Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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pVfiQI?aG&*^5?erv,?v : s , _ , ABBEVILLE PRESS AND BANNER! BY HUGH WILSON. ABBEVILLE, S. C.. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 30, 1884. NO. 31. VOLUME XXVIII. j|| TO-MORROW. * To-morrow is the Mecca of orr days, Toward which our pilgrimage forever tends; The saintly station where divinest rays Shine on our promised good; where evil ends, Great unexplored ! by good intentions sought; So near; and yet so distant, never reached; Yet always in our sa 1 rej>entant thought? The day that we sliull practice what we've preached. , What right have we to speculate in time ? Or draw upon th-^ future for the rest ? Prospective good can not atone for crime If Father Time our worthless draft protest Our yesterdays dismantled wTecks are strewn Along our course in imagery 01 woe; And with them opportunities have flown, And prayers, and tears, and sighs unheeded go. To-morrow is our every-saintliest day; Its sky i* azure, cloudless and serene; Fair resolutions deck our pleasant way. And hope lends grace and beauty to the scene. ? Alas ! to-morrow, yet, to-morrow ?ees, "With distant goal of promise to attain; And so, again deferred, to-morrow flees, And leaves Remorse's cup for us to drain. By habit's adamantine chain we're bound, 111 tightening coils they hold us helpless fast; ^ And as the years in cycles run their round ' We lightly say, " to-morrow is the last.'' * In whiswre 1 breath wo speak of morrow known, "Whose dawn was cheerless with a broken vow; IVhose hoj>es. alas ! like Autumn leaves are flown. Or pressed to aching heart by memory now. Tirfe is 110 flatterer to him who waits; It sears his heart and stamps his brow with care. Too long delayed, he stands at Mercy's gates, And breathes his tardy unavailing prayer, Lost by pre scrastinat ion's tardy pace; With distant visiogs of a holy guise; The sun has set ujxm his clay of grace, And no to-morrow will for him arise ! Encompa-s every good that meets thine eye' To-day while opportunity's thine own, Lest Cyclops' arms to-morrow shrunken lie, And Sj artan courage ignominious fail. To-morrow I Thy delusive beacon shines To lure us to our peril and our shame; Some guilty soul in ca: tive's dungeon pines "Who waitel to be virtuous 'neath thy flame. ?E. A. Boy dm. in Xewark Sunday Call. . T1IE BURGLAR'S STORY. BY WII.I.IAM S. OII.HERT. [[.4t?f7ior of Pinafore, I'atience, Iolanthe, Etc.] II'I T 1 yy ncii i uucainu irijjiiiuuii vcais ui my father, a distinguished begging?lett?-r ^ knpostor, said to ine: "Ileginald, I think V it is time that you begun to think about choosing a profession." These were ominous words. Since I left Eton, nearly a year before, I had spent my time very pleasantly and very idly, and I was sorry to see my long . holiday drawing to a close. My father had hoped to have sent me to Cambridge (Cambridge was a tradition in our family), but business had been very depressed of late, and a sentence of six months' hard labor had considerably straitened my poor father's resources. It was necessary, highly necessary, that I should choose a calling. With a sigh of resignation I admitted as much. "If you like." said my father, "I will take you in hand and teach you my profession, and. in a few years, perhaps I may take you into partnership; but, to be candid with you. I doubt whether it is a satisfactory calling for an athletic young fellow like you.'' "I don't seem to care about it particularly," said I. "I'm glad to hear it." said my father. "It's a pocr calling for a young man of spirit. Beside, you have to grow gray in tne service uciore people win usten 10 ( you. It's all very well as a refuge in old age, but a young fellow is likely to make but a poor hand at it. Now, I should like to consult your own tastes on so important a matter as? the choice of a profession. "What do you say ? The army ?" "No, I don't care for the army." "Forgery? The bar ? Cornish "Wrecking r "Father," said I, "I should like to be a forger, but I write such a bad hand.'' "A regular Kton hand," said he. r ?y "Not plastic enough for forgery, but you could have a writing master. "It's as much as I can do to forge iny own name. I don't believe I should ever be able to forge anybody else's." " 'Anybody's else,' you should say, not 'anybody else's.' It's a dreadful barbarism. Eton English.'' "No,'' said I, ''I should never make a fortune at it. As to wrecking?why you know how sea-sick I am." ' You might get over that. Beside, you would deal with wrecks ashore, not wrecks at sea." "Most of it done in small boats, I'm told. A deal of small boat work. No, I won't be a wrecker. I think I should like to be a burglar. "Yes," said my father, considering the subject, "yes, it's a fine, manly profession, but it's dangerous, it's highly dangerous." "Just dangerous enough to be exciing, no more." "Well," said niv father, "if you've a distinct taste lor burglary, i n see wnat can be done." My dear father was always prompt with pen and ink. That evening he wrote to , nis old friend Ferdinand Stoneleigh, a burglar of the very highest professional standing, and in a week I was duly and formally articled to him, with a view to ultimate partnership. I had to work hard under Mr. Stoneleigh. ' "Burglary is a jealous mistress," said he. "She will tolerate no rivals. She exacts the undivided devotion of her worshipers." And so I found it. Every morning at 10 o'clock I had to present myself at Stoneleigli's chambers in New Square, Lincoln's Inn, and until 12 I assisted his m clerk with the correspondence. At 12 I p had to go mit prospecting with Stoneleigh. and from 2 to 4 I had to devote to ?rk/Krwr niif oil i\nrtfr?nliirc nr?p??cc;irv trt ?? iiUVIIil^ VUV l*?* J'UIVIVUMII.' ..vvvw?.t, '? scientific burglary in any given house. At first I did this merely for practice, and with no view to an actual attempt, lie would tell me off to a house of which L he knew all the particulars, and order me ' to ascertain all about that house and its inmates?their coming and going, the number of their servants, whether any of them were men, and, if so, whether they slept in the basement or not, and ? other details necessary to be known be\ fore a burglary could be safely attempted. A Then he would compare my information I \ with his own facts, and compliment or L \ blame ine, as I might deserve. He was k a strict master, but always kind, just and 1/ courteous, as becany: a highly polished B gentleman of the old school. After a year's probation I accompanied him 011 several expeditions, and had the happiness to believe that I was of some little use to him. I shot him eventually in the stomach, mistaking him for a master of a house into which we were breaking (I had mislaid my dark lantern), and he died on the grand piano. His dying wish was that his compliments might be conveyed to me. I now set up 011 my own account, and engaged his poor old clerk, who nearly 1 broke his heart at his late master's funeral, f Stoneleigh left no family. His money? about ?1*2,000, invested for the most part i;n American railways?he left to the society for Providing More Bishops, and his ledgers, daybooks, memoranda and papers generally, he bequeathed to me. As the chambers required furnishing, I lost no tirfte in commencing my profes, sional duties. Ilook^l through his books for a suitable house to begin upon, and found the following attractive entry: Fhurkoe Square?No. lft?. House?Medium. Occupant?John Davis, bachelor. ? - Occupation?Designer of dados. Aoe?Eighty-six. Vpysical Pecuu'aritibs?Very feeble; eccentric: dr.nits; Evangelical; snores. Servants?Two housemaids, one cook. Skx?All female. Particui^bs of Sebvawts?Pretty hou?e maid called Rachel; Jewess. Open to attentions. Goes out for beer at p. M.; snores. Ugly housemaid called Bella; Presbyterian. Oj>en to attentions; snores. Elderly cook; primitive Methodist. Open to attentions; snores. Fastenings?C'hubb's lock on street door; chain and bolts. Hars to all basemont windows. Practicable approach from third room, ground floor, which is shuttered ami barred, but l>ar has no catch, and can be raised with table knifo. Valuable Contexts ok House?Presentation plate from grateful asthetes. Gold rejK'ater. Mulready envelope. Two diamond rings. Complete edition of "Hrailshaw,"' from is:>4 to jiresent time, 5NS volumes, bound limp calf. General?Mr. Davis sleep second floor front: servants on third floor. Davis poes to bed at 10. No one on basement. Swarms with beetles; otherwise excellent house for purpose. This seemed to me to be a capital house to try single-handed. At twelve o'clock that very night I pocked two crowbars, a bunch of skeleton keys, a center-bit, a dark lantern, a box of silent matches, some putty, a life preserver and a knife, and I set off at once lor Thurloe square. I remembered that it snowed heavily. There was at least a foot of snow on the ground, and there was more to come. Poor Stoneleigh's particulars were exact in every detail. I got into the third room on the ground floor without the least difficulty, and made my way into tlie aming-room. i nere was me pn-Miitation plate, sure enough?about !S(?0 ounces, as I reckoned. I collected this and tied it up so that I could carry it without attracting attention. Just as I finished I heard a slight cough behind me. I turned and saw a dear old silver-haired gentleman in a dressing gown standing in the doorway. The venerable gentleman covered me with a revolver. My first impulse was to rush at and brain him with my life-preserver. "Don't move," said lie, "or you're a dead man." A rather silly remark to the effect that if I did move it would rather prove that I was a live man occurred to me, but I dismissed it at once as unsuitcd to the business character of the interview. I "You're a bunrlar?'' said he. ' I have thut honor," said I, making for my pistol pocket. "Don't move,'' said ho. "I have often wished to have the pleasure of encountcrI ing a burglar, in order to he able to test i a favorite theory of mine as to how pcr> sons of that class should be dealt with, j Hut you mustn't move." I replied that I should be happy to as| sist him if I could do so consistently with I a due regard to my own safety. "Promise mc," said I. "that you will ; allow me to leave the house unmolested I when your experiment is at an end?" "If you will obey me promptly you j shall be at perfect liberty to leave the i house." "You will neither give me into custody nor take any steps to pursue me?" I "On my honor as a designer of Dados," add he. "Good," said I. ''Go on." "Stand up, ' said he. "and stretch out I ...... mrrlf.c tr> 1'nnr limlv " "Suppose I don't?" said I. "I send a bullet through your left ear," said he. " But permit me to observe?" said I. Bang. A ball cut off the lobe of my left ear. I The ear smarted.