University of South Carolina Libraries
ABBEVILLE PRESS AND BANNERj BY HUGH WILSON. ABBEVILLE, S. C.. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 28, 1885. NO. 31. VOLUME XXIX.|ff|M WILL. As wars tho tree within the blast, Yet falleth not but grander grows, Grasping tho firm rock giantly, And fending, hero-like, all blows; So toils the iron will of man Before stern fate's tempestous stroke; H? conquers e'er if true at heart, And, lo!?a mighty human oak! ?C. 0. Blanden. . HIS GREAT FIND. BY THOMAS DUXX ENGLISH. As a scientist, Professor MacDougal stood high. lie left Yale at twenty-one, went through Giessen afterward, and concluded by a course of study in the School of Mines in Paris. He was recognized abroad and at home as a man of profound learning, and at the early age of thirty was made professor of natural scient ? at Barncville College. He came of a race of scientific notables. His grandfather, a Scotsman, had been pro- J fessor at Glasgow. His father, who came to this country and married, and settled down here, though he never taught, was more distinguished, and Professor Roderick bade fair to surpass his predecessors in scientific renown. But the close pursuit of knowledge has its penalty. The first commencement day found the professor quite broken up. Nearly six feet high, and with muscles to fit, he had been the crack oarsman at Yale, and at the head of tho first class j of the Turn Verein at Giessen. Now j he had grown lean, weak and listless. | His colleagues viewed his state with i alarm. One of them, also a skillful physician, gave him a prescription. "Mac," he said, "you have worked wonders for us during the course, but at your own expense. Go to the country. Get away from books entirely. You have three months of vacation. Use it up by absence from ink of all kinds, or you will be used up." The professor thought on it. "I ought to devote the vacation to my treatise on the Gryllidse," he said. "But perhaps you are right. Up in Mountain county there is a gneiss formation, permeated by veins of coarse granite that must be rich in minerals. It has been little explored, and I may make a great find there, and get a specimen or so that I shall be proud to show to my friends." So the professor bought a coarse gray suit, packed his valise, added a leathern satchel and belt, with hammer, chisel, | and blow-pipe, and started for Mountain j county. On the cars he fell in with an ! old friend, who happened to know all about his place of destination. He was told to get off at Firwood station, where he would find a stage-coach to take him to Rockborough, the county town. The The inns there were were execrable, and j he was advised to seek boarding in a I farm-hodse. " Can you recommend one?" asked the | Professor. "They are about the same kind," was ; the reply, "clean, coarse, and with no chamber window that will let down; from the top. The natives have a j horror of letting foul air out or fresh j air in. There is one exception: old j Squire Martyns has a nice house, and j lives well. His maiden sister is his housekeeper. He has a very pretty daughter; but she is off at boardingschool. The squire takes boarders only ' now and then?he is rich?and only for company. If he likes you, and bis sister should like you, he'll let you stay. Ho lives three miles cast of Rockborough, and any one can pilot you." "Thank you. I'll try him." "I must tell you, however," resumed his informant, "that the squire is a character. He is a fairly educated man, and as you say you arc a mineral-hunter, he can help you, for he has a collection, and knows the localities. But he'll accost you in the vernacular of the region, and keep it up until he gets to know you." Thus it was that one afternoon early in Ji^ly, Professor Roderick MacDougal was carried in a hired wagon from Rock, borough to Martyns' Nest, as the farm was called. The farmhouse, standing upon rising ground a short distance from the j high-road, was half hidden by wistarias and creepers that draped the wide veranda and climbed the brick wulls to the eaves of the gambrel roof. There was an attempt at a lawn, with beds of gay-colored flowers. The place looked comfortable and home-like. The man who sat on the veranda with his chair tilted back, his shirt collar unbuttoned, and a cob pipe in his mouth, looked at home too. Wny not? He was the owner. He i brought his chair forward and arose as the professor came up the steps. "Squire Martyns, I presume," said the professor, blandly. " That's what they call me. Is it book or lightnin'-rod?" " Neither," replied the professor, smiling. "My name is MacDougal, and I have been advised to try the nill air for a time. I called to request you to accommodate mo with board for a few weeks." "May I ask what you do for a livin'?" "I am a professor in Bameville college." "You ain'toneof them snake-catchera an' bug-hunters?" "I know something about reptiles and insects, but I expect to amuse myself by collecting the minerals and plants of the region." " Stuns, eh! There 'ain't been a stunhunter in these parts not sense the time of the Jollylogical Survey, an' there's right smart of queer stuns here yet. Plants, eh! That would suit my Hetty, if she was to home, for she's got lots of 'em upstairs in books?Lucy Ann!" A tall, neatly dressed old lady came to the door, and said, "Well?" "Can we make room for a stunhunter ?" Lucy Ann surveyed the professor, who smiled at the scrutiny, and then said, "There's plenty of room; but if this irentleman be huntiner minerals, there'll Be a nice pair to clutter us up." And with a laugh she retreated. "Approved by the higher powers," Baid the Squire, laughing. " Who brought you over ? I sec now: John Adkina. John, bring in the professor's things. Sit down and rest yourself. I There will be no difficulty about terms, I! think." The professor soon lound that his informant had been right. He had come to the best place, lie was assigned a ] neat and pleasant chamber opening upon ; a flower garden, at one end of which j were several hives of bees, which made a pleasant humming, while the odors from | beds of fragrant herbs smote pleasantly j on the nostrils. From the windows he I had a fine view of mist-covered ridges j in the distance, over a long stretch of ULdulating valley, dotted with fields of grain, patches of woodland, farm-houses, and out-buildings, aud herds of kine 1 grazing in their pastures. When supper- j time came be found the comforts of the inner man would be well cared for. Whether Miss Lucy Ann Martyns or the 9 plump hired girl who brought in the dishes and waited on the table were the cook, it was evident there was somebody about who could cook, Scientist as he was, the professor liked to eat. But is nnrArnrrr tho nnm flf SPinnCfi ? UVC gvuu VVVUViJ ??V w?- - ? The next morning early the professor arose, and brought down his belt and satchel, prepared for an exploring expedition. To his delight he found his host overhauling a similar equipment. "You sha'n't have the best things without sharing," said the squire. "I shall give you my time for to-day, and after that you can paddle your own canoe. You won't iind any corundum, which used to be abundant. I bagged all that long ago, and made a pretty penny out of it But you'll not lack specimens. I saved a lot of duplicate crystals, and you can pick and choose from them at your leisure." They made a day of it, and the professor came home at night with his sack full and his pockets crammed. After that he went alone, and explored the neighborhood thoroughly. A week passed on, and the professor heard of a quarry fifteen miles oil, which abounded in kyauite and black tourmaline. So he walked there to be absent for two days. It did rot turn out as well a3 he expected, and he started to walk back next day. About noon he was within a mile of Martyns' Nest, and crossed a field to ~jBt short a turn in the road, when h heard a female voice crying for help. 1 He looked up and saw a young and pretty girl mounted on the top of a hay-stack, and making frantic signals for assistance. He got over the fence to see the cause of these extraordinary motions, when a vicious looking bull pranced around from the other side of the stack. The professor got back again. Ho comprehended the situation. "Keep where you are," hccried, "until I drive the bull off!" It was superfluous advice, and his purpose r )t easily carried out. Ho threw atones at the bull; but he was not.to be diverted from his object. The animal would prance forward, bellow aud then resume guard over the stack. Then a bright idea struck the professor. Linen handkerchiefs are inconvenient for travelers, and for mineralogists in particular, for they are bad for use as sacks when satchel and pockets arc full. He had provided himself with stout silken bandanas, and had one in his pocket. - As Alexander Dumas would describe the affair: It was of a bright red. He drew it from his pocket. He waved it frantically. | The bull saw it, and made a dash for the offensive thing. "Ran, young lady!" cried the pro1 fessor from the safe side of his fence. The girl ran, and got safely over the fence on the other side. As in duty bound, the professor went around, leaving the bull to his chajrrin, and joining the girl, inquired if she were hurt. "Not at all, sir," she answered, "but /\K11fYrtrl fn vi-iii fnr vnnr !19 muv,u wuiigvu j J ? . sistance." She seemed to be goinpr the same way with himself, so the professor, who, though not "a marrying man," as the saying goes, was gallant, entered into conversation with her. They drifted from the weather and the scenery into books and current events, and