce;tn: at its foot was a snug little cove, running up a sandy beacn to the very 1 as?: of the rocks, where the fishing crafts lsiy cozily at anchor, when they were not scudding over the , waves miles away, or ro king idly to the music of the lish-lines and th* dancing of the porpoises. Bushport had one church (Methodist ) and one graveyard, where Simon (?ray berry had, for years too many to remember, supervised the departure BV from earth to e.irth of the sires and grandsires of the hardy young fislur-[ men who were now growing up around him. Simon had grown gray in the service of the dt ad, among whom, ten years before, he had deposited the last remains of his faithful wife; and now j the gathering shadows of the final summons tol l him that he, too, must I repare to join those silent ones in their I last resting-place. Three years before Simon had parted ; with his * nlv son, a hardy sailor, who ! had gone ou a whaling voyage. Six j i months later news had come that the ship had sunk in the northern seas, j and all on board had perished. All in the village mourned the stout-1 hearted Tom Gray berry, who bad grown up, man and boy. among them; but chiefly had mourned a little fair- i haired creature, just in her teens, to 1 whom Tom had I een more than to any j other. Alice Scott?so had grief matured > her?ha 1 grown into womanhood in those thirty months, and she it was who, taking upon herself the duties of a daughter to him who had none, had , devoted herself to him ever since, until the old man had learned to regard her i as such, and to grieve for his lost son i chiefly that his sad fate had prevented : the possibility of her ever becoming so : in very truth. . She it was who now sat beside Simon's wasted form, held his hand,j and watched the hist spark of life as ! it flickered iow before the final darkness. . Simon had been respected in his day an 1 generation, and all the village waited sadly fur news of his departure. A few of tl:e older men, rough, hardfeaturul fisherimn. stood at his bedside, while one or two of their wives,; rough, to >, but kindly-disposed, minis- j, trred tchii f.-w remaining necessities, j The doctor stood near h.m, and held his hand; the tal'ow-candl j on th tu ue: n:i Keren, us aorun 01 wuiu uutsl in under the door and rattled the case-! ment; storm gusts held high ca nival j j outside; f< r it was in the last days of j1 iNovemb r, and the snow-clouds were sailing on, heavily fr. ight d. Suddenly t he doctor raised his hand , warningly; Alice rose and leaned over j' the b d, while the rest drew closer |! together, and then the head and i shouhlers raised painfully in the bed, j the dull eyes lighted up, and with one j skinny forefinger pointing to the door, \ while his gray locks and matte 1 beard j' tremble 1 with a convulsed motion, the !' old sexton spoke: "One, two, three, four, five! rive , J rings, one 1 racelet, two pins ! "Who j fhall havo them? Tom shall have . them ! "Who says it's robbery?' The old man turned his head from ! one to the other, and glared at the startled and horror-stricki n one31 around him; then he said, slowly and in a whisper: ' I buried?them?under?the?" [ The chin fell heavily on his breast, j and he sunk down into the bed in a j 'confus d mass. ? There was much talk the next day , about the last words of old Simon, and j though sundry wise heads were shaken, and some shrewd doubts were expressed,! they were generally set down as the ; last incoherent exclamations of a brain which had cwise.I to act lucidly, and j were passed over. The body was properly laid out; I watchers came forward to sit up with j it; and the next day following was appointed for the funeral service.*. Old Simon's cottage was near the graveyard; his body lay on the bed I where he had slept for forty years, and ; ^ the little sitting-room next to it was I occupied on the watch-night by two: 'old crones, who had volunteered for j the purpose. A l>right Ore blazed on the hearth; | the table,* with two lighted candles, i stood beside it; the teakettle sung noisily on the hob; and these two, sit-. ting c< mfortably in their Hoston rockers, were inclined to take the ?i?ht' e;usilv, and chatted over the merits ami . peculiarities of the dea 1, the strange i occurrence of his last moments, and any-1 thing that turned up in the way of village gossip, as those will who accustom themselves to such duties. Meanwhile, the snowstorm that had ; been pr.?misi:i?r a visit had all day been j .,,1.1 n. 'V \v:i? (iriff'il'r into u'hitft ! ira ses through the street. was whirling in blinding clbuils through the air. j while not a single being in the wtmu, village vfaptKf* uooi's, "and in the nouses warn; fires and hot drinks did their test to make things cory and comfortable. rSo the hours wore away, and, as ^ the evening grew late, the two old r rones, grown tired of gossip, had n tided their frow.-y old heads at one ! another until both had gone olf into a , profound ; nd noisy sleep. Now down the street, a short dis-; tan:( from Simon Gray berry's cottage, there was a tavern, and in the bar- j room, where a huge wood-fire went I cracki ng and hissing up the wide- ' mouthed chimney, there were corjgre- j gated, as usually congregated there on wi: ter nights, a do/en or so of the inha itants of the village, who met thus ' nightly to enjoy heir punch and their pipes in so:"?ul communion. 'i !iis night. :a particular, punch and ] i't. n were iu extraordinary demand. Th? season had been so open %nd tree j frt m storms that this was really the lirst occasion that had offered for such a gathering, and it had been taken advantage of by m.?re than the usual quota of jolly weatherbeaten tars, who _ sat and canvassed, sententiously, such j t;: n? cainft hpforn them. Among these, naturally enough, the question of Sexton Gray berry's re-, markable utterances at his off-going ! was brought prominently forward. " IJlarst my eyes!" said "English Bob," as he wassailed, a burly, goodnatured-looking fellow, who leaned back against the mantel, and talked in a husky voice through a cloud of "the essence of old Virginny," "I've a hidea the old chap's been priggin' summat as has laid 'eavy on 'is conshuns." " Xonsense!" answered the landlord, seeing no one else was likely to take ) up; "old Simon Mas as honest as ^ nifty make 'em; and, beside, where on - earth could he find anything to * prig' in this consumed poor place?" This was unanswerable, and the vilifier of the dead was silenced for a moment. Presently, a long, lean, slab-sided, lantern-jawed peddler, who had come in belated and put up for the night, put in his word. He was dressed in a fr ied, seedy-looking suit of black, and at-'. v V?"., V*f"--. . ArSi'-l'i'jLiv.,L'-:- .v. presented anything but an inviting aj>pearance. lie had b en silent thus far, ha 1 hrard the story of the deathbed seen * told and r, told, and now, as he sat with hs legs crossed, and his chair tilted ha- k. he drawled out: "Waal. I'm a stranger here, and hain't got no call to me Idle w th th ngs as don't c.msarn inc. but if it was m> as I hed any interest in these parts. I should be kinder lo tk^n' around a ter the family jewdry, and if t' e livepeop'e's plunder was all rig .t I s'.ioul 1? well, I slioul 1 lit v my sus; icions !' Everybody started at that, and the landlord, who felt 1 ound 'o support the credit < f his deceased friend, ha I already opened his mouth to call the vituperative vender of small wares to order, w'.ien the doer opent'd, and his wife call d him with such evident earne-itne s, that he turned at once, fihiindmioil lii< int< ntinn :inil follows I her out of the 100:11. Every elTort was now made to bring the peddler to book, and induce him to expla n his meaning; but nothing more could be got out of him than, " Waal. I ain't a-going to consarn my-1 self in what aiu t none of my bus'ness, but I can only say, if it was my ease, I should be suspicious!" Sundry growls and sour looks were beginning to show that this indelinit'.