^and I should have liked to attend to %but, under the circumstances, I thought it better to comply with the whimsical old gentleman's wishes. "Very good!" said he. "Now do as I tell you, promptly and without a moment's hesitation, or I cut off the lobe of your right car. Throw me that life preserver." I " But?" "Ah, would you?" said he, cocking the revolver. The "click" decided me. Beside, the old gentleman's eccentricity amused me, aud I was curious to see how far it wniiId enrrv him. So I tossed mv life preserver to him. He caught it neatly. " Now take oil your coat and throw it to mc." 1 took oil my coat and threw it to him diagonally across the room. "Now the waistcoat." I threw the waistcoat to him. j "Boots," said he. "They are shoes," said I, in some trepidation lest he should take offense when no offense was really intended. "Shoes, then," said he. I threw my shoes to him. "Trousers," said he. "Come, come, I say!" exclaimed I. Bang! The lobe of the other ear carac off. Will all his eccentricity the old gen| tleman was a man of his word. He had the trousers, and with tliem my revolver, which happened to be in the right-hand 1 poeket. "Now. the rest of your drapery." I threw hini the rest of my drapery. He tied up my clothes in the table-cloth, . and telling me that he wouldn't detain : me any longer, made for the door with I the bundle under his arm. | "Stop," said I. "What is to become of me ?]' "Really, I hardly know," said he. "You promised me my liberty, said I. "Certainly," said he. "Don't let me ' trespass any further on your time. You will find the street door open; or, if from force of habit you prefer the window, you will have no difficulty in clearing the area railinirs." "But I can't go like this ! "Won't you give me something to put on V "No," said he, "nothing at all; good if The quaint old man left the room with my bundle, I went after him, but I I found that he had locked an inner door that led upstairs. The position was ! really a difficult one to deal with. I couldn't possibly go into the street as I was, and if I remained I should certainly be given into custody in the morning. For sometime I looked in vain for something to cover myself with. The hats and great coats were no doubt in the inner hall; at all events they were not accessible under the circumstances. There i was a carpet on the floor, but it was fitted to the recesses of the room, and, I moreover a heavy sideboard stood on it. However, there were twelve chairs in the room, and it was with no little uleasj lire that I found that on the back of each was an antimacassar. Twelve antimacassars would go a good way towards covering me, and that was something. I did my best with ttie antimacassars, but on reflection I came to the conclusion that they would not help me very much. They certainly covered me; but a gentleman walking through South Kensington Ut O A. UR'SSt'U 1X1 liwuilii^ Humuvui but antimacassars, with the snow two 1 feet dee]) on the ground, would be sure to attract attention. I might pretend I j was doin<; it for a wager, but who would believe me ? I grew very cold. I looked out of the window, and i presently I saw the bull's eye of a policeman who was wearil; plodding through I the snow. 1 felt that my only course was to surrender to him. j "Policeman," said I from the window, "one word." "Anything wrong, sir*" said he. j "I have been committing a burglary in this house, and I shall feel deeply ' obliged to you if you will kindly take me into custody." "Nonsense, sir," said he; "you'd betj ter go to bed." j "There is nothing I should like better, but I live in Lincoln's inn, and I have nothing on but antimascars; I am almost frozen. Pray take me into custody." "The street door's open," said he. "Yes," said i. "come in. He came in. I explained tlie circum j stances to him, and with great difficulty I convinced him that 1 was in earnest. The good fellow put his own great coat over me. and lent me his own handcuffs. In ten minutes I was thawing myself in Walton Street Police station. In ten days I was convicted at the Old Bailey. In ten years I returned from penal serviI tude. I found that poor Mr. Davis had gone i to his long home in Brompton cemetery. For many years I never passed his house without a shudder at the terrible hours I spent in it as his guest. I have often tried to forget the incident I have just been relating, and for a long time, I tried in vain. Perseverence, however, met with its reward. 1 continued to try. Gradually one detail after another slipped from my recollection, and one lovely evening last May 1 found, to my intense delight, that T had absolutely forgotten all about it.?London Dramatic Nem. NEW YORK'S GREAT PRISON. I WFE AMONG THE CONVICTS IMMURED IN SING SING. How Xcwroiiicr* arc IWn.de Into "Tl* IftTO'-A Itr^iiiKiil and it Half of Kll?y Prisoner*. After nil, the State prisons of Concord, Auburn and Sing Sing sort are pretty much alike, writes a correspondent of a Boston paper. You see great rows of shops, chimneys belching smoke, gangs of convicts marching to and fro at mornincr. noon and night, and there is ever the same dull routine, which rarely varies summer or winter. The dismal waste of human opportunities, which comes to be one's uppermost thought in inspecting these vast pc-nal establishments, makes one sad. It is horrible, the whole thing. I could not help wondering why the men did not make one mad rush out on the piers and plunge into the water on the free-flowing river, and so end it all. The interior of Sing Sing is not cheerful. The cells arc built back tr> back, in six tiers, and there are in all 1,200 cells, beside some few outside. In these 1,200 odd I r.no men It is ii sadly overcrowded prison. It is to be borne in mind that Sing Sing is the place where the New York city courts send their convicts and that it is, in fact, the one State orison of the great metropolis. The cells at Sing Sing are very small, too small for the sleeping accommodation of a human being, and when two men are placed in one cell, as is often done, all sanitary laws arc defied. The cells are seven feet long, but only three feet and four inches wide! Think of that. There is not room enough therein to swing the most diminutive cat without the greatest danger?to the cat. Think of passing your Sundays in one of these stone and iron boxes, and think, too. of a summer night in a closet of such liliputian size. It is not the fauit of fhe prcsenflhanagement of the prison that the accommodations are so poor, for Sing Sing prison was built thirty-four years ago, and the projeeuors inereui now iui mu most part. the usual six feet by two of mother earth, narrower quarters than they built for living men. On the train which brought me to Sing Sing were five young men in handcuffs, the latest installment from the metropolitan courts. One was a colored fellow, two unmistakably Irish, and two of American lineage. As they entered the prison doors to begin their servitude of years, a batch of released men walked out into the free morning air under the cheerful sun. What a sensation of infinite relief it must be to be able, after many years of prison life, to walk out into unwalled space, and to be able to look about without meeting a Keeper's watchful eye! The released men walked with swinging step up the hill, and cast 110 look behind. The newcomers were a doleful contrast. They were marched to the clerk's room, where a short young man with a red mustache, seated at a table with a big record book before him, asked the men in turn the routine questions, including the pertinent inquiry: "Were you ever in prison before, and where?" Several of them had "done time," some in prison, others in county penitentiaries. While one man was undergoing questioning, the others had to stand with folded arms, facing the wall. They looked blue enough. Finally, each man was asked to empty his pockets and take on ins jewelry, naieu cuii urn ions iuiu studs, watcli chains, keys, rings, etc., were taken oil and put in packages against the day of release. One yonng man said of his sleeve buttons: "They are not worth saving." Then the clerk told the men that they would be dealt with humanely, and as kindlv as prison regulations would allow, if they continued obedient to the prison rules, and he stated to each man the amount of commutation time he could secure by uniform good conduct. The men then formed in Indian tile and were marched off to another building, where I saw them strip themselves of their clothes and take a warm bath with plenty of soap. Their old clothes were taken away, never to be returned to them, every prisoner on release being furnished with a "State suit,'' or a prisoner's castoff suit. The suits discarded on entering the prison are cleansed by immersion in brine, etc., and finally placed in the clothing-room for men to wear away, if they prefer old clothes to a "State suit." as they generally do. After the bathing the men were furnished with striped suits, and they then submitted their mustaches or beards to the convict barber in waiting for them. They looked there alter like an tuc rcsi 01 uic worK-a-uay prison world. Then they arc each taken to a cell, and locked up against the morrow, when each man of them would be set at work in