he was astonished to find how much the bright little lady knew. "Who could she be? Some visitor, doubtless. ' Though plainly dressed, she had the air and manner that showed her not of the type of the neighborhood. lie began to skirmish to find out, when she broke into a light rippling laugh. "I beg your pardon, 'sir," she said, "but I tnink I know you. You are Professor MacDougal, are you not?" He nodded assent, still more mystified. "We used your work on botany as a text book at St. Sebastian's; but you'll excuse me for saying that I always thought you to be an old gentleman. I only got home from the school last evening, and I was returning from a visit to a neighbor when that cros3 bull made me climb the haystack. I am Hester Martyns." The acuuaintance thus made, the two grew quite familiar by the time they reached the Nest, where Hetty told of the adventure, and the professor declared that ho would put the bandana in lavender as a souvenir of the method he had employed to trick the bull. That evening there was a visitor at Martyns' Nest. Mr. Jotham Jones, a wealthy young farmer of the neigliborhoad, made his appearance. Jotham was the champion athlete of that section, --J H.'fl nnfmrno. I UUU I'UUIU UUlJUUip, UUUUI, ?UV4 vunnvj- i tie any one in those parts. Lord of many j acrcs and herds of kine, he had great! confidence in himself, and swairgcrcd around out of doors. That night he sat almost tongue tied, using little more than monosyllables. The professor, though he did not know that Jotham had known Hetty since she was a child, and always admired her, concluded that it was a ca3c of courting, and so discreetly left the room and went to his chamber, where he labelled and packed his specimens. The squire, however, Remained, which was a sure sign that he did not regard the suitor with special favor. From that timo forth Jotham came quite often. The professor, who saw a deal of Hetty, ana who, having turned his attention to plants,'got from her the location of scarce varieties, took a special interest in the result of this siege. "I have a pitty for Hetty," he said to himself. "She is really a charming girl, and fit for any position in life; but it will end by her marrying this coarse clod." The more he saw of Jotham, tho less he liked Hetty's prospects. And then he began to discover by unmistakable signs that Jotham did not like him. Jotham glared at the professor when they met, and spoke of him among his | associates as a -sione-cruoiier uuu a "crank"?the last word being always applied by fools to any one they think to possess brains. The lover did not let his hate for the stranger interfere with his siege of the maiden. At all the pic- j nics and rural festivities he followed j Hetty like her shadow. She gave no tokens of dislike at this, and every one, j even the professor, thought i*. would ! eventually bo a match. Y/hy not ? j Jotham was even richer than the squire, j There was nothing between the farms but | a narrow patch of land, which was in the market. That bought by either, and the i combined Jones and Martyns places would j cover nearly two thousaud acres of the j best land in the county. The very prox- j imity suggested a matrimonial alliance. j The time of vacation had nearly slip- j ped away, when there was a merry-mak-. ing on the faim. The Martynses had al- \ ways given an old-fashioned harvest- j home to their neighbors after the main crops were gathered in, and Henry Martyns was not a man to slight the custom j of his forefathers. Aunt Lucy Ann's resources of larder and kitchen were i taxed to their utmost. The neighbors, ! young and old, were all there. The feast was held in the great barn, and after it was all over the threshing-floor ' was cleared, a fiddler installed in state upon a stool, and dancing began, while I at a little distance off, on a patch of greensward, a party of young men inmned. ran. and nracticed all kinds of j f , , 4 muscular fun. The professor had been a ; great danrer in his student days, and though he had not stooped to anything so light while holding a chair at college, felt it his duty to ask the daughter of j his host to open the hop with him. Just : as she had consented, Jothain came up with a similar request. "I have promised the first set to Professor McDougal," said Iletty, 'but the nextisatvour service, Mr. Jones; and I he had to be content with that. He saw { the professor dance in earnest, not walking through, but falling into the ! spirit of the occasion, pirouetting, j pigeon-winging, and heel-and-tocing in i the rustic style, to the admiration of the spectators and the chagrin of Jot ham, to whom it was gall and wormwood. When Jothnm's turn came, the professor watched in turn, and when it was over, and Hetty seated, and .Totham bent over her and talking earnestly, the professor felt an uncomfortable sensation for which he could not account, and went and joined the young men 011 the green. There ho found* the old squire looking on. "Everdo anything of this kind?"asked Mr. Martyns. "Sometimes in my under-graduatc days," said the professor. But he took no interest in their sport, and soon went back to the barn. Iletty was not on the floor. She was still seated, with Jotham at her side. He ! was talking eagerly, and she was blushing while her lingers picked nervously at her dress. 4'I would like to take that fellow : down a peg," said the professor, viciously, and then walked back and rejoined ! the squire. He stood irresolutely, and I made vague and inapt replies to his ! companion's remarks. Suddenly the cry arose: "Here comes Jones! Now you'll see jumping!" Jotham dashed in among them excitedly, looked at the heel marks of the others, aud took oil his coat, lie was very much agitated. But seeing the professor, he gave him a savage look, and going to the starting-point, made a great leap, and landed a foot farther than any of the rest. "There!" he said; "I'd like to see any dtide stone-cracker beat that." This drew all eyes on the professor, who walked forward, looked at the distance, and calmly handed his coat to the squire. Then he jumped fully eighteen iuches farther than Jotham. The latter did not like the storm of applause which greeted the feat. He cwtwmined to J . .. . ; show lii9 supremacy in another way. 80 he said, in an offensive tone: "You're good at the jump, Stonecracker. How are you at the rsssle?" Squire Martyns frowned, but before he could utter a rebuke, the professor replied, quietly: "I did not come into the mountains to show myself off, Mr. Jones; but as this is a gathering of neighbors, I havo no objection to trying a friendly fall with you. Only, as I am out -of practicc, you must be light on me." Thus saying, the Professor divested himself of waistcoat and cravat. Tho crowd eagerly formed a ring, and tho two antagonists stood facing each other, Jotham lowering and malicious, the other calm and indifferent. A few feints and they locked. Jotham was thickest and sturdy; the other 'supple as an eel. A struggle, aud then?so" quickly that no one could see how it was done?the two went down together, Jotham on the broad of his back, and the professor uppermost. The latter sprang to his feet, but Jotham lay there for a minute incapable of motion. When he arose he wa3 in no condition to renew the contest. ''Professor," said tho squire, as they walked toward tne Dam, "woiua you like to be a member of Congress?" "I think not," said the professor. "I have no taste for politics. Why?" ' Because if you'll settle down here, and flail half a dozen bullies, as you have Jotham Jones, you'll go in by a large majority." It was evident that MacDougal's strength was restored, and his appearance showed hira to be in good health; but his spirits were depressed. During the few more days he remained he made no more mineralogical or botanical excursions, but lingered around the house. Hetty avoided him, and if they met was shy. " She resents the humiliation of her lover," he thought. "And there is nothing in common between them. She is beauty, grace, animation, and intellifence;and he? Well, it can not be elped." The day of parting came. The professor bade good-bye to the squire and his sister, and was invited to pay them another visit. " I have charged a price this time. It is my way to avoid an influx of strangers. But when you come, you come as my welcome guest. We all like you." "Thank you. The liking is mutual. Where is Miss Hetty? " "She went over to Joyce's." " T?iM Knr rrnnrl.hvfi fnr raft. Mv Valise has gone ou to Rockboroii?h, and I shall walk over." And with a renewed handshaking the professor left. lie soon came to the fencc where he cajoled the bull with the handkerchief trick. "There is the hay-stack," he said. "How pretty he looked!" And he crossed the fence and walked toward the stack. A girl sat, with her face bowed in her hands, on some loose hay by the stack. '' Why, Miss Hetty!" said the professor. . The girl started, sprang to her feet, and looked at him wildly. He noticed the tears on her cheeks. "Why, Hetty!': ho exclaiimed; "what is the trouble?" Ho took her hand, but she made no reply. "My dear child," he coutinued, "tell me if lean aid you. I know that it is to Mr Jones you would naturally go, but I am your friend, and?" "I detest Jotham Jones!" exclaimed Hetty, withdrawing her haud. A light seemed to come to the professor. "Hetty, darling," he said, taking her hand again, "do you detest me?" The professor came home jubilant. Every one noticed how well he looked. He displayed the contents of his boxes to his colleagues. "Very good specimens indeed," said Dr. Brainard, "but not such a great find." "There is something finer than these, Hnf if ;0 hphinrl in Mrmntjiin eountv. I'll have it here at the beginning of the new year." The professor went off during the holidays. He telegraphed back the hour of his return, and on hi# urrival his colleagues, with their wives, went there to meet him. He had a lady on his arm. They gathered around to welcome him back. "My good friends," said he, "I told you I would bring home my best specimen. I did not bring it in my satchel. I do not intend to put it on a shelf. Let me present you to Mrs. Hester MacDougal the greatest find of my life."