* i advice was not palatable, and might j be resented; and matters, in fact,' were beginning to a-sume a squally appearan *e, when the landlord re-en tered. " Uoys," said he, "my wife and i! ain't nowise satisfied about the Uoston coach nnt coming in : she's more than [ three hours late, and, though it's a ! roug'i night, she ought to hive been; here before this ; and, in my humble ; opinion, she's a blamed sight more im-1 portance than that purveyor of pins j and needles' suspicions about what he I don't know nothing consarninV Here he jerkel his thumb in the j direction of the peddler, who shrugged I his shoulders, and said nothing. I * ***** Now, the village of Bushport wa? situated just twenty-one miles northand-by-east of Btston, from winch place there came, three times a week, a coach bearing the mail, leaving Boston at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, i and performing the journey in about i four hours, if nothing interrupted of a I nature calculate.! to prevent safe and I moderately rapi I driv ng. ' This was a "coach-day," and, ptinctu- j ally at four, the aforesaid vehicle, I painted blue, and appropriately named : the " Bluebird," started valiantly forth, out of the stableyard in a narrow street in the suburbs of Boston, and, with three passengers insi.Ie for waystati? ns, and one passenger outside for Bushport, took its way along the highroad, in a direction north-;ind-by-eastward, through what was already a respectable snowstorm, hoping to j accomplish the journey before the j roa^ls became so blocked up as to utterly ( preclude wheeling; for the snow- j storm had come on sullenly, and the ' Bluebird's" r.inners were at Bushport. The first ten miles were made in two hours an I a hair, and there the last of the "in.-ides ' left the coach, rejoicing. Eleven miles t > go, the snow drift-1 . _ __ , | ing neavuy, aim a miiiuiiig wiuu uriv ; ing in the faces of the driver and the ; one "outside,' who said lie was a1 sailor, and laughed to scorn the idea of i " going below on account of a little . snow squall." .Seven miles further on the "Blue-: b'rd" stopped to change horses and driver and "outside" went into the | little tavern to get supper. j, A line, stalwart, sailer-looking fellow was the "outside;" tall and handsome, > with chestnut curls all over his head und down on his white fort-head; laughing blue eyes shining through the drops j of wet that lr ng on his eyelashes; rosy cheeks, that glistened after the pelting j they had received. Driv. r and "outside" were both j urged to put up for the night; but the : driver was plucky, ;;nd would not be bluffed off bringing his mail in, and the "outside" said that he would get to Bushport that n:gl.t, if he had to j \y;uk mere. So the supper was eaten, and, with two lighted pipes in mouth, driver and " outside" mounted on the box, and the I whip cracked, and away they went j again into the driving wind and through the drifting snow. It was now past nine, and, though the c< ach pressed gallantly forward, it; made but little headway, the smoking horst s having desperate hard work to j keep on a fast walk. Two of the four miles had be.'n passed over when, as the couch made a sharp turn round a l;6nd in the road which the wind had blown dry, the off fore-whe 1 struck a tree, which an un-, lucky bhv-t had blown across the road,j and wi:h a jolt :ind a he.ive over went the "Blue!" rJ," and away flew driver i and "outside" into a drift, where they j disappeared, to crawl out again, ehak<?j themselves, and stare lugubriously at! the down-fallen vehicle. Fortuna'elv, they were near a farm- j house, and th t'jer l?oth betook themselves, and obtaining assistance tho horses were soon housed in a comfortable I a-n. Tiie driver then announced bis int"ntion of accepting the cordial invitation they both received to remain all i night, but the "outside," game to the ; last, resisted every solicitation, and after warming hiinsolf by the lire, swung a bundle which he carried over h s shoulder, and, with a stout stick in his band, plump d resolutely into the snow again. The farmhouse d'>or c!ose behind j him, and as he ga'n-d ' he road, marknl oulv liv tiie 1 V3LLr ' ween the fields and woo ls on either side, lie almost f--It inclined to give if. up; 1 i.t he was a courageous ft 1J n\\ i h s sailor, and .*ti'!ing the momentary ?* ikness he tru iged on. It was past eleven when the lights of the village appeared, and. with a sigh of relief, in- stepped more lightly,' thinking o.f the warn, reception which was to repay liltn for tlii.-. night's inconvenience, arid many <ther nights' peril and adversity. As hp moved on ins thoughts took shape in two forms of expnssion: " I wonder if the old man lives !" and " I wonder if she has forgotten me!" The straggling houses .?f the were passed; t!io .Id church loomed ;ij> m tin* darkness; u cottage near bv was li^'.t. ti up in onf room, and he le.-iiwd for nionv-nt "n the railing "f t!.* giavvard and hesitated Suddenly, as hi*eye glanced over Unwell remembered stones, lie .-a*\ soujc- . thing move. A chill, more piercing! than the cold blast he had been under i for so many hours, almost fro/.e his ' b.'ood, for the sailor-mind is proverbi-1 ally superstitious, But he stood still, j gazed and waited. It was a tall figure; white?of course j everything was white?and it tottered I weakly toward the gate near which ^e I leaned. Presently it reached him, opened the gate, and as he stood with his tongue clinging to the roof of his mouth, and his hair bristling with fear, he knew who it was?it was Simon Grayberry, the sexton of Bushport. Springing forward, he caught the old man in his arms, while he shouted to him: " Father ! father ! It is me ! Don't i 3*ou know me! It's Tom?your boy, j Tom!" Then the oia sexton sioou erect, <uiu holding up liis finger, whispered: " Hush ! don't speak so loud ! I've j got them, every one! I robbed them !" and he pointed to the graves, "But, Tom, I'm sorry! I'm sorry! And you won't tell any one ?" Tom put the little box which his | father gave him carefully in his pocRet;! a dim idea of the truth possessed him, \* *- .... . ^ I ' and taking the emaciated form in hla arms lie stepped with the burden tc the door of the tavern, which was nearer than the cottage, and where he saw a light burning; and so just as ! the landlord had made the remark concerning the lat ness of the Boston co;rh, it happened that the tavern door oj oaed, and a stout figure, in a sou'wester, and covered with snow, >t ig^ered in, bearing in his arms the body of dead Sexton (irayberry. " Hour a hand ! Uoys, it's me, Tom (Irayberry, and this is my father. I found the old gentleman wandering in the graveyard in his nightelothes ; he must have be.-n out of his head." Such a start as that crowd of fishermen got may be imagined. They retreated back into a corner, and looked at Tom and the prostrate form at hia feet as though both were ghosts. Finally the landlord clapped Tom on the shoulder, and said: " You're Tom (irayberry, that I'll go bail: but the old man's dead, and wo left two women a-watching of him up to the cottage: lie died last night." Tom had risen up and stood looking at him for a moment; then he stoop, d down, tore open t! e long gown that wrapped the old man. and placed liis hand over his heart. It had stopped beating. "He is dead now," said Tom. "Come with me, some of you;" and, raising the body tenderly in his arms, he strode through the door, over the way, and straight on to the cottage. The landlord ran ahead and opened the door, while the crowd followed at a respectful distance. As they entered the sitting-room the two women rose, screaming cut of their sleep, frightened at this sudden inroad. Hut nothing recked Tom, as he carried the body straight past them to the bedroom, and laid it on the empty bed ! The whole matter was plain now; the window was open, and through it the old sexton, awakened from his swoon, had taken his fearful course. Torn said nothing about the box of jewelry, and two days atter the old sexton was quietly buried in the little graveyard. Tom staid in Bushport many months; and when the spring openea ne auu swt'ei auw ocuu wciu married in the old church. And the good people of Bushport never knew anything more definite than the peddler's " suspicions," and their own imaginings, ahout Simon Grayberry's deathbed speech, or the true story of the "Sexton's Ghost." FASHION* XOTES. Chenille fringe is in great favor. Sage green is one of the newest shades. Sleeves of street dresses are made longer. Beaded jerseys are becoming and stylish. Lace is extensively used on handsome bonnets. Bibbons will be used to excess in dress garniture. Tight-fitting waists are to prevail in summer as in winter costumes. One of the prettiest designs in the new style of locket* is in the square shap:*, made of rolled gold. Detached passementerie ornaments are more fashionable lor mantle and dress trimmings than bands, braids or fringes. This is a ribbon season, Hats, bows and rosettes being worn on all parts of the dress, the bonnet and the wrap or mantle. -LiOng wuii; t> eiiiurumcicu juuauu polonaises, trimmed with d'.