one of the shops, and would thus have entered on his routine of life to last for years. Thereafter, the marching in lock-step, thecating of prison hash side by side with felons of all degrees, the sleeping in a stone box, the utter subjection of the man to a routine as rigid as cast-steei and as inexorable as adamant. This is convict life in the great State prisons of the land. Tliis is the almost inevitable result of crime. ''Only young and foolish thieves expect to keep out of the places," said a convict of ex perience to me a tew nays ago ai me Eastern Penitentiary, in Philadelphia. "The punishments here are severe," said the red-mustached clerk to the young men standing before him with folded arms. Yes. they are severe. The brutal "paddle" is no longer employed in the State prisons of the Empire State. The paddle was an instrument of leather with a short handle. The principle of the thing is the wrist and the human hand. In plain English, "paddling"' meant a leather spanking. And such a spanking meant blistering business. It was inhuman and bad in every way. The paddled convict choked down his wrath, and thought of the time when he might " take it out on the paddler. What do they do now? Here at Sing Sing they have two modes of punishment,' the dark cell and a bread-and-water diet, and the tying-up plan. The latter is singularly effective. The convict is brought in handcuffed, and hi? wrists arc tied to a sliding piece of board, which can be so adjusted to pull the tallest man upon his toes. Half a minute of standing on tip-toe in this fashion 'weakens'' the toughest subject. "No use trying to be tough here," said a convict; " the man that sots up to be a prison ' tough' here will give in when he gets hauled up on one of these machines.*' 1 imagine that the most insensitive man would yield to this process in a minute's time. ,Mr. Connaughton says that fhey ask to be let. down in much less time. It is curious that the tiedup man cherishes no such revengeful feelings as the padded man, but it is so. Then there are other disciplinary punishments, such as takingaway a man's reading lamp or depriving him of his Sunday dinner, which is somewhat more tempting than that of week days. Hut the! solitary cell ought to be a most elTeetive punishment. A man must indeed be a prison "tough"' who can endure lying down on a hard pavement to sleep and dieting on limited bread and water, it he keeps up a week, lie must indeed be tough in every fiber of body and stomach. The interest of prison contractors is. of course, to have men punished in such a way that they will not be long detained from work. In former times they were said to favor the paddling performance, as it did not keep a man loug from work. Here at Sing Sing the convicts eat in a huge, low-studded dining room. They arc permitted to read religious papers only; they are not allowed to make trinkets in their cells; they are never permitted any recreation in the prison yard. The discipline is severe. No soups are made here, Warden Brush believing that spoon diet is unsatisfactory in every way. Stews, however, are prepared, and hash is a regular article of diet, and is preferred to soup by the old prison ' rounders," who have tried many prison bills of fare. The oil belt of Wyoming is said to be three times as large as that of Pennsyl vania, and a railroad is soon to be con. structed through the district. Charles Harris, of Belleville, Texas, lifts invented a machine for washing dishes. Scenes In Chinatown. A majority of the amateur guides fo the Chinese quarter take great delight in showing to strangers from the Eastern States the opium dens and the other resorts of the vicious portion of the Asiatic population. In the more civilized portion of the Chinese quarter, in fact, just one block from the city's main thoroughfare, north and south, many more remarkable discoveries can i>e made in the observation of the strange ways of the strange people. Any evening at a mission school nearly opposite the Plaza, on Washington street, a class of more than 100 Chinese boys may be found engaged in the study of the English language. The lessons arc assigned by four lady teachers. The scholars are all in one room. As soon as the student has had his lesson pointed out and explained to him, he takes his place at his desk, and in a monotonous tone cons it over smd over again until it is permanently fixed in his memory. Half an hour after the opening of the school th? entire 100 pupils are engaged in the singsong recitation of their lessons. A few doors further on is situated the establishment of a jeweler and gold-beater, lighted only by the flame of a curiously constructed lamp, which, with the aid of the blow-pipe, is utilized in soldcringand melting. The burning mixture creates a flame nearly as hot as that of an alcohol lamp. But by far the most, interesting and fruitless source of inquiry for evidence of the imitative impulse of the Chinese is found in the office of Horn Hong & Co., publishers and lithographers. The character of the company's business is clearly shown in its cards. Its pubiicaic n fniir. IJU1I, till; r n-rftiy vuc^/inu, j.i <* page sheet, printed entirely in Chinese from a lithograph. The publication office is as dingy and dirty as any in this city. The stone and press and all the ecpiipments in the office arc found in the small single room occupied by the company, which is also their eating and sleeping apartment. A little corner is set apart for the use of the editorial corps, which, from the appearance of last Saturday's issue of the Occidental. is one of considerable ability and wonderfully diversified talent. It was stated by the man in charge of the office that the lithographing was the work of the editor, and that he also devoted himself to soliciting advertising and drumming up delinquent subscribers. a numocr ui iiuul uuis appear in what are evidently the advertisements of American business firms. The title page of the paper is the last page. The Chinese reader commences the perusal of his journal at the lower right-hand corner of the last page, reading up and down its columns alternately until the top of the last column of the first page is reached. The firm say that business is good and that they may attempt the publication of a daily. ''The street venders in the Chinese quarter arc as many as elsewhere throughout the city, and their lines are equally diversified. Tickets for the theatres arc sold upon the corners when some great historical drama is being presented or upon the occasion of any unusual attraction. The repairers of boots and shoes have their little stands, and their work progresses day and night in the open air. It is not an unusual sight to see a Chinese standing barefooted on the corner waiting for the completion of the shoemaker's work. Many other curious customs of these people constantly present themselves to any observer in Chinatown, and it is not necessary to go into the opium dens and slums in search of spectaclcs interesting for their novelty."?San Fmncisco Chronicle. : A flea can jump a height equal to 200 ' times its own stature. ( Life in Pompeii. . In these deserted streets, life suddenly < stopped 1800 years ago. It is truth that 1 the destruction was not instantaneous, ' and a great number of inhabitants saved , their lives and even took away a good i deal of their treasure. But enough was ( left to show us every detail of Roman ' life. The old world is set before us, with . all its good and its evil,* its glory and 1 shame. We know what manner of men 1 and women they must have been, and J what their daily lives were like.', almost , as well as if we had actually dwelt among ( them. i The old Pompeiians were very modern. . There is nothing new under the sun. ( They had folding doors and hot water j urns; they put gratings to their windows, i and made rockeries in their gardens; their 5 steel yards arc exactly like those your cheese monger uses to weigh his Chcd- f dars and Glo'sters. Their children had i toys like ours?bears, lions, pigs, cats, \ dogs?made of clay, and someti/nes scrv- j ing as jugs also. Poor children! poor 1 mothers! IIow did they fare in those ( thrcf days of darkness and dismay? Pco- e pie wrote on walls, and cut their names 1 on seats, just as we do now. They kept birds in cages. In Naples to-day, as you walk along the Chiaja, you may find yourself in the . midst of a herd of goats, with bells around their necks, exactly like those in ( the museum. They gave tokens at the ] door of their entertainments?tJie people in the gallery had pigeons made of a sort J of terra cotta. They put lamps inside ! the hollow eyes of the masks that ' adorned their fountains. They even made grottoes of shells. Vulgarity itself , is ancient. They ate sausages and hung i up strings of onions. They had stands for public vehicles, and the school-master i used a birch on the dunces. They put ( stepping stones across the roads, that 1 thf> daintv voiin^ natrician ircntleiiien. J r? i o . ] and the pursy old senators might not. \ soil their gilded sandals. < It was never cold enough for their i pipes to burst, but they turned their water ' on and oif with taps; and their cookshops had marble counters. They clapped t their offenders into the stocks. Two \ gladiators were kept there flfteen bun- i dred years. "When their crockery broke 1 they riveted it. At Herculaneum there j is a huge wine jar buried in the earth. It \ had been badly broken, but it is neatly i riveted?with many rivets?and it no doubt held the wine as well as ever. ' Those rivets have lasted 1,800 years! It J is a strange thing to think about. What . would the housewife have said if some 1 one had told her that her cracked pot ' would outlast the Roman empire? j ??? HorbStrewers. 