?Earpev's Bazar. Eating in a French Cunadian Town It is characteristic of St. Francois and the early hours of the place that the housewife who does not arrive at the village market by 6 or 0:o0 in the morning subject her household to the perils of semi-starvation. The farmers' wives who bring in the fruit and vegetables and butter and eggs from their farms are all in their places by 5 o'clock, and fcqr 8 many of them are already jogging along on their way homeward. And the market is the chief place for the purchase of edibles in the town of St. Francois. Its supply is meagre enough, and its customs are primitive. The market-womeo, all ask one price and take another; hence a purchase involves an immense amount of bargaining and chaffering and gesticulating, and the worthy townspeople bid each other good-morning, ana josue i each other with their market-baskets and peer down over each other's shoulders along the meagre array upon the counters with much bustling and curiosity. Berries and vegetables are sold in what the natives call "tureens," ?a most vague and elastic term, as a "tureen" appears to an outsider to be anything from a teacup to a scrub-pail. You may buy a tureenful of raspberries for ten cents, or one for a dollar, and you can only give an indefinite guess at the quantity you arc getting for your money. The supply is very scanty, and poor in quality, too. The tiny wild strawberries, wild red raspberries and chokeberries form the bulk of the fruit obtainable in St. Francois. The French-Canadian farmer is a slow and conservative gardener, and many Vegetables and fruits which would ripen easily in the climate are not cultivated nowadays, simply because his grandfather did not cultivate them before him, and his sluggish brain has not yet awakened to the fact that it would be a wiste and profitable thing to raise them. But, if the vegetable market is scanty, the lish market on summer mornings is a sight to behold, from the numbers of eels which crawl over and under each other and wriggle along the counters and fall off on the floor, where they lie writhing till the merchant, seeing his : wares escaping him, picks them up and stuns them by striking their heads against the wall.?Lippincott. ? I The Amenities of liar. | Generals Pierce Young and Custe ! were messmates and classmates and de , voted friends at West I'oint. In the war they were major generals of cavalry on j epposing sides. One day General Young I was invited to breakfast at the Hunter I mansion in Virginia. The beautiful | young ladies had prepared a smoking breakfast, to which the general was addressing himself with ardor, when a shell burst through the house. Glancing through a window, he saw Custer charging toward the house at the head of his statr. Out the window Young went, calling to the young ladies: ''Tell Custer I leave this breakfast for him." Custer enjoyed it heartily, and looked forward with pleasure to the dinner in the distance. In the meantime Young, smarting over the loss of his breakfast and his hasty retreat, drove the Federal line back, aud by dinner time was in sight of the Hunter mansion again. Custer, who was just sitting down to dinner, laughed and said: "That's I'ieice Young coming back. I knew he wouldn't leave me here in peace. Here's my picture; give it to him, and tell him his old classmate leaves his love with this excellent dinner." And out of the window he went and away like a flash, while the Georgia general walked in and sat down to dinner.?Atlanta Constitution. The total production of cigars in the country, as estimated by one of the largest manufacturers, is about 3,000,000,000 a year. - / - - .. y j FARM. GARDEN AM) HOUSEHOLD. Points on Poultry Keeping-. Fowls arc never properly fed unless 1 they are fed regularly. They look forward to meal time, as any one may see who notes their actions, and are restless and discontented if they do not receivc their expected rations, just as their attendant would be if similarly treated. The laying of soft-shelled eggs sometimes result from over-feeding and sometimes from a deficiency of shell-forming material. The necessary lime may be supplied in several ways. Bone meal or ground oyster shells can generally be had, and in their absence keep a supply of old mortar where the hens may help themselves. The Tribune and Farmer says that over-feeding will bo as ineffectual as not giving enough, for a hen that is fat will seldom ever lay well. Mashed potatoes mixed with scalded corn meal, or buckwheat flour fed hot, is excellent. They should have fresh meat if possible twice a day in 6ome form; either lard scraps, offal from the butchers, or wild game, sucn as rauDits, squirrels, etc. The more of this kind of food given, the greater number of eggs will be secured, beside hens will never eat their eggs when furnished with all the fresh meat they want. Meats that have been cooked and highly seasoned should not be given. Pure water furnished daily is also very important, for they will not do well without it. A lump of lime dropped into the water is highly recommended by some. The hen house will require a supply of boxes nailed around the side walls containing straw and nests, and in each an artificial egg to prevent loss by freezing. Many think that when hens are confined in a room a nest egg is not required, but any person seeing the discontent of a fowl when ready to make her deposit, wandering fron\ place to place in search of an egg to sit upon, will be convinced of the importance of supplying it. The Farmers' Review expresses the opinion that the most profitable egg producers arc early hatched spring chickens, which begin to lay in the fall, and if furnished with warm quarters and proper lood, will produce eggs quite freely through the entire winter. Hut it is not wise to reduce the flock in the fall | wholly to spring pullets, since hens a j year or two old make more reliable setters and mothers, and a sufficient number should be kept for this purpose. Green food is fully as essential for poultry in winter as in summer, says the American Agriculturist. Their confine- j mcut to dry food during the continuance ' of cold weather goes far to account for 1 the scarcity of eggs at that season of the year. Fresh winter eggs are always in demand and bring a good price in every market. Hens, like cows, should be producers as well as consumers during the cold months of winter. Farmers, as well as fanciers, should have a supply of green food safely stored away for the winter use of the poultry. Fowls are not very particular as to the kind, they readily eat celery, tops of onions, turnips, etc. , lettuce, cabbage, and apples also are relished. If such supplies have to be purchased, it is cheaper to buy one or two hundred heads of cabbages of second quality, which can be had at a low figure in autumn or early in the season. These should be delivered with their roots, and buried up to the head in sand in the cellar. Hang a head in some convenient place in the house where the fowls can pick at it. Farm and Garden !Yote?. A fair ration of turnips for a full grown cow or for ten sheep is a peck per day. For sheep it seldom pays to grind corn. For young st*>ck grain may often be profitably cooked. Potatoes may often be cooked and fed to young stock to advantage. The man who led the first emigrants across the plains to California, in 1849, died recently at the a^re of eighty. He was worth $3,000,000, made by raising cattle in that State. Oat-meal and wheat-bran Is one of the best of rations for milch cows; but the Rural New Yorker thinks that a still better ration is made of new process oilmeal, bran, corn-meal, and a liberal supply of yellow globe mangels. Professor William Brown, of the Ontario Agricultural college, has repeatedly declared that peas form a cheaper and better food than does corn for stock. Others who have experience assert the same, yet very few peas have ever been fed in the United States. TVia A mwlnnn Drtin/mnn anra iq one point that should be deeply impressed upon the dairyman's mind, and that is, if he wants to make a first-class article of butter he must churn often. Never let the cream get over three days old, no matter how cold it may be kept. If cold, it will get old, flat and frinky. If sour, the whey will cat up the best butter globules. Churn as olten as you can. One of the special recommendations of raspberries and blackberries is that they aro so easily propagated and will take care of themselves and multiply to any extent desired. One hour's work in taking up a few uatches of tho shoots ? and clearing of the canes?a foot square and placing them at some fertile fence corncw, will presently supply all the berries that you will carc to pick for tho family. Try it. As a rule farmers should save what pumpkin seed they need, and from the largest and heaviest specimens. There is a great deal of difference in the quality ; of pumpkins. Seed from tho stores is I very often from inferior specimens. Some I farmers have been stuck this year with I pumpkin seed that only produces