*ep bands and edgings of embroidered muslin, will bs worn. Linen band collars have two buttonholes near the upper e:lge, through which narrow ribiion is run and tied in a long looped bow. High sleeves and high collars, the long pointed basque, and the robe cut away from the hips re.nain the features in summer styles. l'ocket handkerchiefs of sheer lawn are colored corn liower blue, sapphire blue, olive, terra-cotta, Havana brown and raspberry red. Many of these have an embroidered edge. There is a tendency to wear colored mantles in preference to b'aek this season, or black velvet gauze mantles lined with color, but all bl.ck mantles are by no means discarded. Among the yellow tlowers largely Imported f< r millinery purposes this season are the familiar-looking dandelions, golden rod, chrysanthemums, (tn/1 voll/iw /l'liolro uiau^uiuo (tun jcuv?? Thick canton flannel is used on the dinner table under the damask. it not only deadens the sound of rattling dishes, but protect the china when set down quickly on the table. India mull of a robin's-egg blue is handsome and effective when combined with a cream white lace, disposed in drapery. A dress in this model is very becoming for a young girl. The new parasols :ire made of Ottoman silk, satin, watered silk and brocades. They are usually lined with white silk and are edge I with embroidery in silk or rullles of lace. Many of the cotton sateens and per? I - i - .1.... I'iUt'S 1VI" aUUlIUl'ft aaiu Jitigw bouquets or detached flowers, such as roses, lilies, etc., in bright colors on ecru, cream or pale blue ground. Linen lawns are shown in beautiful designs this season. Some have large rings, blocks, bars, balls, stripes and stars, others have natuial-looking flower.-, on ecru, white, fawn and blue grounds. __Jndia mull is the bribe's dress of thb seas< n. ~~The trams^th?S^^ii ^ in a Watteau plait from the *ho\d<&v?? a :d tfie veil is of tulle, the wreath and | tamiture-i of orange blossoms, buds and inu'-'i <jrerr; J iliag.*. I a?es and rudiings are used on rich diiih?-r or ever.ing dresses. I.inen "hilars if- military .shape are fortheh'?use nil strfct wear. To be stv'i-hly dressed fur the str.et the simplest linen collar must be worn. j A very pr.-tty evening dress has the tniit "C white and terra eotta brocade and a !on<j Martha Washington train without any drapny. The pointed has'jne !>u; a square open neck and is trimmed with duchess Jace. On". (?: tls;? lakes', imported round hiiis i.< a luw, r?>;irMl-<To\vned derby, wi!!; wide r??!hng it5 it. These are >!i<'-,vn i:i felt, straw and chip; the <r> most popular are. cardinal, gar:i?*. terra eotta, dark gre n and black. 1'ir.'proof lh>cllings. A rather severe test of the fireproof plaster invented by Mr. Hitchins was recently male in London. A brick building of three stories wat built for the purpose and lined on lloor, ceiling and' walls with the plaster. The rooms above an'I below were filed with combustible materials and lighted. The fire raged for half an hour, and notwithstanding the fires ab >ve ;ind below, a room on the middle Hat wa< entered and found to bo untouched, and cool. To complete the test a large fire was made in that loom, and the heat melted the glass (f the windows The three fires were eventually put out by a hose, and the joists under the floors were found to be intact. The test seamed to prove that with Hitchins' fireproof plaster a fir.* may be conlined, at least for a longtime, tithe apartment in which it originates. All the Asian authorities agree that if a profane skeptic should undertake to chop off or twist off the sacred tail of a genuine white elephant he would ineet with sudden death. Last year, the United States made way with 1,100,000 tons of sug:ir. THE WONDERS OF NATURE. SOME CUBIOUS OCCUPATIONS 07 ANIMALS. Rlrda tlinC Biilld Apartment Hoiihp* nnd Keep Hotclx?Atitn Krtrnirrn nnd Hpldrrn as Sailor*. "There's a curious reflection of human affairs in the actions of the lower animals,'' said a naturalist to a ! reporter of the New York Sun. " Ev< rything lut the dynamite j phras v' suggested t!i*? latter. " Xc, I won't except that," was the ! reply; "and I'll wa^cr you can't mention a class of men or an occupation followed by them to winch I < an't show you something similar in the socalled lower animal kingdom;'* The repoi tersuggest*d the d\il unite fiend. " Well,*' continue 1 the naturalist, pulling out a drawer upon which was a Mood-curdling name, ' here's a bottle that belongs to the explosive brotherhood, and so powerful an agi*.t it is that it is called the 'Bombardier,' and is ready to go oil at a mon ent's notice. It is as you see an old-fashioned sort of a fellow?doesn't affect long hair and the like; but let an enemy follow it too closely and it st.ips suddenly, and if you were listening you would hear a report, a puff of smoke would rise in the air, and the pursuer would be completely demoralized. I have seen these bombardiers lire live or six times in as many minutes, whirling about as if taking aim. The explosives come from a gland. Quite a number of animals carry explosives. The larva; of some dragon Hies eject a liquid irritating to man. The squids, however, lead in this respect. I remember drifting along over tlie reef at Nassau several years ago, and >eeing several squids just below the surface, I put out mv hand, and in a second my dearest friend would not have known me. I was literally drenched with ink, which was thrown from a distance of at least three feet. It was indelible, and I still have t!ie vouchers in the way of s'ainetl linen. "Among the animal workers all occupations are found. Take a colony of bees, for instance. In forming a nest one set of bees are ordinary laborers and form the rough cells. A set of skilled laborers then take hold and fihape the cells, and so on. Among the ants the workers not only have their Share to do, but th?y differ from the others in shape and general appearand, the kings, queens, soldiers and laborers b 'ing all markedly different in appear.ince. The soldiers have enormous jaws, but never work. They rush out fiercely when you break into a nest. If the enemy is not visible they return, an I the laborers come out and begin repairs. The army ants of South America snow great intelligence. The workers, like our sappers and miners, often go ahead and form a protective arch, umkr which the soldiers march, and so rapidly is tl is thrown up that the onward march is not del.iim.l Tim ;irr> nlgr? sljivp nwnftrs. They capture ants of other species and force them to woik for them and attend then: as b, dv servants ! St) luxurious do seme of these slave owners become that they ;irc utterlv helpless when deprived of their menials. The latter not only wait on their masters, hut feed them. If the slaves are tak< n away their owners perish. "Ants are also farmers. In Texas a tribe collect th seeds of various plants and plant them in close proximity to their hornet, so they can benefit hy th see 1. The farmer or grain ants of Europe store up vast supplies in underground granaries. After a damp season the seeds are taken out and la d in the sun and finally returned." "IIow is it the seeds don't sprout?'' asked the r.'i orter. lopfnl rvirt-. nf 111(11 D WU?J 1UUOW ?i VU IV?IU? !'.?> V it. The seeds (lun't sprout, though there they arc, planted underground and kept fresh. It is supposed that the anls bite the s;e!s in some way so that they are in a state of coma, just as wasps sting animals so that they remain insensible for months. Ants may be said also to keep cows?not exactly Durhams, but insects that answer the same purpose. They colloct the plant lice and, by caressing them in some way, force or induce them to give out or exude a drop of sweet liquor. I have seen live or six ants awaiting their turn to milk one of these cows. The ants often collect tlij eggs of the aphides, place them on plants near the r homes, and care for them in many ways, just as we do for our blooded sto'jk. In the fall ants have been known to t;;ke their cows undergroun 1 and try to keep them through the winter. Many ants keep beetles and other insects as pets, some as playfellows, others on account of their odor. Several hundred distinct species of insects are in this way kept prisoners under ground. "In engineering theants are equally skillful. They 1 ridge wide rivers by joining together the r bodies, clinging one to another, and thus forming a long string that the wind blows across the stream. In tins way a bridge is formed over which an entire army passes. "Many birds have the decorative instinct. Certain ones in Africa are said to fasten fireflies to their nests, that gleam at night like so many diamonds. Another African bird bites oft all its tail feathers except the tip of the longest plume, and thus gives itSelf a jaunty air. The hornbills color their feathers artificially from certain glands. A family of birds found in ] Australia and allied to th?i birds of paradise, 1 <rin// shel<s :?n?i Diner or>jeits miles from the sea arul decorate their playhouses with ?htm. rjome fancy curious bones, others shells, and Jolliers prefer Irish (lowers. to builders. The arcliitretural ahitVf^'f birds almost equals thai of man. *Soim? n.?