1 [ At the coronation of James II., in the ) latter part of the seventeenth century, the 1 ancient custom of strewing flowers and J sweet herbs was revived. The "hereditary herb-woman to the i king" had charge of the ceremony, as- > sisted by six young ladies. In the an- J cient picture may be seen an illustration , where the herb-strewers appear, with deep pointed bodices and open robes, looped back to show rich petticoats: ruffles fall from elbow to wrist, and long , gloves and hoods complete the fanciful dress. Baskets, each containing two bushels i : of flowers and fragrant herbs, were borne , ! by the fayre maidens, and "were three i times renewed."' This festive occasion I made gorgeous display of spring blooms . in profusion; violets, primroses, cowslips, pansics, blue-bells, with stores of sweet-brier twigs and other herbs of grace, formed a carpet of beauty and , odors rich and rare, over which the goldi broidered slippers of the lovely queen, i Mary of Modena, and her fayre attendants trod daintily, as passing from hall to j abbey they listened to drums, and trum! pets, and the choir singing, "0 Lord, grant the king a long life." The Kesonance of a Bell. Quite a little? romance, says the "Washin<rtnr? Prist is sit*r) t<> tin- lwll <if tlio i Presbyterian church on II, between l!?th ! and 20th streets, Washington, I). ('. Several years ago the pastor, Mr. Coombs, committed suicide one Sunday morning. : just before the hour for service. The ! sexton, not having been informed of this | sad circumstance, proceeded as usual to j ring the bell. Whether or not the clapj per swung too heavily no one can say, | but certain it is that during the ringing j the great bell cracked. Superstitious j ones to this day aver that instead of the ' ordinary tone calling the congregation (o I worship the iron tongue sounds out in mournful cadence the one reverberating word, "Coombs!" ''Coombs!" i 1 SUMMARY OF CONGRESS." Senate* The Senate proceeded to the election of a president pro tern, and Mr. Sherman moved that Senator Anthony be elected to that office. Mr. Pendleton presented the name of Senator linyard for the ollice, hut Mr. Anthony was elected. When invited to come forward and ho sworn in, however, tho Senator in a few feeling words declined the honor1 owing to tho precarious stato of his health> The question then arose as to whether tho declination of Mr. Anthony retained Mr. Edmunds in that position without further action, and after some varying expressions of opinion it. was decided to avoid doubt by a new election, and Mr. Edmunds was re-elected and took the oath of oilice. Before a vote had bei ntakon Mr. Bayard presented the name of Senator Pendleton. ! I'he vole resulted, yeas, 24; nays, Mr. Mahone voting with the Republicans. Mr. Riddleberger, being paired with Mr. Williams, of Kentucky, aid not vote....Mr. Hill delivered a long speech in < support of tbo postal telegraph hill introduced l\v liim. Ho sketched the ! origin and progress of the postal-telegraph i sy>tem of tho civilized world and described i the benefits which had resulted to the people of this and other countries from every effort < to cheapen and improve the means of inter- i communication Mr. Call introduced a bill to repeal all laws and parts of laws prohibiting pensions to wounded soldiers of the United States without proof of loyalty. Mr. Logan spoke on Mr. Anthony's resolution instructing the committee on foreign , affairs to inquire into tho exjwdiency of. and report to the Senate such, legislation as shall enable the executive to protect American interests against those governments t which have prohibited or restrained the importation of healthful meats from the United States. He expressed himself as in favor of retaliatory measures. The discussion ! of the question at the present time was considered premature by Mr. Miller, of 1 New York, who suggested that the subject ! miiriih nrnrwlv bi? referred to tho committee 1 on agriculture Tho report of the commit- ; tee on Mississippi river improvement was presented. Mr. Miller, of New York, presented n < bill for the extirpation of pleuropneumonia. -1 A bill was reported and passed restoring to 1 the public domain lands granted in aid of 1 tho lion Mountain railroad The joint i rules were adopted Mr. Hoar's elec- i toral count bill was passed, lwing tho same ' measure that was passed by tho Senate of the i Forty-seventh Congress < A memorial was nad from William P. I Kellogg denying tho charges made by J. J. < Newell that ho (Kellogg) and other Sena- ( tors had entered into an arrangement to < secure the passage of the act incorporating tho Texas Pacific Railroad company ] Mr. Van Wyck introduced a bill to secure { reasonable rates of transportation to the ( people over railroads aided by tho issuo of .; United States bonds and public lands... A bill introduced by Mr. Wilson provides for the . establishment of a br>aid of inter-Stnte , At*A I'lJJililJClUC, uuiiniabiiig "i . appointed by the President for a term of ten years, to investigate all questions relating to commerce between tlio States, or between the United States and foreign countries. ( The bill prohibits discrimination against J shippers by transportation companies under ' a penalty of not less than $1,000 lor each oflense Several memorials from tem[>er- 1 ance societies were presented, asking for a prohibitory amendment to the Constitution. Hons*. Hills introduced: By Mr. Ellwood?Au- j thorizing the organization of national bank- 1 ing associations, with a circulating currency secured by United States gold and silver 1 coin. By Mr. Dunham?To authorize cho t secretary of the treasury to issue two and a 1 half per cent, forty year bonds. By Mr. Hitt?To place sugar and molasses on the < free list. By Mr. Woo 1?To admit free of duty wood pulp, lumber and salt. By Mr. Clay?To repeal the civil service act. By Mr. Eldreuge?Proposing a constitutional amendment for the election of United States Senators by tbo people By Mr. Morgan? To abolish postage' on new.-pa: ers. By Mr. Phelps?For the en i t ion of a public building at Paterson, N. .1. By Mr. Cox?To repeal * the law prohibiting ex-CVn federate officers ' from serving in the United States army. ' Mr. Willis, chairman of tho committee on rivers and harbors, re]>orte I a bill making an I appropriation of SUiOO.OiO for continuing the s improvement of tho Mississippi river, and it was referred to the committee of tho whole: g The House went into committee of the whole ^ for its consideration. A protracted discussion ^ followed, without action.. .Messrs. Steele ami Cutcheon, of the committee on military af [ail's, Slinmiwu mu views ui uuj uuimilu.t an the bill for the relief of General Fitz John 1 Porter. r The House in committee of the whole continued its consideration <if thi; Senate bill c appropriating $1,0 to.on for continuing the & work of improvement of the Mississippi river. 1 A. good deal of opposition to the measure was s leveloped, mostly on the ground that the c appropriation was for the purpose of liuildiiitr up the levees. Mr. Hoi man t sfTered an amendment, which was fie- j Feated, providing that the money, ex- f; ept so much as isnece-sary t > protect the works in progress in other jiortions of the . river from'waste and injury, shall lie ex- J pended in the continuance and completion of J the works on some one ranch now in progress of improvement. Tha object of the imendment, ns stated, was to test the value J )f what it is claimed are simply experiments e it one plnce before expending money on all. e The House adopte<l a resolution, reported t From the committee on expcnditun-s in the t lepartment of justice, calling on the j>ostlioster-general for information concern- v ng the prosecutions in the case of the it Star route frauils, with the names of i ndividuals indebted to the I'nited States fc n consequence of such frauds, and in itimized statement of exdendiures in the investigation and prosecution of :he frauds The Senate bill appropriating M,0(JO,0u<) for immediate use in continuing ! ;he Mississippi river improvements was 1 >as^ed, to <14, after futile attempts to f jonunit it for amendment... .A bill making ' ill public roads and highways post routes 8 vas passed. fl PROMINENT PEOPLE. j OcHtLTitEE.?Congressman Tom Ochiltree f s the first native Texan elected to Congress. Wilije.?Oscar "Wilde is to marry Miss '' Constance Lloyd, the daughter of an Eug- ? isli barrister, it is reported. Arnold. ? Matthew Arnold will return | From his Western lecturing tour in timo to : ail from New York for England, February !' El MAimr.?The False Prophet is tall, {j ind of a coppery red in color. He is forty ^ years old. His* liattle cry is no protection ? for Christians, and no government taxes. f McCrary.?Ex-Secretary McCrary has p resigned his circuit judgeship 1.1 give his at- p tention to the Atchison and Santa Fe Hail- t road company at the rate of a year. Taylor.?Judge Ezra B. Taylor, who now r represents Gartield's o'd Congressional (lis- t trict, is a tall, slender man, with y. lonir, |j iftntiy IKXITU, CUIU }^ray uyi'N mm uunntuiai u features. He lias the reputation of being n g ;ood story-teller. YVellek.?Congressman Wellcr, who rep- ' resents the Fourth district of Iowa, is one of the drollest characters in tho Houso. He is .lniversally known as "Calamity AVoller,"1 on v lccount uf the many defeats ho has sustained ^ in his political career. He was horn in Con- J, neeticut ami went West in 1W.I, and located c in Iowa, where ho tilled tho soil in the day- a time and studied law, politics and religion at j night. He was elected as a Greenhacker. 