speci- j mens about as large as a two-quart pail, while better seed on the same land quadruples the size aud value. Hoot crops, which often demand the use of the hoe, cause the land to be kept very clean, thus destroying weeds. It is best to put down such crops occasionally for that purpose, as they are important in a proper system of rotation, and also i prove remunerative crops as compared with other kinds. A crop that assists in destroying weeds saves labor the following year, and is, therefore, more valuable than may be supposed in some respects. The fault of the wind-mill is its makers try to do too much for too little money, and the result is unsatisfactory to all parties. I apprehend the farm windmill of the future will do something more than pump water. "When the problem of the storage of electricity has been solved more completely, then it will perhaps not only pump water and do other familiar jobs, but furnish the material for electrical lightniug. ? Country Gentleman. It is a misfortune to have a cow thin in flesh when she is about to calve. Her milk all the season will be less in quantity and poorer in quality than it would be if she were in moderately good flesh. Excess of fat is not desirable, mainly because it shows a tendency for food to go to building up of flesh rather than the making of milk and butter. But a good cow thai will calve toward spring will I bo all the better for liberal feeding through the winter. Household Rccipnu and Hints. An appetizing saucc to serve with roast beet is m-tde of one tublespoonful of grated horseradish, one teaspoonful ?f nnwrlmwl anrrni- frmr tnlilr?qnr>r>n fIII | , .v,... of vinegar. Slix them thoroughly together. Delicious filling for a pie Is made by j stewing some prunes until they arc very : soft, and remove the stones, sweeten to , your taste, and add, for one pie, the well j beaten whites of two eggs; beat with ! the prunes until thoroughly mixed. Bake I with two crusts, or, if you can get it, use whipped cream in place of tho upper crust. When roasting lamb or fowls, if you do not like the flavor given by thin slices i of salt pork or of bacon, which are usually put over them, take some hard butter, roll it in flour, and separate it into small iumps and lay here and tnere on the meat. This will give richnessand flavor to the liquid with which you baste them. llere is a new way to make a rice pudding: Wash a small tcacupful of rice in cold water; then put it into a quart of cold milk; add salt and sugar and vanilla to your taste, and a small lump of butter. Put this into the oven two hours before it is. to be eaten; stir it occasionally. Follow these directions carefully, however skeptical you may be, and you will be pleased with the result. One of the most appetizing ways to warm over cold fowls, particularly ducks or fowls with brownish meat, is to cut them into pieces, and let them simmer in gravy. Take a part of a head of red cabbage, cut it in the thinnest and smallest pieces you can without chopping it, wash it and drain it and fry it in fat; this may bo part butter and part dripping or even lard; season with salt and pepper. "When it is done, spread it out on a platter, moisten with vinegar and lay the pieces of fowl upon it. A pretty ornament for the wall i3 made by cutting a lan out of very stiff pasteboard, cover half of it with plush or velvet?put this on plain?on the other t-,if i. r_i.3_ ~r nun pui, iinus ui auLiu, icuyiuwioc, i>v imitate the folds of a half-open fan. Around the edge put a narrow band of swan's down, at the top or handle put a bow, and a cord and tasjels. In the center of the fan put an oval or round Christmas card; it should be unfringed. One made of pink plush or satin was handsome?one less delicate and likely to become easily soiled was of winecolored plush and satin. Potato omelet for tea is an agreeable dish, and the flavor may be varied so that it will seem like a new dish even if it appears on the table frequently. To a large cupful of mashed potatoes allow three eggs, you may add four or five, but three will do nicely; tho yolks and whites should bo beaten separately as they will be so much lighter in that case; a teasnoon even full of salt, half a teacupful of milk, and a vorv little sifted flour, not more than a heaping teaspoonful, complete the ingredients, with the exception of the flavoring. Parsley chopped very fine may be used, or lemon juice, with a little black pepper, and an audacious cook may add a "trace," as the chemists say, of nutmeg. Heat and grease a large saucepan and pour the mixture into it. Brown it ligntly and serve hot. The glass stopper to a bottle often becomes so firmly fixed that it resists all ordinary efforts to remove it. Apothecaries, who handle such bottles daily, often acquire skill in starting the fixed corks. A sudden tap with a bard stick or knife handle will often allow the stopper to bo readily taken out. If this has been put in place while tho bottle is somewhat tVtn noAlr rvf fV>n VifttMo TVlll tract and hold it very fast. If the neck of the bottle be surrounded by cloth wet with hot water, the glass will usually expand and allow the stopper to be taken out with ease. The most difficult cases are -where the liquid in the bottle is of such a kind that it may form a sort of cement between the cork and the socket. Place such a bottle stopper downward in a saucepan containing water. Let the whole soak fbr some hours; then place the saucepan on the stove and heat the water gradually. Try the stopper from time to time; usually it may bo removed long before the water is hot enongh to boil. By this method we have rarely failed to remove glass corks that resisted til other means. SELECT SIFTINGS. There are certain crabs which live od dry land, but they manage to keep theii gills wet. The highest velocity that has been imparted to shoot is given as 1G2G feet per second, being equal to a mile in 3.2 seconds. Duels in France in the reign ot Henry IV. resulted directly and indirectly in the death of 20,000 persons. In 545 duels fought in that country since 1809 but eight have been fatal. In a certain province in southern R"?o!o O nnin ia fMirrfnt whiph 1R iriildfl in the form of a wafer from the juice of a tree. Their value is so microscopic that 250,000 of them would be required to purchase an American dollar. Francis Atkins was porter at the palace gate of Salisbury, England, from the time of Bishop Burnett to the period of his death in 1761, at the age of 104 years. It was his oflicc every night to wind the clock. This he did regularly till within a year of his dcceasc, though the clock was on the summit of the palace. The use ot the magnet for the cure of diseases was known to the ancients. It was know to Aetius, who lived as early as the year 500. He says: ''We arc assured that those who arc troubled with the gout in their hands or their feet, or with convulsions, find relief when they hold a magnet." A recent calculation shows that a man weighing 100 pounds, and running a mile in six minutes, performs work about equal to that of a half-horse engine, while a walker sustaining five miles an hout for a long time does work eijual to that of a quarter horse engine, and consumes only one-twenrieth of the weight of food or fuel. A New York Dhotocrraoher ia quoted assaying: "After Twcaty-fi ve years experience under the skylight, and photographing over 157.000 people, 1 have become convinced that in nineteen cases out of twenty the left side of the face gives the most characteristic likeness, while to the same degree the right side is the most symmetrical." N otices of mermaids are scattered abundantly in books of by-gone times, mermen and mermaids, men of the sea and w omen of the sea, having been as stoutly believed in as the great sea serpent, and on very much the same kind of evidence. Ilolinshed gives a detailed account of a merman caught at Oxford, in Suffolk, England, in the reign ot King John, lie was kept alive on raw meat and fish for six months, but at last "gledde secretelye to the sea and was newver after seene nor heard off." In the United States, even as late as 1821), it was estimated that there were as many as 3,000 debtors conlincd in the prisons of Massachusetts. 10,000 in New Vork, 7,000 in Pennsylvania, :!,000 in Maryland, and a like proportion in other States. In many of tho debtors' prisons no provision was made for sickness, or even for ordinary cleanliness or comfort. There was often no separation of tho sexes, and these victims of misfortune were confined with robbers, vagrants and murderers. Between 1821 and 1845, imprisonment for debt in the various United States was abolished, except in cases where fraud was reasonably suspected. now Jefferson was Inaugurated. Thomas Jefferson was the first President inaugurated at Washington, says a letter to the Cleveland lAiulcr. The city was then a country village scattered over an imineuBC territory, and Pennsylvania avenue was a muddy country road. There was a fence about the capitol grounds, and it is said that Jefferson rode there on horseback and jumped ' - > ?!