*8' like those of a West Indian b!ackluu^i.art''10't'^> and are built by several birds, w*i? plt on any or ail of the eggs, as it lia^s. pens. Then there are Hats built by tailor birds, where the residences are side by side and protected by a perfect roof. Among the other workers is t he carpenter bee, that bores a hole ;ls perfect as the I in est instrument of human make, and forms a partition of the sawdust. Here is a worker in metal. It bored these holes in this piece of lead, but no yne knows how. Jlere is a j iec? of the hardest granite known, yet it has be--, ruined by this sht-Jl, a phohis. Stranger yet, the miner has a lamp to work by, a phosphorescent Hjrl.t. "Amongthe animals that ae in the submarinediving business is the spider. It ha? no diving hell ? r armor, yet it goes below the sun ace and remains there by taking down air beneath its body in the shape of halls, which it leaves there beneath some twig or leaf." " How about reporters?" " Animal reporters are scarce," was the reply, "but if you have ever hunted the black, bear you must have noticed the curious markings and scratches it makes on trees at a distance seven or eight feet from the ground. These signs rank as high as the tramp sign language ; one bear knows that another has been there before. The sailors are represented by this spider, that not only goes to sea, but builds its own boat of leaves and pushes off in search of prey. The dramatic profession is represented by some South American birds, who go through certain strange performances for the benefit of other companions. As for the undertakers, many species of beetles bury their dead. The medical profession is represented by the doctor fish, who has in his side a lancet, which comes out without warning, and like that of Bob Sawyer, is always ready for use. The wasps are the paper makers ; some are masons. The ministers ire represented by the praying mantel' HEALTH HINTS. I Simple ItomccllcN Tot Gammon Ailment*. A knowledge of simple remedies for common ailments, says a writer in the Country Gentleman, Is essential for ! housewives who would drive painffom j their houses, prevent ruitlous doctors' hills and, above all, keep the system from frequent drugging. I give a few remedies that may prove of Use. For acute pain in the stomach or bowels, try strong saltpeter water. Wring a good-sized piece of flannel 'rom this solution, and apply hot to the part affected,laying over it another piece ol' flannel; cover the ] atient well in bed and Jay a hot brick at the feet. A tea made by steeping twigs from a peach tree is excellent for Worms. 1}utter and sugar, about three parts of the latter thoroughly mixed with one of the former, are excellent to check a cough caused by a tickling in the throat. If this do^s not avail melt the mixture and add a little vinegar. Many tind relief by eating a little rock salt, or, if this is impossible to obtain, table salt will answe r the same purp se, altlu ugh the first is much the better. One troubled with a hacking cough slu uld never be found without a bit of hoarhoond candy or a few kernels of rock salt in the pocket, with which to cluck an attack while at church or during calls. -Melt ha'f an ounce of camphor gum, half an ounce of glyccrine, and one pound of mutt-.... tallow, and apply to the hands every night. It will whiten j them nicely. For home-made camphor ice, melt half a teacupful of mutton , tallow, put into it a piece of camphor {rum ;ihmit, the size of .1 hickorv nut. i n ? - - - - ? and add a teaspoonful of olive oil. ] I'our into a mold to harden. Pulveri i/.ed borax is excellent to drop into the water to whit; n the skin. If your hands are rough when you wash them, dip your lingers in the borax and rub your hands thoroughly together, i One of a set of small drawers in my ! pantry is called the salve box. In one end is a small compartment like the I till of an old-fashioned chest, and in [ this are kept salves of various kinds, j In the drawer there is always to be i found an abundance of old soft cotton and linen cbths, with a few strong i strips for bandages, a ball of soft | yarn (which, being flexible, is much bitter than twine fur tying up inllamed lingers), fluffy bits of cotton , hatting an 1 pieces of old kid gloves J for spreading salve upon. Something i very adhesive, like balsam fir salve, is a necessity, as a very little here and J there along the 1 arulage for a sore ; finger will make a string unnecessary, beside keeping the cloth in place much better than if tied (n. i A salve excellent for drawing and ; suitable for use in case of felon or any j lesser sore of the kind is made in the I tollowing manner: Take the yolk of ; one egg and stir it int) half a tea, s; o.mful of finely-powdered camphor j gum, one teasjio.>nful of line salt and i one teaspoonful of spirits of turp?n' tine. This will make the mixture J thick and salvy, and easily spread on , olcl linen, it tne case is verv urgeub I indeed twica the quantity of camphor j gum can he used, and in a few cases, when the individual cannot bear the j touch of turpentine, only a few drops i need be added. This is to be laid over the felon for an hour or two, or ai long | as the patient can endnre it, and then | rep'aced by a cooling poultice. If a;>j plied in the first :-tages the sore will be 1 drawn rapidly to a head, and weeks i of pain avoided. If very painful put j a little laudanum on the poultice, and if that does not relieve bathe the hand with chloroform. A fter the felon has broken, or at any siage when it is advisable to apply a so!t poultice, there can be nothing better than flaxseed meal Pour boiling [ water slowly over a tab'.espoonful oL' : the meal until a solt poultice is made j ?not soft enough to run or dry enough I to become < asily hard. A litlle cxj perienoe will enable one to get it just ! right. Jn cases of pn umonia, phys> I cians order this rather than poll tices j of Indian meal, as it is not so heavy j tor trie patient, s uiumi, innmuo i. tuiou longer, and is more easily prepared. "Mush" poultices must be sewed inside a flat bag, or the meal will scatter as soon as slightly dry; but this is so adhesive that the cloth only needs to be folded tog< thr-r with the edges pressed down. It is necessary that the meal (which can be bought of any druggist) be kept in glass, tin or stoneware, as the oil (one of the essential properties) must not be lost. The Rojnl Red Cross. The queen of England having taken into consideration the services rendered by certain persons in nursing the sick and wounded of the army and navy, and resolved especially to recognize individual instances of special devotion in such service, a royal order appears in the oflicial Gazette creating a decoration designated " The Royal Red Cross." It is to consist of a cross enameled crimson, edge 1 with gi 11, having on the arms there if the words: "Faith, Hope a id Charity," with the date of the institution of the decoration, the center having thereon the queen's effigy. Un tne reverse siuetne royal and imperial cipher and crown i? to be shown in relief on the center. The cross is to lie attached to a dark blue ribbon, <dged red, of one inch in width, tied in a bow and worn on the lel t shoulder. The decoration may I be worn by the quesm regnant, the I f.ueen consort or the queen dowager of | the united kingdom of Great Hritain . and Ireland, and it will be competent 1 for the sovereign to confer I he decora1 tion upon any of tlie princesses of the I royal family of (!rrat Uritian and Irej land; also upon any ladios, whether ! subjects or foreign persons, who may be recommended by the secretary oI j state for war for special exertions in j providing fcir the nursing or for atj tending t>i Hi-k and wounded soldiers i and sailor;; also upon any nursing sis ijU'rs, wh -ther subjects or loreign perj sou^^-ho may be recommended by the stMTetarv '",,r war, or by the I first lord .if tin* admIra"ntyfTn?