0 uokdox.?General Charles Gordau, gen a ?rally known as "Chines*; Gordon." was v an ly thirty years old when placed in t onnnnnd of a division of tho Chinese inny. He always went unarmed in battle, even when foremost in the breach. j lircctinn his troops l>y waving a little cane. . As he was uniformly \: torious in his en- ' jagements, his Chinese s 'iers considered the cane to be a magic wan., which insured ^ his protection and their triumph. Kkitp.?Hcrr Krupp, the great German ;unmaker, whose works are said to have turned out 1!0,ikhi cannons is de-cribed as a !' tall ami rather stern-looking man, with aloj>iiiji shoulders, a l<>:itf neck, and full white , beard. He is delicate, nervous, and intellectual. and looks like a clergyman. His only J <011 and heir. Kritz Kruppi who will succeed to an estate value 1 at s40.11 is an in- J' mentor of considerable ability, and is thor- J uglily familiar with his father's business. ELECTORAL VOTE, \ 1 *><*iiutor IE?iir'? Hill as It l'nsseil tin? v Senate, Senator Hoar's electoral count bill, passed by the Senate, fixes the time for the meeting ,. of tho Presidential electors on the second U Monday in January next, following the ap- i pointment. It provides lor the determina- J tion by each State at least six days before the H time fixed for the meeting of electors of any controversy concerning the ap|>ointment (I oi sucn (.'lectors, and declares that n Congress shall Ik.- in session on the sec- ji ontl Wednesday in February succeeding the meeting of the electors to count the votes. It also provides that objections to certificates of the electoral votes must be made in writing, signed bv at least one " Senator and <>ne member of the House of a Representatives, ami submitted without argument. It re mires the nllirinativo c vote of both Howes to reject a I' vote from any State from which ^ liut one return las been received, and }>ro- J vkles that if more than one return from a State shall have 1hh.'U rtceived by I he )>resi iilent of tlie Senate, those votes only .--hall be f counted which sl'all I ave been regularly o ?1*1711 UJ Ull' VWHW *'11'? III* II1/^ | have l>oon recognized by tin* Slate tribunals. The bill provides also that in case of <lis- ] puto as to which of two or more State tribu- (_ nals determining the titles of electors is tho |j lawfully organized tribunal, the votes only 0 shall be counted of those electors whose title X as such the two Houses, acting separately, ji shall concurrently tlecide is supported by the 71 decision of the tribunal authorized by the c; laws of tho State in <|uestion. In case of more than < no return from a State which a shall not have dotenninod the legality of tho title of tho electors, as provided by the bill, it is provided that those votes only shall be . counted which the two Houses, acting sepa- '' lately, shall concurrently decide to be the ^ lawful votes of tho appointed electors of 1 tuch State. NEWS OF THE WEEK. Eastern and Middle States. Cardinal IUculoskey, tue tiead 01 ine Catholic church in America, received many congratulations and presents from prominent Catholics in New York and other places on the occasion 01 tho fiftieth aunivereary of his entry into the priesthood. James Keenax, one of three brothers who kept the largest hotel nt Greensburg, Penn., committed suicide because a pretty young widow who hoarded in the hotel married his older In-other. Two lnrge New York grain commission firms have suspended with heavy liabilities, owing to the recent sudden decline in wheat. A kirk 011 the East side of New York destroyed three large Warehouses, causing a loss of about :&!U(),<W ). Tiik holy of Charles Delmonico, the best known of New York restaurant keepers, was found in the woods near Orange, N. J. About ten days previously Mr, Delmon co, who had bre:i suffering for some time from n nervous disorder, had cone out for a walk, ami that was the last seen of him alive. White in a dazed condition he ha 1 la'.eii a train for Newark, wan-* - - > 1 ?i ....? ticrca <HI IK) U IUIIUIJ mill nuuuiuuuvu ^ exposure. The Delmonic.) family were the most noted restaurant keepers in the country, and Charlei was the la<t of that name in the business. He ran four large and fashionable restaurants, and left a large fortune. A Japanese wrestler imported to this country for tho express purpose of defeating the American champions, was easily thrown by Edwin Bibby at a match in New York. A workman named Posey was blown to atoms by the explosion of a powder mill near Lebanon, l'enn. In view of tho prohibition of American pork by Germany and France the Boston Produce o.vchango adopted resolutions rerpiesting Massachusetts .Senators and Representatives in Congress to urge the passage of n retaliatory bill restricting or prohibiting tho importation from those countries of wir.es, etc. Chaui.es P. Stickney, well-known as one of tho trio of defaulters sent from Fall River, Mass., to tho Concord state prison, and who tvas pardoned by Governor Butler last May, ivas probably fatally burned at his residence n Fall Hiver. Mi's. Ktiekney was pourng benzine on a carpet to kill moths, ivhen tho vapor ignited from a gaslight, causing an explosion. She was instantly envelipod in flames. Her husband rushed to her issistauce, and in his efforts to save her his >wn clothing caught fire. When neighbors ;anio ru-hing in they fount! the wife a charred :orpse and the husband shockingly burned. Burglars spent all night in a building in Sew York occupied by wholesa'e jewelers, mil broke into three safes, from which they obtained watches, diamonds, rings and gold iggregating in value $'20,100. At a meeting of the board of directors of ;he Northern Pacific railroad in New York, VIr. Robert Harris, vice-president of the Erie -ailroa'l, was elected president of the former oad as successor of Henry Villard. Francis W. Rockwell (Republican) was elected to Congress at a special election in no Twelfth Massachusetts district to succeed governor Robinson. Mr. Rockwell received ),-|G0 votes to for Colonel A. C. Woodvorth (Democrat). Bontu ana west. "Jerry'' Alexander (colored) was mnged at Sjarta, Ga., for the murder of Samuel Fleming. The unprecedented rise in the Elk rivor, a iraneh'of the Kanawha, \V. Va., ha3 caused i loss of not less than $100,000 in staves, lark and lumber. Governor Hoadley was inaugurated juietly at Columbus, Ohio. At Griffin, Ga., Brewster McWilliams, :ixteen years old, while laboring under a fit )f mental excitement caused by recent sickiosb, instantly killetl a negro girl of the same ige named Mnttie Hood, and then deliberitelv shot and killed himself. John Elkers, who shot Dan Haggerty lecause the la ter would not pay him fifty :ents which lie owed him, was hanged at ,Valla Walla, W. T. A statue of the late United States Senator tforton was unveiled l>efore an immense asemblage at Indianapolis, Ind. Henry B. Payne was elected United States Senator from Ohio without opposition, he Republicans of both legislative houses moling blank. Governor McLane sent to the Maryland egislature a special menage on the labor quesion, in which he recommends ameliorative neasures for workers of both ?exes. while resisting arrest, ?. a. Alexander, a nw hoy and noted desperado. was shot and tilled on the reservation at Pena Colorado, Texas, hy a detachment of soldiers. Ono oldier named Uoss was killed, and two ithers were slightly wounded. Governor Sherman was inaugurated and he new capitol building was dedicated at )es Moines, Iowa. Hon. John A. Kasson lelivercd the dedicatory oration. A dinner was given at Columbus, Ohio, o State officers and members of the legislaure by United States Senator-elect Henry i. Payne. A diarolical attempt to murder a three'ear-old child by tying it to a railroad track, icar MeCorm;<'k, S. C., was frustrated, the ngineer of an approaching train stopping he cars witliin three feet of the helpless litle one. Daniel Morris, a Mormon eighty-four ears old, having three wives, was so affected >y the governors message, that after readng it lie hanged himself at his home near Salt Lake'. Washington. Commissioner Dudley divides the "penion population" of the United States into ive classes, as follows: Living soldiers and ailors who have not applied for pensions, 02,201; living soldiers and sailors who have applied for pensions, 4%,721; dead soldiers md sailors who left pensionable relatives eho have not applied for pensions. 72,340; lead soldiers and sailors who left pensionable elatives who have applied for pensions, .512,2*.i; dead soldiers and sailors who left no lensionable relative-, 230,000. Some one has just sent a one-thousand-dolar noto to the United States treasury delartmcnt "conscience fund.'! Regarding the effect of the two-cent posago law, the following facts are given by no postal tire department;: _ ine net decrease 11 postal revenues at 110 principal offices for ho fourth quarter of 1*8.'!, as compared with he same quarter of 1882, was $70,048. These ffices collect about one-half of the entire jxisal revenues. The three offices showing the rcatest loss were New York $25,31*S Chicago ;11,281, and Boston f KI.4.V5. The largest inrease was at Louisville, Ky., where the reeipts for the last quarter of 1-^83 exceeded hose of 1882 by i11 '?, 1 (! '>. The secretaries of war and of the navy ailed on the Hou*e committee on appronriaions and sugges'ed that money should be mivided to fit out two ships for two years as . Greely relief expedition to tho Arctic reions. Hv the Senate's joint rules the sale of 'spirituous or malt liquors" is forbidden rithiD the precincts of the capital. AnnfT 125 Senators and Representatives k'ere present nt the joint Republican caucus, ailed to select a congressional campaign ommittee. Senator Edmunds was chosen hairman and Representative Miller cted as secretary. Resolutions for I ho appointment of a campaign committee ! i <>ii<' iiuiii VHiu muivv- aii'i iciiiiui j netting i Republican representative in Congress, /ere passed, as well as resolutions of sympahy with the Republicans in the South. At a meeting of the Senate committee on ostollices and postroads, Senator Edmunds uade a long address in behalf of his bill for he erection of telegraph lines by the governnent. lie said that Congress had the contitutional power to pa&s such a bill and that jjostal telegraph would be beneficial to the ountry and the people. Thk reply of Secretary Chandler to a Sen- j te resolution calling for a strft'>meut showtig the date of construction, original cist ' nd total cx| ease for nil rcpa rs since their onstruetion of vessels borne on the navy mister in Novem! ei\ has bie:i ssnt 0 the Senate. The report shows that there rero ninety-two vessels on the register. (>f j liese twenty were built prior to the civil war, lurty-one (luring ths war and forty-one ! ince the close of hostilities. The original ost of the ninety-two ve.