-.! L:? il._ 1 | irom His norse aim ucu mm m mc uuis I while he went up to tlio bi# white building to be sworn in. lie was dressed very plainly, and only a few friends accompanied him. The inauguration took place in what was then the Senate chamber?now the supreme court room?and only 1,000 people were present. Of these 150 were ladies. As the Presidentelect came in the Senators stood up, and Aaron Burr gave tho President's scat to Mr. Jefferson. John Adams, the retiring President, was not present. It is reported that he said lie did not proposo to graco the inauguration of thft party opposed to him, and that he left tho White House on the night of the lid of March at midnight, and that before day he had departed from Washington forever. It is estimated that the island of Ber muda exports annually about 330,000 boxes of onions and 45,000 barrels of potatoes. The land upon which these arc growu is worth from $150 to $200 per acre, and under favorable conditions the value of the crop produced in a single season is from $IJ00 to $850 per acre. General Scott is credited with saying that terrapin is tho best food vouchsafed by Providence to mortal man. ' . ? NEWS SUMMARY Eastern nnul Middle States. Captain Thoma* Phelan, of Kansai City, Mo., was stabbed several times by j Richard Short, in tho oftlce of the United ! Irishmen, edited by O'Donovan Rossa, in I New York. It appears that Phelan had ein! bittered tho feelings of many Irishmen by utterances which he is credited with in an issue of a Kansas City newspaper. He apparently came to New York to make some explanations in regard to these utterances. The wounds received by Pholan were thought to be fatal. His assailant was arrested. Four boys were drowned bv the ice giving way while skating on a pond at Pottsville, Penn. A ball held for charitable purposes in Buffalo, N. Y., is described as "the most : brilliant event of the kind ever held in the | city." It was opened by Mr. Cleveland. scarlet fever is ravaging several villages in tho immediate vicinity of Urooklyn, N. Y. Numerous deatlis have occurred, and the schools have been closed. Captain Phelan, tho Kansas City man stabbed by Short in tho United Irishmen oflice. will probably recover from the eleven wounds which he received. The affair created a great sensation among Irishmen everywhere. While on a trip to England in 188.5, Phelan was suspected of being a "dynamiter," and was under police surveillance. While drunk Lewis Carl, living near Bethlehem, Penn., abused hid wife. His son interfered, whereupon the father killed him. Carl was arrested. Charles W. Foloer, only son of tho late Secretary Folger, died of consumption a few days ago in Genova, N. Y., aged about forty years. By the explosion of hor boiler the iteam tug Mike Dougherty was completely demolished near Elizabeth, Penn. Two of the crew were killed and three others badly hurt. The boat had put ashore at a landing to innko repairs to some part of tho machinery that had broken down, an 1 tho explosion occurred while she lay there. A boiler in a sawmill opposite Williamsport, Penn., exploded, killing two men and injuring seven others, one or two with fatal effect A chemical factory and a number of dwelling houses in Yonkers, N. Y., were destroyed by fire; estimated total loss, f20J,CO). A fifte at the Slade mills, Fall River, Mass., did damage to the extent of about ?'200,000. Captain Isaiah Rynderb, well-known in New York as "tho old Democratic war horse,'' died in that city a few days since. Hc was eighty years old, voted for Jacksou in 1828, and many years ago was a power in city politics. By an explosion in a soda-ash works near Syracuse, N. Y., one of eight immense distilling tanks was blown seventy feet high and landed thirty feet away. It weighed 10.000 pounds. Eight men were injured, the case of two of them being considered hopeless. Professor Benjamin Silliman, of Yale college, one of the leading Amorican scientists, is dead in his seventieth year. Shortly before his death the late ex-Governor Coburn. of Maine, was swindled out of J.1*! 10,000 in railroad securities by a conspiracy of Boston sharpers. Rather than prosecute the rascals Governor Coburn pocketed the loss. Gregg & Son, boot and shoe manufacturers of Bingham ton, N. Y., have failed, with liabilities of $130,000. Two men were burned to a crisp and three more injured by an explosion of dynamite at tho Somerset Chemical works, Somerset, Fenn. The factory buildings wore completely wrecked, tha pecuniary damage being estimated at $100,000. South and West. Eleven* persons were poisoned while at supper in the house of Mr. Van Forsen, a resident of East Liverpool, Ohio. A little girl died. Rat poison was found in the coffee pot. Mrs. Myra Clarke Gaines died tho othei day in Now Orleans, aged seventy-eight years. For a long time she had been a prominent flguro in Washington society, and for nioro than forty years her name had been fa miliar in tho newspapers through her efforts to obtain property which she claimed belonged to her family. In May, 1883, the city of New Orleans wtis declared in debt to her nearly |J,0(10,000. The Bonk of Augusta, Ga., an institution chartered by the State many years before tho war, has made an assignment The capital stock of the bank is $150,000, and depositors will be paid in full. Herman Mack, a Cincinnati bookkeeper of considerable social prominence, committed suicide in order to escape the result of a heavy I defalcation that hud been discoverrd in his accounts. A party of cowboys visited the store of James Davis at Sand Creek, Washington Territory, and attempted to take possession. Dnvis proved more than their match, for after he had killed threo of the cowboys tho rest made a hasty departure. The award* of premiums for cattle on exhibition at the World's fair in New Orleans have been made. The attendance is increasing. Three new Western governors were inaugurated the other day, as follows: Governor Gray, at Indianapolis, Ind.; Governor Marmaduke, at Jefferson City, Mo., and Governor Martin, at Topeka, Kan. A cyclone, sweeping over a large section in Alabama and Georgia, killed a number of persons and wrought great damage to property. Numerous houses were blown down, mills wrecked ond forests demolished. Two prominent New Orleans officials attacked George Osmond, editor of the Mascot, in his oflico for publishing an article reflecting on tho brother of one of his assailants. Revolvers were drawn and a general fusillade followed. All three men were wounded. The Earl of Aylesford a large property owner in Texas, died at his ranch in Big Springs. He was a prominent English noblo man, whose life had been clouded by his domestic relations. His body was ombalmed and will be sent to England. A H(5dy of 200grinders in the Oliver Chilled Plow works at South Bend, Ind., struck and, armed with iron rods and clubs, marched to the other departments of the factory and forced tho other employes to quit work. Where the men refused to do so they were beaten. The belts were cut and the sinners nnauy went to me engine-room and forced the engineer to sbut down. The next morning the strikers, who are principally Poles and Hungarians, attacked and badly injured a number of men who tried to gaii: admittance to the works. Considerable property was also destroyed. Governor Gray ordered out a military company from Elkhart, and by its aid quiet was restored for the time being. A steam saw mill, near Smitbfleld, Ohio was blown up, killing three persons, fatally injuring two others and wrecking the building Joseph Dibiile, a farmer, sixty years old, living at Osceola, Mich., was married recently, nine weeks after tha death of his first wife. Ho was givon a charivari party, and the other night tho serenade was repeated. Somo one from Dibble's house fired into the serenadors, killing out man and wounding three others. United States Senator Jones has been re-elected by tho Nevada legislature. Washing-ton. Colonel Lamont,private secretary to President-elect Cleveland, has been on a visit to Washington. The object of his visit is supposed (o have been principally the securing cf temporary quarters for Mr. Cleveland bofore ho enters the White House. The secretary of the treasury has received a conscience contribution of $401) in an envelope postmarked Newark, N. J. Congressman S. S. Cox's resolution to appropriate $100,000 for the completion of the pedestal of tho liartholdi statue in Now York narl)or has been rei>orted favorably to the House from the committee. General IIazen,chief signal ofllcer of tho army, hus filed with tho secretary of war formal charges against General Cbauncey McKeever, assistant adjutant genoral, for alleged remarks derogatory to Lieutenant Greely and the management of tho expedition sent to his relief by the signal office. General IIazkn's charges against Adjutant General JlcKouver have been returned to the author, and it is understood no ollicial notico wid be taken of them. foreign. Portions of Franco have been visited by earthquake shocks. Dissension has arisen in tho French cabinet on a propositi of Genoral Lcwal, the minister of war, to declaro war ngainst China The Phelan-Short shooting affray in the ofii?*e of. the New York bnited Irishmen created much excitement in London, and was for days tho principal subject of discus 81011. A French gnrrison at Lambor, Cambodia, was desperately attacked by Chinese insurgents and suffered heavy losses. A company of forty soldiers in Mexico mutinied, murdered their captain, his wife and several other jwrsoiis ana then fled in a body for American territory. 