*spyi,i;iir duvntion and competency which they ' may have displayed in their nursing 1 duties with the army i:> the field or in na val and military hospitals. I ri order to mala* such additional provision as shall ! pffWrnsiUv Tircsfrvn nure this honor ; aMo distinction, it is ordained thai if i ;iuy person or: whom such distinction j shall he conferred shall by her conduct, { become unwerthy of it, her name shall | be erased, by an order under her J majesty's sign and manual, fnun the i register of those upon whom the said j decoration shall have been conferred. ?Wen: York Jferot'l. Anatomical Keriulsitcs of Shoes. According to Surgeon Zeigler, of , the Swiss army, the anatomical test of a perfect pair of shoe* is that, when placed together, they touch only at the toes and heels?the soles should also follow the sinuosities of the feet, and, to give room for their expansion, should exceed them in length by fifteen or twenty millimeters. It is stated by Ziegler that the Swiss examining surgeons are compelled to reject every year as many recruits :is wuuiu nmtvu up a battalion, for malformation of the feet, resulting from badly fitting shoes. The foot, he says, is in reality a bow, so elastic that, at every step, it contracts and expands, lengthens and shortens, and a line drawn through the center of the great toe intersects the heel; and as in the making of shoes room. enough is not given for the lateral extension of the great toe, it is forced against the other toes, giving rise to corns, ulcerations and sometimes to veritable articular inflammi tion. The artist's adieu to his picture? ^^Yoube hanged!" COVERINGS FOR THE HEAD. TACTS or XJTTEBEST ABOUT HATS TO 3. MEW. The Material Which Goes Into the iHann> fkcturc^Extcnt of the DiHlneMi?A Hat Which Costs Herdnty-twii Dollars* There are few persons, indeed, who know what the hats that cover their heads are made of or how they are made. People who can afford it change their hats from two to four and in aome cases nix times a year. The styles go by the Boason. The wearers know that they are hats, and can tell by the feeling whether they are line or coarse In quality, but that is the extent of their knowle Ige. The manufacture of silk hats is an Industry entirely separate from the manufacture of the ordinary soft and stiff hats. On an av! erage one person out of twenty-live | possibly wears a silk hat, and" the chances are that he will have a stiff or soft hat for certain kinds of wear. Inasmuch as every person is supposed to have need of a hat the magnitude of the business is apparent. The wholesale hat trade in New York last year amounted in round numbers,'according to the estimated trade figures, to 003,000. The hatting district wh^re all the great houses are situated is bounded by Broadway, Houston, Broome and "Woester streets. There hats are sold by the case and hatters' materials in manufacturers' lots Ilats, except silk hats, are made of fur or wool. The wool hats are the cheap grades. Wool is not line enough for making smooth, velvety hats, and contains too much oil. The houses which deal in fur do not make tha hats. They prepare the fur and sell it co the manufacturers. The fur of the mink, squirivl and seal is used. Beaver makes the line-;t hats, and nutria the next best. The nutria is a web-footed water animal trapped on the banks of rivers and streams in South America. Most Of the better grades of hats are made of coney's or rabbit's fur. The best are the wild rabbits caught in Scotland. Rabbits caught in the United Kingdom are preferred to any other. Those found in the south and west of England and in Ireland and "Wales are on rr/v-wl no tlinen f.rannarl in Hip UUb (Id ^uuu i?o uiju.jvj vuii/pu vi*v more northerly parts. Tame rabbits are raised in France and Belgium for their fur. They are larger than the wild rabbits, but as they are much coarser they are not so valuable. Hares are also raised. Russia and Germany produce some rabbits, but more hares. The fur of the hare makes a finer hat than that of the rabbit. The diuculty lies in obtaining a sufficient quantity of it. llabbits multiply so rapidly that the demand can be supplied with them when it cannot with the fur of any other kind of animal. Beside the countries named, rabbit skins come from Australia. A great many rabbits are caught in America for their fin; the quality of which is the mo it inferior of any. This is owing to the prevalence of hair in the fur, which must be removed. The skins of the mink, muskrat, squirrel and seal are worth more for converting into such garments as cloaks and trimmings ?ind it's only the small pieces, which are useless, that the fur is removed fr mto go into the manufacture of hats. The pieces are calhd "furriers' waste." The better quality of rabbits' fur is worLn <i p'juiiu, ui 11 uiiid that, and of beaver, which mainly coiner from the liocky mountains, twice that of nutria. The fur of a rabbit is divided into different parts, which distinguish its va'ue?the backs, sides, tails and cheeks. The backs are the most valuable. Ten dozen of rabbit skins make six and a half pounds of fur, and of this live pounds consist of " backs." The greater value of the backs is due to the fineness of the fur. The skin is converted into glue and sizing, in France it is clar.lied and made into gelatine an I lozenges. Only the fur can be u eil for ha'.s. Xo machinery has been devised that will successfully separate the ha:r from the fur. The hair has to be pulled o:it by hand, which is a slow and expensive process. After the hair Ls removed the fur is shaved oil close to the skin by machinery. In England the miners and poorer classes u-ethe ha:r in making beds. Xo use has been found for it here. The furrier's waste is used for "filling in" on account of its line quality. It works in with the other, and makes the body of the hat more compact and liner in texture. About $5,000,000 worth of fur a year is sold in this city alone to hatters, ana; when converted into hats the value is increased three-fold. Fifteen millions of foreign rabbit and hare skins are cut in the New York market annuiilly, beside 2|f<00,000 American rabbits. In Europe the number of rabbit skins cut is computed to bu 30,000,000. When the number of people who wear hats is considered these figures do not look so large. There are from two to three ounces of fur in a hat, and only a trifle over third of the average stilf hat is fur. The remainder of the weight is made of slu-lla;, which is applied to stiffen it, and the trimmings, including the lining and the band inside. After the hair is pulled from the skin the fur is "carroted." "Carroting" consists of applying silver and nitric acid, which removes whatever animal properties remain in the fur, and improves the felting character. After the fur is shaved ofT it is "blown" to purify it and take out the hairs that are left, i'liis operation makes it soft and downy to the touch. The fur in making the hat is blown against a tall revolving cone on which jt forms. The hat after this operation is perhaps two feat long, and in the t-hape of a dunce's cup. The next operation is to shrink it, which makes ! it more compact. To stifien it, it i? dipped in shellac, which increase.? its ! weight very much. The final operai fions are coloring, blocking, finishing I tlie surface and trimming. | . " Metier hats are made in America ; than anywhere else in the world," said j an extensive n anufactnrer. "Only a handful of Fnglis'i hats come to tnis i .country. They are sold at a few places c?,st of the average hat lias been rediTrftf1*^*11' n?c.'ir''r i from $(j.5(), twenty years ago.^o^TitT!^ This lias b''en aroniplisheil by la!" r- ' j saving machinery. It used to be a j ! good workman who could 'blow out-' a j | dozen hats from sunrise to sundown. I f Three men and a boy will now,- with j , machinery, turn out forty-eight dozen." 1 ' Most, cvi-rv manufacturer n-sikes u> 1 from P?00 t<> f>00 different styles ;iut.! sli.ipi s a year. Ka h devises li i.-, ,nvn ! j patterns, although tlu* Knglish sfy!i-. ( j tre copied a great deal. New styi'-s ; i are go!ten out. twice a year-in tl. I 'spring and fall. Tin: retailers are the I I ones who suffer by iiats going out ci' f | iashion. Tho whejJesal price of lie* i , eh -apest stiff hat 1 >y the dozen is $1:1.50 and the cheapest soft hat $10. Th. price of the dearest stiff hat is $:jG. and the dearest soft $72. Tlier is more work on stiff hats and less of the expensive material in them. Tho production of hats is paid to have in; creased 100 per cent, in flft en year.