-sels amounted to repairs on all the vessels aggro | ate making the total cost of the essels amount to $s|,?.)!(T.-|#>. The repairs as lie ligures slu.w, have exceeded the original ost by '?((!>. THK House committee on jiensions has dipcted a favorable report to l>o made on the ill of Representative Hewitt, of Alabama, ranting n pension to all survivors of the lexican war. the wars with the Creeks, j dth the Seminoles, or in the Black Hawk 'nr. President Arthur has H>nt a message to ! 'ougrests recoiinneiKling that action b3 nken for the relief of lieutenant Ureely's arty in the .Arctic regions. Foreign, Seven men were killed and twelve injured j y an explosion 01 are unmp in u i-mn nunc t Arras, France. Tin-: Viceroy of Canton has issued a pro- ! Initiation calling upon the people to repel the j 'rench invaders. Catholic missionaries ?ro i eing arrested in China ami threatened with eatli. Tiie insurrection under the lea lorship of ; !1 Mahdi. the Falso l'rophet has spread , com I'piM-r Kgypt to Lower Kgypt. Col- j vl Coetio.mii. commander of the Khedive's ' wees in the city of Khartoum, was directed v the Khedive to evueuute the place. The ; uvptian prime minister telegraphed from 'afro an order that all the Christian popuico should leave Khartoum under a guard \ f troops, to prevent their being massacred. ] 'he forces of Kl Mahdi which were march- i lg on Kliartoum were estimated at over ! I),(KM). Numerous Arab sheikhs have de- j lared for El Mahdi. Font thousand unemployed persons held j meeting in 1'aris and listened to s[ieeches avoring an armed revolution. Swine for breeding purjioses imported ito Camilla from the United States are to e quarantined by the Canadian authorities tventy-ono days. The steamer Huai Quen, from Shangha for Hong Kong, has been wrecked "en the [ Hie Shan Islands. Five natives were saved, but nothing was known of the rest of the j crew, consisting of six Europeans and 1!)^ j natives. Germany and France's prohibition of , American pork is causing considerable discussion in those countries, a leading German i professor and a prominent Frcnch jolirnal 1 declaring that such prohibition is without i reason and unnecessary. El Mauri's rebels in the Soudan have cap- ! tured and burned the town of Helouan. j Chinese pirates made a night attack upon j Namdinh. Many j>ersons were killed and numerous houses burned. Mr. Lowell, United States minister to j Eng'and, has accepted the presidency of the i Birmingham and Midland institute for 1ssj. j Barnum's white elephant reached Liver- j pool from Siani, and after being exhibited in | Jvondon anil raris win do sent to America in i May. An unsuccessful attempt has been made to j prohibit Mormon missionaries from preach- | ing in Switzerland, the government refusing to interfere. Spain is about to a'lopt the German army j system. Tkn men and a boy were descending a j Welsh coal pit it in a cage when the rope ' broke and the occupants wore thrown to the bottom and all killed. The Canadian parliament is in session at | Ottawa. Colonel Rathbone, the resident of Albany, N. Y., who killed his wife recently in Hanover, has been declared insane and placed in charge of the United States consul. The Chinese minister to Franco has left that country in view of the invasion of Tonquin by the French. J. G. Biggar, home-rule member of parliament, was refused permission by the police to s[x?ak at a dinner given in his honor in Blacklion, Ireland. MUSICAL AND DRAMATIC Mary Anderson will go to Home before returning home. A UT'cmr. nnmorlir nnlluH "Fun nn Min Pn. ciflc," will bj brought out next season. Lawrence Barrett lias purchased the right to a new piece, "An American Queen." JIu. David Belasco is writing a now play, which ho will call " The Outcasts of New York." Alice Dunning Lingard will be the leading lady at the new Princess theatre, in London. , Ten members of Mr. McCullough's pres- ( enc company have been with him more than three years. Sixty-nine ticket speculators have licenses < to prey upon the public in front of the New ] York theatres. Salvini, the Italian tragedian, will begin a brief series of performances in Covent Garden theatre, London, 011 March 1. Mme. Patti states that there is no truth in 1 the report that she discovered a Welsh miner 1 on her estate with a rich baritone voice. , 'Claudian," the American right to which has been secured by Henry French, seems to have made a hit in Loddon. The scenic sen- 1 sation is the representation of an earthquake Fred. Warde will produce the new trag- < edy, Memnoh, by H. G. Carlton, during his Boston engagement, and will also appear in a translation of Salvini's version of The 1 Gladiator. 1 John Stetson has purchased the entire ' American right for the production^ of Gil- , bert and Sullivan's new opera, tno rrincess, and will produce it in New York, February 4. The price is said to have beea &JO.OIJO. A young American lady, named "VVheelock, who Has been studying music in Paris, recently attracted the attention of the director of the Italian opera and was engaged by him for his company. She made her debut under , the name of Mdlle Valda as Elvira in "Hernani." Sho was fairly applauded. Most of 1 the critics say that she learned too quickly. < POSTAL TELEGKAPE J Congressional Agitation on thiM Sub- i Joct? Senator Hill'* Spccclt. ( A Washington dispatch says: Consider- ] able interest has been shown this winter by \ members of both brandies of Congress in ( regard to the establishment of a postal telegraph system in the United States, and sev eral bills providing for such systems have al- . ready been introduced in the Senate and House of Representatives. Tl:ey are expected t.> pro- * voke a good deal of debate later in the ses- j sion, and some interesting speeches will be f heard. Mr. Edmunds, of Vermont, and Mr. Hill, of Colorado, each has in the Senate an c elaborate bill to provide for a postal s teiegraph. Mr. Hill delivered to-day an earnest argument in support of the measure introduced by him. Ho sketched the origin and progress of the postal systems of the civilized world, showing the effect of their extension. He ^ave in detail the history of the consolidations of small companies with the Western Union monop- . oly. Other competing lines are now starting, l he said, but they will be short-lived, no matter how able their promoters may be to carry petition is impossible, and in the nature of things capitalists will not carry their schemes v. beyond the point at which thev become unprofitable. Frequent complaints had been made of the manner in which the telegraph business of the country was transacted by private companies, and he asserted that all who had investigated this subject impartially con- j( ceded that the remedy must come in some . form of action by the national government. 1 In conclusion he said : '"The use of the telegraph is now restricted by its cost to extra- s ordinary communications and by its nature r to messages which do not need to be in I the handwriting of the sender. Under these t conditions the proportion of telegrams to i letters is about one to thirty,"but who shall \ say how soon .some ereat discovery, no more c wonderful than the telephone, may enable t fac simile messages to be sent instanta- <1 noously and cheaply over the wires, instead r of by the slow ami costly process by which i they are now transmitter! in Europe, If that s result shall be accomplished (and it is being a earnestly sought by inventors) the post- \ oflice will be stripped ot its most important i business. Every letter which does not re- r quire absolute secrecy, or which can be writ- s ten in cipher, will be taken from the mails e and sent by electricity. Drafts will be drawn t -?.l 1?1 ( UUU sui/uvu uain uj bvi^iu^/u, uuu i the monopoly which shall have grown up in f the control of this business will overshmlow ? not only the postoftice department, but the ;i government itself." i t BRAVE KATE SHELLEY. i \ Tlic Cirntitudc of a State foraCiirl'N ' Heroic Deed. ' Tho Iowa legislature has presented Kate x Shelley with an elegant medal and a purse of c $200 for saving a train from destruction on j the Chicago and Northwestern railroad on the night of July t>, 1KSI. Tho following is v an account of her heroic deed: ? Just before nightfall, on July 0, 1881, a ' storm of wind and rain of unusual severity | descended upon the region around .Boone, 1 Iowa. In an hour's time the Des Moines river arose about six feet. So great was tho 1 velocity of the wind that mauy buildings " were destroyed. Looking from lier window " Kate Shelley saw through tho darkness and v storm a locomotive headlight. A second s later it dropped from sight, and she knew 1 that the Honey Creek bridge was gone, and v that tho train had fallen into the abyss. !l There was no one at homo except her mother, v hor little brothrr and sister, and the girl u knew that if the exprrss train, soon due, was 0 warned of the dreadful danger, she must a undertake the task alone. She hurt ied from t the house, into the storm, she gained the v railroad track, and made her way toward I Moingona, a station about a mile from t Honey creek, as fast as she could struggle against the terrible wind. To reach .Moin- I gona it was necessary for her to cross the a high trestle bridge over the Des Moines river, d which was exposed to the full force of the a storm and about live hundred feet in length. I> >he crept upon the .structure: the wind, tne si rain, the thunder and the lightning u were appalling. She nearly lost her balance. ? and just escaped falling into the swollen u stream. She could not see a foot ahead of l> her. The darkness was intense, except when d the dazzling light nine revealed the'timber v and the surging and seething waters below. 