11 err Rumpff, chief of police at Frankfort-on-the-Maiii, Germany, was found murdered in front of his residenco in a principal thoroughfare. He was actively connected with the recent prosecution at Leipsic of the anarchists Reinsdorf, ltupsch, Kuechler and fivo others, who were engaged in tho Niederwald attempt to kill tho emperor, crown prince and other distinguished personages of the imperial suite. The three named were sentence i to death anil two others to ten years1 servitude,the remaining three being acquitted. Arnauts havo plundered three Servian frontier villages and killed tho sentinels and several villagers. Troops havo been sent to tho scene. The town hall of Warminster, England, has been partially destroyed by a dynamite explosion. Tiie name of Arizona, the Sentinel of that Territory says, was not bestowed through any poetic arrangements of Indian or Spanish names, but is derived from arideus, dry, and zona, a girdle or belt. LATER NEWS The New York Stato Dairy commissioner says in his annnal report that at least 80 per cent, of the illegal traffic in adulterated butter has been broken up. George E. Traviss was hanged at Wellsboro, Penn., for the murder of Martha Sylvia. His victim's burned body was found in the ruins of a- barn shortly after ho had paid frsr fifty dollars for three cows, and he is supposed to have murdered her to get back his money. Traviss denied tho crimo to the last. The President has nominated William A. Richardson to be chief justice of the'court of claims, vice Mr. Drake, resigned, und John Davis to be an associate justice of tho court of claims, vice Mr. Richardson. John Davis is the present assistant secretary of state. The National Swine Brooders' association have had a two days' session in Washington. Colonel F. D. Curtis, of New York, presided. The association passed resolutions approving the inspection by the government of hog products intended for shipment abroad. The chief of tho bureau of statistics reports that in 1884 there arrived in the cus* toms districts of Baltimore, Boston, Detroit, Huron, Minn,, New Orleans, Now York, Passamaquoddy, Philadelphia and San Francisco, 453,083 emigrants. These arrivals compriso about ninety-saven per cent of the emigration to the entire country. The arrivals in 1883 numbered 560,196. A Dublin dispatch states that there is in creased activity in Irish secret societies and a proportionate watchfulness on the part of the British authorities. By an explosion of fire damp in the great coal mine at Lievin, Franco, forty-eight men were entombed alive. Twenty-eight dead bodies were recovered soon after the disaster. LATER CONGRESSIONAL NEWS, Senate. Mr. Hale reported favorably the bill for the relief of the sufferers of the wreck of tho United States steamer Tallapoosa Mr. Miller, of California, intro. duced a bill to increase the pension of Mrs Frances L. Thomas, widow of General George H. Thomas, from $360 to $2,000 a year?the same as the pension already granted to the widow of Admiral Farragut....In executive session the Senate discussed the reciprocity treaties with Spain and Nicaraugua. Home. The McPherspn Funding bill was discussed in the House. Mr. Wilkins, of Ohio, said that its purpose was to increase the circulation of national bank noto3 from ninety per cent, of the bonds doposited to secure it to 100 percent Mr. Yaplo, of Michigan, maintained that the measure would not necessarily odd one dollar to the circulation of the coun. try. Messrs. Hewitt and Potter also opposed tho bilL A motion to adjourn, which practically shelves the bill, was carried by 130 yeaa to 112 nays. SCHUYLER COLFAZ ' Hii Sudden Death in iRlnnetttftSkctch of hi* Life. Ex-Vicc-President Schuyler Coifax dropped dead at the Omaha depot in Mankato, Minn. He arrived on the Milwaukee and St. Pau^ load from the East at 10 o'clock and walked to the Omaha dopot, a distance of threefourths of a mile, with the thermometer thirty degrees below zero. After arriving at the depot he lived only about Ave minutes. It is supposed that the extreme cold and sulwequent beat and over-exertion causod a stoppage of tho flow of blood to the heart. The House of Representatives and both bodies of the Indiana Legislature adjourned out of resj)ect to hia memory. Schuyler Colfax was born in New York city on March 23,1823. He removed to Indiana in ISoJ, and was for somo time a clerk in a country store. After studying law and working a* a printer and newspaper reporter he established at South Bend in 1845 a Whig newspaper called the St. Joseph Valley Register, of which he remained proprietor till 1800. He was secretary of the Whig National conventions in 1848 and 18T>2, and in 1850 a member of the State constitutional convention. He became a Republican shortly after the destruction of the Whig party. He was elected to the Thirty-fourth Congress from the Ninth Indiana district, which he continued to represent till 186!). For two terms he was chairman of the House committee on postofSces and pest roads. He became a prominent figure on the Republican side, and was elected Speaker of the House in the Thirty-eighth Congress in 1853, and was twice reelected. | In 1865, with the lato Samuel Bowles and other journalists, he made the overland trip to California In 1S(>8 he was nominated and elected Vice-President on tho Republican ticket with General Grant In 1870 he cave notice of his intention to withdraw from public life at the end of hig term, but be was again a candidate for the nomination for Vice-President in the Republican National convention in 1872. and received 314 1-2 votes against 884 1-2 for Henry Wilson, who got the nomination. In 1873 he was implicated in the Credit Mobiller scandals. He escaped impeachment on the ground that the offence had been committed before he became Vice-President After his retirement to private life at the expiration of hig term as Vice-President in 1873, he had little connection with and no influence in poli[ tics. He was a fluent speaker, and in the last few years occupied himself with lecturing. MUSICAL AND DRAMATIC: German opera in New York has proven a great success. The roller skating rinksare becoming sorious rivals to the theatres. Verdi favors tbe lowering of the musical pitch and the establishment of a uniform diapason for the entire musical world. Plutus, the new comic opera upon which Lecocq is now engaged, has boen purchasxl by a New York manager for America. Frank Mayo calls Henry Irving "the greatest of dramatic artists," and Edwin Booth " tho greatast actor " of modern times. It is now stated that Lizzio Annandale, the contralto of the Abbott company, will soou be married to n inembsr of the Spanish legation at Washington. The title of a play in eight acts recently submitted to a prominent theatre in Now York city is "Tho Ked Wheelbarrow on tho Night of December 13, 1834." Mme. Kate Roll a, reported recently as having made a successful operatic debut as Lucia, in Milan, is Mrs. Kate Wheat Rammeisburg, of Wheeling, W. Va. Mr. E. Cholmeley Jones, the baritone, has been engaged by Manager Max Strakosch for a series o? concerts i<-> ui_- (jitsu m .. York and the New England States during tho winter. A Western paper says that tho only sister of the lato General Custor is giving dramatic readings for a livelihood, and that she is in great demand for such servico among tho different grand army posts. Mhe. Christine Nilssojj will bo in this country during tho season of 1S35 NS, under Mapleson's management. Sho will produce several new ro!e< which she now has iu preparation for the Loudon season. "Tom" Mathews, the famous clown, who was Grinialdi's most apt pupil, is living at Brighton, England, eighty years old, halo and hearty. Ho is just about tho ago of tho average circus clown's jokes. Since the walls of tho Brooklyn Theatre crumbled away in flamo and smoke, nino years ago, four theatres hovo been consumed in Now York city?tho Park, tho Windsor, tho Standard, and tho Comique, In every base the firo occurred wbon tho theatre was empty. THE MINTS, Annual statement sixmlnjf tho Papci . and I oin Circulation. Tho director of tho United States mint has mado las usual annual statement and estimate of the changes and increase during the year in the United States gold and silver coin in the country, both total and in circulation, outside of tho treasury. Tho coinage, less tho recolnage. has been: Gold, $2-'i,7-0,SVJ; silver, $'JS, 119,078. Tho imports of L'nit.d States coin have been: Gold, ?4,i?.0,S5; silver, *7:25,150-a total gain of J ">7,401,048. Ho estimates that #4,875,000 of United States gold and $210,000,000 of silver coin wore molted for use in the manufactures and. the arts, and that (>,000,0 i0 trade dollars, constituting a part of tin silver circulation in previous years,have been entirely withdrawn from circulation. Tho exports were: Of united States gold - fin* MI coin, tl 1,878,138; silver coin, t-<i. iu-net gain during the year was: In gold coin, $11,213,573; silver coin, $22,10i!,lj'.>7. This added to his estimates of tho total amount in the country January i, 1884. makes tho circulation on the ls>t of January. 1885, 000,000 gold an 1 $2l>l,0C0.0i)0 silver-ss total Of $827,000,010. A comparison of the corrospondlng amounts of paper in tho United States used as money or as representatives of coin shows atthe close of the year an increase in tho gold certificates of $28,/i!Ki,2-'!2; Silver certificates, $28,200,1)80, and a decrease in hank notoi of $21,324,200? a not increase of over #35,000,000. Tho gold bullion in the mints awaiting coinage on the first of the present month was 1*61,422,047?a reduction of about $3,0 >0,00J from that on h&ud at tho beginning of the previous year. SUMMARY OF CONGRESS f|| Senate* Tho lnter-stato commerce bill was coii! eidered. Mr. "Wilson's amendment making it .,*%?j| unlawful for railroads to discriminate against ' '-7!localities or individuals was added to the bill. A motiou to recommit the bill was de- V4 fpatcd, 18 to24....Mr. Slater called up th* -'-I? Oregon Control land forfeiture bill,which has teen in abeyance subject to Mr. Morgan'd vl'la motion to recon-ider. and Mr. Morgan then . .j||j withdrew his motion to reconsider. The bill . therefore stands passed as amended by the ' }% Senate, and now goes to the House of Bepre* .."j sontativos. Among tho petitions presented was one by ' Mr. Hoar,from Mrs. Belva A. I^ckwood,praying Congress to see that the votes cast for ber ." at tho last presidential election bo count*! v<g? Senators Wilson and Mitchell introduced bills to increase tho pensions of widows or ?