-.? i New York Times. Tho Mad Stone. I The mad-stone, or calculus, is found in the paunch of a deer or cow. It is claimed by those who have faith in the mad-stone that it alheres to the wound until it becomes charged with poison, when it drops off. It is then SOiUCfd 111 inilK, UUU tuw (Ij^uitanwu to renewed. It is estimated thah. one person in twenty takes the disease?somo estimates are greater, s )iue le^. There is a record of a dog that was bitten by thirty mad dogs and outlived them al1. It is estimated that there are 4,0C0,000 of sheep in Texas, which number will be increased during the coming season to 5,500,000, worth $13,500,C00. * ? V NEWS OF THE WEEK. Eastern and Middle States. The oldest priast in the United States i3 the Rev. Father Havermans, of Troy, N. Y. He has just celebrated the fifty-fourth year of his priesthood and the forty-second as Catholic raptor at Troy. Mee riNOS of tho Salvation army caused 8nch disturbances in New Haven that the police were instructed to put a stop to them. A heavy iron rail has been placed along the center of the stairway on the East River bridge where the resent frightful disaster occurred; and passengers when they reach this point are obliged to separate. Philadelphia is following New York in breaking up Chinese opium dens. Rev, John Bbown, D.D., of Newburg, N. Y,, is declared to be the oldest Mason in the United States, having been made a member of a Newburg lodge on June 16,1817, sixtyeix years ago. The arrival of twenty-five almost destitute emigrant girls at Saratoga, N. Y., from New York city, expecting at onco to fill places as hotel servants, for which they had paid a fee, disclosed the fact that they had been made the dupes of swindlers in the metropolis. Prince Duel, who died the other day at Greenfield, N. Y., lived in one house over eighty-seven years. The house bill to establish the contract system in prisons, and a bill prohibiting political assessments, have been passed by the Pennsylvania senate. A NEOBEA3 died the other day in New York at the alleged age of 114 years. Tiie jury in the inquest held on the bodies of the twelve victims of the East River bridge panic rendered a verdict censuring the bridge officers for not having the approaches properly guarded. The father of the late James Fisk, Jr., died (i few days since in Brattleboro, Vt. Mass meetings of Irish societies were held the other evening at Philadelphia, Boston, Buffalo, Rochester, Baltimore, Chicago, New Orleans and other cities. The action of the Philadelphia Convention was ratified, and steps were taken to organize the branches of the new Irish national league. Two petroleum tanks?each containing itf,COO barrels of oil?were struck by lightning nearTitusville, Penn., and destroyed. Many people have been overcome in New York by the severe heat, and a number of deaths are reported. William Collins, fifty years old, while drunk, went to his homo near Chester, Penn. and trampled his wife to death. Sixty Jersey cattle, sold at auction in New York, brought an average price of $605.CC* The imported bull Rayon D'Or brought $2,5E0, and the imported cow Lady Vertumnus, $1,609. Foun tenement houses on the mountain top near Ashland, Penn., were 6truck b" lightning during a thunderstorm and totalj demolished. A woman was killed and foa men injured with probably fatal effect. Bartholomew Nealon, who murdered his wife Sarah, in Boston, by cutting her throat from ear to ear, and then cut his own throat with a pocketknife, died a week afterward from his self-inflicted wound. South and West. Biamabck has been selected by a commission as the capital of Dakota. A movement is on foot for a grand afsembinge of Federal and Confederate veterans, on the battlefield of Shiloh in May next. A chowd of seventy-five men forced their way into the jail at Winterset, Iown, took out John Hamner, imprisoned on tho charge of murdering a wood aawyor for his money, and hung him to a trea. It was the third attempt that had been made to lynch Hamner. Amasa Stone, the wealthy Clevelander who recently committed suicide, left an estate worth sJ.V-OO.OOO. In the United States circuit court at Kansas City, Mo., Roscoe Conkling made the closing argument in a case testing the constntionality of the statute prohibiting the sale of oleomargarine in Missouri. Mayob Wimon, of Topeka, Ivan., is charged witli having refused to obey the provisions of the prohibition law, and tho county attorney asked the court to declare the mayor to have forfeited his office and to be formally disqualified from holding any position of trust or profit hereafter in the State. A heavy rainstorm which visited Counoij Bluffs, Iowa, did an immense amount of I damage. For three hours the rain pourea down in torrents, falling with such force that it almost took a person's breath away. Indian < .ojk, which flows through the city's center, soon overflowed its banks and the raging torrent poured through Council Bluffs, sweeping the bridges and culverts from one end of the stream to the other. Seven bridges and two stone culverts were swept away, and all that part of the city lying between the bluffs overlooking the Missouri river and Broadway on the north was inundated. Seventy-five buildings were either wholly or partly demolished, and a total loss of more than ?500,000 was inflicted. About fifty members of the Texas legislature were indicted for gambling at Austin; the indictments wire, however, all stolen from the county clerk's office by burglars. Two ruffians who undertook to intimidate Ihe town of Winston, Iowa, were shot and killed by the indignant citizens. The Grafton Iron company, of Leetonia, Ohio, has failed for about $c00,000. The thirty-first annual meeting of the International Typographical Union of the United Stales and Canada was hald at Cincinnati. Tornadoes have wronght great destruction of property and caused some loss of life in several Southern States. At Greenville, Texas, 150 houses were either blown down or ,i foundations. Four IMUYlll AlViiA churches were wrecked, one colored child was killed nnd several other perrons severely injured. A Dallas (Texas) dispatch says-that the damage in North Texas will reach ?1,0()0,0C0. For miles about Dallas every acre of crops was destroyed, fences were broken into kindling! wood at d many farm houses laid in ruirs. j linilslones as large as hens'eggs fell West I of Dallas a strip of country a mile and a half | in width was swept cloau of crops and many I farm buildings were demolished. The j piairies were ftrewn with dead rabbits, j chickens,.ducks and other ira;ne. Orchards were destroyed and groat trees were torn up j by the roots. Roports indicate that the storm raged in belts and alternate strips of > country tscuped. The tornado also swept through Barbour county, Ala., killing one j negro, wounding several persons and demolishing many houses. L Ji'd'ie Tukat, in tb.o T'nited States circui' co:irta* St. I/jui.<, has rendered i deeisKiftTft4* to nearly every part of the r-MfcJ .Statej, i-ettling the great barbed wire ft tut- controversy. court hokls that the patent " issued foi the manufacture of bnrbud wire fence are void, and therefore refused 10 grunt the preliminary injunction asked for by iho Washburn A' Moen Manufacturing coiupatii and Isaac L. Ell wood. The Wa> hburu (onipany likewise sought an injiui<,tioti against (tustav Griesche and Henry F'joas rclaiive to the manufacture of patent machine* lor barbed wire. Thi? injunction | was refused <m t;ie ground that there was no infringement. Ttio earliest MrHM wire patent ass i??ni*d i:. " ' ' > Hunt, since which time the issnes and reissues have been almost innumerable. The company has derived a princely revenue from its control of the manufacture of barbed wire feuce, the yearly royalties alone amounting to between $1,.TOD,000 and $2,000,(y n Tim effort of this decision is to release nil rcstr.'clionson the manufacture of barbed wire, and save millions of dollars annually to tho farmers and ranchmen of the country t'.:at have herojoforo been paid in the shape of royally. A chowd at Hermann, Mo., broke into the jail and hanged a prisoner named Whitney because his trial for murder had been put over to the fall term. A fire in Chicago destroyed P. T. Barnum's main tent, drosses and