1 Knowing that not a moment must he lost, 11 she crept from tie to tie, across the high tres- o tie. Having gained the ground on the further ei side she ran to the station and to'd her story <>i in breathless hasto. and fell unconscious at In the feet of the station keeper. Telegrams ri were sent flying up and down the line notify- gi ing all of the loss of the Honey rreek bridge. ] The express train came tmindcring along with many passengers on board, and was fn * *1:? Int* haw .?1 \i iiif ..ifr)ici StOppeCI. .UINJ RlllllCjr 1.1 nv?. v.0..., years old. m NEWSY NOTES. J Fi.ohida strawberriesarc held at * "? a nuart uv in New York. '!l Thk output of silver at Leadville, Col., the ' past year was $ls.tNNl,nOO. 'J1 Colorado ranchmen own nearly 1,000,000 sheep ami half as many heart of cattle. M. The free schools of Texas have a fund of j n and :BJ,UtHI.WNJ acres of land. o:i The New York elevated ra.hvads carrier 1 ,r more than 000,000 passengers in I ^s;;_ at Twenty young ladies belonging to oiu ^ 1'iiilailelphia ehnrcli have lieen married this " v.'inter. [(i Tiie Florida sponge crop now amounts to n'_ about one hundred and sixty thousand dollars a year. I It is estimated that gold and silver was \w mined in about as in l-vs:!, when ca -.ii/i mui ??i.i fm,i ijc, siiii.ikmi silver were taken i>ii from the earth. ?' > A taw: mine hns been discovered nt San ' Antonio, Ixmer California. This substance, 'n of which the ordinary soapstone is a va- '? riety, is used in giving a finish to wall and [et other fancy pa|K?r, and has hitherto been im- ')0 jiorteil from China. A iiii.arioi'S statistician of Cincinnati ?!!! finds that in 18s:> the telegraph reporteJ to ! the paners 7-7 suicides in t he I'nited States, of which -15 were for melancholy, seventy ' two for domestic infelicity, sixty four for ,1 (li8aptK)inted love, lfSS for insanity and forty- 'l,, six for ill health. 7; ? J LATER NEWS, 3' Mcch destitution prevails among the Penn. si sylvania iron ore mining districts. Many ^ miners are getting but sixty-two cents a day for twelve Lours' hard work?the lowest w wages paid in thirty years?while hundreds 11 or others are idle altogether. A series of explosions destroyed the Con tl sumers' Powder mills, nine miles from Scran- K ton. renn., ana snooK tne earrn lor a greai j" distance. L. H. Emory, a book-keeper vvhc j was balf a mile away from the scene of ex- E plosion, was siruck by a casting and instantly J* killed. J Foi r men were killed and seven were in- b jured by the explosion of one of the boiler.: ? connected with E. G. & E. "Wallace's shoe manufactory and tannery at Rochester, N. H. ? On the same clay an explosion at the Vulcan w Dynamite company's works, near Allentown, Pcnn., killed three men and injured several jothers. ci A sharp earthquake shock was fell ~ throughout the region surrounding Conto- v, cook, N. H. ri Ex-Congressman Greon Adams, of Ken. a tucky, for three terms chief clerk of the j" Hou^e of Representatives, died of heart dis- G case at his son-in-law's residence in Philadel ? phia, aged sixty-eighc years. Portions of North Carolina have beer w visited by a strongly perceptible shock ol v earthquake. ' * Eight men wero injured, three fatally, by j, a saw-mill boiler explosion near Columbia, c Mo. ( Judge Ephraim K. Wilson (Democrat ? was electe<l by the Mary'and legislature tc s] the United States Senate as successor tc 11 Senator Groome. Judge Wilson Is a resident jjj of Snow Hill, Md., sixty-two years old, and tl was a member of the Forty-third Congress. f< Since 1S7S he has been a jud^e of the first jj judicial district. tl Confirmations by the Senate: Richard g Lambert, of California, to be consul at San ' Bias, Mexico; Commodores Robert W. Shu b feldt, Alexander C. Rhind and Thomas Pat a tison to be rear admirals; Chief Engineer P Cliarles H. Loring to be chief of the bureau j of steam engineering at the navy depart- n ment; Captains Thomas S. Fillebrown and f John H. Russell to be commodores; Commanders Byron Wilson, F. M. Bunce and w Frederick V. McNair to be captains. ei A number of Irish farmers went to work the other day, and assisted by 1(!0 ploughs ind 320 horses ploughed fifty acres of the es- s< tate of Mr. Parnell, the Irish home rule lead- w a sr. i, Vignacx, French champion, won the second five-night billiard match with Schaefer, American champion, in Paris, making a total of 3,000 points to 2,8ftS for his opponent. Political differences resulted in the resignation of the Spanish cabinet and the for- c mation of a new cabinet with Senor Canovas del Castillo, a conservative, as president of the council. ? 5 LATER CONGRESSIONAL, NEWS. Senate. Mr. Miller, of California, from the com- g mitteo on foreign relations, reported back w ravorably the bill relating to the execution hi of the tupplemental commercial treaty of N'ovember, 1830, between the United States jt rod China concerning the opium traffic, ti The bill prohibits the importation of opium rj Into the United States from China and its 'a jxportation from the United States to China.] di [t was read and placed on the calendar j,, The Mexican treaty was rejected by a vote it )f^0to;?. Hoane* tw Mr. Slocum spoke in favor of the bill for ^ he relief of General Fitz John Porter. Mr. ^ Steele followed in a speech opposing the bill, tr ind Mr. Lyman came after in a sj>eech in its T avor. As other members desired to speak ^ in the bill it went over to the next oay's g ession without action. tr hi ^ S ni A TERRIBLE DISASTER. 2 re H ATreck of a Steamer on the Massa- c! chusstts Ooaat, ?! oi kores of Lives Lost by Drowning or ^ Exposure, ^ h< Following ore the details of the terrible jj( oss of the steamship City of Columbus, from tt Joist m bound for Savannah: r The steamship City of Columbus, which Ul ailed from Boston for Savannah at 3 p. m., ai m the following day struck a reef off Gay n Tea I, at the southwestern extremity of tj. lie island of Martha's Vineyard, at 3:45 ot 11 the morning, and became a t>tal vreek. The s! earner, which was in Cl oinii and of Captain E. S. Wright, of Boson, had successfully steamed through the sj langerous passage between Monomv Point, ai it the southern end of Cape Cod, and had arivelotf Gay Head Lighth iuse, when she tl t ruck on the reef known as Devil's Bridge, n md immediately careened over ar,d filled vitli water. Of the 120 j arsons on board tt nore than lW) were lost. The passengers, tt lumbering oighty-one,wei^ all asleep in their tfl tate rooms and berths when the shock cc lwakened them, and they rushed on deck in r? heir night clotln s, most of them providing tc hemseves with life preservers as they came jg rom the cabins. The steamer careened as tl: o >n as >he struck, and her port side was G it once dashed in, the sea breaking h< nto the cabin. Captain Wright had ei lie boats cleared away, but they were ri waniped as soon ns launched, for a gale was hi flowing from the westward, and the sea ft vas very high on the leef. The life lat't w a red better, ami seven passengers who in- ta ru-tvd themselves to it drifted away in tb afety. Meanwhile passengers were beinz ai va-ifed overboard by the dozen. Some forty P if them took to the rigging, but even the. e were ic t all safe, for the waves now and then tore de hem oil'. It was ten o'clock before sut c ir ti< nine in the form of the Gay Head life boat, itvhicli took off seven jiersona An hour later its mother life boat came, and then the revenue w< utter Dexter came up and took on board la; he remaining twenty-one and started with so: hem for New Bedford. m< Captain Wright says: "We passed the 7<) ,'ross Bij> lightship at 12 o'clock last nix lit, Mi ind continued by East and West Chop, with : strong breeze blowing from west southvest. Passed Nob ska with course west uthwest. I stepped into mv room to warm nvself. It was very cold. Everything was working well. I went below a short time, ml.soon afterward heard the second mate, r. rho was in the pilot house with the mate,sing: v" tit to the quartermaster to 'port.' I jumped ut of my room, thinking wa ha 1 come he .cross a vessel bound down the sound. I lien cried out. 'Hard-a-port,' not knowing it ras a vessel, and in the moonlight saw the *a i;ioy on the Devil's Bridge on the port about wo points forward of the beam, and about th ihi yards distant. .She immediately struck, ordered the engine rever.-ed, and she backed bout twice her length. The steamer imme- sei iately stopped and 1 ordered the jib hoisted s(( nd endeavored to head her to the north, ut she filled forward and listed over to port, j that the plank-hire was about four feet sn i.der wa'er. I went aft and told the passed- f,, ers to keep cool and get life preservers. I extt'ildthe ollicers of the deck to get the oats ready. The steamer settled in own aft and righted. It was blowing I s., erv hard. a'id a heavy sea was running. I auiichcd port No. > boat. wnicn uu- i led alelv capsized. The sea was breaking jo; ver ilie >t<\uner's dock, and the stern being tin itiivly under water we were forced to go up U | ii lop of the house, I staye<I here awhile, ut we were finally obliged to take to the ^in_-. The mate, second mate, chief en- wl: ijiei-r. and f< urtli engineer took to the raft, on ihii k the steamer struck on a lone rock.'' j,,., (1,1'c,in of the cutter Dexter furnishe I the blowing. statement: " At abutt we jilted a vessel ashore on the reef f'" ar ('"ay Head. The wind was blow- i>i\ ^ a gale, ami a terrible sea was running. Mll s ivc approa- bed we saw that the vessel was .steamer, and the waves were breaking ' erher. We anchored on her starboard pc( larter, .'<'<) or .'."0(1 yards away. The cutter's \\ | i:.t was a*, once lowered, manned by five , in charge of Lieutenant Rhodes, who oil-lit olf seven men. A return trip was a le, and one man was brought to the ves- t|l;] 1. Lieutenant Kennedy was then ?lis- .V, itched in t In* nig. with four men. and took ! 1 i four t r five men. .Meanwhile the lifeboat tj'" an-ferred several men to the cutter, and lift - i ?? ti?.\ H'll^ill I lie "I"."' ?' ? < ' rvivors. Tlie vessel sail; in about four . ' t hi litis of water, ami the railing on the bow }nr is tlie only port inn of the hull visible. We if mill the men in the tore and maintops and t>o :.ing. It was inn u.