$& minor children of deceased soldiers or sailora of the United States in the lata war from $1 to $12 a month....A hot debate occurred over Mr. Hawley's resolution calling for a certain letter to'General Sherman filed in the war department Mr. Hawley's resolution calling for tha ?3 Sherman-Davis papers was Again discussed .. and finally carried by 52 yeas to 10 nays.... M Mr. Dolph reported favorably from the com- ?3 niittee on public lands the House bill, with . amendments to repeal the pre-emtion desert lands and timber culture laws, and to anwnd tho homestead law....The Senate furthei ^,-'5 considered tho inter-stato commorce bill, and .vi Mr. Vance's amendment that no railroad .... company be allowed to charge a higher pr> ";???! portionate rate for the carriage of small than . of largo parcels was agreed to. Mr. Edmunds called Mr. Frve to the chair, toot the floor, and called up the bill providing that the Provident may appoint to tho retired ;2 list one porsou who has occupied the position .. of general commanding auy of the armies ol the United States, or toaoral-in-chief of th? United States army. He moved to amend il by adding, "with tho rank and full pay ol such general or geceral-in-chief, as the cas? may oe." The amendment was agreed to. . '- :tm if- it J.-,:?l Amtmi . . AN OFFER DECLINED. The Grants Refuse a Fortune from W. H. Yanderbilfc. He Buys in Their Property and Offers it to Mrs, Grant Mr. William H. Vandcrbilt, who obtained a judgment against General U. S. Grant for $150,000 lent him to ward oil the failure of the Marine bank, bought in tho real estate and presents of tho general namod in the bill of sale. He then presented the property to Mrs. Grant for her separato estate, but she has declined to receive it Tho following correspondence will explain tho matter fully: CIA A 1A 1 oor UX1. V-W. Al CU UWU CU LV 1 CWI U IUJ f VMW >.jM the bill, not knowing -whether tho yeas ftn-J - f >-y.J nays would be called en it. Tbe retired lift, 2? he said, was not the place for private citizens. *\ - vS It was created for officers who, being still io tho service, had been rendered unfit for duty. '/:'2?|| There was neither justice nor propriety iii | placing private citizens on such a list. Gen- tSjj eral Grant was now enjoying the receipt ol |L">,000 a year, which was enough for tho sap port of auy American citizen. Mr. El- *'|Q munds said he concuiTed in the gen- . ;<wj| eral principle laid down by Mr. Cockreli ask .'.?8 the retired list, that it was not the place for private citizens. Ha (Mr. Edmunis) waa on that point a Democrat of Democrats. Bui as a Senator and citizen he was glad of tlx -'.'Lj-a opportunity to ask tho passago of this bill General Grant had sei-ved his country fdlth- ;; ;_-aS fully and gallantly in the Mexican war whll? rjjjgj a young lieutenant He became general ol the armies of the United States on an occo Ipv* sion of very considerable importance and intereat. General Grant had been removed from tho ofDce of general of the armies oi r-?D tho United States from which he would ? have been retired when ho reached the proper age and put on this verj list to assume again command of tha - /y-'S armies of the united States as com- . mander-in-chief under its constitntion. TJgk He had not sought it. He had obeyed tho >*?j call of duty. That removed him from tbi r 3 <* technical place that he had held in the army -vj to a higher place as tho constitutional commanderof the United States under tho law. *; "When his term expired he became a private .... y? citizen. In that s ate of.the case and tinder ' ~-%3i the circumitancos which all knew, and in view of tho honor, the respect, the gratitndd ' -Cjj and the duty that we owe him as primus is . illustrius in the history of this country, Mr. ' "ifl Edmunds would be glad to have a unani- ~ i ' 3? mous vote for the bilL Tbe debato was brief, , ^ and tho bill was passed, yeas 49, nays ft.. u-t./ i'luti ?ian. iu, io?. Mrs. Ulysses y. Ghajtt?Dear Madam? So many misrepresentations have appeared in regard to the loan made by me to General Grant, and reflecting unjustly upon him and mysolf, that it seems proper to briefly recite tha facts. On Sunday, tho 4th of May last. General Grant called at my house and asked mo to lond him $150,000 for one day. I'gave him my check without question, not because the trnn.saction was business-like, but simplv because the request came from General Grant The misfortunes which overwhelmed him in the next twenty-four hours aroused the sympathy and regret of the wholo country. You and he sent me within a few days of the time the deods of your joint properties to cover this obligation and urged my acceptance on tho ground that this was tho only debt of honor which the general had personally incurred, and these deeds I returnod. During my absence iu Europe the general delivored to my attorney mortgages upon all his own real estate, household effects and swords, medals and works of art which werothe memorials of his victories, and the presents front governments all ovor tho world. Theso securities were in his judgment worth the $150,000. At his solicitation the necessary steps were taken by judgment, etc., to reduce these properties to possession, and tho articles mentioned have been this day bought in by me and the amounts bid applied in reduction of the debt. Now that I am at liberty to treat these things as my own, the disposition of tho whole matter most in accord with my feelings is thjs: I present to you, as Your soparate estale, the debt and judgment I hold against Gen. Grant, also the mortgages upon his real est i to, and all the household furniture and ornaments,coupled only with the condition that tlio swords, commissions, medals, gifts from the United States, States, cities and foreign governments, and all articles of historical value and interest, shall, at the general's death, or, if you desire it, sooner, ho presented to the government at Washington, where they will remain as perpetual memorials of his fame and of the history of his time. I iuc'ose herewith assignments to you of the mortgages and judgments, a bill of salo of the property, and a deed pf trust, in which the articles of historical interest are enumerated. A copy of this trust deed will, with your approval, bo forwarded to the President of tho united States for deposit In the proper department. Trusting that this action will meet with your acceptance and approval, and with kindest regards to your husband, l am yours, respectfully, W. H. Vanderbilt. ? declined with thanks New York City, January 10,1885. Dear Sir: Mrs. Grant wishes me to answer your letter of this evening, to say that while she appreciates your great generosity in transferring to her the mortgage given to secure my debt of $159,000, she cannot accept it in whole. She accepts with pleasure the trust which applies to articles enumerated in your letter to go to the government of the Unitod States at my death or sooner, at her option. In this matter you have anticipated the disposition which I had contemplated making of tha articles. They will be delivered to the government as soon as arrangements can be made for their recoption. Papers relating to all other property will be returned, witn the request tnat you have it sold aud the proceeds applied to the liquidation of the debt which I so justly owe you. You have stated in your letter with the minutest accuracy the history of the transaction which brought me in your debt I have only to add that I regard your giving me your check for the amount without inquiry &s an act of marked and unusual friendship. The loan was to me personally. I got the money, as I believed, to carry tho Marine National bank over a day, being assured that tho bank was solvent, but, owing to unusual calls needed assistance until it could call in its loans. I was assured by Ferdinand Ward thnt tho firm of Grant & Ward had over jfGOJ.O 0 to their credit al that time, in the Marine bank, beside $1,SO),000 of unpledged securities in their own vaults. I cannot conclude without assuring you that Mrs. Grant's inability to avail horself ol your great kindness in no way lessons either her sense of obligation or my own. * Yours truly, U. S. Grant. W. H. Vanderbilt, Esq. he will not be defeated. 