pharaphernalia, causing u loss of about $lf>,C00. The canvas desl royed covered nix acres of ground, and is claimed to have been the largest tout in the world. More than 1,GOO doctors attended tho thirty-fourth annual meeting of the American Medical r.ssociation, held this year in Cleveland, Ohio. Following is the ticket chosen by the Ohio Republican State convention at Columbus: For governor, J. B. Foraker, of Cincinnati; lieutenant-governor, William G. Rose, of Cleveland; judges of the supreme court, W. H. Upson and John H. Doyle; clerk of the supreme court, Dwight Crowell; attorneygeneral, U. B. Earnhart; auditor, John F. Oglevey; treasurer, John C. Brown; commissioner of common schools, D. F. De Wolfe; member of board of public works, Leo Weltz. Tho platform adopted favors a tariff for revenuo and the protection of American labor, the formation of a bureau of labor statistics, the submission of the temperance question to the people of tho State in tho form of constitutional amendments, taxation of the liquor traffic, the abolition of contract labor in prisons, reform in the civil service and a repeal of tho law limiting the time within which applications maybe made J.V/1 ^OilOiVUO* The Barber boys, Western desperadoes of the regulation pattern, were captured near Tripoli, Iowa, after a desperate resistance, during which they killed one man and wounded four others, one mortally. At the Iowa Democratic convention held in Des Moines tho following ticket was nominated: Judge L. G. Kinno for governor : Justus Clark for lieutenant-governor, and Edgar B. Farr for superintendent of public instruction. Tho platform adopted favors the extension of the civil service laws to every department of the government; arraigns the last Congress for its extravagance and demands economy; indorses a tariff for revenue only, and a gradual reduction of protective duties; denounces the tariff legislation of the last Congress as "the result of corrupt and disgraceful intrigues and shameloss attempts to perpetuate existing evils under pretense of tariff reform;" favors a well regulated license law with the penalty of forfeiture of the license for its violation; affirms the right of legislative regulation of railways, demands that the government protect its citizens from imprisonment by any foreign government without charge or right of trial, and cordially sympathizes with the oppressed of all nations struggling for their constitutional rights and liberties. r*f*inrna /I 1?TTT?PAM fclUtrtf OTirl nrftnPlfitflP ViiauL)r,o v? & uuxvii) vv?wt of the Baltimore daily /Imerican, is dead in his sixly-eighth year. Mr. Fulton was a delegate to every national Republicon convention with one exception since 18G1. While two Mexican horse thieves were being conveyed from Gonzales to San Diego, Texas, twenty-five men overpowered the officials and lynched the prisoners. In an interview Brigham Young declares that the Mormons will obtain 20.000 converts from America and Europe this year. Two successive attempts were made to burn Silverton, Col., with the evident object of creating a stampede of the citizens to the limits of the town and then rob the First National bank. Nearly 100 indictments have been found by the grand jury against gamblers and otheri connected with these incendiary plots. The city was patrolled at night by bodies of armed men. A powder company's magazine, contain ing 1,303 pounds of powder, was strnck by lightning at Hutchinson, Kansas, and the explosion which followed broke nearly every glass front in the city and wrenched several buildings from their f?Jundations. An explosion in a powder company's works near San Pablo, Cal., on the same day, killed two Chinamen. Henby and William Temple and Auguste Kaike upset a skiff on the Missouri river, near Glasgow, Mo., and were drowned. Oino's wheat crop this year will probably be 20,250,000 bushels, against 45,500,000 bushels in 1882. From Washington. Mb. Bcbchabd, director of the mint, has made the special report on the production of -*-? t-i-l 71,? the precious meuus wmu.i w<? uiuciuu w printed by the last Cong ress. He says that the yield of the mines of the United States for the year 1832 was $32,500,000 in gold, $4(5,800,000 in silver, a total of $79,300,000. Compared with the previous year this shows a decline of $2,200,000 of gold and an increase of $2,800,000 of silver. The production of the country was, from the States and Territories, as follows: Gold. Silver. Alaska $1.10,000 ' Arizona 1,005,000 $7,500,000 California 16,8C0,0.0 845,003 Colorado :t,300,000 1G,500,00) Dakota 3,300,003 175,000 Georgia 250,000 Idaho 1,500,000 2,000,000 Montana 2.850,000 4,370,000 Nevada 2,000,000 0,750,000 New Mexico 150,0J0 1,800,000 North Carolina 1C0,000 25.UC0 Oregon 83O.C00 35,000 South Carolina 25,0!>0 Utah 190.C03 6,800,000 Virginia 15,000 Washington Ter.... 120,000 Wyoming Ter 5,000 Total $32,500,000 $40,800,000 1 The United States civil service commis* i sioners have held a meeting at which a 1 number of questions of de'.ail relating to the examination of candidates for places in the | civil service and to the application of th new rules governing appointments were dis cussed. Papers have come in at Washington thus far in thirteen contested election cases. Three of thess cases are in Virginia, as follows : Massey, a Democrat, against Wise, a Readjuster; Garrison, a Democrat, and a member of the last house, against Mayo, a Readjuster, in th? first district of Virginia' and O'Farrell, a Democrat, against Paul, a Readjuster from the seventh district. There are two from Alabama?Craig, a Republican, against S. Shelly, a Democrat, in the fifth district, and Rice, a Republican, against Herbert, a Democrat, from the Montgomery j district. From Colorado, Wallace, a Demoj crat, contests the seat of Belford, and in the I Fifth Iowa distict, Frederick, a Democrat, j contests the seat of Wilson, a Republican, j From Missouri there is the McLean-Broadhead case. From Ohio comes the case of ! Wallace, a Democrat, against McKinley, Re- ( ! publican; and from Kansas the case o Wood, Greenbacker, against Peters, Repub, lican. There are three more cases?the ChalI ...0,0 Ainimitirr / Mi sisr.inni) case, the case of , j Marzanaris against Lunn, from the Terri. j tory of New Mexico, and another case, the ' papers in which came in a sealed package without any marks upon it to indicate . against whom it was leveled. These are I probably all the contests thai will be indulged in at the uext session. ( Nindebmasn, Noroa and the other seamen | of the Joannettc Arctic expedition have been ( | formally relieved fio:ndutyou that service. 3 ' They were given certificates of merit and , I medals of honor, but when tiieir accounts j } were audited at the treasury department j ! their allowance* for witness fees aud even , ' for necessary expenses while attending ( : the Jennnette investigation under orders t 1 or the navy department were thrown j j out and '.hey cot nothing more than ordin- ; I nry wages. They told Secretary Chandler 1 w0l,'(' financially embarrassed ' He ?aid he would do what . by thin deem.*5** , , . . . ' , , , *o>i he recognized the Ois- , he could for thenui^ . . . , . 1 .... . ,TJ;e:r ?emces, hnf an i tmgnwhed eharaeler of . , , ... . 7SVbe re-iuired for ^ a-tot i ongiess will prob;w>!^*? ^ir , , their relief. j i T'u nt !.'! > :ij?| O'litwi ivmiam oI Hnul'iitr. of North Carolina, to bo secretary f of tiit* civil f-orvicj commission. 4 Mktai.mo rod is to be the color of the new i two-cent posagc stamp. The vignette which T j wi I be used on tho stamp is copied from ( [ Hondon'a stpluo of Washi: g'On. ! Ten. :jivice commiHsioi; gave notice : that coropf t'Mvi exs minations for admission . -r-~r.'* held between l u uuv AW ? . *~-w *!'' l*.. ;',OA03; ^ I viz.: Albany, N. Y.; Boston, Ma lington, Vt.; Buffalo, N. Y.; Chicago, . 