-sible to row over the ..,.j .viiii;, as the boats would have been ' uitdo.l to pieces. 'Ihe men in the rigeing iv forced to .,uinp 'into the sea, and wo nght them a^ they arose to the surface anil lied them into the boat. Some of the men it Id not swim, l.ut nearly every one in the ;|>|, ;ging was saved. Eugene McGarry jumped ' , mi the rigging. Lieutenant Rhodes juni[H'd r him, but tho boat was lifted lifteen I"'1 >t on a crest, and it was necessary to star- tin ard to avoid being swamjied. The poor ]|,.| m was not seen afterward. At the same .1 stant nearly Me(iarry's brother was pu;led to the boat* Captain Wright na< among 1* la>t tn l?ave the shin. Two men who a : ?ro fro/ui so stilF that they were tumble to s|); liiHiu'sh their hold 011 the ringing were at ?-tl? the only persons remaining 011 tlie , an er, excepting the captain. Lieutenant jodes asked him to jump, but he shouted, be Rave those men flr.-t.'' "Theyare frozen," ' as the lieutenant's reply. The captain then imped, and although he could not swim a . broke, he was rescued by Lieutenant Kenedy. No floating holies were seen, though . lie -ea was strewn with wreckage."' Lieutenant Rhodes [>erfornied a heroic act '% rhich elicits hearty commendation. Two _;-g3 ien hting in the rigging unable to move from -v^sl xhaustion. The officer determined to save . ^28 tiem at the peri! of his life. Returning to , lie cutter he asked Captain Gabrielson to ive him a man to steer that he might swim a the wreck and re-scue the unfortunate ien. Tho'Captain granted the request, and lieutenant Roath was placed in the boat. -.' -' 38 lut on nearing the steamer it was found to . -<33 e lolly to attempt to go alongside, ueu- . --Ja iiiant Rhodes refused to abandon the atjnipt, and sang out to the men in the life oat to take him to the wreck. Lieutenant Ihodes hoarded the lifeboat, and tying a rtj ope about him, waited until he was within ' bunt thirty feet of the vessel,when he sprang lto the sea. He had nearly reached the ''-ffyg! reck when he was struck "by a i>iece of imber on the leg and sank. He was pulled ' jJiHH b.ard the boat and taken to the cutter. : lis leg was found to be cut, but after banging his clothing, as the sea was SJR mouther, he determined to make a. last ;^Ss2B ttempt. He a^ain set out for the jj rreck, and this time the men were eached. One was hanging with his feet - ftt nd arms through the ratlines and his head 'as hanging. Lieutenant Rhodes put a bow- S ne about him, when he murmured, "For ' fod's sake, don't touch me!" The man, who , &i afterward found to be Mr. Richardson, ras placed in the boat, but died before reach- I lg the cutter. About <100 was found in a Jffig rallet in bis pocket. The second man, who as the last person removed from the wreck, ' 'as in the ratlines in the weather rigging, nd although breathing when placed in tne \32iH oat, he also expired before reaching the 3?9| A. F. Pitman, the chief steward of the v'-msJ Learner said: ''I was in my berth when the essel struck, and was not awakened by the tiOL'k. A general alarm was given, and I M urried into my clothes and left my state- '<y?g oi m. The greatest excitement prevailed and lie women were rushing about the cabin in lieir night dresses. On reaching the deck 1 vv-ga Dund the men hoisting the jib, and vSgfl i about twenty minuces th9 steamer . ' sted. Tho houses were carried away by ; ae sea almost immediately, aud the deck be- : /JSs an to break up at .about 7 o'clock. As the assengers came on deck they were swept vverboard by scores and the scene was horn- ~ le. After the vessel listed I made ray way long the windward side, up an inclined lane, and into the rigging, where about'' jrty persons, ail men, had taken refuge. hen we clung for life; with fingers be- , umbed, and with floating corpses and debris ' fsM t our feet. I saw one man who was knocked .'f*S lto the sea when the top-mast head broke." Among the passengers on board the boat as Oscar Iasieaja, the Turk'sh consul gen- 3 pal, residing in Berlin, and many wellnown merchants of Berlin and other Massatiusetts towns. The City of Columbus was a line iron VQft- ' '-yt&R ;1 of 2.00U tons, built in 1878. She had ai- :.\?H ays ruu between Savannah and New York ;vgH nd Boston, and was valued at $300,000, and ''r yj3 isured for $170,000. SURROUNDED BY FIRE. || l Passenger Train Dashing Through ~ Burning Oil. 'urned Men and Women Throw Themselves Into the Snow. The track of the Bradford, Bordell and 'inzua railroad, near Tarport, Penn., beime flooded with oil that escaped from a f'.ajfa ugetank A crowded passenger train from ellesville, N. Y., to Bradford, Penn., ran ito the lake of oil, and the oil igniting, the : ain was instantly wrapped in flames and the issengers found themselves imprisoned in a . S'VgB ige of fire. Three women were burned to eath, twenty-flve other passengers were urned, several of them fatally, and the train -?jg| self was almost wholly consumed. The train, consisting of a locomotive, a . igeage car and four passenger car, left : Tellesville at 9 o'clock a. m., in charge of ' Jgx onductor Townsend, and made the usual ops along the route. At 9:4.5 o'clock the . fM aia rounded a band a mile and a half from /$s? arport and about two mile3 east of Brad- ' * j?S ird. At the side of I lie road Is the Bolanan farm, which is leased by the Anchor . il company. On a hill overlooking the X-t^M ack is a large tank. From this tank oil id escaped, and, forming a channel for itlf down the snow-covered hill had sub* lerged the roadbed for a distance of more ; ' iw lan tbree hundred feet. When the engi- VS3 ;er discovered the lake of oil before him he s-'^4|8 iversed his engine and whistled down brakes. vifcB ,e was too late, however, to stop the train. ; ; was running onastec-p down grade, the : 'rve had prevented him from perceiving s danger in time and the train rushed down i its destruction. Hardly had it reached the . I, when the fluid burst into flames which rapped the train, ancL running along the . -Vva ack, created a lake of fire throwrh which le engine plunged. The glass itr?he win)ws cracked and fell out under the intense < jat and the flames filled the coach. The antic passengers rushed toward the doors, >'-38 ut the flames permitted only a few to reach ?3S lem, and they threw themselves headlong ' ^ om the windows. The train rushed down the steep decline itil it reached a curve half a mile distant id there it leaped the track, and its charred ^ lins were piled in confusion by the side of -iv5 le track. The engineer, the fireman and hers of the train hands had jumped from le burning train before it reached the irve. ltie greater numner 01 me ju-vieu- - ;ni :rs. of whom there were about fortv in the 38 ngle coach, had also jumped from the train ~C-gfk id were only saved from being crushed to ;ath by falling in snowbanks at the side of _ le track. Few of them escaped without || lore or less serious burns. -^^5 An eye-witness of the disaster says it was le grandest and yet the most awful scene lat human eyes ever witnessed. For a disince of nearly half a mile the road-bed was ? - . ? ivered with oil. At points it wa? over the tils. The moment the gas came in con- ' - ^|? ict with the fire-box it exploded, niting the oil. In less than one minute ^ ie engine and cars were enveloped in flames. re:it black pillars of fmoke ascended -;iA ;avenward, and the driving wheels of the * igine scattered the blazing oil in every ditction. With a rush and roar which might lve been heard for a mile the fames leaped < . .V3 dly iW feet ahead of tlie locomotive, which as thus compelk-d to run through a veri- k ib'.e sea of fire. It was a terrible race. How:* pnoinwr. train hands and the men. women " ^ ul children escaped is something that only rnvidence can explain/' A relief train with surgeons and cots were .'spatched to the scene as soon as informa)n of th? disaster reached Bradford. Upon (arrival there a terrible sight presented ;elf. The pa>sengerco:;ch and baggage-car ;re a smoking mass of ruins; the engine &. y on its back, having turueil a complete mersault, and on every side were sufferers jailing with pain. The dead were two unr married women?Mrs. T. C. Fair and r.-. Labias Jones?and Miss Katie Moran. 'tWISE WORDS. ^if|| The fewer words the better prayer. Agreeable advice is seldom useful adGrief hallows hearts even wlu'le it ages False modesty is the last refinement of The weak may be joked out of any- ? ing but their weakness. All the whetting in the world can never ; a razor's edge oil that which hath no V >el in it.' The chains of habit are generally too tail to "be felt till they are too strong be broken. The ifrealcst pleasures often originate ii |>nin: ami the wor>t pains usually rinu" <"it of pleasures. If we di<I Itut know how little sonic cnr of 1 lie great tilings that they possess,. . re would not he much envy in tho >rld. We blame foitune for not visiting us, terras, in many eases, the fault lies at r own door in doing nothing to invite r in. .V man's desires always disappointhiin; '.though lie meets with something that i s him satisfaction, yet it never thorL'liiy answers his expectations. lood manners is the art of makingthose >ple easy with whom we converse. Iioever makes the fewest persons uneasy [he best lued in the company. I'rue good-breeding is nothing more in the practice of the common princis of humanity and good nature, cxided to all the concerns of common V contented mind is tlie greatest hli'ss? ? % r a man can enjoy in this world; and in tlu* present life his happines arises tn the subduing of his desires, it will so in the next from the satisfaction of '?? Ho Know Whereof ho Spoko. What is a complimentary vote?" ccd (Jilhooly of (mis IV Smith. us. who had several times ox icneed the joy of receiving such a teslonial of the esteem in which lie is H d by his fellow-cisizcns. cleared his oat. and replied: A complimentary vole is like kissing !*'irl through a telephone; it is the idow without l ho substance."?Si/tiut/s. I'he Tike's Peak railway will probably completed by July 4, ISS-i.