540 Fifth avenue, Jan. 11, 1885. General U. S. Grant?My D?ar Sir: On my return home last night I found your letter in answer to mine to Mri. Grant. I appreciate fully the sentiments which actuate Loth Mrs. Grant and yourself in declining the part of my proposition relating to the real estate. I greatly regret that she feels it her duty to make this decision, as I earnestly hoped that the spirit in which the offer *as made would overcome any scruples in accepting it But I must insist tbat I shall not bo defeated in a purpose to which I have given so much thought nnd which I have so much at heart I wil" therefore, as fast as tho money Is received from the sales of the real estate, deposit it in the Union Trust company. "With the money thus realized I will at one* create with that company a trust, with proper provisions for the income to be paid to Mrs. Grant during her life, and giving the power to her to make such disposition of the principal by her will as she may elect Very truly your8? William H. Vanderbilt. accepted by the general. New York City, Jan. 11,188-5. Dear Sir?Your letter of this date is received. Mr?. Grant and I regret that you cannot accept our proposition to retain the property which was mortgaged in good faith to socure a debt of honor. But your generous determination compels us to no longer resist Yours truly, U. S. Grant. W. H. Vanderbilt refused by mrs. orant. New York^ Sunday, January 11, 1885. My Dear Mr. Vanderbilt?Upon reading your letter of this afternoon, General Grant and myself felt that it would be ungracious to refuse your princely and generous offor. Hnnce his note to you. But upon reflection I find that I cannot, and will not accept your munifiojnee in any form. I beg that you will parrlou this apparent fa scillatiou and consider this answer definite and final. With great regard and a sense of obligation that will always remain, I am "Scours, very gratefully, J ulia D. Grant. To Wm. H. Vanderbilt PROMINENT PEOPLE, Miss Anna Dickinson has ro-ontered tho lecturing field. Rev. Dr. T. De Witt Talmaoe has just celebrated tho fifty-third anniversary of bis birth. Both of Georgia's Senators have been preachers, Senator Brown as a Baptist, Senator Colquitt as a Methodist Hon. Thomas A. Hendricks has consented to deliver the annual address before tho Yolo alumni and graduating class in June next Dr. Wm. H. Furxess, of Philadelphia, by his ordination in 18-', tho oldest ^ Unitarian clergyman in inis cuumrj.isjuu his ministry. The czar of llussia has an income of moro than $8,(100,000 a year. The emperor of Austria receives $ 1,030,030,and the queen of England f 2,300,000. Mns. Mary Ashley Towxsend, the poet of the exposition opening at New Orleans, is an Iowan by birth,and her husband is a New Orleans commission merchant. James L. Graitam, the new Speaker cf the Pennsylvania House of Representative, is sixty-live years of age. In early life he was a Methodist. He has amassed considerable wealth. By the queen's command, a largeand handsomo chair of polished granite has been placed by the sido of a private road at Balmoral as a memorial of her son, tho lato Duke of Albany. That road was ono of his favorite walks. Oscar Wilde keaps right on in his crusades against modern fashion in dress. Hf told a Glasgow audience the other night that a Lancashire mill-girl with a shawl over her shoulder and clogs on her feet knew more about dress than a fashionable London lady just returned from Paris. II. H. Warner, founder of the Warner Observatory, in Rochester, N. Y., has recently purchased Cameron's painting, "Niagara Falls in Winter." Tho purchasing price was 1.500. The picture measures nine by eighteen feet. Mr. Warner will placo it in his private gallery, which already contains many masterpieces. A Buffalo pap?r states that Mr. Hill, the r.?,v Vi,i-lf " President elect Cleveland,was th mayor of a city throe years ago. Ammij distinguished ex-mayors still living are Horatio Seymour and Koscoo Conkling. In this connection tho lact may be recalled tluit Do Witt Clinton resigned the United States senatorship to becoino a mayor. Ex-Governor Adser Corurn, of Maine, whose death at the ago of eighty-one year* aud ten months recently occurred, was a poor farmer's boy, and by his own efforts an<l astuteness accumulated a fortune of ?(J,0'.W,(10U or $7,(H)0,0>.t. He was liovor married, lie was the last of eight brothers, no one of whom left a male heir, tho last of them, Stephen's sou, having been drowned with his father a few years ago. Among the Democrat! Messrs. Maxey, Voor- > ; ? bees, Georgo, Gilson and Jones spoke alfo in its favor. The Senators who voted nay wen . rf| Messrs. Beck, Coekrell, Coke, Harris, rendlfr - & ton, Baulsbury, Slater, Vance and Walker. Honie< Resolutions were adopted calling on thi 4! President for information about tlie Conge conference, and for copies of a'l correspondenco between this government and Franct in regard to the French and American Land Commission since November 23, lfcfSI. A '-v large number of private bills will be intro* v.'Sg duced. Tbe House further considered the consuls! :'\l and diplomatic bill without reaching a voU A bill was passed authorizing the judge of ihe supreme courtof the District of Colum- * bin to appoint a competent lawyer to prepare , ^ a criminal code for the District....Mr. Rogers introduced a bill authorizing the appro priation of $8,000,000 toward the enlargement of the Erie canal to a sufllcient capacity to ' ",<* pass war vessels twenty-five feet wide and - -J* one hundred feet long and merchant vesseli of <500 tons burden. There was passed a bill limiting the tima for the presentation of bounty and back pay claims to three years from the passage of thw act, of all other claims, ezcepl pern-ions, to six years, and providing that claim; hereafter arising must bo presented within six years from the time they originated....Mr. Browne announced the sudden death at Schuyler Colfax, once speaker of the House, . '-j and late Vice-President, and out of respect to his memory the House adjourned. The French spoliation claims bi!l was i passed by 181 yeas lo 71 nays. This in the ' 1 >*?1 I third timo such a bill 1ms passed the House since 1802. The amount of the claims to b? ! presented is variously estimated at from$S,000,000 to *13,000,000 without any allow* ?; I anco on account of interest....The Chinese '" 3 indemnity bill?a bill to return to China $.<58tt,400.M left over from an indemnity fund ! paid by the Chinese government to Americans - ^ : to repay them for losses to property sustained . ; through lawless bands in China more than twenty-five years ago?was passed....Upon i notice of Mr. Randall the sum of 11,500 was S ; appropriated to send a special messenger to ; V Iowa and Oregon to obtain the certificates ot the electoral votes of those States, such certificates not having been received by the president pro tem. of the Senate. i TWO BIG FAILUEE8, Well Known Bankom and a Great . I: on Firm Suspend. Two big suspensions on the same day?'}% in Now York and the other in Pittsburg?ha v* startled the business communities of the East. In New York tho widely-known banking house of John J. Cisco & Soi was obliged to close its doors and make an as" sigmnont. Ilumors affecting the financial soundness of tho firm caused sueh a run upon its funds by alarmed depositors that it finally went under. The effect of tho rumors was naturally quickened by tho goneral dullness of business and tho persistent deprecia- w tion ot' raiiroad soeurities, with which tho firm are said to bo heavily la len. Tho liabilities of the insolvent firm are estimated at from $->,000,000 to $3,000,000. At Pittsburg, Penn., on the same day, the ?gr: great wire ana st<*l manufacturing-firm of Oliver Brothers & Phillij.-s, and tho Oliver & Roberts Wiro company, (limited,) issued tho jgg.,; following card to their creditors: ^ "We are to day compelled to suspend paymcute, a:rl propose calling immediately a meeting of those interested, to whom wo believe we can show assets amply sufficient, dB.v with some indulgence, to pay every dollar of our liabilities." '1 he report, of the embarrassment of Oliver 'jjH Brothers & Phillips. tlio greatest iron firm in the city, (lew like wildfir.) and set the town jfgsl ag'g with excitement. Suih an event was recognized as a catastrophe uncqualed by any ?evious failure. The firm had about 4,(WO men in its employ, ami owned more than 100 'fjggt nuudliug furnaces. A failure to meet some **3^ heavy notes is said to have b>en the immediate cause of its sus|iension. Harry W. Oliver, jr.. is tho best known member of the firm outside of Pittsburg, by reason of his candidacy for United States"Senator in 1-SS1 and his membership of tho Tariff commission. He has been known as one of tho Stalwart Republican leaders in the State and a liberal contributor to campaign funds, but has never held any local ortice. The firm's lia- 4 bilities are placed at S 1,01)0,000, and it is asserted they will bo able in time to pay creditors in full. NEWSY GLEANINGS. Ice sells at ten cents a pound in the city of Mexico. In 1*S4 there wero upward of 2-jO hotels burned in this country. There are ."0,000 roller skating rinks established in this country. The expenses of tho Democratic national convention at Chicago were $1.30,000. In Clermont county, Ohio, gold ore has boen found that yields $1,OOJ to the ton. It is said that the writings of Nathaniel P? Willis are acain coining into public favor. The main exposition buildin? at New Or j leans is believed to be the largest building ever erected. A life insurance man calculates that in Kloo there will bo living 1,333 survivors of the civil war. A French astronomer claims to have discovered that in Venus there is a mountain seventy miles high. Mexico maintains an agricultural collegeat its capital, ih j appropriations for which las t year were $ 5:}:) The secretary of the interior states that there is no land within the limits ol the Indian Territory subject to settlement. Within a few years the manufacture of che?>sG has increased in : his country from TO.OOiJ.OtO pounds to 4")D,i)00,0 W. London is now one of the quietest cities in the world in consequence ol' tlio prevalence of wood or asphalt pavement in all the chief thoroughfares. A package of glass globes, of the value of $15, was received at Portland, Oregon, by ex-n press recently from the East, (ho express charges on which amounted to over $'50. Each messenger carrying the electoral vote of the several States "from the <:*ipita!s of their respective States to Washington, f^ceived twenty-fivd cents per utile as compensation. |