111.; Cincinnati, Ohio; Cleveland, Ohio; 1 Detroit, Mich.; Indianapolis, Ind., , Kansas City, Mo.: Louisville, Ky.: Milwaukee, Wis.; New Orleans, La.; Pittsburg, Penn.; Port Huron, Mich.; Portland, Me.; Providence, R. 1.; Rochester, N# Y.; St. Louis, Mo.: San Francisco. Cal.; and Washington, D. C. Any person wishing to be examined at either said place for service in ::ny department in Washington should now send a written request to the civil service commission at mat piace ror uie proper ujiplicntion blank, which will be supplied. It is said by officers of the department of agriculture that hog cholera has been practically exterminated. Unsuccessful attempts have been made for weeks past to socun^ virus from infected hogs for experiineajfl purposes. Captain Michael V. Siiebidan, seventh "cavalry, has been appointed by the President major and assistant adjutant general, to fill he vacancy cauetd by tho death of Genora Mitchell. \ Foreign News. ' Thomas Caitebtt was the rourth of the ? I . I .... i: . - ^ . . prisoners hanged in Dnblin for the murder of Lord Cavendish and Mr. Barke. Mubdebs are occurring daily in Pana or vicinity. St. Blaise, the English colt that won tlio Derby this year, was beaten a head by the French eoltFrontin in the race for the graa'l prize of Paris. Five members of the Republican brotherhood have been arrested at Waterford, Iroland, on a charge of being connected with conspiracy to murder. The Russian emperor has granted the Raa kolnik sects (dissenters from the csta'i list ed Greek church) liberty of worship. Messbs. Davttt, Healy, M. P., and Quinn, ?* uoliimmmlnmnllnfl. ''.JSm WUU were bculcuuju ioou ^ ~? ment in Kilmaiaham jail, Dablin, for six months for making inflammatory speeches/ have been released. A secret inquiry into the riot which occur red in the streets of St. Petersburg on the evening after the czar's coronation in Moscow shows that it was instigated by Ni- a An alleged attempt to blow up the Wolland canal in Canada by fifteen Fenians, who a| came into St. Catherine's from the Onited States, is said to have been frustrated by the 'JlfflSk timely precautions of the Canadian govern- rfficj ment. According to the published accounts the government at Ottawa received a very ySlSj&t secret warning several weeks ago that it was v^M the intention of the Fenian faction of the \silS Irish associations to send a party of their followers into Canada on the day of the hang- fltrag ing of Brady in Dublin, for the purpose of ?N blowing up certain portions of the Welland SggS canal. A large number of men known to \ . . JHlE| be loyal subjects of the queen were at once gaU stationed at a short distance along the banks |3E| of both the old and the new canals, with in- i%jB| structions to watch all the movements of any flalM suspicious characters who at that time might be hovering about On the day before Brady was hanged fifteen suspicious-looking men, gjttj each carrying a carpet-bag, jumped from the train at St Catherine's, having oome over the suspension bridge from Buffalo. They - J-'jgI seemed to be making arrangements to carry out an object which they had in view, bat discovering that they were watched they precipitately returned to the United States. Advices have been received from Sierra Leone. Africa, that fifty persons were roasted alive for witchcraft in the Sherbro district The mayor of Moscow has been banished to his estate in Tambow for having expressed .*i the hope in his speech at the banqnet to may. ors of citie3 daring the coronation festivi- < ties that the czar woold institute a constitutional regime. The Chinese army is being mobilised, and active preparations tire being made for war with France. At Posen, Prussia, 143 soldiers were acd- : /jgHjj dentally poisoned, their condition at last accounts being dangerous. Queen Victoria's health is said to be each. as to occasion grave anxiety in political cir- i cles. She has gone to Scotland against the! advice of her physicians, and is hAving see*;. cessive fits of depression. Afothxb Russian paper?the Miwcow Tele-' graph?has been suppressed by the govern-' .-VjgqB ment for printing objectionable articles. Mb. Rezne'h American colt Blue Grass % won the race for tne Ascot biennial stakes, WSSK a prominent annual English racing event. ffSSjW Pbepabationb on a great scale aie being - aM made in China for war with France. Wf&h Chili and Bolivia are once more at peace. SB Loud Chief Jcbtice Colebidqe, of Eng. -^fnB land, is aboat to visit the United States. fPf&i Suleiman Daud and Mahmud Sami, who VjlH were accused of setting fire to Alexandria* iJSS Egypt, at the time of the Britieh bombard. ' iTsS? ment, have been found guilty and sentenced to death. Eighteen officers were found guilty of complicity in the same crime, and were "y'fjM sentenced to various terms of penal seivi- 2&SH tude. Seyebal fights have taken place between jg%| the Albanians and Turks, resulting in heavy losses on both sides. Cse&b ADDITIONAL NEWS. m The body of William Stevens, a veteran oarsman of considerable repute, -was found floating in the Hudson at Poughkeepsie, N* Y. He had been missing since last DecernDb. Eliphalet Clabk, the oldest homeonofKin nhniimnii in Mninn. and founder with Dr. Gray, of New York, of the American institute of homeopathy, died a few days ago at Deering, aged eighty-two years. The buzzing of an insect frightened a lit. tie girl in one of the New York schools, and her screams were followed by a panic among the children which might have resulted in ' another catastrophe similar to that on the East River bridge. Many of the children ran for the doors, parents and relatives of the scholars came rushing to the front, demanding admittance, and for a \ time great excitement prevailed. Happily however, the prompt arrival of many police* , .JsBj men and firemen, and the coolness of the teachers, prevented what might have been a ^js|jj| frightful disaster. Lightning destroyed three of the mills belonging to the large powder works near New- 'ijSj bnrg, N. Y. Other buildings were partly de- inolished and one employe was killed. ... .-trg* Elbeht M. Stephenson was hanged at v>>|jSS Ltiwrenceville, Ga., in presence of 8,00 peopie, for murdering his aunt. A laeqe crowd of men proceeded at night \j$j to the jail at V'averly, Iowa, attacked the place with crowbars, picks and all kinds of weapons, finally effecting an entrance, t:ok oat the two Barber brothers and hanged the desperadoes to a tree. v A hioh license liquor bill has passed the Illinois house, and is deemed certain to go _ .' through the senate. La whence E. McKinnet, treasurer of Mon- gaaa^ roe county, Ind., has been found to be $15,- . >A 000 short in his accounts, of which amount his bondsmen have to make good $11,000. 'J& McKinney speculated in stocks. Mb. and Mrs. John F. Bryant celebrated ft# their golden wedding at their home in Princeton, 111. About 30J guests were pros- ' ;nt from Illinois and other States. Mr. Bry. J3 ^ int is a brother of the poet, William Collen ^ An English dispatch steamer?the Lively ?has been completely wrecked near Storn- ^ lway. The loss is about $150,003. ;ig The Turkish hoy rnmcat has informed T * ? jor.cml Wallace, oar min ster at Cons tan ti- 1 iople, tbat after the expiration cf the colt- . j9 mercial treaty bstween the two countries, ivhich expires March 13, 1884, th" -l. fll roportation of nil American meat*, lard ind similar products will be prohibited. ' . ' Wm General Wallace has protected that the fore- ;>s joing measures are arbitrary, and asserts :dm'i Ihat American goods undor the treaty of 1830 are entitled to the moe. -faTQ|^ "nj^B^y'L treatment. x'*1 Mobe: than^jflj^chinese laborers died llrmcr >'ear 'u Britfah Columbia, :IU J^i.eetinfrofChineso firms in Victoria ? l^r^wolved to advise the Chinese governn?nt to allow no more men to time to the :ountry at present. ; The catch of seals by the Newfoundland "3 ealinjj fleet this season is reported at from j [00,000 to 450,000 seal?. 1 Apowdkh magazine in Scutari, i*urkey, 4 vas' struck by lightning, and a tremen- "f ions explosion resulted, many person * being 3m One of the most ingenious alapta- :<M tions of electricity, recently introduced, s that by which machinery wh-m in motion may be in;tntnt^pyird a i u the c;ise of itiniigine. -A wire roftej L-oili'd around tlie stem of the throttle valve of the engine, carries a weight which is held in place by a rest, and the whole arrangement i3 such that \ ; the passing of an electric current along a wire rel^ses this rest and causes the weight to fall. The tension thus thrown upon the wire rope acts upon the throttle valve, cuts off the supply of steam and consequently stops the machinery. 1 buttons, with wire connections, are placed in different parts of the works, and on press- 4 in# any one of these the passage of an electric current acts as above mentioned. In any factory these electric buttons can be placed in every room, or several of them in a large room, as may he required. Should any one happen to be caught by the machinery, the simple pressing of a button in the most distant part of the factory will quickly stop the whole. ? United States people U9e 75,000,000 pounds of tea a year.